Kat West
Kat West is a seasoned creative leader with 23 years of experience in graphic design, brand strategy, and art direction. Initially unsure of her career path in college, Kat was encouraged by her mother to pursue graphic design after recognizing that her art was naturally type-driven and combined typography with imagery a seamless foundation for graphic design. She attended Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design, where she fell in love with the discipline and has built a successful career in creative leadership ever since. Today, she serves as a Group Art Supervisor at Woven Health Collective, where she focuses on pharmaceutical marketing work that carries a strong ethical and social purpose, including campaigns supporting mental health awareness and schizophrenia medication education.
Throughout her career, Kat has worked across diverse industries, including health sciences, consumer brands, and the cannabis industry. While working in cannabis marketing, she helped transform an industry with limited design standards into one with elevated, strategic branding and professional visual storytelling. She is known for leading high-performing creative teams, developing brand identities from the ground up, and producing large volumes of marketing and publication design work. Her approach blends business strategy with artistic innovation to ensure that every brand she touches communicates clearly, effectively, and meaningfully to its audience.
Kat is also passionate about creative education and community engagement. She recently participated in a career day presentation for approximately 500 fourth and fifth grade students, where she shared how design influences everyday life and shapes the products and experiences people interact with daily. Based in the Austin metropolitan area, Kat continues to focus on building impactful brands, mentoring creative talent, and creating design solutions that balance aesthetics, strategy, and social responsibility.
• Rocky Mountain College of Art + Design (RMCAD) - BFA, Graphic Design & Multimedia
• Design Awards
• AIGA (American Institute of Graphic Arts)
• Career Day Volunteer for Education
What do you attribute your success to?
I think one thing that is incredibly helpful as a designer is that I am able to change the style of work that I do and not be one-style driven. I can take something and create branding for different audiences - whether it's for male branding, kid branding, or anything else. I really have the ability to see a brand for what it is, and then define its style from there. I think that's rare as graphic designers. I find a lot of designers are incredibly great at one style and build a career from that, but I think I've been more successful being able to be diverse in my style. It's about being adaptable and able to master that change.
What advice would you give to young women entering your industry?
A lot about having passion. You have to care about the work, because it's a... you give a little piece of yourself every time you create something. I think it's important to have that passion when you're doing that, but also spread a little bit of yourself out into the world all the time. So, to be yourself and to be passionate. You have to first advocate for yourself and show it through your work.
What values are most important to you in your work and personal life?
I think I value happiness. It's funny, you know younger me would have been really egotistical and talked about all the amazing work I'm doing, but really, it's just being there for people. I think I've learned after all these years that it's easier just to be happy than necessarily have the biggest paycheck, or the biggest house, or all of the things that really don't bring value to humans. For me, it's always people first. I want to think about the patients who are gonna benefit from the work I'm doing, and tell their stories, and be a part of their positive stories moving forward. And then, at the same time, with my direct reports, they are people first also, and so I want to make sure that they're happy, and that they are learning, and that they're keeping on trend with their skills, and have great lines of communication. There's always the battle for work-life balance, and for keeping my own personal sanity, but then also running a household.