Jess Gill
Jess Gill will be the first to tell you she’s not a designer.
She's a communications professional — a writer and editor who has spent her career making sure the words around great design are just as strong as the visuals themselves. And over three DesignFests, she's quietly become one of the event's most valuable voices.
What Jess has observed working alongside organizations at DesignFest is telling: many groups struggle to connect their design, communication, and branding into a coherent whole. Websites fall flat. Brand identities drift. Not because the design is weak, but because the messaging underneath hasn't been built with the same intention. Bringing writers into the process early, Jess believes, changes everything — for the project and for the team.
Jess moved from New York to Baltimore in 2010.
It was one of those unexpected pivots shaped by the 2008–2009 recession — and found something she didn't expect: a creative scene with genuine energy. The lantern parade, the kinetic sculpture race, the waterfront, the parks. Baltimore gave her a community that keeps her curious, and curiosity is the real engine of her work. Her best ideas don't come at a desk. They come in the shower, on a walk, or at a Creative Mornings event where a stranger says something that reframes everything.
Her dream project lives at the intersection of her passions: a literary or poetry festival where she can bring sharp branding and communications to the kind of storytelling she loves most. Until then, she'll keep showing up to DesignFest — championing writers, building alongside designers, and reminding anyone who'll listen that good communication isn't a finishing touch. It's foundational. The next DesignFest is on April 16, and Jess will be there.