Kimberly Swiderski-Murpy with her husband and MIAD alumn Matt
Kimberly Swiderski-Murphy
BFA Communication Design | 2001
Senior Package Designer, Hallmark Cards
Kansas City, MO
“Those four years were the building blocks of my adult professional life, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of faculty in a more inspirational setting…”
Kimberly Swiderski-Murphy is currently a Senior Package Designer for Hallmark Cards, Inc. in Kansas City, Missouri. She works exclusively on packaging for the Gold Crown store, which includes designing for a range of fun products – from children’s’ toys and games to Keepsake ornaments to consumables, like candy and gourmet snacks. Day-to-day work can include art directing a photo shoot for in-use photography, collaborating with an illustrator on a children’s’ game, or designing packaging for the Star Wars gift collection.
Swiderski-Murphy has designed some products, like photo albums and pop-up autograph books and has acted as her own package engineer at times. She’s even had the chance to do voice recording for some children’s’ games and plush items. The scope of her design work at Hallmark keeps Swiderski-Murphy on her toes, always giving her the chance to learn about a new set of parameters or brainstorm with a different group of artists and writers. Swiderski-Murphy said, “I feel so lucky to have found my dream job working for a brand with so much heart and soul.”
“My time at MIAD was positively magical … Those four years were the building blocks of my adult professional life, and I couldn’t have asked for a better group of faculty in a more inspirational setting. Between the Communication Design major, the intense writing classes, and studio electives, I found out exactly who I was at my core. But, the most important thing I learned was that critical balance between being passionate about your work, and maintaining an objective eye. My Art Director always says that as designers, we play at the very dangerous intersection of Art and Commerce. To be the best designers, we have to fully pour our hearts into everything we touch… but we have to accept critique and learn from it, since our creations are about so much more than our own voices. We all share that inspired passion, but the real growth comes when we share that passion with the world and listen to what it says in return.”
Images © 2008, 2011 Hallmark Cards, Inc. All rights reserved