Sasha O'Malley Email & Phone Number

San Francisco Bay Area

During my first interviews at the company, I cautiously suggested rebranding because the current look and feel didn't match the product or vision. When it became clear that marketing leadership was on the same page, we were off to the races. As a strategic design lead on every aspect of the company's rebrand, I'm playing a pivotal role in personality research, concept, design, and implementation of a cutting edge generative approach.

High and Tight began as a side project that allowed me to continue doing social impact design work while pursuing a graduate degree at Pratt Institute. It's evolved into a vibrant consultancy that yields challenging opportunites on both commercial and large scale cause marketing campaigns, and keeps me busy with stimulating side projects when I'm on contract or employed full time with another agency. Sometimes it's my full time taskmaster, and others it's a way be be a professional do-gooder while pursuing more commercial opportunities.Clients include Design Week Mexico, Columbia University, UCSF (University of California, San Francisco), NYC Dept of Health and Mental Hygiene, the MIX Experimental Film Festival, the San Francisco AIDS Foundation, and Lambda Legal.

Greater New York City Area

Probably the best thing about my job are the opportunities to make small, grassroots organizations look just as sophisticated and smart as a well-funded institution. This went double for TA because, as an avid cyclist and public transit advocate, the mission is so important to me.During my tenure, I polished and updated the brand, developed a functional and resonant visual vocabulary, oversaw the rollout across all community touchpoints, and played a key role in streamlining a scattered digital presence. I also rebranded our series of cycling events, produced illustration and digital design for a key activist campaign, and worked with the development team to research, wireframe, design, and test our emerging activism platform: campaigns.transalt.org.That's a lot of work for 14 months, eh? I worked my share of 60hr weeks, that's for sure. When I was finished, I took a 6 month sabbatical travelling – often by bicycle – in Mexico...

San Francisco, Ca

You know what's awesome? Teaching and mentoring some of the best and brightest high school artists in San Francisco. You know what's even MORE awesome? Cultivating excitement, ideation and activism through art. Serving as a Mentor for YBCA'S Changing Discourse Through Media allowed me to do both. And it taught me a few things about the joys of guiding a campaign to fruition – as opposed to producing the artwork and ideas directly.

New York, Ny And San Francisco, Ca

When I came on board, Halogen was a digital + social media agency with a client roster of Fortune 500 CPG and tech brands. Then they took the red pill, and several months later emerged an enterprise-level social media influencer marketing platform. I developed digital and social media strategy for Fortune 500 clients, and created the corollary apps, microsites and other digital products to support those campaigns. As the company phased out creative services and focused more exclusively on their tech offering, I had the opportunity to rebrand the company website and collateral*, and also contributed to influencer-facing portions of the platform development.*Digital rebrand recognized by AIGA

New York City

Any progress on marriage equality in the last 10 years likely has Lamba Legal to thank: Lambda is the nation's oldest and largest legal organization working for the civil rights of lesbians, gay men, and people with HIV/AIDS. As a design consultant, I produced digital and print educational campaigns, and worked on IA and wireframing for the overhaul of their 10,000+ page website.

New York, Ny

This was the only time in my career that I've ever rebranded an illegal narcotic! The Crystal Meth Working Group was a think tank devoted to combating the most devastating threat to gay men's health since HIV/AIDS. In the late 90s and early aughts, crystal meth was linked to skyrocketing HIV rates among gay men, and many likened it to the second AIDS holocaust. Our work at CMWG centered around two objectives: 1) change the perception of meth as a harmless party drug and rebrand it as more akin to heroin and crack, and 2) generate a grassroots, community-based response to its prevalence by fostering non-judgmental support. Hands down, some of the liveliest board meetings and focus groups I've ever been a part of. This was one of the most challenging and rewarding experiences of my professional life, and the work is still some of my favorite.

San Francisco, Ca

Shortly after encountering one of Stop AIDS Project's more provocative outreach campaigns – the first time a poster ever *actually* changed they way I think about something – I started volunteering like mad and wiggling my way into the organization in any way I could. They had an international reputation among AIDS Service Organizations for cutting edge campaign work, and truly understood the value of good design. I wanted to be a part of it. My persistence paid off, and as the head of the design department, I got my first taste of soup-to-nuts campaign work. I haven't looked back.And oh, hey! One of my projects won an award! Some pretty innovative messaging strategies resulted in a MarCom Platinum Award for “Shining A Light On HIV,” an installation-based multimedia campaign.

San Francisco, Ca

In the heady days of the dot-com bust, this is where I got my first real taste of interactive work. The irony is that most of the work catered to brick and mortar clients: Architects, develpers, and even a little bit of biotech.

Philadelphia, Pa

The most interesting thing to me now about my work as a book designer 20+ years ago is that it laid an excellent foundation for the information architecture and UX thinking I use in digital work today. Preparing layouts and design specifications for huge, multi-volume textbooks is remarkably similar to producing visual designs and production specs for developers. This is largely due to the role of content development inherent to the task. It's about beautiful design work, yes, but mostly it's about creating a functional design system – one that aids comprehension and even navigation through the material.*After 9 months with the company, my boss gave me an unsolicited raise and early promotion. After 2.5 years with the company, they gave me a 4-figure performance award for doing great work.

Master'S, Design And Visual Communication

Activities and Societies: PrattCC, AIGA, Teaching Assistant–Typography

Bachelor'S, Communication Arts And Sciences