Madeleine O’Neill Business Cards
This set of business cards was created in collaboration with award-winning freelance reporter Madeliene O’Neill.
Back in September 2025, I was approached by a former professor of mine, Michelle Vitali. Many would know her from her appearance in Netflix’s documentary series “Unsolved Mysteries”. She had inquired to me about her daughter, Madeleine O’Neill, searching for a designer to create her business cards. She recommended to her 5 different designers to choose from, and she immediately chose me based on my portfolio.
Research
When I got in touch with Maddi, I asked her various questions to get to know her. I asked her about what kind of styles she prefers, who her target audience is, and her interests. I also noted that she was building her own website featuring her articles. I read through the ones that she featured on her home page.
She had stated that she wanted her business cards to reflect her mother’s branding. They had gone through some of Michelle’s old branding from when she was around Maddi’s age. She wanted to incorporate elements similar to her mother’s branding. Primarily she wanted a similar burgundy color scheme and preferred serif fonts.
Sketches
After my research, I began sketching out some ideas based on her feedback. Meaning I drew a lot of pigeons. The article that she felt the strongest about was “Baltimore’s Last Pigeon Man”. With that and her love of birds, a lot of my earliest drafts featured pigeons. I also wanted to focus on Baltimore landscapes and court imagery for these sketches.
First Drafts
Based off of Maddi’s feedback from the sketches, I created the first draft of the card design. The front of the card is minimalistic, featuring contact information she provided me. The color scheme tied back to her mother’s original letterhead. She also like the idea of incorporating pigeon footsteps. She was very interested in the Baltimore skyline for the back, so I incorporated it in a way that would fit the warmer colors on the front. I went for a sunset aesthetic to symbolize this new chapter she is entering into with her freelance work.
Revisions
After discussing with Maddi, we decided that the pigeon footsteps should be removed. It put the attention on the iconography instead of the information, so I centered it and made it fill out the front of the card. She also wanted the sun on the back to be removed so it appeared to have already disappeared into the skyline.
She did, however, want to have a simpler version of the card back. She wanted the skyline one to showcase her love for Baltimore, and a simpler back to be used in more professional settings. After discussing, she indicated that she would want to bring pigeon iconography back, so I created a simplified card design that incorporated a pigeon. I created multiple color variations based on the color scheme we had established. She chose the maroon background with the cream accent colors for the final simplified version.
Final Designs
The final design for the cards encapsulates how Maddi wants to take her career as a reporter. She someone who wants to stand by the people of her city, whether they are a political worker or a small pigeon caretaker. She is fond of where she grew up but is ready to start a new chapter in her life.
Completed: November 2025
Art Director: Megan Huster