hil short design studio
est. 2025

i have worked with large nonprofits.

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“hil was just what our organization needed: she is attentive, thorough, and easy to work with. her experience and expertise with both nonprofits and the user experience is exactly what our huge redesign needed. she expertly talked everyone through various points of the project, answered any and all of our questions, and guided us towards a better, more cohesive website. plus, we love the playful and clean visuals.”

i have worked with new nonprofits.

brand identity | creative strategy | print and web

“hil short is an extraordinarily talented designer, writer and collaborator. When I launched a unique theatre company dedicated to producing classical plays for a contemporary audience, and doing it one playwright per season, hil came on board at the very start and created a brand so clear and strong that my company has since soared. she is both technically detailed and intuitively bold to provide form and function that grabs attention and sets us apart. in my over fifty years in the professional theatre industry i’ve never come across anyone who can do what hil does. and she’s a delight to meet with! hire her.” —mark, artistic founding director

i have worked on academic grants.

the institute for humanities hired me to design learning materials for their mellon grant. from creative strategy to project execution, i worked on all levels of the grant. blending my experience with the social sciences and graphic design, i talked through ideas with faculty and translated their scholarship into accessible, multimodal learning experiences.

“hil has brought our scholarship to a new audience. i never thought that i was a visual learner, but after working on complex data visuals with hil, i think i might be.”

“this project would not be as strong as it is without hil. we had a lot of ideas and no road map. she was not daunted at all. her curiosity made her an excellent collaborator as we worked through this new idea.”

i have worked with small businesses.

gilly’s lilies hired me because they were frustrated with their web presence and couldn’t get the help they wanted from a bigger company. they felt that their site was static and annoying for their customers. they also wanted to show off their wedding florals and streamline their consultation process. since their approach to their floral designs is seasonal, i emphasized that throughout their website. curating their information to reflect their values, i carefully selected images and wrote copy with the intention of helping customers talk about flowers.

“my site felt so static and i wanted it to feel dynamic and beautiful. hil helped me confidently curate images and arrangements, styled them, wrote compelling copy, and best of all—helped my customers get their flowers!”

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i live and work in chicago, ill