The Colorful, Retro Designs of Jessica Walsh

The NYC-based graphic designer Jessica Walsh works primarily on website design, art installations, branding, and typography. Her work blends painting, handcraft, and photography with digital design and she describes her style as “bold, emotional, and provocative”. Walsh has worked on projects for clients such as Aizone, Levi’s, Colab Eyewear, Adobe, The Jewish Museum of New York, and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum. 

Walsh graduated from RISD in 2008 and moved to NYC to intern at the design firm Pentagram. After staying at Pentagram for nearly a year, she worked at Print magazine as an associate art director. During this time, Walsh discovered and developed her own personal style while her illustrations and designs were featured in various newspapers, books, and magazines such as the New York Times and New York Times Magazine. 

In 2010, Walsh was offered a job at the studio of Stefan Sagmeister, Sagmeister Inc. At age 25, after working at the firm for two years, Walsh became a partner and the name of the studio was changed to Sagmeister & Walsh. Recently, in July 2019, Walsh left Sagmeister & Walsh to form her own studio, & Walsh. However, Walsh continues to work with Sagmeister as the new company will include collaborations between the former partners and many clients will move to the new studio. & Walsh is one of 36 female-led creative studios in the United States and represents the fulfillment of Walsh’s dream as a teen to run her own business.

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?Huge, life changing news! ?Today I launch my new creative agency &Walsh @andwalsh ? I’m keeping the same amazing kick-ass creative team (almost 25 of us now!) and the same location on Broadway. We have a new branding, name & vision for this new chapter. We have big plans for the future of the &Walsh. In the last few years I’ve focused on fine tuning our processes and capabilities in brand strategy, identity, campaigns, commercials, social media programs, and more. We’ve moved beyond design & art direction into deeper strategy and brand development work. We work with brands in early stages to help shape advise on the products, identity target audiences, and shape the brand from the ground up. We’ve been incredibly privileged to land some of the biggest and most exciting accounts. Our team has done branding & advertising work for companies such as Snapchat, Apple, Beats by Dre, Kenzo, among many others. ? If you want to read the full story, head over to our new blog where I talk in depth about why I started &Walsh, and our vision for the future ? Link in bio ? Swipe right to see some of our new branding, and one of my favorite animations at the very end on slide 10 ? Check out our site andwalsh.com to see our latest work, and the full &Walsh branding case study. Follow us on @andwalsh for updates ??I could not have done this without our incredible &Walsh team who worked so hard these last months on the new branding, website & photography, our team is the ABSOLUTE BEST ? @lwalsh523, @suenos_guajiros, @allisontraich, @oldstephanie, @gabrielanamie, @badjudgeofcharacter, @racheldenti, @so_ominjung, @pedroveneziano, @mattroop, @katyayanisingh, @danaeconleche, @sasykmihal, @slobzheninov, @sarahhopp13, @fluxahedra, @kitronzn, @ragininath12, @joeowens.co @carlosbocai @oscar.maia.design & some animations in collab with @flvio.cc @lukeguyer @twoandtall @luigihonorat ? Slide 10 3d make up art by @ines.alpha and filmed by @zakmulligan color by @randco

A post shared by Jessica Walsh (@jessicavwalsh) on Jul 24, 2019 at 6:00am PDT

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As fun as it’s been running a growing agency of 25 and trying to be too many things: creative director, executive producer, director of operations, managing director, HR & finance manager, it’s time to start recruiting more senior level help at @andwalsh so that one day, I can do something besides work 24/7 ??? We’re looking/interviewing for various possible senior roles. We won’t be hiring all these roles all at once, but we’ll be interviewing and when the time is right or when we meet the right person we’ll grow our team to accommodate. Director of Operations (or potentially Managing Director) Execute strategic direction of the company + oversee agency operations and performance. Lead opportunities to increase efficiencies and processes across our business. Analyze opportunities for growth in market to drive profit. PM/Producer Looking for an additional project manager / producer to add to our production team. At least 2-3 years relevant experience in production required. Art Director / Design Director / Associate Creative Director : Looking for someone with excellent creative taste in advertising/branding who has minimum 2-3 years experience leading/managing creative teams, mentoring creatives, and working with clients. Must have an understanding of the production process, and strong understanding of how to execute work on strategy and in budget. Freelance Strategist: Looking for insanely smart strategist interested in freelance work who can support my incredibly talented sister @lwalsh523 (&walsh head of strategy) when we’re busy. Potential to turn full time one day if interested/ if the time is right. Also, while not senior, still looking for a Studio / Executive Assistant If you or anyone you know is interested, please tag them or forward this message! And please apply to team@andwalsh.com with your website (for creative role) and resume / or linked in (all other roles)

A post shared by Jessica Walsh (@jessicavwalsh) on Sep 13, 2019 at 12:55pm PDT

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Have you ever had something unfortunate happen when you were trying to do something good and while it wasn’t your fault and you couldn’t have foreseen it— your kicking yourself for it anyways bc maybe you should have been able to see it? And even though what happened is by no means the end of the world, and everyone tells you it’s not a big deal at all, you let it take over your world for a few days as you play the situation over and over in your head and agonize about it ? That’s me right now ?And my amazing baby sister @lwalsh523 is getting married on Monday and I want to shake these negative thoughts and be in the best mindset. Any advice on how to beat the anxiety playing on repeat?

A post shared by Jessica Walsh (@jessicavwalsh) on Sep 21, 2019 at 5:58am PDT

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If someone screws you, you don’t have to forgive and forget, it’s okay to be really fucking angry as part of the healing process ? agree or disagree?

A post shared by Jessica Walsh (@jessicavwalsh) on Nov 3, 2019 at 8:57am PST

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In my personal opinion, if you don’t like someone on the internet, just unfollow them. I am not saying we shouldn’t hold ourselves/others accountable and challenge people’s opinions or behaviors that are problematic. If people do something offensive, it can be productive to engage in a healthy dialogue and give constructive criticism. However hating/trolling/messages that simply tear down people’s entire being and self for slip ups or mistakes or for sometimes nothing at all (successful women get this all the time especially) seems so unproductive & cruel, and a waste of good energy. Ive found its so much more productive to use that energy towards creating the work or ideas or projects you wish to see in the world. I’m exhausted these days of watching people on the internet assaulting other peoples character or “canceling” people or tweeting hurtful assaults without knowing or trying to learn the full context of the situation. While there are actually real forces of evil out there and much bigger battles we should be fighting. It’s as if the internet is just waiting for the next person to pounce on to pile on their own shit and baggage in the form of hate messages, to feel better about themselves. Everyone goes through shit and hard times and personal battles. It doesn’t matter how successful or happy someone seems or how many followers someone has on the internet you never know what’s going on in their personal life or how tough they have it or what they are going through in one moment. I personally really hope moving in to 2020 to see more empathy and kindness in how people treat each other on the internet. This is not in response to one event just many things I’ve witnessed this past year that make me feel sick. Anyone else have thoughts on this?

A post shared by Jessica Walsh (@jessicavwalsh) on Sep 26, 2019 at 5:32am PDT