Jessica Walsh

Walsh was born on October 30, 1986, in New YorkRyan & Tina Essmaker, [https://thegreatdiscontent.com/jessica-walsh “Jessica Walsh,”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521070210/https://thegreatdiscontent.com/jessica-walsh |date=2014-05-21 }} The Great Discontent, September 18, 2012. and raised in Ridgefield, Connecticut. She began coding and designing websites at age 11.Scott Rodd, [http://observer.com/2014/04/jessica-walsh-graphic-designer-profile/#axzz324bfL7ST “Font of Youth: Jessica Walsh, Graphic Design's ‘It’ Girl,”] New York Observer, April 10, 2014. After a year of making her own websites and blogs, she made a website for kids to learn how to code using HTML and CSS and to make their own websites. Walsh became interested in coding from building a website homepage for her Neopet. Eventually her website had about 50,000 people visiting per day. She put Google Ads on her site and made a couple thousand dollars per month. This was a turning point for Walsh because she realized she could make money from design and websites. Walsh chose to go an art school to advance her design knowledge.{{cite web |last1=Milman |first1=Debbie |title=Jessica Walsh |url=https://www.designmattersmedia.com/podcast/2013/Jessica-Walsh |website=Design Matters Media |access-date=14 February 2023}} Walsh went on to study graphic design at the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD), where she received a BFA degree in 2008.Laura C. Mallonee, [http://scenemag.com/2014/05/jessica-walsh-art-director-of-sagmeister-walsh/ “Jessica Walsh: Art Director of Sagmeister & Walsh,”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160514171322/http://scenemag.com/2014/05/jessica-walsh-art-director-of-sagmeister-walsh/ |date=2016-05-14 }} Scene magazine, May 2014.{{Cite web|date=Summer 2020|title=Jessica Walsh: The influencer|url=http://eyemagazine.com/feature/article/jessica-walsh-the-influencer|access-date=2021-05-01|website=Eye Magazine}}

After college, Walsh moved to New York City to intern at the design firm Pentagram. She turned down a job at Apple where she was offered nearly $100,000 annually to accept the internship under Paula Scher at Pentagram, where she would stay for nearly a year.Ashleigh Allsopp, [http://www.digitalartsonline.co.uk/news/illustration/interview-jessica-walsh-talks-upcoming-projects-favourite-designs-naked-photo/ “Interview: Jessica Walsh discusses play, her favourite designs, future plans & that photo,”] Digital Arts, May 9, 2013. Walsh has stated that she turned down the Apple job offer because she knew she would be doing one type of design for one client that already had an established look and feel. She knew her goal was to open her own studio and this job was not on the route to her goal.{{Cite web |last=Cohen |first=David |date=24 September 2018 |title=Jessica Walsh: WHY THIS SAGMEISTER & WALSH PARTNER TURNED DOWN AN APPLE GIG EARLY IN HER CAREER. |url=https://www.adweek.com/creativity/this-designer-became-partner-of-sagmeister-walsh-at-age-25/ |access-date=11 February 2023 |website=ADWEEK}} She then worked as an associate art director at Print magazine and had design work and illustrations appear in the New York Times and New York Times Magazine.[http://www.thelmagazine.com/gyrobase/the-envy-index-25-under-25/Content?oid=2196532&storyPage=9 “The Envy Index: 25 Under 25,”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521041102/http://www.thelmagazine.com/gyrobase/the-envy-index-25-under-25/Content?oid=2196532&storyPage=9 |date=2014-05-21 }} The L Magazine, December 7, 2011.Stefan Gruenwedel, [http://www.adobe.com/inspire/2012/12/interview-jessica-walsh.html “Hand-crafted photo illustrations of Jessica Walsh,”] adobe.com, December 2012. In reflections about her time at Print magazine, she identifies it as one of the best things to happen in her career as it was how she found and developed her personal style.{{Cite web|url=https://eyeondesign.aiga.org/the-first-thing-i-ever-designed-how-jessica-walsh-developed-her-distinct-colorful-paper-set-style-at-print/|title=How Jessica Walsh Developed Her Distinct + Colorful Style of Art Direction at Print|last=Morley|first=Madeleine|date=May 29, 2017|website=Eye on Design|access-date=February 14, 2018}}

