Malissa Smith

Malissa Smith

Brand designer, illustrator in NYC, she/her

About

I’m Malissa—Mal for short.

I’m a full-stack brand designer and illustrator who’s spent the last 10+ years building brand systems across consumer, tech, enterprise, CPG and more. You name it, I’ve probably done it. Or will figure out how to.
 
In work and in life, the opportunities that excite me the most are ones that stretch me creatively challenge me to grow, and feed my appetite for taking (healthy) risks every now and then.

Contact

Website
LinkedIn
Instagram
Are.na

Projects

2022

The Long Distance Tour is a visual, verbal, and auditory homage to the formative songs of one couple’s journey to falling in love while being long-distance.

2022

Improving the user experience by bridging the gap between brand and product.

2021

Evernorth is a health services brand on a mission to redefine healthcare. Our goal was to create an identity that was as inspired and purposeful as Evernorth itself.

Side Projects

Ongoing

WDWD was born as a way for my friend and I to use our skills for good and support the organizations doing the real work. The concept is simple: we draw you a custom illustration in return for cash, then we’ll donate 100% of that money to a nonprofit.

To date, we’ve received 100+ requests and have donated over $18,000 for The Loveland Foundation, Campaign Zero, and Stop AAPI Hate.

2022

Succession—isms is a passion project, and my ongoing effort to capture some of the most iconic quotes and moments spanning the four seasons. All writing is property of HBO :)

2020

With so much hingeing on the 2020 election, I wanted to put my creativity to good use and challenge myself to 30 days of hand-lettered VOTES.

Work Experience

2022 — Now
Design Director at Freelance
NYC

Designing holistic, scalable, end-to-end brand systems for a range of private clients. My scopes typically include developing brand strategies, conducting user and industry research, brand design and creative direction, illustration, packaging, and developing brand guidelines.

Clients: Subject to confidentiality; please inquire directly

2022 — 2022
NYC

Led several internal and external initiatives in a hybrid brand/product design role. Projects included in-product brand strategy of Link, Stripe’s first-ever consumer-facing product, and a company-wide internal rebrand. Impacted by team-wide layoffs.

2021 — 2022
NYC

Partnered with writers, strategists, product designers, UX designers, and consultants to drive visual design and lead end-to-end brand projects for some of our largest global clients. Frequently contributed to our pro-bono initiative Make/Good, which provides design resources to minority-owned businesses. Promoted in role to manage junior designers and interns.

Clients: Alcon, Cigna, Dunkin’, Evernorth, Fierce Finance, and more

2020 — 2021
2018 — 2020
Senior Designer at Freelance
NYC

I developed brand identity, art direction, illustration, packaging, and digital content for several global clients. I helped develop and launch the brand and packaging system for Target’s in-house brand Good & Gather, which included 7,000+ SKUs.

Clients: Anheuser Busch, Burger King, Candid, Cole Haan, Jones Knowles Ritchie, Paperless Post, Target, and more

2017 — 2018
NYC

Owned and executed creative for all monthly subscription boxes, and oversaw all design requests for the e-comm shop. Partnered with our product dev team to launch three private labels, for which I led the design and art direction as the sole designer.

2015 — 2017
Brooklyn

Branding, packaging, social content, and marketing campaigns for some of our largest accounts.

Clients: Happy Family, The New York City Marathon, Noosa Yoghurt, The Williamsburg Hotel, Vita Coco, and more

2013 — 2015
Graphic Designer at Freelance
NYC

Branding, infographics, illustration, hand-lettering, event and experiential design, and marketing/sales materials.

Clients: AT&T, TiVo, Mount Sinai, Amnesty International, Weizmann Institute of Science