Senior Brand Designer crafting identity systems & marketing creative

Multidisciplinary designer specializing in identity development, creative direction, and marketing production. Currently at Uncommon Goods, previously Jonathan Adler.

Talia Malchin

In-house experience

Senior Designer · 2025–Present

Uncommon Goods

Leading brand systems, marketing creative, packaging design, illustration, and motion for a design-driven e-commerce brand.

Brand Systems Marketing Packaging Illustration
Project imagery
Senior Brand Designer · 2022–2025

Jonathan Adler

Led creative for campaigns, retail signage, seasonal catalogs, and brand systems for a luxury home décor brand.

Brand Systems Catalog Design Marketing Retail Signage
Project imagery

Freelance & agency

Wild Signal

2025

Brand identity, iconography, marketing creative, and deck design for an emerging tech startup.

Lalou

2025

Illustration, product wireframes, and welcome screen design for a consumer app.

Quip

2020

Landing page design, styled product photography, and social animations via Wix Playground.

Chea Seed

2022

Web design, product demo videos, and motion graphics for a sustainable food brand.

Natural History Museum

2021

Brand identity rebrand, team leadership, and presentation design as student project lead.

Picked Fruit

2022

Founded personal brand exploring playful design through handmade goods.

Things I love

The quiet elegance of vintage typography — something about hand-lettered signage feels so intentional and warm.

Brutalist architecture in Tokyo — the raw concrete and bold geometric forms feel both imposing and meditative.

70s Italian poster design — the playful use of color and shape feels endlessly fresh and optimistic.

Scandinavian textile patterns — the balance of simplicity and craftsmanship is something I always aspire to.

Hand-thrown ceramics — there's beauty in imperfection, and each piece tells a story of the maker's hand.

The graphic language of old matchbox covers — so much personality packed into such a tiny canvas.

The quiet elegance of vintage typography — something about hand-lettered signage feels so intentional and warm.

Brutalist architecture in Tokyo — the raw concrete and bold geometric forms feel both imposing and meditative.

70s Italian poster design — the playful use of color and shape feels endlessly fresh and optimistic.

Scandinavian textile patterns — the balance of simplicity and craftsmanship is something I always aspire to.

Hand-thrown ceramics — there's beauty in imperfection, and each piece tells a story of the maker's hand.

The graphic language of old matchbox covers — so much personality packed into such a tiny canvas.

Back to work

Uncommon Goods

Building cohesive brand storytelling across marketing channels for a design-driven e-commerce company committed to creative, sustainable products.

Senior Brand Designer
2025 – Present
Creative Team of 12
Brand, Marketing, Packaging
Hero imagery – Campaign creative showcase

Overview

As a Senior Brand Designer at Uncommon Goods, I collaborate closely with art directors, merchandisers, photographers, copywriters, and product managers to develop impactful creative that tells a cohesive brand story across every customer touchpoint.

Uncommon Goods is a Brooklyn-based e-commerce company known for its curated selection of unique, creative, and sustainable products. The brand has built a loyal following through its commitment to independent makers, thoughtful gifting experiences, and design-forward marketing.

My role bridges strategic thinking with hands-on execution—from developing campaign concepts and pitch decks to producing final assets across email, social, web, and packaging.

Campaign creative sample
Email design sample

My Role

Within the creative department, I serve as one of the senior designers responsible for translating brand strategy into visual execution. I work across the full spectrum of marketing needs while also contributing to longer-term brand evolution projects.

Core Responsibilities

  • Develop strategic moodboards and pitch decks for seasonal campaigns
  • Establish scalable design systems for campaign workflows
  • Create and review production-quality templates for email and web
  • Guide creative direction on major brand initiatives
  • Collaborate with cross-functional teams including merchandising, photography, and engineering
  • Mentor junior designers and provide constructive feedback

Campaign Design

I design and produce marketing campaigns that support performance goals while maintaining the playful, thoughtful voice that defines Uncommon Goods. Each campaign requires balancing sales impact with brand integrity.

