ALUMNI/AE
BY DESIGN
Kelsey Reifler ’08
Beyond the Logo As founder and creative director of Brooklyn-based Reifler Studio, Kelsey helps companies define who they are and how they communicate with the world. Her clients range from emerging consumer brands to established companies launching new products and campaigns. The work might involve packaging, advertising, photography, social strategy, or visual identity systems, but the goal is always the same: uncovering the story beneath the surface.
An Artist Finds Her Direction Kelsey arrived at Millbrook already interested in art, but it was here that she began to see creative work as something more than a hobby. One of the most influential figures in that journey was longtime art teacher Bill Hardy. The newly
Kelsey Reifler ’08 designs brands, but her work begins long before choosing colors, fonts, or packaging. When a new client comes to Kelsey looking for a logo, she often starts somewhere entirely different. She will sit and talk with a client, not even
opened Holbrook Arts Center became a second home. As an upperclassman enrolled in Honors Painting, Kelsey was given her own studio space, where she cultivated community with other arts students. The eight or nine students with a
“The way people think they want to present
studio space would spend hours there after
about their business at first, but about them.
themselves isn’t always who they actually
classes, working, talking, and creating.
It’s a process that reflects a lesson she has
are,” she says. “The challenge is finding
Art history classes with Mr. Hardy and local
carried throughout her career: good design
that authentic place and building from
historian and educator David Greenwood
isn’t decoration. It’s discovery.
there.”
expanded her perspective even further.
SPRING 2026 •
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