Take a quick guess at how many creative agencies are owned by women.
If you guessed anything north of .1%, you’ve overestimated.
At Anastasia Salazar Design Ltd., we’re proud to be part of that .1%. We’re woman-founded, woman-owned, and our amazing staff is made up entirely of women. But we know that this is the exception rather than the rule.
Despite how many women work in creative fields, there are remarkably few women-owned creative agencies — and the design world needs to think about how and why that’s happened. While I know our agency can’t fix the system alone, women's empowerment is one of our core values, and we're committed to doing our part to elevate women leaders, founders, and creative directors.
There are some really talented women-owned creative agencies out there today, and we couldn’t think of a better opportunity to celebrate them than International Women’s Day. Here are a few that we admire — and hopefully, you will too.
1. Cachetejack
Cachetejack is a team of two Spanish illustrators, Nuria Bellver and Raquel Fanjul. While they’re only a two-woman show, they’ve booked major clients like Apple, the New York Times, and Nike. One of their more recent projects was providing illustrations for Burger King’s rebrand. Fast food has gotten more fun and creative with their branding in recent years, but it’s often been from a messaging perspective versus a design perspective (think about how many brands tried to mimic the tone of Wendy’s Twitter account after their snarky responses went viral). Here, Cachetejack brings their playful, quirky visual style to a huge corporate brand. Not only does it look great and work well — it opens the door for other brands to push the envelope on design too.
Ad agency Joan Creative was founded in 2016 by Jaime Robinson and Lisa Clunie, two industry veterans that decided to set up their own shop. The work they do feels very polished and high-end, but there’s also a subtlety to it that differentiates them from other ad agencies. Their sensitivity to art direction and bright, high-flash lighting, make their advertisements feel more like art. They’ve worked with brands like Lucky Charms, Netflix, and Google, which speaks volumes about their ability to nudge big brands into taking risks.
3. Yowie
Philadelphia-based Yowie has a super interesting business model. In addition to providing art direction and interior design services, they’re also a direct-to-consumer company with an online store and brick-and-mortar shop. And while they’re not the first agency to add a D2C component, they are (in my opinion) one of the most impressive. The ecommerce and retail sides of their business add a lot to their brand, and give prospective clients a good feel for the kind of work that they do — you can see in a very tangible way how they approach D2C branding.
4. NORA
NORA is composed of a wife-and-husband duo with a really unique style, defined in large part by the limited color palettes they use across all of their projects. But even though their aesthetic has a distinct feel to it, they manage to tailor their work to each client, which is important — you don’t want to shoehorn too much of your own preferences into somebody else’s brand. Still, many companies seek them out precisely because of their look. It’s cool to see an agency that is able to do their own thing, but make it work across such a wide range of applications.
5. Louise Fili
Louise Filli is a brand designer who works almost exclusively with food products and restaurants, and draws on her own heritage to create designs with an Italian-inspired visual flare. It’s a very niche market, but she’s well-known and respected for it. You’ll often see her work being taught to design students in college. Her style is pretty traditional and old school, which stands out a lot in an age of digital design. I looked up to her studio structure quite a bit when I was starting my own agency — even though she has a team of two other designers, the agency bears her name and banks on its recognition.
As much as I love these women-owned creative agencies, I’d be remiss if I didn’t make a plug for my own. Anastasia Salazar Ltd., which is founded, owned, and staffed all by women, is a visual design and branding agency that helps businesses discover their story and empowers them to share it with the world. With our eye-catching, effective, and flexible brand design, we aim to bring a little bit more beauty into the world each day.
It’s no secret that there’s a lot of work to be done before women reach parity with men in the design world, and it won’t be easy or happen overnight. But by supporting women-owned creative agencies, you can help us get one step closer.
Anastasia Salazar Ltd. is an independent design studio for tailored branding and digital designs. Reach out to learn how we can help you fuel growth and maximize your brand’s impact.