Hey there. 👋🏻 I’m Darsey Landoe, an art director and designer in Portland, Oregon. I make useful things for folks who are doing interesting and important work.

I work in publications to tell stories in print form. I’ve designed large-scale exhibits and environments for arts and cultural organizations, apartment buildings and fundraising events. I create brand collateral and campaigns for non-profits, B-corps, and small and large businesses. And I do web and digital work—I’ve crafted Squarespace sites, worked on teams for more robust projects, and made all sorts of graphics for social media.

I’m fastidious, too. I create timelines, balance budgets and hit milestones. I drive projects forward and stay on top of details. And honestly, I’m great in person. I really like people, and I thrive in long-term relationships.

Right now, I’m looking to partner with creative teams, designers, or one-on-one with clients. So get in touch. 📨 Let’s tell your story together.

PUBLICATIONS

I love creating page-turning, hand-held print pieces that linger on a coffee table. For both Oregon Humanities magazine and University of Portland’s Portland magazine, I’ve collaborated with loads of illustrators, led photo shoots, and art directed talented creatives, all while designing and managing magazine production from start to finish as the sole designer.

I’ve also created gallery exhibition catalogs and books, annual reports, long-form brochures, booklets for events, and a cookbook. My love of publications is ultimately a love of print, an expertise that I continue to hone even after working in it for almost 20 years. Print is slow design, in a way. It’s a good fit for me.

📸 Ben Sellon for Portland magazine

🎨 Melissa McFeeters for Portland magazine

🎨 Allie Yacina for Oregon Humanities magazine

🎨 Violet Reed for Portland magazine

🖼️ Catalog for Embodied exhibition at Blue Sky Gallery

📸 JoJo Baccam for Oregon Humanities magazine

🖥️ Photo composition for Portland magazine

📖 Layout for Oregon Humanities magazine

📖 Layout for Portland magazine

🖥️ Photo composition for Portland magazine

🎨 Mary Katsilometes-Reinbold in Portland magazine

🎨 Bologna Sandwich for Portland magazine

✂️ Rob Lewis for Oregon Humanities magazine

✂️ Kellette Elliott for Oregon Humanities magazine

🖥️ Photo composition for Oregon Humanities magazine

📸 Ben Sellon for Oregon Humanities magazine

📸 Sandee McGee for Oregon Humanities magazine

ENVIRONMENTS AND EXHIBITS

Large-scale design projects give me the opportunity to exercise my detail-obsessed tendencies, because I have this sense that the stakes are higher when the final product is bigger. 😂 I’ve created exhibit designs for Portland Japanese Garden, Mercy Corps and Oregon Historical Society. I’ve designed billboards and apartment building signage. I’ve even branded and built out a coworking shop that I founded, expanded, and sold.

I’m probably most proud of the environments I’ve helped create for The Women’s Bakery, a social enterprise based in East Africa. Because of the challenging time difference and my limited language, I’ve had to pass off files to be completed by production folks based in Rwanda, and I’m always blown away by the ingenuity they employ to bring something to life.

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🔨 Pep Coworking Shop, which I founded, built, branded and sold

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BRAND COLLATERAL AND CAMPAIGNS

The bits that make up a brand—logos, icons, brochures, cards, podcast lock-ups, advertisements, one sheets, direct mail, event pieces—are a large part of what I offer. This is the juicy fun stuff that helps a brand develop roots among its viewers, and it’s what keeps me committed to my clients long-term.

Fully (acquired by Herman Miller)

WEB AND DIGITAL

Web work extends my storytelling abilities to the digital space. I’ve created loads of custom sites in Squarespace over the years, which gives me lots of creative flexibility while allowing me to hand over the keys to my clients when I’m done.

I’ve also created email templates, podcast identities, and social media elements for various clients. Occasionally I’ve been part of teams to create more robust websites, working on designs for developers bring to life.