J Cornelius

Strategist, Designer, Raconteur.

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J's Projects

Nine Labs
Product Strategy, Design, & User Experience Consulting

Loops
The Playbook for Building Products with Clarity & Confidence

Design Driven
Conversations with Leading Product Designers

J Cornelius has been building digital products since 1996 and has helped countless startups and corporate product teams create products and services you probably use today. He is the Founder and President of Nine Labs, a digital product strategy, design, and experience consultancy operating in Atlanta and New York City.

He speaks at conferences and leads workshops around the world, and serves on the Advisory Board of multiple venture capital groups, accelerator programs, and private companies. He loves to speak about the intersection of business, design, and technology.

A serial entrepreneur with multiple exits, J started his first business in high school and never looked back.

For J, nothing is impossible. He's motivated and knows how to get things done, even on ridiculously short notice where others may likely fail. J has a great eye for the small details but never forgets the high-level strategy and vision. He has a sense of leadership that is unparalleled to any other I have seen in my career history. He's honest and is not afraid to tell you like it is, but he also encourages everyone to participate and voice their opinions.

Nick Finck — Product Design Manager, Facebook

J's Book on Product Design:

LOOPS – Building Products with Confidence and Clarity

You have to build things with limited time and a limited budget. How do you make the most of both? Not only that, how do you get confidence and clarity in what you’re going to build and how you’re going to build it? Whether you’re a startup founder or the head of a corporate product team, you need the right strategies and tools to give your team the best chances of building products and services that give you a competitive advantage.

Loops is the practical guide you need to get products out of your mind’s eye and into the real world. It covers the processes, exercises, and methodologies used by some of the world’s fastest moving and most successful startups and corporate product teams to get out in front and stay there. This book will give you the tools you need to create products people love.

Loops is a necessity for anyone who has to create and deliver a competitive, distinct experience. It is the playbook for using a toolset that is tried and trusted by all of today’s wildly successful brands.

GREG STOREY — DESIGN LEADER AT INVISION, USAA, AND IBM

Speaking & Workshops:

Human-Centered Product Design

Building digital products people love in the buyer-driven economy.

The economy has shifted. It was seller-driven, when companies could be successful with limited customer research and brute-force marketing. Now it's buyer-driven, where anyone can find products and services to fit their needs in just a few clicks.

It's time companies embraced customer research, and rapid-prototyping, and built meaningful value propositions based on real customer needs and wants.

We'll look at the 5 Phases of product design and lay out a playbook for success in the new age.

Key Takeaways

1/ Product design is not a linear process, rather it involves tight collaboration and fluid switching between diverse skill sets.

2/ Customer research is an art, and applying some simple methodologies can help create a clear vision of customer needs.

3/ Successful businesses make research and prototyping an integral part of their culture, using research and data to drive critical product and business decisions.

Redesign Your Design Thinking

Design is beautiful and beautiful things are well-designed. While this is true, it isn’t the whole truth—aesthetics definitely are NOT everything. Sometimes the best design isn’t what you think, and we need to leave our design aesthetic ego at the door and focus on positive outcomes for the user. This talk will challenge your assumptions about what great design is, and discuss ideas about how we can be better designers by focusing on process, function, and outcomes instead of visuals.

Digital Fluency & User Experience

A look at the idea of digital fluency and how different levels of understanding can impact experience in ways we might not have considered before; some of the psychology behind how fluency influences judgement and perception of digital experiences, and how we can approach experience design to build meaningful connections with the people who use our creations.

Design for Business

Many companies are so full of enthusiasm for their idea that they overlook the fundamentals of design and its importance in building great products, services, and businesses. This talk covers the core design principals that Founders and CEO's need to consider from the beginning.

A dynamic and insightful speaker who helps your organization understand the importance of design for your business in the digital age.

Jessica B. — Digital Summit Attendee

This was my favorite talk of the conference. Full of useful information and insights I can take back to work and use.

William S. — Web Visions Attendee

Get In Touch

Twitter // LinkedIn // Angel List