Marketing · Design · Washington State
I'm Kari McPhail. I've spent over two decades doing marketing and design work for nonprofits, schools, municipalities, healthcare providers, and government agencies across Washington State. I know how these organizations operate — tight budgets, boards to answer to, decisions that take longer than they should.
Kari McPhail
Communications Studio
Selected Work
K–12 · Community Design
Designed and produced personalized yard signs for all 355 graduating seniors at a Washington public high school during a pandemic-disrupted graduation, coordinated directly with school administration and a local schools foundation.
Community College · Print Services
Managed a print services contract for a Washington community college, including developing training and training materials for college staff and building a custom online ordering system for their recurring print needs.
Integrated Campaign · Direct Mail, Email, Ads, Events
Built and launched a dedicated real-estate print program for Kool Change Printing, packaging just-listed/just-sold postcards, bifold flyers, letters, and trifold mailers under one branded collection. Ran the launch as a coordinated campaign — direct-mail postcards to agents and brokerages, targeted email blasts, paid digital ads, and in-person trade-show booths at regional real-estate events — to grow the print company's real-estate client base.
Nonprofits · Ongoing Work
Ongoing marketing and design work for organizations spanning food security, animal welfare, and education, including multi-year relationships with regional nonprofits.
Scholarship · Education
Established and continue to fund an annual scholarship for a graduating public school senior pursuing photography or graphic design.
Case Study · Kool Change Printing
A branded real-estate print program built for Kool Change Printing, launched as an integrated campaign across direct mail, email, targeted ads, and in-person events to grow the print company's real-estate client base.
Challenge
Kool Change Printing had strong print capacity but a limited foothold with real-estate agents and brokerages. Real-estate marketing was scattered across generic products — nothing branded, nothing telling agents this print shop was set up to serve them.
Role
Concept, brand identity, product packaging, and campaign lead — from naming the collection and designing the marks through art-directing the printed samples, writing the campaign copy, and coordinating the launch across every channel.
Outcome
A defined, sellable real-estate product line the shop could lead with, backed by a repeatable campaign playbook — postcards, email, targeted ads, and trade-show presence — used to bring new real-estate accounts into Kool Change Printing.
Channel
Direct Mail
Deluxe 11×5.5 just-listed / just-sold postcards mailed first-class presorted to targeted agent and brokerage lists, plus bifold flyers, trifolds, and letter mailers as part of the collection.
Channel
Email Blasts
Segmented email campaigns to real-estate agents, brokerages, and past print clients announcing the collection, seasonal promotions, and new template drops.
Channel
Targeted Digital Ads
Paid social and display ads aimed at real-estate professionals in the region, driving traffic to the collection landing page and quote requests.
Channel
Trade-Show Booths
In-person booths at regional real-estate events and broker gatherings with printed samples in-hand — meeting agents face-to-face and building the print company's real-estate presence.
Background
23+ years leading marketing and design for a Washington-based printing and marketing company.
A print services contract for a Washington community college, including staff training and a custom ordering system I built for their recurring print needs.
Design work shaped by what the client's audience actually needs to hear.
If you need someone who already knows how public-sector and nonprofit communication works, let's talk.
Contact meDesign Samples
Original artwork and design pieces — not project management, actual drawing and layout.
Original Photoshop illustration
Cash and Comet
Character sketches
Pinkerton Parker, the Prickly Pear Porcupine
Apparel graphic
Hand Picked for Earth
Services
Communication strategies, messaging frameworks, editorial planning, organizational storytelling, and clear communications for staff, boards, partners, and public audiences.
Campaign direction, brand positioning, audience development, creative oversight, and fractional leadership for teams that need experienced guidance.
Outreach campaigns, stakeholder communications, public-facing materials, events, surveys, and accessible content designed to build trust.
Website copy, newsletters, articles, presentations, social content, direct mail, print collateral, photography, video, and coordinated campaign assets.
Writing
WRITING SAMPLE
A short-form piece written as part of a current proposal, centered on advocacy and the power of listening well.
Educational / explainer
A plain-language guide to mail classes and formats, written for teams making practical decisions about direct mail.
Campaign case study
A narrative walk-through of the Cherry Cherry campaigns — audience thinking, channels, and what worked.
Studio
A quieter, ongoing practice alongside the professional portfolio.
Long-form writing projects, including original stories and works in progress.
Portrait, event, and place-based photography used across client work and personal projects.
Independent print pieces, small-run publications, and design experiments outside of client engagements.
Contact
Interested in strategic communications support, a specific project, or fractional leadership? Send a note — Kari reads every message.