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About Dana Michelle - Brand Identity Designer

I think before
I move

I'm a graphic designer who thinks before I make anything. Brands, motion, and Webflow, from the strategy outward.

Based in Guatemala. Working globally. Final year of university and not waiting until I graduate to build something real.

ACTIVE - Taking projects

Location: Guatemala City

Currently: Final year · Thesis in progress

Clients active: Worldwide

Dana Michelle — graphic designer and founder of Studio Danami
The person behind the work

24. Final year.
Running a studio
and writing a thesis.

I'm Dana. I'm 24, finishing my last year at uni in Guatemala, and I've been running Studio Danami since I noticed that most designers open software before they understand the problem. Which is a bit like writing the answer before reading the question.

I work on brand identity, motion design, and Webflow. I also work part-time at a digital marketing agency as a trafficker (cause that's me, running ads for other people's brands while building my own). It's less glamorous than my portfolio makes it look, but it means I know what actually makes people stop scrolling.

Right now I'm also writing my thesis on how junior designers should use AI to think harder, not think less. I test everything from the thesis on actual client work. Sometimes it proves the theory. Sometimes I go back and rewrite the chapter.

Brand Identity
Motion Design
Webflow
Creative Strategy
AI & Design
Let's collaborate
Strategy-First Design
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Art Direction
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Brand Identity
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Motion Graphics
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Strategy-first design
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Web Design
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Art Direction
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Motion Graphics
THE WORK

What was built

The things I actually think about this work.
Not the version I'd put on a pitch deck.
01
Concept before
execution.
Most designers open Illustrator first and figure out the strategy later. I open a document full of questions first. It's slower at the start, but clients stop asking me to "just make it pop."
02
AI deepens thinking. It doesn't replace it.
I use AI constantly. But the way I use it is to push harder on a brief, not to get out of thinking about it. There's a version of AI use that makes the work faster, and a version that makes it hollow. I'm writing a whole thesis on that difference.
03
The brief is where brands are won or lost.
Every bad design I've seen had a positioning problem nobody wanted to talk about. The brand looked off because the strategy was off. Getting clients to slow down on that part before touching anything visual is the actual work.
For founders who think visually

Got a brand to figure out?

I work with a small number of projects at a time so I can actually think about them. If you want that kind of attention on your brand, start here.
Let's collaborate
See the work