SELECTED
WORK
Nina Okafor · art direction and print · Chicago, IL
F
For eleven years I have made things that get printed, folded, and handed to somebody. The screen work came later, and it still borrows everything from the paper work: a grid you can feel, one typeface doing the heavy lifting, and white space treated as an ingredient rather than what is left over.
What follows is six projects. Each one has a client who had to sign off on it, a budget that was smaller than it should have been, and a print run I can still show you.
Cedar & Ash
Identity · 2026
A furniture maker in Asheville. Wordmark cut from the same stencil they burn into the wood.
The Harbor Review
Editorial · 2025
Quarterly journal, 148 pages, two colors. Redesigned the grid so the footnotes stopped fighting the images.
Marlowe Coffee
Packaging · 2025
Twelve origins on one shelf. Each bag reads at four feet, which is where people actually stand.
Pinewood Film Festival
Campaign · 2024
Posters, program, and the wall behind the ticket desk. Printed in three days on a borrowed press.
Granite Insurance
Report · 2024
An annual report that people read. The trick was cutting it from 96 pages to 34.
Vireo Software
Brand system · 2023
One typeface, four sizes, a rule about when to stop. Still in use with no designer on staff.
“Make it plain, then make it beautiful. In that order.”
nina@okafor.studio · +1 312 555 0148 · Chicago, IL
Single HTML file. No external files, no build step.