In February 2010, Jessica Walsh sent Stefan Sagmeister a “super-long, emotional email, unsure of where to go in life.” Walsh had never met Sagmeister before and the email only had the intention of trying to get some guidance. They soon met up and Sagmeister looked through Walsh's portfolio and offered her a job. Two years later in 2012, she became partners with Stefan Sagmeister to form Sagmeister & Walsh. Walsh primarily worked with clients while Sagmeister traveled more and focused on his films.{{Cite web |last=Petit |first=Zachary |date=2016-01-08 |title=The Evolution of Jessica Walsh |url=https://www.printmag.com/design-inspiration/the-evolution-of-jessica-walsh/ |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=PRINT Magazine |language=en-US}} In homage to a nude self-portrait Sagmeister had sent out to announce the formation of his own firm 19 years prior, the new partners released a photo of themselves naked in their office to announce the renaming of the firm to Sagmeister & Walsh.Jim Edwards, [http://www.businessinsider.com/why-this-new-york-design-agency-makes-its-employees-pose-naked-for-official-staff-photos-2013-5?op=1#!KvyxW “Why This New York Design Agency Makes Its Employees Pose Naked For Staff Photos,”] Business Insider, June 2, 2013.

Blending handcraft, photography and painting with digital design,Tina Berglund, [http://radarmagazine.se/people/interview-people/jessica-walsh/ “Jessica Walsh,”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160304060003/http://radarmagazine.se/people/interview-people/jessica-walsh/ |date=2016-03-04 }} Radar, December 4, 2013. Walsh works primarily on branding, typography, website design and art installations. Her style has been described as "bold, emotional and provocative" with the occasional surrealistic flourish,Laura Neilson, [http://www.wearedesignbureau.com/projects/the-inspiration-issue-jessica-walsh/ “Surrealism,”] Design Bureau, August 29, 2013. and her art has been said to look "hand-made and at times quite daring." Walsh and Sagmeister collaborated on Six Things: Sagmeister & Walsh, an exhibition that opened at the Jewish Museum in March 2013, and ran for five months. For the exhibit, an exploration of happiness, they created a sound-activated sculpture and five short films.Anna Carnick, [https://tmagazine.blogs.nytimes.com/2013/03/14/six-things-sagmeister-walsh/?_php=true&_type=blogs&action=click&module=Search®ion=searchResults&mabReward=relbias%3Ar&url=http%3A%2F%2Fquery.nytimes.com%2Fsearch%2Fsitesearch%2F%3Faction%3Dclick%26region%3DMasthead%26pgtype%3DHomepage%26module%3DSearchSubmit%26contentCollection%3DHomepage%26t%3Dqry319%23%2Fjessica+walsh&_r=0 “Six Things: Sagmeister & Walsh,”] T: The New York Times Style Magazine, March 14, 2013.

Walsh has worked on projects for clients including Levi's, Aizone, Adobe and Colab Eyewear,Carey Dunne, [http://www.fastcodesign.com/3027274/innovation-by-design/sagmeister-walsh-compete-in-a-gameshow-to-recreate-adobes-logo “Sagmeister & Walsh Compete In A Gameshow To Re-Create Adobe's Logo,”] Fast Company, March 6, 2014. and rebranding efforts for The Jewish Museum of New York and the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum in Connecticut.Carey Dunne, [http://www.fastcodesign.com/3029868/sagmeister-walsh-rebrand-the-jewish-museum-using-sacred-geometry “Sagmeister & Walsh Rebrand The Jewish Museum, Using Sacred Geometry,”] Fast Company, April 30, 2014. Some other popular clients Walsh has worked with includes. BMW, Snapchat, Barneys New York and Parle Argo, “the Coca-Cola of India.”

In July 2019, Walsh announced she was going to leave Sagmeister & Walsh and forming her own studio, &Walsh. Walsh has said that the studio is a fulfillment of her dreams as a teen to run her own business and the studio will become one of 36 female-led creative studios in the United States.{{Cite web|last=ago|first=Minda Smiley{{!}}6 days|title=Famed Designer Jessica Walsh Starts Her Own Creative Agency|url=https://www.adweek.com/agencies/famed-designer-jessica-walsh-starts-her-own-creative-agency/|access-date=2019-07-30|website=www.adweek.com|date=24 July 2019 |language=en-US}} &Walsh works with brands in early stages.

