Nolen Strals

WORK HISTORY

EDUCATION

ABOUT NOLEN STRALS

I hear the phrase,\"You [redacted] nailed it,\" with shocking regularity when presenting first-round concepts. I inspire my clients to cuss the good way. I relocated to Birmingham, Alabama, in late 2021 to take on a Senior Art Director role at Telegraph Creative. In just a few weeks I’ve worked on projects in high end food, sustainability advocacy, healthcare, and consumer products. A career-long fan of collaboration, I have the privilege to partner with team members inter-departmentally and across the office almost daily. I maintain ongoing relationships with select brewery clients in Maryland and Pennsylvania on a freelance basis as well, though my primary focus is on my day to day work with the Telegraph team. While freelancing from 20••••21, I focused on commercial clients and arts & entertainment, but my work has elevated a wide range of clients over the years. From the facades of cultural landmarks down to hand-printed underground show posters, my designs have been an indelible part of Baltimore’s visual landscape for two decades. Largely from my time as co-founder of Post Typography, my work has appeared nationally and abroad in branding, packaging, best-selling book and album covers, high-end wallcoverings, and even The New York Times. I\'m also the former lead singer for Double Dagger, a post-punk band with albums released on Thrill Jockey Records and I have a few of the scars to prove it. When you first meet me, you may notice I have a slight speech impediment that occasionally causes me to stutter or stammer when speaking. However, this has never stopped me from winning a client or gaining their trust, leading and mentoring a creative team, or creating work that speaks for itself - clearly and confidently. The future is a collaboration. Let’s work together.