Digital
Website Design Example: Whimsy

SmugMug, 2025-26

1. New site & rebrand

I was asked to infuse the SmugMug brand with a fresh perspective in order to appeal to a wider (and inevitably younger) audience. I proposed five designs: above is my personal favorite, below are the rest.

View the winning proposal at smugmug.com :-) It's already led to a 140% lift in trial starts!

I wanted to stay true to the most playful elements of the existing brand while aiming for a more luxe, editorial feeling. I proposed two new logos: one hand-lettered with some fun artisanal crayons, the other an homage to the old SmugMug logo using the same font with some custom treatment. The cutout illustrations were scanned from an issue of Dutch art magazine Mediamatic from 1994.

More coming soon!

Digital design example: Logo/type Digital design example: Logo/type 2 Digital design example: Logo/type 3 buddy icons

Flickr, 2025

2. Branding for Flickr Monthly Challenge

This year, Flickr created a new official group to inspire and challenge its users with unique monththly photography prompts. 

The Community team gave me free reign to create a new brand identity for the group, as well as design a template for the monthly prompts to be shared on social media.

Text Text

Flickr, 2024-ongoing

3. Branding for Your Best Shot

I was playfully challenged to design a new logo and mini-identity for Flickr’s yearly Your Best Shot contest. I really enjoyed making it come to life in video format.

I think I came up with this because I saw a usage of MuseoModerno that frustrated me so much, I went home and downloaded it just to see if I could do it justice. You can judge for yourself if I did or not.

Text

Flickr, Ongoing

3. Digital ads and email marketing

The last few years at Flickr have been marked by a shift in visual identity, so we’ve been experimenting with various styles for our advertising campaigns. I have appreciated the flexibility and the opportunity to do some collaborative brainstorming with my team.

Digital design example: Logo/type Digital design example: Logo/type Digital design example: Logo/type

ForYourParty.com, 2021-23

2. Digital marketing graphics

I was hired as a production designer at FYP, but soon asked to join the small email marketing team. We were given a lot of liberty in terms of structure and copywriting, which was really fun.

Some of my emails were pretty successful, drawing in a bit more revenue and traffic than the rest. This is because I have a great sense of humor and I’m not above using sneaky design tricks to get clicks.

Print
Cocktail Menu Mockup Cocktail vector illustrations

FETE NY, 2023

1. Cocktail menu

The prompt was to create a simple cocktail menu for an intimate wedding in New York City, using only the copy provided. The keywords were “Old Hollywod” and “The New Yorker.”

Print Design example: Holiday gift tags gif Print Design example: Party cup gif

ForYourParty.com, 2021-23

2. Custom party supplies

Some custom paper (and plastic) products I designed at ForYourParty. I worked one-on-one with clients to create personalized designs, and collaborated with my team to build graphic templates and grab-and-go products.

I have so much lovely photography of the print work I did while at FYP (we had an in-house photographer), so if you’d like to see more of this work for whatever reason, just ask me.

Print Design example: Custom letter paper Print Design example: Custom letter paper

Commissioned work

3. Custom personalized stationery

Small commission project done for a friend. Traditional & digital illustration was used to create a design reflective of the owner's personality and interests.

Print Design example: Magazine spread & illustration

TITLE Magazine, 2020

3. Illustration & magazine layout

I was lucky to have my illustrations featured in TITLE magazine’s Winter 2019 issue, accompanying an article about video games and fashion. I was also in charge of the layout design for this article.

Page scans coming soon!

Lucía Castro

resume ↓
email me
flickr

Lucía Castro is a Chicago-based Mexican-American multimedia designer experienced in marketing, branding, events, and web design. Her design practice emphasizes whimsy, movement, and hand-drawn elements.

currently: senior marketing designer @ flickr/smugmug [awesome.co]





EDUCATION

University of Wisconsin-Madison
B.A. International Studies
Certificate in East Asian Studies
2018

City Colleges of Chicago
Digital Multimedia Design Certificate
2019 Fall

EMPLOYMENT

Flickr/Smugmug
Marketing Designer
2023-Current
Collaborating with copywriters and developers to build effective marketing campaigns from top to bottom and create landing pages.


ForYourParty.com
Production Designer
2021-2023
R+D + prod. design for event-focused print and digital products; digital marketing strategy + design.


Laminet
Production Designer
2020-2021
Managed a local B2B manufacturer's multiplatform e-commerce, ad spend, and marketing comms.


Freelance work
2018-2024
I’ve worked with various clients including content creators and startup entrepreneurs, creating multimedia visuals ranging from simple logos and thumbnails to posters, merch, and the exterior of a custom event photobooth, in one instance.

I have mostly stepped away from freelancing now, but I’m always open to hear a pitch if you think I can help in some way :-)

SKILLS

Figma
Adobe Photoshop
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe AfterEffects
Illustration
Typography
Email marketing

INTERESTS

Photography
Textile arts
Comics writing
Drawing
3D modeling
Industrial design
ASCII art