In 2013, Walsh and fellow designer and friend Tim Goodman decided to date for 40 days to see if they could overcome their relationship issues and fall in love. They documented the social experiment on a website, 40 Days of Dating, launched in July 2013.Michelle Ruiz, [http://www.cosmopolitan.com/celebrity/exclusive/forty-days-of-dating-interview “40 Days of Dating Couple Endorse Lizzy Caplan, Paul Bettany for Movie Version,”] Cosmopolitan, September 25, 2013. The website is a blog and has entries from both Walsh and Goodman everyday answering the same questions throughout the 40 days.

They answered the same questions each day which were;

• Did you see (the other person) today?
• What did y’all do together?
• Did anything interesting happen?
• Did you learn anything new about (the other person)?
• Did you learn anything about yourself?
• How do you feel about this relationship/project right now?
• Is there anything you want to do differently?
• Additional comments?

In support of the blog, which earned more than 5 million unique visitors in less than a year, they appeared in segments on talk shows Today[http://www.today.com/health/longtime-friends-experiment-date-40-days-8C11111046 “Longtime friends experiment, date for 40 days,”] Today, NBC, September 9, 2013. and The View.The View, [http://abc.go.com/shows/the-view/episode-guide/2013-12/13-friday-dec-13-2013 Season 18, Episode 69], ABC, December 13, 2013. In September 2013, Warner Brothers purchased the film rights, with a screenplay to be written by Lorene Scafaria, and Michael Sucsy attached to direct.Eric Dodds, [https://entertainment.time.com/2013/09/19/40-days-online-stars-prepare-for-hollywood-ending/ “’40 Days’ Online Stars Prepare for Hollywood Ending,”] Time, September 19, 2013.Mike Fleming, Jr., [https://deadline.com/2013/09/warner-bros-buys-rights-to-40-days-of-dating-blog-michael-sucsy-to-direct-film-589453/ “Warner Bros Buys Rights To ’40 Days of Dating’ Blog: Michael Sucsy To Direct,”] Deadline Hollywood, September 17, 2013. Walsh and Goodman were to serve as consulting writers on the script, but the rights subsequently lapsed.{{Cite news |last=Robertson |first=Katie |date=2020-01-30 |title=The Work Diary of Jessica Walsh, Designing (and Wining) Woman |language=en-US |work=The New York Times |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2020/01/30/business/smallbusiness/jessica-walsh-work-diary.html |access-date=2023-02-21 |issn=0362-4331}} The two also wrote a book for Abrams, 40 Days of Dating: An Experiment in 2015.

In 2016, Walsh and Goodman began a second project together, which they described as a "12-step experiment designed to open [their] hearts, eyes, and minds". They set up twelve tasks in which they displayed kindness to people and recorded the results. The experiment was live from January 13 to March 15, 2016.{{Cite web|url=http://12kindsofkindness.com/about/|title=About – 12 Kinds of Kindness|website=12kindsofkindness.com|access-date=2019-05-29}}

Walsh has a project called Let's Talk About Mental Health that is on her 12 Kinds of Kindness website. This project tackles the stigma of sharing struggles with mental health. It contains posts of different people's honest accounts of dealing with mental illness. This project was inspired by Walsh's 12 Kinds of Kindness’ Step four: learning to forgive yourself for something in your past. In step four, Walsh writes about her past struggles with anorexia, depression and self-harm. Not only did she share her past struggles but so did her friends and colleagues. She published the stories on the website and invited everyone to add their stories through the website.{{Cite web |last=Jacoby |first=Sarah |title=People Aren't Following This Instagram Account For Its Pretty Pictures |url=https://www.refinery29.com/en-us/2016/01/101512/lets-talk-about-mental-health-jessica-walsh |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=www.refinery29.com |language=en}}

Walsh started Ladies, Wine & Design, a nonprofit organization to encourage women and non-binary people to work together rather than compete, in 2016. Walsh created Ladies, Wine and Design in response to the statistic that in the creative industry only three percent of women are in leadership positions. This organization was born out of Walsh's personal experiences with sexism in the Design Industry, from both men and other women. Ladies, Wine and Design started out as eight women in Walsh's apartment drinking wine, talking about design, and discussing their careers as women in the industry. As of 2022, LWD has grown to have 280+ local chapters around the world. Each chapter is free to join and the events are free and accessible to all. LWD offers free mentorship circles, talks, and networking events around the world. The long term goal for the organization is to take their initiative to underserved high schools to foster the future of women, non-binary and underrepresented people in creative communities.{{Cite web |title=Eye Magazine {{!}} Feature {{!}} Jessica Walsh: The influencer |url=https://www.eyemagazine.com/feature/article/jessica-walsh-the-influencer |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=Eye Magazine |language=en}}

