Ashleigh Axios is a business owner and executive, international speaker, and board leader championing equitable business, healthcare, and civic design.
Ashleigh has been focused on Coforma.
Since 2019, Ashleigh has been focused on building up the digital service firm she co-owns, Coforma. Visit the Coforma website to learn about the company, it’s culture, it’s impactful work, and what Ashleigh’s been building. Or watch the 2021 RISD Mindshare presentation to Rhode Island School of Design (RISD) where Ashleigh speaks to her work in Coforma.
(Updates pending!)
Check out a selection of Ashleigh's prior work.
The following represents a small sampling of Ashleigh’s work product between 2011 and 2019. These project examples span her time crafting interactive exhibits, print and digital solutions for the US federal government from the White House, and supporting brand positioning and inclusion efforts for a company behind much of the internet.
Brand Book
WordPress.com / Automattic
In 2019, the WordPress.com brand strategy, voice, tone, and visual style was revamped, documented in a new brand book, and relaunched.
Inclusive Design Cards
Automattic
In 2017, Ashleigh Axios and team created a set of inclusive design cards as a jumping-off point to thinking, working, and crafting more inclusively.
We the People Redesign
Obama White House
In 2016, Ashleigh Axios and team redesigned the White House petitions platform to improve the experience and ensure its continued existence.
#LoveWins Campaign
Obama White House
In 2015, Ashleigh Axios created the White House iconography celebrating the historic Supreme Court ruling legalizing same-sex marriage across the US.
Event-Planning Worksheet
Obama White House
View the worksheet that centers event planning around key goals, audiences, and maximizing engagement before, during, and after an event.
Infographics
Obama White House
Take a look at how the Obama White House broke down complex issues and proposals for easy consumption online between 2012 and 2016.
Homepage Redesign
Obama White House
In 2015, Ashleigh Axios designed the first responsive WhiteHouse.gov homepage, starting improvements across White House public-facing platforms.
Live Section Redesign
Obama White House
The 2014, Ashleigh Axios redesigned the White House live stream section as the first major update to WhiteHouse.gov since President Obama took office.
Immigration Video
Obama White House
In 2013, Ashleigh Axios crafted an animated white board to help communicate the positive impact immigration reform would have on the U.S. economy.
Driving America Exhibit
The Henry Ford Museum / Cortina
In 2011, Ashleigh Axios designed eight interactive touchscreen games for permanent exhibit on the history and influence of the car on American culture.
Podcasts Featuring Past Work
Driving Change through Design and Innovation with Ashleigh Axios
We talk about the impact of design and a technology-focused mindset in sectors in need of innovation.
Featured Projects and Topics:
Entering design in government
Nature of the Office of Digital Strategy at The White House
The value of design and legal collaboration
Skills designers and creatives need to future-proof solutions
Learning to focus on the real challenges
The importance of defaulting tested and validated technologies when technology is needed for critical services and products
Same-sex marriage SCOTUS decision and #LoveWins campaign | The White House
The importance of cross-disciplinary and -industry collaboration
40-Minute Conversation
The Design of Business | The Business of Design S2E9: Ashleigh Axios
Ashleigh Axios is the design exponent at Automattic and a former creative director for the White House’s Office of Digital Strategy.
When Axios joined the Office of Digital Strategy in 2012, she wasn’t sure how she would fit in. But she found that
there are a lot more similarities than I assumed between the way that I think as a designer and as a digital strategist and the ways that the technologists were thinking, or the ways in which the economists and legal counsel thought.
Featured White House Projects:
Growing design
G8 Summit Logo
State of the Union Through the Years
We the People Petitions Platform Impetus
25-Minute Conversation
Videos Featuring Past Work
With the World on Fire
Join Ashleigh Axios for an insightful and information-packed talk on the big and small lessons of a designer who works to make positive social change during times when the world seems to be perpetually set on fire. Learn about some of the biggest global issues of our day and the various ways creatives, and anyone with heart, can adapt their thinking and practices to help enable change.
Featured Projects:
Social Distancing Reporter / Coforma
Iran Nuclear Deal Graphics / The White House
Illustrating the Needs of Alaskan Natives & American Indians / Coforma (formerly &Partners)
Design and Exclusion Conference / Automattic
We the People Redesign / The White House
Immigration Policy Tracking Project / Coforma
COVID-19 Health Equity Task Force / Coforma
2021 Chicago Camps Talk
#ThanksObama
Get a behind-the-scenes look at how innovative design and digital strategy happened in-house at 1600 Pennsylvania Avenue. Ashleigh showed-and-told how her small design team transformed daunting challenges into successful digital campaigns as part of the Obama administration. Hear her team’s tactics for tackling limited resources, overcoming impossibly quick timelines, experimenting while in the public spotlight, and not just taking criticism, but intentionally seeking it out. Have fun counting the animated GIFs while you collect all sorts of tips from the former White House creative director.
Featured White House Projects:
We the People Petitions Platform Redesign
#LoveWins Campaign
WhiteHouse.gov Improvements
Correspondence Dinner
State of the Union Through the Years
2016 Circles Conference Talk