About Jonathan Klein

I was born into a family of four older brothers and one older sister. When I was younger I always had a passion for art. As I grew older, my passion became a hobby and I became friends with other artists in school. The older I became, the more the technology grew, and I found myself exploring new forms of art. I started to use PhotoShop and Windows Movie Maker. I started my video editing life by creating Anime Music Videos in the 7th and 8th grades from random clips of Anime I had on my computer. As time rolled on, I dove more and more into movie editing. In my Senior Year of high school, I was asked to make a video of our school experience. I spent 3 months working on this video, every day for 2-3 hours a day. On graduation day I sold the video for $5 a disc.

While in high school, I attended Bradley University for a Summer Graphic Design session. There I was taught basic skills in graphic design and web design. The following year I attended Illinois Central College for Graphic Design for college credit during my Junior year of High School. While I was attending this class, we were asked to design new Student IDs. After we completed the assignment, we were told that each design was sent to a committee and three cards were chosen: one for the new Student ID, one for the IT department, and one for Faculty. Mine was chosen to be the new IT department ID Card.

After high school, I attended Illinois Central College to get my associate's in Art. While I was here I took multiple classes to broaden my artistic ability. Some of the classes I have taken include 2D & 3D Animation, Multimedia Production and PhotoShop Techniques.

After my time at Illinois Central College, I attended Illinois State University. I applied to get into the Arts Technology Program, now the Creative Technologies Program. Unfortunately, I did not get in right away, but I did not give up. While I was not in the Program I was in the Graphics Communication Program where I developed my skills in web design and printing. Even though I was not in the program, I was allowed to still take an Arts Technology Class, Sound Design 2. There I learned how to manipulate sound, clean it up, and construct it to what I need. The following semester I was accepted into the Arts Technology Program and my experience in arts technology finally began.

While attending Illinois State University, I accepted an Internship working at Illinois State University working in Web & Interactive Communications as a Graphic Design Intern. I worked on a number of websites, including Senior Professionals, Student Health Services, and some Graphic Design work for Student Counseling Services, View more in my Web Design and Graphic Design portfolio. I graduated from Illinois State University with a Bachelor of Science in a Major of Arts Technology with the Exceptional Merit in the Arts award. After graduation, I was hired at Illinois State University as a Graphic Designer Extra Help, where I continued to help Illinois State University with the design of web pages and the development of new features.

Through TekSystems I was able to obtain a position working with State Farm as a Visualization Project Lead, where I use my skills in HTML5/CSS/JavaScript to create prototype websites for user experience testing purposes. Along with my skills in Photoshop and Illustrator, I create and update documentation for projects and create high-fidelity wire frames.

After my time with State Farm was over, I started a new position at OneFire as a Front-End Developer. I was able to use previous skills in UI/UX design to also take over web and application design. I designed and Developed a lot of really cool websites and mobile applications including the Peoria Riverplex.

Moving my career forward I began working at AutonomouStuff as Front-End Web Developer. Using my multimedia background I did video production, Graphic Design, Digital Marketing, and SEO, as well as managing and developing the company website and creating new tools in ReactJS.

Eventually, it was time for me to move on and it was time to move on to my next journey. That is when I started a new position at Keplr Vision. While at Keplr Vision I maintained their corporate website, built and maintained the company Intranet of over 1000 employees across the continental United States, and managed several partner websites. While exploring my new found interest in Cyber Security I assisted the IT department in preserving HIPAA compliance across our systems as well as our partners.

With the events of 2020 impacting millions, I was forced to seek new employment. My next journey led me to a small Marketing firm called MComm Group. While at MComm I was their Front End Web Developer, I developed multiple websites on WordPress and created a store on Shopify.

As my journey continued, I joined the wonderful team at Brado as their Senior Front End Developer. With the Brado team, we create Email Templates, WordPress and Drupal websites, and create applications using ReactJS and VueJS.