Walsh teaches design and typography at the School of Visual Arts in New York.Michael Silverberg, [http://www.printmag.com/featured/some-uncomfortable-thoughts-about-sagmeister-walshs-new-identity/ “Some Uncomfortable Thoughts About Sagmeister & Walsh's New Identity,”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140621020852/http://www.printmag.com/featured/some-uncomfortable-thoughts-about-sagmeister-walshs-new-identity/ |date=2014-06-21 }} Print, January 23, 2013.[http://www.sva.edu/faculty/jessica-walsh “Our Faculty: Jessica Walsh,”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20190502021100/http://www.sva.edu/faculty/jessica-walsh |date=2019-05-02 }} sva.edu. Accessed May 20, 2014. She is represented by Creative Artists Agency.

Walsh worked on a project throughout the years called #SorryIHaveNoFilter. This project started out when she worked out at Sagmeister&Walsh. The project was based on Walsh's Instagram series with the same name. Now she has the No Filter project on her &Walsh website. This project has continued to grow with her throughout her career.{{Cite web |title=Behance |url=https://www.behance.net/gallery/69229449/Sorry-I-Have-No-Filter?locale=en_US |access-date=2023-02-21 |website=www.behance.net| date=September 2018 }}

• New Star of Design, Computer Arts, 2010[http://www.creativebloq.com/computer-arts/new-stars-design-12098950 “The new stars of design,”] Computer Arts, December 15, 2009.
• Society of Publication Designers award, 2010
• Young Gun Award, Art Directors Club, 2011[http://www.gdusa.com/issue_2013/january/ptw/jessica-walsh.php “People to Watch: Jessica Walsh,”] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140521032859/http://www.gdusa.com/issue_2013/january/ptw/jessica-walsh.php |date=2014-05-21 }} GD USA, January 2013.
• New Visual Artist Award, Print magazine, 2011
• The Envy Index: 25 Under 25, The L Magazine, 2011
• Type Director's Club Award, Les Arts Décoratifs poster, 2012
• Graphis, Design Annual 2012, Gold{{Cite web |title=Levi's Billboard - Graphis |url=https://www.graphis.com/entry/44d25134-4b2f-11e2-a2c9-f23c91dffdec/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=www.graphis.com}}
• 25 People Shaping the Future of Design, Complex, 2013Emily Anne Kuriyama, [http://www.complex.com/art-design/2013/10/future-of-design/stefan-sagmeister-jessica-walsh “25 People Shaping the Future of Design,”] Complex, October 14, 2013.
• People to Watch, GD USA, 2013
• Webby Award, Best Home/Welcome Page, Sagmeister & Walsh, 2014Abigail Tracy, [http://www.inc.com/abigail-tracy/webby-awards-name-best-of-the-internet.html “Webby Awards Honor the Best of the Internet,”] Inc., April 28, 2014.
• Graphis, Photography Annual 2015, Gold{{Cite web |title=Sagmeister & Walsh SVA Subway Posters - Graphis |url=https://www.graphis.com/entry/d94380a2-cc41-4066-8748-df2989596146/ |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=www.graphis.com}}
• Forbes “30 Under 30: Art & Style” List, 2015{{Cite web |title=30 Under 30 - Forbes |url=https://www.forbes.com/30-under-30-2015/#/art-style |access-date=2024-03-04 |website=www.forbes.com}}

Walsh lives in New York City with her husband, cinematographer Zak Mulligan. Walsh's sister, Lauren Walsh, works with Jessica at &Walsh. Lauren helps with running operations and new business. Both Jessica and her sister Lauren suffer from migraines.

{{Reflist|2}}

• [https://andwalsh.com/ &Walsh website]
• [http://www.sagmeisterwalsh.com/ Sagmeister & Walsh website]
• [http://fortydaysofdating.com/ 40 Days of Dating blog]
• [http://www.12kindsofkindness.com 12 Kinds of Kindness website]

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Category:1986 births

Category:Living people

Category:American women graphic designers

Category:American graphic designers

Category:Rhode Island School of Design alumni

Category:School of Visual Arts faculty

Category:Artists from New York City

Category:American women academics

Category:People from Ridgefield, Connecticut

Category:American art directors

Category:21st-century American women