Jodie Eilers

Who?

Jodie Eilers. Eilers like eye-lers.

Turns out design is the greatest wormhole—I get to be part of almost any industry. Over the years I’ve peered into niche products, unusual demographics, and fascinating topics: molecular biology, installation art, healthcare for people experiencing homelessness, data‑visualization ethics, independent film, snow‑surf‑skate brands, K–12 education tools, downhill biking, food trends, AI and ML at large software companies, and many more. I now focus on companies whose messages and products I believe in wholeheartedly, primarily in the health, wellness, and outdoor worlds.

I’ve been a designer of just about every flavor for more than two decades. My fascination keeps growing: I love the science behind aesthetics, the overt and subtle communication challenges, the philosophy and social‑behavior theories behind identity and marketing, and the research it takes to understand both messenger and recipient.

My superpower is recognizing whole‑system patterns. I align brand, product, and messaging with those patterns to support clear communication between client and customer, and to build demographic trust through consistent experiences across touchpoints. Because my brain works top‑down, I gravitate toward branding and identity problems, but I also love illustration, data visualization, infographics, analog and digital layout (catalogs, lookbooks, websites), environmental design (wayfinding and signage), packaging, and collaborating with photographers on product shoots.

When I’m not in front of a screen, you can usually find me high on a ridge or halfway up a pitch of rock—ideally with a bit of foraging or travel mixed in. I’ve been teaching and co‑chairing with the Washington Alpine Club since 2015, and it’s a true labor of love. I’m a 200‑hour certified yoga teacher, have completed the AMGA Single Pitch Instructor course, and I’m pursuing functional medicine and AIP coaching certifications to support autoimmune‑friendly retreats and give people a grounded, actionable start on their healing journey. And I have enough wilderness skills to survive a zombie apocalypse.

Personality

In 2015 my team and I went through a facilitated Insights Discovery workshop to improve communication and clarify roles; it was eye-opening and allowed for proper team adjustments. In 2021 I completed the VIA Character Strengths Survey to deepen my motivational interviewing work, and it’s become a powerful tool for behavior change—for me and for coaching clients. Experiences like these have made me appreciate personality and strengths assessments as useful windows into our differences, as long as we treat them as lenses rather than labels.

TLDR
Myers Briggs: I N T P/J
Clifton StrengthsFinder: STRATEGIC-LEARNER-COMMAND-INPUT-ACTIVATOR
Insights Discovery: RED 86% BLUE 79% YELLOW 51% GREEN 13%
VIA Character Strengths Profile: STRENGTH #1, CURIOSITY
SparkType: MAKER/MAVEN

Myers Briggs, Jung (lots of splits)
I N T P/J (but actually more like I/E N F/T P/J)

On Myers Briggs/Jung personality tests I'm nearly split between introvert/extrovert and thinking/feeling. I like to believe that means I'm well balanced. While I don't sort neatly into the Jung categories since the only one over 52% is N (intuition, at about 78%), I do identify with my slight introvert skew (52%) and INTP and INTJ descriptions resonate.

Clifton StrengthsFinder
Strategic / Learner / Command / Input / Activator

I’m a whole‑systems thinker who’s comfortable leading, but I’m here to design, not just sit in “design leadership” meetings. A quick story summing up these strengths: During a 16‑week mountaineering program I co‑chaired with the Washington Alpine Club, instructors and recent grads spent a weekend in the forest reviewing what worked and what didn’t the prior year. As feedback poured in, I found myself sketching real‑time solutions that addressed several issues at once, and the group was eager to implement them. Meanwhile, some fellow co‑chairs experienced the critique as personal, which made it harder for them to stay in problem‑solving mode. That contrast highlighted a core trait of mine: curiosity and objectivity under pressure. I love stepping back, seeing the whole system, and redesigning it so people and processes work better together—whether that’s a mountaineering curriculum or a brand ecosystem.

Insights Discovery
RED 86% BLUE 79% YELLOW 51% GREEN 13%

The strangest thing happened when my Microsoft team took the Insights Discovery personality test together. Before you reveal your results, your coworkers guess what your highest scores are by signing their initials in that quadrant. While internally I'm modeling "get shit done (and done well)" the team initials show I balance that internal fire with personable, sociable, and creative traits. Exhibit A:

VIA Character Strengths Profile
Curiosity, Perspective, Love of Learning, Zest, Gratitude...
Via Character Strengths are used heavily in the Institute for Functional Medicine coaching programs and are embraced by many in industries utilizing positive psychology and motivational interviewing to identify people's values and intrinsic motivators. It prioritizes 24 different strengths in 6 categories. The following were my top 10, in order: Curiosity, Perspective, Love of Learning, Zest, Gratitude, Appreciation of Beauty & Excellence, Honesty, Creativity, Hope, Bravery.

SparkType

The Maker/Maven

SparkType is a framework and assessment created by Jonathan Fields that helps you identify the kind of work that makes you feel most alive, purposeful, and engaged. The Maker SparkType is most fulfilled when bringing things into existence, while the Maven SparkType feels most energized when they’re actively learning and diving deep into new domains.

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