Isaiah Mikhail (@isaiahmikhail)

The real work is understanding how to connect the business objective, audience insight and brand strategy to a concept people can physically experience. Then you have to carry that idea through the guest journey, spatial design, interactions, production and final outcome. This is the process I…

Come spend a day in my life on set as an Art Director for ESSENCE magazine, and get a real lesson in how creative teams work. Art direction isn’t always about walking onto set with your own idea. Sometimes it’s about understanding someone else’s vision well enough to protect it, translate it, and…

Creative direction isn’t about taste. It’s about systems. The difference between a designer and a Creative Director is operational control—structure, production literacy, AI integration, and the ability to scale ideas across teams. Taste gets attention. Structure gets you promoted…

This week’s creative direction and design roundup: a few visual worlds worth studying, from Prada’ Holiday Campign to Coca-Cola’s Local Royalty and Apple Music’s Made By Sound. #CreativeDirection #ArtDirection #CampaignDesign #BrandDesign #DesignInspiration A weekly creative direction and design…

If I’m considering you for a creative director, art director, or designer role, I need to quickly see: What you made. What your role was. How you approached the idea. What you actually contributed. Whether you can do the work I need. Your Instagram can introduce your taste, but it shouldn’t carry…

Start by defining what you need built. Then look for vendors with experience in that kind of work, ask producers and designers for referrals, and reach out with your scope, timeline, location, and budget. Build those relationships before you need them. For experiential designers, marketers…

The way you move through the world shapes what you notice, the questions you ask, and the ideas you bring to a project. When you’re pitching or interviewing, make that connection clear: What does your perspective help you see? How can it make the work more specific, more human, or more powerful?…

‘Independent Projects’ by Isaiah Mikhail on Substack ✍🏾 A creative journal about the pursuit of creative excellence—exploring people, process, taste, and sharing tools to do the work. Link in bio! Go subscribe #substack #creativesubstack #creativejournal #artdirector #creativedirector

I’ve launched a Substack for those of you wanting to take an even deeper dive into developing creative ✍🏾 Link in bio. I spend a lot of time thinking about what it means to build a creative life. How we develop taste. What we choose to study. How an idea moves from something we're curious about…

Experiential design and marketing isn’t only about what people feel in the room. It’s also about designing moments they’ll want to photograph and publish online. Define the moment first. Then build the interaction, visual, or detail that makes someone reach for their phone…and gives the experience…

Creativity is a skill set. It’s how you turn an unclear problem into a sharp idea, connect that idea to an audience, and make it real. That’s real value to an organization. If you work in a creative role, learn to name the skills behind your work…and show how they move the business forward…

Designing big experiences means more than a creating a big idea. They need a system built to scale. Leading creative for a festival as massive as ESSENCE Festival of Culture with major performances, celebrity talent, multiple stages and thousands of people moving through the spaces, it means…

In experiential design and marketing, the idea is only part of the work. Your production partners and vendors help turn the brief into something people can actually feel. Choose people who understand the vision, communicate clearly, and can deliver when the details get complicated…

Replying to @PRINCELY How I went from studying advertising and marketing to becoming an Art Director. I didn’t start out knowing every design tool. I had ambition, an eye, and a willingness to be useful, then learned what I needed when the opportunities came. If you’re trying to break into a…