About
Jessica Hische is a lettering artist and New York Times Best-selling author specializing in logo refreshes, books, and other commercial applications. She's worked for clients like Wes Anderson, Lionsgate films, ABC, Target, Apple, Hallmark, and more. She begrudgingly accepts the title of Design Leader, and is credited as founding the modern lettering movement.
Projects
Custom designs for the full suite of Neiman Marcus culinary treats for the 2022 holiday season. The campaign also included dozens of third party product such as glassware, a cookie jar, pajamas, and more.
Logo refresh for Gowalla, beloved tech brand which recently relaunched.
A logo update for the iconic brand Squier, Fender's accessible line of guitars and basses.
Side Projects
An elaborate parallax wedding website chronicling our life and engagement. Featured in countless design publications and referenced as an excellent example of online storytelling. Described by Gawker as "like 2 Wes Anderson movies started fucking each other"
A tutorial website teaching HTML and CSS to non-developers utilizing easy to grasp language and metaphors. At one point taught in Stanford classrooms.
The first daily lettering blog, which began as a tumblr and grew to immense popularity. Every day I drew an illustrative letter, completing 12 alphabets. The letters were/are available to embed in non-commercial websites to "prettify the internet".
Speaking
I've spoken at more than 100 conferences all over the world. This entry links out to the full list on my website which was last updated in 2019
Writing
"A delightful picture book by New York Times bestselling author-illustrator Jessica Hische that follows an inquisitive little letter "u" as she goes on a class field trip to find out all the ways letters are seen and used in the world."
A 375 page deck from my Dark Side of Creative Business workshop which walks through a game-changing framework for pricing creative work that is sane, logical, and humane—it takes into account your specific financial realities and helps establish pricing standards that are unique to your business. A truly wild amount of information is covered in a way that is accessible, practical, and immediately actionable.
New York Times Best-selling children's book which encourages kids to be Kind, Honest, Helpful, etc. while introducing the concept of setting daily intentions and that a little bit of kindness goes a long way.
New York Times Best-selling children's book which encourages kids to be Brave, Strong, Adventuous, etc. while introducing the concept of self-forgiveness and setting daily intentions. Selected for the Dolly Parton Imagination Library.
A showcase of work from sketch to final art as well as instruction about lettering and best practices for vector drafting.
Awards
Adweek Creative 100 is an annual celebration of today's most fascinating innovators, agency leaders, influencers, marketers, and other creative game-changers
Named to Forbes 30 under 30 list in Art & Design for 2 consecutive years
Young Guns is a portfolio-based competition awarding creative professionals 30 years and under, including designers, illustrators, entrepreneurs, and more.
Print Magazine's 30 under 30 annual award
Features
A feature detailing my logo refresh process including questions about why a company would undertake a logo refresh.
Interview on esteemed podcast Design Matters by host Debbie Millman. This is the second episode recorded with Debbie, the first was in 2011.
Industry-wide change starts with designers saying no to unpaid work, and talking to clients about why. Jessica Hische shows us how.
Adapted from my article The Dark Art of Pricing which was then expanded to the Dark Art of Pricing workshop and pdf, available through my website.
Jessica Hische diagrams every move she made in updating Mail Chimp’s identity–with graphic design tricks for making sure a newcomer is actually welcomed.
Work Experience
I’m a lettering artist specializing in logo refreshes + commercial applications operating a small studio in Oakland. I’m also a NYT Best-selling children's book author/illustrator with a new book Who Will U Be? which drops April 11th 2023.
Senior designer for legendary graphic designer Louise Fili whose office specializes in restaurant identities, book design, and elevated packaging.
Freelance designer for Headcase Design, a small studio specializing in elevated art book design for entertainment properties as well as editorial illustration for major publications.