I’m Kristin Hillery.

I make things people love.

Creative director. Story strategist. Experience maker.

I help brands uncover their story and bring it to life through content and experiences. I’ve created a book that startup founders keep on their desk forever, convinced 150 guests to pawn personal items for entry into a bug-themed party, and helped a comedy group rack up over 5 million views on Instagram.

I can find the story in anything—like why there’s no room for potato sheds in information architecture, or the dangers of leaving your kid alone with a payphone at the Black-eyed Pea.

From venture capital firms to startups, authors, and even a pop culture icon who ran for Governor of California, I’ve built my career around storytelling that sticks.

My inspiration comes from everywhere—especially offbeat travel, immersive attractions, and conversations with strangers.

Kristin with the World's Largest Car Key

Who I’ve worked with

OpenView

Writer

Sauce Labs

Four Kitchens

InVision

Voiceflow

Lalago Experiences

Insight

Experience design

For Sauce Labs’s 2024 revenue kickoff meeting, I partnered with Lalago Experiences to design an unforgettable four-day event in San Francisco. On night two, we brought our 150 guests to The Pawn Shop for an immersive experience that really did involve pawning an item.

Creative direction

The Founder's Keeper is more than a business book—it’s a lasting resource designed to live on founders' desks. This interactive, activity-driven book helps SaaS founders turn valuable insights into action through engaging articles, interviews, and practical exercises. With its nostalgic composition notebook design, The Founder's Keeper is a tool founders can return to again and again as they build their companies, making it a permanent fixture in their workspace.

A huge shoutout to the co-creator and designer of The Founder’s Keeper, Meg Johnson. I adored working with Meg on this project, and it would not have been anywhere near as successful without her collaboration. And thank you to Margaret Kelsey, who green-lit this project and provided valuable feedback along the way.

Above: Screenshot from our pre-production storyboard.

Below: Final design thanks to the amazing work of Meg Johnson.

Ad creative

My amazing team at InVision created this delightful 15-second billboard that ran for a month in the San Francisco Caltrain station. I'm so proud of how it turned out—and it was beyond cool to see our work in the wild.

Big thanks to my husband for being a good sport. Yes, his name is Todd.

Writing

The managing editor’s guide to getting out of the way (Writer’s Room)

Content strategy and information architecture (Writer’s Room)

The future of software sales (OpenView)

Meet the illustrator behind Duolingo’s crying owl (Inside Design)

The robots are coming: major trends from SXSW (Inside Design)

It’s official: your home needs a slide (Huffington Post)

Sundays at 4 (named an Editor’s Pick on Medium)

Social media ads

I worked with the brilliant folks at Thinkmojo to create these two animated shorts for InVision’s social media accounts. Able to stand on their own, they were meant to do two things: 1. encourage people to click to read the accompanying InVision Inside Design article 2. build brand affinity with designers.

Speaking and guest appearances

Voicemails

2023

Content, Briefly