Rui Ma

SENIOR DESIGNER
MULLENLOWE US
LOS ANGELES CA

Rui Ma is an award-winning designer, art director, and illustrator based in Los Angeles. She currently works as a senior designer at MullenLowe U.S., located in California. With an MFA degree in design, she focuses on graphic design, art direction, branding, illustration, digital design, print design, and experiential design, etc. She also has a passion for photography and fashion. Her work incorporates bold, dynamic typography and illustration, along with energetic colors. Rui started her career in New York City and decided to move to Los Angeles four years ago — she gained years of design experience in both cities. Rui has created work for a variety of clients including Google, Apple, Shopify, Facebook, Sundance Film Festival, PepsiCo, Stella Artois, and many more.

Rui’s design inspiration comes from life, music, art, and other creative individuals she has worked with. After work, she spends her time creating digital illustrations and oil paintings and getting her inspiration from reading design magazines, going to museums and art galleries, watching movies, and listening to music. She believes visual communication design through different kinds of media can help solve problems and change the world.

 

Looking forward, are you optimistic about the role of graphic design in business and society?

Of course. Graphic design is important and influential to the world in the future — it plays a key role in transmitting messages. Visual design has a powerful impact on business as well. It represents the tone of voice for brands and attracts customers’ attention. The importance of merging design and technology is also evident nowadays.

 

Have the challenges of the past two years changed the way you approach your work?

To me, yes. I like teamwork. Working with different people provides me with great inspiration from their diverse perspectives. In the past two years, I have been using digital products to communicate with people at work, mostly, instead of printing out ideas on a board and brainstorming with the team in the office.