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THEN
Melissa L. Lawson is a graphic designer, digital content producer, and strategist with nearly three decades of experience at the forefront of visual communication, mobile technology, and digital media. A summa cum laude graduate of the New World School of the Arts at the University of Florida, she has built a career defined by creative range, technical depth, and an instinct for emerging platforms, often arriving (fashionably) early to spaces while the industry is still being built.
Melissa’s professional story begins in the earliest days of the commercial web, back when having a website was still a bold statement. In the late 1990s, she served as Art Director and Web Manager for Beautyjungle, an early competitor to Sephora whose website earned a #4 ranking on Fortune Magazine’s Best e-tailer Website Design list in 2000. During that same era she designed the first-ever website for the Chicago Mercantile Exchange and developed B2B digital properties for Miller Lite, getting in on the ground floor of the modern web, pixel by pixel.
From there, Melissa moved into the nascent world of mobile content, before most people had a phone worth putting content on. At Infospace from 2002 to 2007, she managed content strategies and production teams serving an extraordinary roster of clients including Universal Music, MTV, SonyBMG, Universal Pictures, Warner Brothers Studios, MLB, NCAA, T-Mobile, and AT&T/Cingular. She participated in R&D for Samsung’s mobile content division and designed software that adapted media for different handsets. She followed that chapter with a seven-year freelance run as a Mobile Content Director and Digital Strategist, consulting for JupiterMedia (now part of Getty Images), Universal Music, and Warner Bros. Studios, while also working on one of the first-ever Pinterest social media campaigns for McCormick Spices in 2013.
In 2014, Melissa joined mobileforming, LLC as Lead Designer and UX Lead, taking on the lead design role for the Hilton Hotels app, which earned a 2018 Silver at the Best Mobile App Awards for Best Mobile App Design. She served as the liaison between design and development teams, contributed to the company’s internal brand strategy, and conducted UX research for Experian. Unrelated to her work with mobileforming, she also did voice over work for Experian digital ad campaigns.
NOW
Since 2018, Melissa has worked as an independent creative. At PWR New Media she produced email marketing campaigns, digital press releases, infographics, microsites, and landing pages for brands including Oreo, YUM! Foods, Build-a-Bear, and McCormick Spices, alongside ongoing design work for the American Lung Association. Through her own studio, Melissa L. Lawson Design, she now works as a Digital Content Producer and Strategist with clients in healthcare, mental health, and nonprofit sectors, including the American Society of Anesthesiologists (with Ammit Creative), Evolve Youth Services, and independent wellness professionals. Her podcast work was recognized with a 2023 Bronze Trendy Award for Best Association Podcast.