About

Hi there! I'm Morgan.

With 10+ years of industry experience, I help companies evolve and scale their brand to optimize customer and user touchpoints and drive business results.

Designer,
do-er,
creative leader.

Hi! I'm a Creative Director and Brand Design Lead based in Chicago, IL. I'm currently leading the brand design team at Metaplane, a Series A data observability platform where I'm evolving and scaling their brand.

Previously I've built brand design identities and systems, art directed illustration initiatives, creative directed video and motion projects, led marketing web design, co-founded a branding and strategy agency, and headed marketing design.

In my free time, I like traveling the world with my husband, exploring trails urban and remote with our two dogs, and making all the things: food, jokes, photos, lists, plans.

Experience

NOV 2023 – Present

Lead Brand Designer

METAPLaNe

Defining and scaling the brand for Metaplane — a powerful data observability platform — across all web, digital, motion, and physical touchpoints.

  • Own and drive all brand design touchpoints, applications, and outputs
  • Define the brand platform and brand design system including full color palette, typography, layouts, icons, voice/tone
  • Manage and creative or art direct external creative partners to ensure cohesive branding and marketing materials
  • Engage in direct collaboration and communication with C-Suite executives and co-founders
  • Collaborate directly with other marketing leads on cross-functional initiatives (content, growth, product marketing, events, etc)
NOV 2021 – NOV 2023

Creative Director / Brand Design Lead

BIGEYE

Evolving and scaling the brand for Bigeye, a category-leading data observability startup helping you find and fix data issues before they break your business.

  • Led the definition and validation of the visual identity and brand characteristics.
  • Guide how the brand scales and is applied across multiple touch points, both digital and print.
  • Oversee and direct external creative partners to ensure cohesive branding and marketing materials.
  • Created comprehensive brand guidelines and design system to maintain consistency and enhance brand recognition.
  • Engage in direct collaboration and communication with high-level stakeholders, including Directors and C-Suite executives.
APRIL 2019 – NOV 2021

Senior Brand Designer

STACK OVERFLOW

Advancing trusted brand for broader community and business impact at Stack Overflow — a community platform that empowers the world to develop technology through collective knowledge.

  • Developed and executed design strategies for diverse brand touch points and campaigns, ensuring a consistent brand identity across multiple product lines that contributed to a $1.8b acquisition in 2021
  • Collaborated closely with cross-functional teams (Marketing, Engineering, Product, and Product Design), presenting work to internal and external partners, including senior management.
  • Directed and guided external creative partners, such as illustrators, animators, and creative studios, to deliver high-quality artwork.
JAN 2018 - MAY 2019

Head of Design

TWO LABS CREATIVE

Served as Head of Design for a small branding and strategy studio focused on visual and verbal storytelling for small-to-midsize companies.

  • Directed the design arm of the studio, inclusive of: branding, web design, print/digital design, brand strategy, and art direction services.
  • Collaborated extensively with co-founders to drive growth for clients, and enhance value through strategic positioning, authentic storytelling, and intentional design.
MAY 2016 – MARCH 2017

Brand Manager and Contract Graphic Designer

WATER FOR PEOPLE

Led marketing design for Water For People — a global nonprofit working across nine countries in Latin America, Asia, and Africa to address the global water crisis and equip communities with lasting access to clean water and sanitation services – for Everyone, Forever.

  • Ensured brand consistency across all digital and print materials by designing impactful collateral for the marketing team
  • Played a key role in campaign initiatives by collaborating closely with the Marketing team
aug 2015 – may 2016

Marketing Design Manager

Photobucket

Marketing design and product photography for Photobucket, a community photo-sharing website, where I designed and launched the first e-commerce arm for the company.

  • Led the conceptualization, design, and art direction of all digital marketing materials for Photobucket’s Print Shop, encompassing email, web, and social assets, as well as website and app design
  • Played a pivotal role in brand development and maintenance efforts; executed product photography tasks
OCT 2014 – PRESENT

Freelance Creative Director/Brand Designer

MORGAN MCCARTY

Freelance branding, design, and photography for small businesses and creative individuals. Read: a way to do fun stuff off the clock and without much supervision. Still waiting for my first wine label commission.

  • Provide freelance creative, design, strategy, and branding services to small businesses and creative individuals
  • Consult on brand strategy and provide design and art direction for digital and print

How I work

Empathy

I believe in leading with empathy and approaching all of my relationships with an open mind and heart. Branding and design require empathy to be successful.

Positivity

Work gets messy. I strive to bring warmth and positivity into each interaction. I find that by being realistic about the task at hand, we can craft productive outcomes.

Strategy

Have loosely held opinions, validate hypotheses and assumptions, and align jobs to be done with business needs. Design as a tool for success, Brand as its guidebook.

My inbox is always open.

Contact me

Morgan McCarty is a creative director and lead brand designer with 10+ years of industry experience. Contact me for new opportunities.

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