My approach focuses on strong visual hierarchy paired with storytelling that highlights product benefits, personalization opportunities, and gifting sentiment. I test and refine creative regularly, using data to inform design decisions while preserving creative intuition.

Campaign creative – full width showcase

Seasonal campaign creative featuring illustration and motion

Illustration & Motion

I evolve Uncommon Goods' design language through expressive illustration and simple motion. These elements add personality to our marketing while maintaining the refined, editorial quality that distinguishes the brand.

My illustration work ranges from custom spot illustrations for email campaigns to larger brand moments for seasonal pushes. Motion work includes social animations, GIF creation for email, and micro-interactions for web experiences.

Illustration sample 1
Illustration sample 2

Product Development: Story of You

I served as lead designer on a cross-functional project for "The Story of You"—a customizable keepsake book that guides customers through creating a personal memoir.

Project Scope

  • Visual direction and editorial layout for 100+ page book
  • Asset production for print and digital
  • UI refinements to streamline the story creation experience
  • Collaboration with engineering on technical constraints
  • Quality assurance across print proofing cycles

Packaging Design

I collaborated with senior leadership to concept, pitch, and design new gift bag options for add-on purchases. The redesigned system offers three sizes with improved structure, using sustainable materials that align with Uncommon Goods' commitment to environmental responsibility.

50+

Campaigns designed

12

Cross-functional collaborators

3

Product launches led

PreviousJonathan AdlerNextWild Signal
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Jonathan Adler

Establishing and scaling design systems for a luxury home décor brand known for bold, joyful design and modern American glamour.

Senior Brand Designer
2022 – 2025
Brand Creative Team
Brand, Editorial, Retail
Hero imagery – Jonathan Adler campaign showcase

Overview

I was the first hire for the in-house Brand Creative design & copy team at Jonathan Adler—a new department directed at unifying and elevating the brand visuals and voice across all customer touchpoints.

Jonathan Adler is a luxury home décor brand built on the philosophy that your home should make you happy. Known for its bold patterns, vibrant colors, and irreverent wit, the brand has become synonymous with modern American glamour.

Joining as the founding designer of a new creative department gave me the rare opportunity to build systems and processes from the ground up while maintaining the high bar of craft the brand is known for.

Building a Department

In addition to keeping up with the weekly marketing production schedule, I worked side-by-side with the department director to establish design processes and workflows, implementing best practices to ensure efficiency, consistency, and scalability.

Systems I Built

  • Template systems for promotional marketing campaigns
  • Brand guidelines documentation for internal and external partners
  • Asset libraries organized by campaign, season, and channel
  • Quality assurance checklists for production workflows
  • Onboarding documentation for new team members

As the team grew, I transitioned from individual contributor to team lead, managing a group of designers while continuing to own high-visibility projects.

Email campaign sample
Social media sample

Seasonal Promotional Design

One of the central roles I played in simplifying our day-to-day workload was developing and implementing templates for promotional marketing campaigns. These graphics serve email, SMS, web, social media, and retail print needs across all JA stores.

My approach involves building out mini brand identities for each campaign—taking inspiration from eye-catching products in our catalog to create cohesive visual systems that engage customers.

Promotional campaign showcase

Selection of seasonal promotional campaigns spanning 2022–2025

Catalog Design

Every season, I collaborated with Jonathan himself to put together a totally customized product catalog exhibiting new, bestselling, and all-time favorite pieces. These 70+ page catalogs go out to over 500,000 existing and prospective customers.

Catalogs Designed

  • Summer 2023
  • Fall 2023
  • Holiday 2023
  • Winter 2024
  • Spring 2024
  • Summer 2024
  • B2B Program Catalog
Catalog spread 1
Catalog spread 2

B2B Program

In effort to increase awareness of our B2B program, I collaborated with senior leadership to create an engaging B2B print catalog and landing page that consolidated and clarified program offerings, resulting in increased partnerships and new client acquisition.

