Penny Simmons / Founder, Branding Your Artistry LLC / Cleveland, OH

IDEAS DON'T
PAY BILLS.
Built ones do.

Creative direction with a developer's brain. Websites with a point of view. Brands that don't disappear into the scroll. Premium thinking, grounded in real-world budgets.

See what I built ↘

01 / Selected work

Not one look.
Not one lane.

Every brand has a different audience, business model, and problem. So why would I hand them the same website dressed in a different color?

Flagship transformation / 2026

PENNY
speaks.

Penny Speaks

Web transformation / Creative direction / Personal brand ecosystem

Education meets real life

EVERY DOLLAR HAS A BACKSTORY.

COMMON
CENTS.

Common Cents Collective

Financial literacy / Brand & digital experience

WEAR YOUR VOICE

KULTURE
216.

Kulture 216

Apparel / Collection architecture / Digital storytelling

BYA

The parent creative house

Branding
Your Artistry.

Branding Your Artistry

Business identity / Services / Client experience

Penned DownWords
you can
hold.Open. Read. Feel.

Penned Down

Publishing / Packaging / Literary product design

THE
PENNYVERSE.

The Pennyverse

Multi-brand navigation / Commerce / World-building

read it.
feel it.

DESIGN
WITHOUT
A DRESS CODE.

Graphic Design Archive

Corporate / Book postcards / Print campaigns

02 / Before the refresh

Being online
isn't enough.

A site can stay online long after the brand has moved out. My 2024 author website did its job. But by 2026, the books, performances, publishing projects, and digital products needed a whole address of their own.

I didn't erase the old site because it was dark. I rebuilt because my business grew. The real upgrade was brand maturity, clearer pathways, and building an expandable digital home instead of another static biography.

2020BYA established

6+Years building a business

1Connected brand universe

Authentic Penny Speaks homepage circa 2024

Original / Actual 2024 archive

PENNY SPEAKS / CONCEPTUAL STUDY

WORDS THAT
DON'T WHISPER.

EXPLORE THE PENNYVERSE ↗

Refresh / illustrative preview

Left: authentic 2024 screenshot from the Penny Speaks archive. Right: illustrative refresh preview, not a screenshot of the live site. Visit the linked site to inspect the current experience.

What the refresh unlocked: intentional routes for books, poetry, shop, booking/contact, and sister brands; a stronger identity across pages; and room to grow the catalog without rebuilding the entire experience every time.

Explore current Penny Speaks preview ↗

03 / What you're actually hiring

The creative.
And the circuitry.

01.

Creative strategy

Audience positioning, art direction, brand voice, concept development, packaging, and campaigns that connect every customer touchpoint.

02.

Technical execution

Developer-informed digital architecture, navigation, responsive thinking, connected workflows, and experience design beyond surface-level decoration.

03.

AI-directed production

Over three years shaping and reviewing AI-assisted workflows. Speed matters. So do judgment, originality, quality control, and a real human deciding what ships.

04.

Publishing & print

Book jackets, interior design systems, promotional postcards, collateral, packaging, and physical experiences that make art tangible.

05.

Budget intelligence

Prioritize what moves the business forward today. Build a foundation that can scale tomorrow. No unnecessary bells sold as a breakthrough.

06.

2027-ready thinking

Brand-specific experiences, accessible layouts, useful motion, fast pages, clear content structures, AI-assisted workflows, and human-led creative quality.

04 / The design spectrum

Boardroom to
block party.

One creative brain. Several visual languages. The work knows when to wear a blazer and when to show up in sneakers. Explore actual 2026 pieces below.

CLARITY.
BUILT IN.Corporate communications

Some
letters
find you.Literary packaging

PAYDAY.
NOW WHAT?Education campaigns

READ IT.
FEEL IT.
FLINCH.Book postcards / Promotion

05 / Point of view

Good design shouldn't cost you survival.
Bad strategy is expensive.

I know what it's like to build while the bills keep arriving. That's why I don't sell businesses five expensive features when they need one solid system. I give the creative everything I've got, and the budget the respect it deserves.

SIX YEARS RUNNING BYA. THREE-PLUS YEARS DIRECTING AI WORKFLOWS. STILL BUILDING.