Headshot of Julie Rado, wearing a sweatshirt that says "tough as a mother"

This is what I call my emo mom look.

It’s pronounced Ray-doh. Despite the best efforts of many who have tried to make it Rah-doh, Ra-doo, and Radio, it’s just Ray-doh.

Find my resume here.

When I was in high school, I fancied myself a riot grrrl (which to me meant patches on my backpack ✔️ nonconformist honor roll student (ask me about my goth phase) ✔️ high level of skill with Manic Panic hair dye ✔️). I was also always into art, so by the time my teenage years hit, the two things combined until I inadvertently discovered “computer graphics” and began writing and designing my own zine. I did this the only way I knew how: an Apple computer and the family inkjet for compiling and printing my deep thoughts, MS paint for bitmap creations, pen for detailed illustrations, scissors and glue stick for creating layouts, and the photocopier in the faculty lounge at my mom’s school for publication. 

I’m currently a senior designer at Untuck, working mainly in the nonprofit and higher education sectors on editorial, digital, and identity projects. I especially enjoy the challenge of creating design systems, whether for a brand identity, UI, or publications. At night, you can find me unwinding by creating artwork for my Etsy shop, Radio Ink Art. I also love to write and try to incorporate it into my work whenever I can, whether that’s writing for a self-promo, for social media, or when cheese ipsum just won’t do as placeholder text. One time I even gave a talk about writing to the youths of one of my alma maters. It was much less painful than you might think!

My work has won numerous AIGA Philadelphia Design Awards; it has also been published in UnderConsideration’s FPO, CMYK and Design School Confidential by Steven Heller and Lita Talarico. If my mom had any idea what those things meant, I’m sure she would be very proud.

 

Graphic of old zine scans, a self-portrait made in MS Paint, a collage of Gavin Rossdale's head on Superman's body, and a clipping of a letter to the editor I wrote about grungers circa middle school.

Some of my finest pre-college digital artwork and writing samples.