Independent Shop & Brand Strategy
Creative Lead: My personal art business
Role: Creative Direction, Graphic Design, Illustration, Marketing, and Social Strategy
When I’m not working on client projects, I run my own independent line of apparel and goods on Etsy, print-on-demand shops, and selling at local craft markets.
Lately, I’ve shifted my art into new territory. I’ve been feeling more inspired by my love for the outdoors and yoga, so I’m bringing in more nature-inspired themes, earthy hand lettering, and outdoorsy vibes. Pivoting a creative brand is always a slow-and-steady process, but the fresh momentum behind this new direction has been hugely exciting, opening up so many new possibilities for where my work can go.
My shop is where I get to test ideas, play with visual humor, and turn hand-drawn art into stuff people actually want to wear and use every day. Having a built-in community reaching 30k+ followers on social and over 75k monthly Pinterest views means I can share new concepts, launch merchandise, and see what really resonates in real time. Setting up shop in person at local maker markets keeps me grounded in what people are drawn to, whether they're looking for a comfortable graphic tee for a weekend hike or a bold sticker for their water bottle.
I handle everything from market research, social marketing and strategy, overall design, trend research, and more. It’s been great diving into the marketing side of art, and I feel it’s helped me in my day jobs. It’s all about creating thoughtful, adventure-ready designs that feel authentic on the rack and make sense out in the wild.
Building a Community
Creative Lead: Instagram community art page, small business
Role: Creative Direction, Social Strategy, Illustration,
and Graphic Design
Instagram is where my personal creative process lives out loud. By consistently sharing retro-inspired hand lettering, nature illustrations, and playful typography, I’ve built a vibrant community of 30,000+ followers. This space gives me a direct line to test new concepts, launch shop merchandise, and turn everyday visual humor into wearable, shareable art.
Built and managed verified creator accounts reaching over 30,000+ total followers and 75,000+ monthly Pinterest views, maintaining an 8.5% Instagram engagement rate and driving campaign rollouts with up to 1.1M+ views.
Social Stats
Instagram (@ceceliahotzlerdesign)
Followers: 28,000+ organic followers (Verified Creator account).
Engagement Rate: ~8.5% average engagement (significantly above the 1.5%–2.5% industry standard for this account size).
Audience Demographic: Primary audience of women aged 25–44.
Viral Reach: Produced custom campaign content generating over 1.1M direct views within two weeks.
Conversion Impact: Built interactive content rollouts that drove a 212% spike in web traffic and a 305% lift in direct e-commerce sales.
Pinterest (@ceceliahotzlerdesign)
Monthly Reach: Up to 75,000+ organic monthly views.
Community: Over 1,600 direct followers.
Content Strategy: High-volume visual discovery driving organic traffic to website downloads, digital freebies, and independent shop listings.
Platform Focus: Long-tail visual search, mood-boarding, custom illustration pins, and brand aesthetic discovery.
That’s Money!
Veridian Credit Union: That's Money! Blog and Social Visuals
Role: Creative Direction, Art Direction, Illustration,
and Graphic Design
Designed custom web headers, digital editorial illustrations, and social media campaign graphics for Veridian Credit Union’s financial wellness platform, That’s Money!. Developed engaging visual concepts to make complex personal finance topics, ranging from home renovations to auto refinancing, approachable, vibrant, and visually cohesive across web and social channels.
Penny’s Adventures
Youth Financial Program
Veridian Credit Union: Penny’s Adventures Youth Financial Program
Role: Creative Direction, Art Direction, Illustration,
and Graphic Design
As Creative Lead, I brought Penny’s Adventures to life. Penny’s Adventures is a youth banking initiative created to build early financial literacy through visual storytelling. Collaborating with the PR team on character development, I illustrated the entire cast of original mascot characters and directed all program updates.
Project scope included illustrating custom storybooks, print collateral, digital marketing assets, and guiding the 2D-to-3D transformation of the official program mascot costume.
More Portfolio Highlights
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![Two smartphones displaying social media posts about financial topics, including money and credit management, with one showing a notepad, cash, and a calculator.]()
That's Money Social Graphics
Social media graphics for Veridian Credit Union’s sub-brand, That’s Money targeted to Gen Z and Millennial viewers. The goal is to create stop-the-scroll content.
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![Green baseball cap with pink text that reads 'No GODS NO MASTERS' on the front.]()
No Gods No Masters Typography Desig for Garbage
Typography design for the band, Garbage. Featured on their merch in 2021/2022.
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![Two phone cases with colorful designs and text, one with skulls on a green background and the other with multicolored words like 'sad,' 'songs,' and 'coffee' on a black background.]()
CASETiFY Collection
This was the collection I created with CASETiFY. The collection consisted of phone cases and tech cases.
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![Light gray T-shirt with graphic of a cup of coffee and the words "You Need Coffee" on the front.]()
You Need An Iced Coffee Tee
T-shirt design that I illustrated and is available in my Threadless shop. Available on a variety of items such as tees, wall art, tote bag, and more.
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![Young woman with medium skin tone, black hair, and casual clothing standing against a plain background.]()
27 Club by MGK Hoodie Graphics
Designed some graphics for a women’s cropped hoodie for MGK’s coffee shop, 27 Club.
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![A dark gray baseball cap with an embroidered design of a gray circle, pink heart-shaped sunglasses, and the text "SAD BUT RAD" in pink above the circle.]()
Licensed Design for Wicked Clothes
My original illustrations are available for licensing. This design was licensed to Wicked Clothes.
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![Green sweatshirt with the word "Don't" and a cartoon bug illustration on it.]()
Don't Bug Me Crewneck Sweatshirt
Hand-illustrated design from my shops. Features a colorful beetle and a vintage-inspired font that says “Don’t Bug Me!”
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![Gray T-shirt with pink text that reads 'Planned Parenthood is more popular than Congress' surrounded by small pink megaphone icons and dots.]()
PPAI: More Popular Than Congress Shirt
This was a shirt I designed for Planned Parenthood Advocates of Iowa fundraiser.
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![Gray sweatshirt featuring a cartoon duck with a fish in its beak, sitting on water.]()
Loon Crewneck Sweatshirt
A cute and cozy design featuring a loon, a fish, and some water. Hand drawn by me. Available on a variety of products in my shops.
