Today we’d like to introduce you to Maya Griffin.
Hi Maya, thanks for joining us today. We’d love for you to start by introducing yourself.
I’m Maya Griffin, a graphic designer and fine artist based in Arlington, VA. My creative journey started at a young age, spending a lot of time drawing and painting. Art was always my favorite class, and outside of the classroom, I found ways to contribute to the community with it, such as painting storm drains as environmental education initiatives and designing t-shirts for my figure skating club’s performances. It wasn’t until I took a digital design class at the age of 17 that I discovered graphic design. While the particular class wasn’t the most exciting, it introduced me to a new medium of art I had never experienced.
As someone who had always dreamed of being an artist, graphic design introduced me to a world where I felt like I could actually live and work as an artist, and all of the creative skills I had been developing over the years had one place to come together. It helped that there was also a practical side to it, because the reality of building a career as a fine artist felt daunting, and graphic design offered something more grounded and stable. In a world that runs on the internet, the demand for designers is everywhere you look. It felt like a path where my artistic skills could actually pay the bills, without having to give up what I love doing and being creative for a living.
I studied at the Savannah College of Art and Design in Savannah, GA. When I realized the workload didn’t leave much time for weekend trips to the beach or to see my friends, I transferred to the Atlanta campus after one year to have closer access to my friends and family across the US, giving me more opportunity to get away and find inspiration in new places with the people I love. The program was challenging, fast-paced, and incredibly rewarding. I was pushed creatively and technically, preparing me for my future career in design, wherever that took me.
Since graduating, I’ve had the opportunity to work with global brands, corporate communications teams, and nonprofit organizations, where I have created everything from brand identities and large-scale campaigns to illustrations and motion graphics. But no matter where my design career has taken me, my background in fine arts will always be the foundation of my work.
I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
Being an artist and making a career for myself in the creative space was never going to be easy, as art is so subjective and so personal. I entered a corporate space as an artist and struggled with feelings of inadequacy and burnout early on. Turning what I love into something I do for a living was a unique challenge I was learning from for the first time. Having my work subjected to others’ opinions is challenging, and learning to manage that feedback while protecting my own artistic point of view took time.
One of the harder challenges was learning to separate my work life from my creative life. When I spent all day creating, I struggled with finding the inspiration and drive to make art outside of work. When something you love so much and have dedicated your life to begins to feel like just another task, it’s unsettling in a way that’s hard to describe. I had to learn to protect my creativity and to digest feedback without letting it shake my sense of self. I will always be grateful that graphic design has allowed me to have a career doing what I love, and working through those challenges has only deepened that gratitude, reminding me that no matter what I face within my career, I will always be an artist.
Can you tell our readers more about what you do and what you think sets you apart from others?
Today, I work as a Senior Graphic Designer on the Brand and Creative team within the Marketing department at TEKsystems, a global IT staffing and services company. I am responsible for everything brand-related and produce all external creative assets, including large-scale marketing campaigns, social media content, event creative, and motion graphics on a global scale.
In this role, one of my most recent accomplishments was being selected as the lead designer for the partner branding suite at the largest Amazon Web Services (AWS) conference of the year. This included a paid social campaign that generated 11.8 million impressions, the highest of any conference in 2025, and exceeded out-of-home delivery goals by 97%. As far as successful analytics go, these are the numbers any designer is hoping to see.
I also recently led the creative direction and redesign of TEKsystems’ @LifeAtTEK Instagram account, pitching a rebranded creative direction that was hand-selected by leadership. Following this selection, I oversaw all creative execution for the platform’s rebrand. Under my leadership, the team developed and executed a scalable suite of branded social templates that strengthened employer branding, captured the brand’s authentic energy, and enhanced its overall social presence. This feels especially rewarding, as social media is one of the largest audience touchpoints for any company. Seeing my designs and creative direction come to life on a daily basis through this work is a proud moment for any designer.
Prior to this role, I had the opportunity to work with Marriott International on the Global Communications and Public Affairs team and with the Arkansas Attorney General’s office. Those experiences taught me how to balance life and creativity as someone new to the working world, and showed me the range of what my work could do for others.
What sets me apart as a designer is rooted in what predates my career entirely. My foundation in fine art gave me an understanding of materials and composition, and those lessons have made me a more multidimensional and thoughtful designer. Those lessons pushed me to think beyond the screen and think about how a design feels rather than looks and how it will exist in the world once it leaves my hands. My love of illustration and photography has only deepened that instinct, allowing me to create custom assets to bring originality to my work. These lifetime of lessons as an artist have informed my art, career, and skill set, enabling me to distinguish myself.
We love surprises, fun facts and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
Most people who know my work see clean, confident, polished designs and assume the process behind them looks the same. It doesn’t. My creative process is messy, repetitive, and exploratory. I’m rarely certain when something is truly finished, and I’ve made peace with that uncertainty being part of what makes the work good. I sketch layouts, compositions, and illustrations by hand before I ever open a digital file, because the fundamentals I learned in school never stop being relevant. No matter where you are in your career, you find yourself circling back to the basics and sometimes discovering new ones along the way. The finished product may look effortless, but it’s built on a lot of happy accidents and crossed-out sketches.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://mayagriffins.com
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/mayagriffins/
