About Anne Litin

Hi. Welcome. I’ve been working on updating my portfolio for probably the last decade. The last few years have been especially transitional as I’ve stepped into new and larger roles. And I’m enjoying finding new ways to talk about myself and my work. So stay tuned. You may see things shifting around here. But in the meantime, here we are.

I’m a creative director, designer, illustrator and brand builder who likes finding the unexpected potential in everyday things. I work across strategy, identity, packaging, campaigns, products, and experiences, where I bring together big-picture thinking and hands-on craft helping brands be more meaningful and memorable.

Curiosity is usually where I start. I’m interested in why people care, what they notice, what they keep, what makes them laugh, and how a good idea can turn something ordinary into something worth paying attention to.
Between design, illustration, building brands and creative directing, I’ve had two decades of a career that has spanned across many categories. I started in graphic design and spent much of my early career working independently across agencies, startups, and global brands—building identities, drawing illustrations, designing typefaces, making posters, and creating campaigns. All while starting a steady stream of self-initiated projects simply because I was curious to see where an idea could go. That path took me through work with brands like Target, Google, Apple, Adobe, HP, Mattel, Nickelodeon, and 3M, alongside smaller brands, artists, and collaborators who were often just as formative. Over time, I felt most connected to building the idea behind the work as much as I was in designing the work itself. That shift naturally pulled me from designer and illustrator into brand building and creative direction.

For the past five years, I’ve been Creative Director at Welly Health PBC, helping grow a design-first first aid brand into a broader lifestyle and wellness brand. My work spans brand strategy, identity, packaging, campaigns, product innovation, art direction, retail, social, experiential, and the systems that connect all of it. I work best somewhere between the big idea and the tiny detail. Defining where a brand should go, then getting close enough to the work to make sure the idea survives all the way through.

A lot of my work starts with something simple: a bandage, a bike, a pickle, a stick from the backyard. I’m drawn to categories people assume are ordinary. I like asking what else they could mean, how they could feel more human, and whether design can turn something functional into something people actually connect with.

Through all of this, my philosophy has stayed fairly simple: care deeply about the idea, obsess over the details, stay curious, and leave enough room for something unexpected to happen.

I live in Minneapolis with my family. I still take on the occasional freelance project, somehow still make things for fun that I know I don’t have time for, and am raising three young kids who provide endless inspriation, questionable art direction, and brutally honest creative feedback.

Featured/Published

Star Tribune - The Joy of Text
Growler issue 73 November 2019
Computer Arts #288 Feb19 - Disrupt your Design Thinking
Ascenders Volume 1 by Capsules Book
Make Good by Ello
Fancy Pop by Pie International
Type Tells Tales by Steven Heller
Lolita: The Story of a Cover Girl by John Bertram
Taiwan Design Magazine - vol.169
Playing with Type, by Rockport Publishing
Travelling Font Salesman
Paper Darts Publishing - Get In If You Want To Live
Dribbble - Design For...Designing Icons
Light Grey Art Lab Blog Interview
Design Work Life - Haikuglyphics
Dwell Magazine - July/August 2013
Communication Arts - Fresh Profile
Design Sponge - Sneak Peek
GOOD - 25 Female Designers and Illustrators We Love
Lettercult - Best of Hand Lettering 2011, 2012
Design Feast - Designers Questionnaire
Yo Freckles - Finnish Design Yearbook
Twin Cities Metro Mag - Type Design in the Twin Cities
Imprint - The Daily Heller
Quipsologies
Artcrank film
Star Tribune - 6 Word Stories with art


Awards

Adobe Creative Resident Grant 2020
Ad Fed 32 Under 32 Winner, 2016
Twin Cities Metro Keeper Award, 2010

Clients

3M
Apple
Best Buy
CocaCola
Dwell
Ecolab
Gerber
Google
Hormel
HP
Mattel
Nickelodeon
PBS
SC Johnson
Sharp
Target
Walmart
Yellow Pages

Agencies

180LA
Addventures
BBDO
Colle+McVoy
Carmichael Lynch
Fame
Hornall Anderson
Life Time
Modern Climate
Mono
Morsekode
Olson
Periscope
Space150
Tunheim
Turner Duckworth
Weber Shandwick
Yamamoto


Exhibitions

From Us - Gamut Gallery 2020
Weirdly Positive//Positively Weird, CO Exhibitions 2019
Her Flag - Landmark Center, St.Paul 2019
Artcrank Minneapolis 2010, 2011, 2012, 2013, 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2021
The Shirt Show - 514 Studios, Mpls 2013, 2014, 2015
Local Food Poster Show - Solar Arts, Mpls 2013, 2014, 2015
Posters and Pints - Uppercut, Mpls 2014, 2015
For the Love of Letters - Hamilton Ink Spot, St.Paul 2015
Seeking Greatness - 212 Gallery, Aspen 2014
Nights and Weekends - Light Grey Art Lab, Mpls 2013
You Are Beautiful - Chicago 2013
Solo show - Chowgirls Parlor, Mpls 2013
Graft - Portland 2013
Hot Party - Light Grey Art Lab, Mpls, 2013
Food & Bev - Chowgirls Parlor, Mpls 2012
Fuel - Cult Status Gallery, Mpls 2012
Artcrank Interbike - Las Vegas 2012
Expletive - Light Grey Art Lab, Mpls 2012
Pokemon Battle Royale - Light Grey Art Lab, Mpls 2012
Inkcicles - Big Table Studio, St.Paul 2011
Design United - Target Headquarters, Mpls 2011
Urban League Academy mural - Mpls 2011
Artisan Activist - Aveda Institute, Mpls 2011
Line: Tshirt Exploration - CO Exhibitions, Mpls 2011
Poster Offensive - Galley, Mpls 2010
Creative Lighting mural - St.Paul 2010
Slanguage: A Portmanshow - MCAD, Mpls 2010
Toys in the Attic - Gallery 112, Mpls 2010

Speaking & Workshops

AIGA, Design Camp workshop, 2026
LAB Talk, Wellness panelist speaker, 2024
AIGA, Portfolio One on One main stage panelist speaker, 2019 
AIGA, Typography workshops, Portfolio One on One, 2011—2013, 2018
AIGA, Passion Projects workshop, Portfolio One on One, 2018
Minneapolis Modern Quilt Guild, Guest speaker, 2017
AIGA, Guest speaker, Luncheon Series, 2016
Minnesota State University Mankato, Visiting artist, guest speaker. 
Handlettering, Iconography, Principles of Design, Sketch & lllustration workshops, 2016
Minneapolis College of Art and Design, Guest speaker, graphic design and typography, 2012—2018
Minneapolis Community and Technical College, Guest speaker, 2015
Souix Falls Design Center, Visiting artist and guest speaker, Chalk Lettering Workshop, 2013

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