MaryJo Khymber
Brand & Experience Strategist

About Me

I do my best work when something is almost right, but not quite there yet.

For more than sixteen years, I've worked at the intersection of brand strategy, visual design, and experience improvement. No matter the title — Communications Coordinator, Senior Graphic Designer, Visual Content and Branding Lead — my approach has stayed the same: step back, see the whole system, find what's not working, and make it better. On purpose, with intention.

I'm drawn to conferences, retreats, brand experiences, and organizational systems — contexts where design touches real people and where the gap between what something is and what it could be actually matters. My work is rooted in strategic thinking and always connected to the larger brand experience, not just the deliverable in front of me.

I care about design that fits into a larger system. Not one-off pieces, but work that strengthens a brand, supports a team, and holds up across every touchpoint. If you want design that doesn't just look better, but works better, you're in the right place.

Experience

Visual Content and Branding Lead

ICF International, Fairfax, VA
April 2023 - Current
Lead visual strategy and brand integrity for Child Welfare Information Gateway, ensuring all products across print, digital, and client-facing channels meet consistent quality, brand, and accessibility standards. Conduct design reviews across the project and maintain the brand style guide as the work evolves.

Built and launched Brand Central, the project's first centralized hub for all branded templates and resources, a model later adopted by other teams. Presented "PowerPoint: Best Practices" at the Brand Central launch, translating common design review findings into clear, actionable guidance that changed how the team works. Co-led "Digital Housekeeping," a project-wide file cleanup initiative, presenting at an All-Staff meeting and using plain-language framing to help staff understand and act on a complex organizational shift. Brought the National Initiatives branding effort to its fullest expression, with consistent colors, templates, and evergreen products now carrying across all three campaigns year over year.

Also manage the Section 508 remediation program, including budget forecasting, vendor and subcontractor coordination, cross-team communication, and process design for pre-remediation workflows. Contribute to strategic planning and build team capacity through training, mentorship, and ongoing design feedback.

Senior Graphic Designer

ICF International, Fairfax, VA
March 2021 - April 2023
Led visual design for Information Gateway's digital modernization efforts across five websites, creating 70+ color comps in Sketch and presenting design concepts to client stakeholders and leadership. Established a cross-functional Special Initiatives workgroup to standardize processes across three national campaigns, and continued the multi-year shift toward consistent initiative branding, developing templates and evergreen products that increased brand recognition and reduced the level of effort for web updates each year. Built a Power BI dashboard to track publication downloads and orders, then worked with the data team to ensure all project dashboards were visually on-brand, reducing the effort needed to use charts and graphs in reports and presentations. Continued to evolve the Information Gateway brand system across print, digital, and web touchpoints.

Graphic Designer

ICF International, Fairfax, VA
October 2018 - March 2021
Joined as the project's first in-house graphic designer and immediately expanded the role beyond production. Proposed and led a full rebrand of Information Gateway's visual identity in partnership with ICF Next — building the brand style guide and template system from scratch and presenting the new resources to the full project at an All-Hands meeting. Began the multi-year work of standardizing branding across three National Initiatives, initiating conversations with clients to move away from year-over-year color changes toward consistent identities that could carry forward. Completed 508 remediation for 85+ files in the first year, building team capacity by training colleagues on the process. Was part of the initial team that implemented the Digital Asset Management system, helping establish the folder structure, search features, and keyword framework. Designed and managed 40+ graphic requests annually while collaborating across every team on the project.

Sales Associate

Red Barn Mercantile, Alexandria, VA
November 2017 - October 2018
Customer-facing role at a curated boutique in Old Town Alexandria known for its high-quality furniture, gifts, and carefully sourced finds from around the world. Noticed that the sample checkout form was outdated and off-brand — inconsistent with the store's commitment to quality at every touchpoint — and redesigned it to match the shop's standards. Also created hold tags to match the brand, and completed additional design work for the owner including hang tags and a gift registry form. The context was small, but the instinct was the same: when a brand experience has a gap, fill it.
 

Senior Graphic Designer

Fairfax Community Church, Fairfax, VA
January 2015 - October 2017
Led visual design and brand strategy across print, digital, and environmental touchpoints for a large multi-campus church. Served as project lead for a logo and brand materials redesign in partnership with an external design firm. Developed new identities for two ministries — Fairfax Kids and The Hangar — which were carried through into signage and environmental design for a new building. Collaborated on human-centered design projects including the GroupLink Starter Kit, a complete rethinking of how small groups launch — from evaluation and concept through production and distribution.

Communications Coordinator

Columbia Baptist Church, Falls Church, VA
January 2011 - December 2014
Oversaw all communications for a congregation of 3,000, managing a $200,000 budget and every channel from the website to large-format outdoor signage. Led a full brand and bulletin redesign in coordination with an external branding firm, solving a real operational problem in the process. The previous system required multiple inserts and separate bulletins for each service; the redesign consolidated everything into a single color-printed shell that reduced printing costs and simplified production. Also oversaw signage design and installation for a second campus, and managed communications infrastructure including digital and print production equipment.

Sales Associate

Matthew’s Hallmark, Christiansburg, VA
October 2009 – June 2010

Communications Coordinator

Vision San Diego, San Diego, CA
August 2007 – July 2009
Supported communications and design for a community-focused nonprofit. Designed volunteer t-shirts, created the layout template for the organization's monthly print newsletter and maintained it through regular updates, and contributed written stories alongside design work. Helped map out the launch system for the Faith in Action Xtreme initiative — designing the logo, promotional materials, and a church resource binder structured to make it easy for partner congregations to get involved and take action.

Education

MPS in Business of Art and Design

Maryland Institute College of Art (2014)

BA in Communications Studies

Gardner-Webb University (2007)