Retail Signage

Beyond digital channels, I designed in-store signage and retail graphics for all Jonathan Adler retail locations—from window displays to interior signage guiding customers through the shopping experience.

Retail signage photo 1
Retail signage photo 2

6

Seasonal catalogs designed

500k+

Catalog recipients

3

Years building the team

PreviousUncommon GoodsNextWild Signal
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Wild Signal

Full digital brand identity for an AI-native communications agency reshaping how brands communicate in the "Citation Economy."

Brand Designer
2025
Identity, Web, Iconography
Wild Signal Agency
IMAGE: Hero brand showcase — logo lockup on dark/light backgrounds with brand pattern

Overview

Wild Signal is a freshly launched, AI-native communications agency founded by experienced industry leaders, aiming to reshape how brands communicate in the "Citation Economy" — blending data-driven insight with creative execution to build intelligent, future-ready brand strategies.

For them, I developed a full digital brand identity: logo, iconography, typography, color palette, and a comprehensive brand kit including usage guidelines. I worked directly with the two founders to ensure the visual system aligned with their strategic vision.

Beyond the core identity, I helped produce on-brand digital assets—from social media graphics to LinkedIn headers and pitch materials—including prepped assets for a major client pitch with clients like American Airlines already on their roster.

IMAGE: Primary logo — full lockup on white
IMAGE: Logo mark on dark green

Logo Exploration

From the start, the team knew they wanted the logo to nod to the brand's initials, WS, but without feeling literal or stiff. The brief was all about finding a mark that communicated trust and innovation, with a subtle sense of playfulness—a visual "wink" that matched their talent for simplifying complex data.

These first-round concepts explore different interpretations of that idea, experimenting with shape and personality to land on something modern, flexible, and distinctly Wild Signal.

IMAGE: Logo exploration grid — 9 concepts showing WS interpretations
IMAGE: Final logo refinement — selected direction with variations

Brand Guide

The completed brand kit delivered to the team includes comprehensive guidelines for logo usage, typography hierarchy, color applications, and iconography. This cohesive, flexible identity system gives Wild Signal a visually professional and unified brand foundation that supports future growth and client-facing touchpoints.

Visit wildsignal.agency →

IMAGE: Brand guide spreads — color palette, typography, logo usage guidelines
PreviousJonathan AdlerNextLalou
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Lalou

Brand identity, illustration system, and product design for a storytelling platform that empowers families to create personalized bedtime stories.

Designer / Illustrator
2025
Illustration, UI, Animation
Lalou
IMAGE: Lalou hero — landing page screenshot or app mockup with illustrations

Overview

Lalou is a new storytelling platform that empowers families to create personalized bedtime stories for their children. I partnered with the agency behind Lalou's product and brand to help establish the visual and creative foundation for this early-stage platform.

My role included developing the brand identity, creating a flexible illustration system, and designing core product and marketing assets. The goal was to build a warm, expressive visual world that felt simple for parents to use and inspiring for children to engage with.

Part of this work involved exploring how AI could enhance the emotional quality of the product. Lalou uses ElevenLabs to generate personalized voiceovers, and I shaped the visual and product direction to support this technology in a natural, intuitive way. The result is a system that combines handcrafted illustration with AI-driven storytelling, giving families a tool that feels both playful and personal.

Illustration Exploration

I explored a wide range of illustration directions to find a balance between expressive, childlike spontaneity and a clean, modern sensibility suitable for a digital product. Early sketches tested variations in line weight, proportions, and styling to define a system flexible enough for story prompts, character moments, and UI surfaces.

IMAGE: Illustration exploration sketches — character style tests
IMAGE: Illustration exploration — environment and object styles

Final Illustrations

With the visual direction approved, I translated the chosen style into a complete illustration set. Each asset was refined for consistency, clarity, and usability across the product ecosystem. The final suite balances personality with functional simplicity, supporting both in-app moments and broader brand storytelling.

