Steven
McDonald

Hello!

It all started with middle school Computer Club in Hinesburg, Vermont in the early nineties. My dad was a software engineer, my mom had a degree in art, and I landed somewhere between the two. But what truly set my creative career in motion was snowboarding. Growing up in Vermont in the late 80s, snowboarding erupted right out of my backyard (Burton), and the culture was impossible to ignore. From a young age, I knew I wanted to design snowboard graphics, and that dream would end up shaping my entire life, even years later and far from the mountains.

To get there, I spent two years at a technical high school studying Graphic Design, Printing and Bindery, then earned my associates degree in Graphic Design at the Art Institute of California, San Francisco. From there, I moved back to Vermont to live out my design dream with an internship at Rome Snowboards, where I worked for a year and a half.

After some time back east, I moved to Portland, Oregon to chase snow and a larger design scene. I worked in a print production facility, then landed my first full-time design role at Generation Creative working with design for a number of ski and lifestyle brands. Then I migrated to Stockholm, a city I worked in for 15 years and ended up calling home. I worked at some of Sweden's best agencies, went deep into digital work and content creation, built and launched my own app on the Apple Store from the ground up, and in 2018 founded Steve Studio, my own consultancy. Over eight years, I worked with some remarkable clients, including Klarna, one of Europe's leading fintech companies, and Goodbye Kansas Studios, where I served as Head of Creative on cinematic productions for some of the world's biggest AAA video games and TV series.

Today I'm back in Vermont, channeling that entire journey, from offset printing to world-class cinematic production, into a focused practice at the intersection of marketing, brand strategy, and AI-powered workflows.

It's been anything but a straight line, but I've come to see that as my superpower. It's led me to wonderful, inspiring, talented people, and helped me grow in ways I never expected.

Thanks for stopping by!