Hi, I'm Laurel, a graphic designer who turns complex ideas into clear, compelling visual stories.

I grew up in a small town in Northern Idaho, where community matters and conversations come easily. That grounding shaped how I work: collaboratively, thoughtfully, and with genuine care for the people on the other side of the design. While my roots are small-town, my creative path has taken me a lot of places, both literally and professionally.

I earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Studio Art and Design from the University of Idaho and started my career at REI, where I built a foundation in user-centered thinking, brand systems, and presenting design with clarity and intention. From there I spent two years freelancing, working with local and regional clients on branding, print, and digital design. I learned how to own a project from the first conversation to the final file and how to make design decisions without a team to lean on.

That independence served me well when I joined Lightcast, a global labor market data company, where I've spent the last five years designing work that actually moves the needle.

At Lightcast I've worked across the full creative mix: campaigns, thought leadership, executive presentations, motion, events, data visualization, email, web, and brand. Some of that work lives quietly inside the company. Some of it has traveled further than I expected. The Demographic Drought presentation series I design and maintain has been presented over 500 times in person and watched by 360,000 people on YouTube. The Fault Lines campaign I worked on as primary designer generated over a thousand MQLs and millions in pipeline within its first three months. I don't share those numbers to brag. I share them because I think design should do something, and it's meaningful when it does.

What I care most about is making things clear. Whether it's a data-heavy report, an executive deck, a campaign built to run nationwide, or an email that actually gets opened, good design should make the audience feel like the idea was always that simple.