IMAGE: Final illustration set — character lineup, scenes, objects

In-App Mockups

Once the illustration language was established, I brought it into early product mockups to visualize how the system would operate within the app. The screens pair simple, intuitive UI with playful visual moments to create an experience that is clear for adults and visually engaging for children.

The inclusion of AI voice generation plays a meaningful role here, giving users a sense of magic and personalization while keeping the interface approachable and lightweight.

IMAGE: App screen — story selection or home
IMAGE: App screen — story playback with illustration

Landing Page

The landing page extends the brand identity into a full marketing environment. It introduces Lalou's purpose, highlights its AI-driven storytelling approach, and guides users through the platform's core features. Layout, typography, and illustration work together to create a friendly and trustworthy first impression.

IMAGE: Full landing page scroll capture
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Quip × Wix Playground

Landing page design, styled product photography, and social animations created as part of the Wix Playground Academy.

Web Designer / Photographer
2020
Wix Playground Academy
Web, Photo, Animation
IMAGE: Quip hero — styled product shot with clean background

Overview

As part of the Wix Playground Academy, myself along with a team of other select design interns learned skills in studio photography and styling, coding, animation, user experience design, production/art direction, and marketing.

This project focused on Quip, a dental company specializing in electric toothbrushes and raising awareness about oral health. Our roles involved creating assets for their product photography, as well as sample landing pages based on a formal brief.

The homepage design offers a look into how Quip can be an amazing gift—not only as a toothbrush, but as a set which includes additional dental tools in beautiful packaging. All photography, animation, and web design is original work.

Product Photography

I styled and photographed the Quip product line with a focus on clean, elevated compositions that highlight the product's minimal aesthetic. Shots range from detailed close-ups to lifestyle arrangements with complementary props.

IMAGE: Product shot — toothbrush on solid background
IMAGE: Product shot — full set with styling props
IMAGE: Lifestyle shot — product in bathroom setting
IMAGE: Detail shot — close-up of brush head

Sample Landing Page

The landing page concept positions Quip as an ideal gift, showcasing the product's elegant packaging and subscription value. Clean typography and generous whitespace let the photography take center stage.

IMAGE: Landing page mockup — "Give the Gift of Quip" hero section
PreviousLalouNextChea Seed
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Chea Seed

Website design and digital marketing for a modern app delivering expert, personalized career coaching on a 100% digital platform.

Web Designer
2022
Chea Seed
Web Design, Marketing
IMAGE: Chea Seed hero — website homepage or app mockup

Overview

Chea Seed is a modern app that delivers expert, personalized career help accessible on a 100% digital platform. In essence, it's a career fitness tracker. The goals and possibilities range from learning to talk yourself up to asking for more money, starting a new job, nailing a performance review, and getting more career satisfaction.

In collaboration with the CEO and lead developer, I got familiar with the app structure, design, and brand personality to create a crisp website including information about the product, the company's inspiring backstory, a blog, and useful resources for those passionate about making the most of their career goals.

Visit cheaseed.com →

Wireframes

The wireframing process established information hierarchy and user flow before moving into high-fidelity design. Each page was mapped to serve both new visitors learning about the product and returning users seeking resources.

IMAGE: Wireframes — homepage, about, resources page layouts
IMAGE: Final website — homepage scroll
IMAGE: Final website — about or features page
PreviousQuipNextNatural History Museum
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Natural History Museum

"Being Los Angeles" — a conceptual exhibit campaign representing LA's diversity through public installation and wayfinding design.

Executive Team Lead
2021
USC Senior Project
Brand, 3D, Art Direction
IMAGE: Being LA hero — deck cover slide or installation render

Overview

My senior year of college, I was nominated alongside three other students as part of the "Executive Team" for the senior class, Special Projects, to spearhead that semester's partnership with the Los Angeles Natural History Museum.

