maddybruster.com

updated: February 18, 2026

about

Maddy Bruster is a graphic designer and writer living in New York City. She has worked as an art director, graphic designer, front-end developer and copywriter with organizations of various sizes.

She has written for AIGA's Eye on Design, The Creative Independent, Dimepiece, New York Review of Architecture and other publications.

From 2020-2022 she held design and web development roles at Partner & Partners. Since 2020 she has run an evolving independent design practice, IT HAS TO BE REAL. Working as IT HAS TO BE REAL, Maddy collaborates with design and architecture studios, small businesses, startups, cultural institutions, artists and individuals to realize ideas across printed and digital matter. Her clients come from industries as various as art, architecture, technology, government, advocacy, politics and sports. Please get in touch via her email.

more

In the capacity of IT HAS TO BE REAL she works on projects that range from the hyper-commercial (websites for software companies) to one-off articles and illustrations driven by her own interests. In an era of increasing specialization she remains a committed generalist and jack-of-all-trades.

As a designer her work is highly typographic and involved with language and ideas over and above images. She is interested in language and writing as part of a design practice, exemplars of which include Lorraine Wild, Stuart Bailey and Paul Elliman. Her work often explores solutions driven by ideas, coincidences, borrowing, and copying as strategies for creativity, and the aesthetics of the default and banal.

services

graphic design

creative direction

identity design

web design

copywriting

web development

information architecture

ux design

project management

dev management

Select clients include the WNBA, The Locavore Guide, AI Now Institute, Jain Family Institute, Van Alen Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, The University of Texas at Austin, Final Draft, Mailchimp, and Taylor & Francis.

teaching

2025-current, Pratt Institute, School of Design

Communications Design, Professional Practice

select projects

Locavore Guide to Shopping New York City, design and production for print, 2026

alexisnowicki.com, website with custom CMS for publicist Alexis Nowicki, 2025

bykids.org, information architecture, design and development for nonprofit film organization, 2025

carinaimbornone.com, website for writer & editor Carina Imbornone, 2025

CTO Housing Alliance, brand identity, 2025

Locavore Guide to Shopping New York City, concept, design and production for print, 2025

navigatorresearch.org, website for progressive polling organization, 2025

ziflow.com, website design, UX design, 2024

susannahjacob.com, for writer & historian Susannah Jacob, 2021

with Partner & Partners

AI Now, website for AI research institute, 2023

interferencearchive.org, website, Interference Archive, 2021

Phenomenal World, website, design & development, 2021

Van Alen Institute, website, design & development, 2021

© 2026, maddy bruster  design & art direction  Brooklyn, NY  Last updated: February 26, 2026 back to top