We were presented with a brief from the Museum titled "Becoming Los Angeles" which outlined our aim to represent LA's diversity and wide variety of residents through a temporary exhibit. Historically, the aim of this class is to create real assets and campaigns for clients/partners, but because of the pandemic, our project was purely conceptual.

This allowed us to go all-out. We made LA our gallery space, and the native city architecture and objects as the items on display—seamlessly weaving our message into LA's very residents and everyday lives. The following is the deck we presented to the representative at NHM, which we titled in turn, "Being Los Angeles."

IMAGE: Deck slide — mission statement or approach
IMAGE: Deck slide — project goals

Brand Identity

The visual identity draws from LA's architectural vernacular and cultural diversity. Color and typography choices reflect the city's energy while maintaining museum-quality sophistication.

IMAGE: Style guide — color palette, typography, visual language

Entry Shelter Design

The centerpiece of the exhibit is an architectural entry shelter designed to be placed throughout LA neighborhoods. These structures serve as both wayfinding elements and mini-exhibits, introducing passersby to the "Being LA" narrative.

IMAGE: 3D render — shelter in urban context
IMAGE: 3D render — shelter detail view
IMAGE: 2D plans — shelter technical drawings and graphics application
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Picked Fruit

A personal brand and online store selling handmade crocheted and tufted garments, bags, artwork, and rugs — founded upon honoring the wellbeing of California's farmworkers.

Founder / Designer
2022 – Present
Brand, Web, Photography
10% to CFF
IMAGE: Picked Fruit hero — product flat lay or lifestyle shot

Overview

Picked Fruit is an online store I started over 2 years ago, where I sell my crocheted and tufted garments, bags, artwork, and rugs. Crocheting, and more recently rug tufting, have become obsessive hobbies of mine, and I started this store to share my passion with friends while supporting a cause that's really important to me.

Picked Fruit is founded upon honoring the wellbeing of California's farmworkers. I contribute by donating 10% of all profits to the California Farmworker Foundation (CFF) and continuing to raise awareness for workers' rights.

Visit pickedfruit.com →

Product Photography

All photography is shot and styled in-house. The visual approach emphasizes texture, color, and craftsmanship while maintaining a warm, approachable aesthetic that reflects the handmade nature of each piece.

IMAGE: Product shot — crocheted bag or garment
IMAGE: Product shot — tufted rug detail
IMAGE: Lifestyle shot — product worn or in context
IMAGE: Process shot — making or materials

Website Design

The website balances e-commerce functionality with storytelling about the brand's mission and the handmade process behind each piece.

IMAGE: Website mockups — homepage, product page, about page
PreviousNatural History MuseumView allBack to Work

Nice to meet you.

I'm Talia — a multidisciplinary brand designer based in Brooklyn, New York. I specialize in identity design, storytelling, and art direction, with working knowledge of front-end development and animation.

Currently, I'm a Senior Graphic Designer at Uncommon Goods, where I help bring thoughtful, design-driven storytelling to life across brand and marketing channels. Previously, I worked as the Senior Brand Designer at Jonathan Adler, where I led creative for promotional campaigns, retail signage, seasonal catalogs, and more.

My background spans both in-house and freelance roles, giving me experience building brands from the ground up and collaborating across disciplines to create cohesive, impactful design systems.

I earned my BFA in Design with a minor in Marketing from the Roski School of Art & Design at the University of Southern California. In 2020, I was part of the Wix Playground Academy, an immersive program focused on web design, photography, accessibility, coding, and creative collaboration.

I'm also the founder of Picked Fruit, a personal brand where I explore playful, purpose-driven design through handmade goods and visual storytelling.

Download resume
Talia Malchin
Vintage rotary phone

Let's connect.

I'm always open to connecting, collaborating, or chatting about new creative ideas. Feel free to reach out.

[email protected]