Creative Lead & Marketing Designer, guiding teams to success

Michael Kelly has extensive experience in the creative industry, including ten years of leading successful creative teams. As a creative lead, Michael employs a multidisciplinary approach to brand experience, crafting engaging, on-brand content across digital, print, social, and time-based touchpoints. With extensive client and project management expertise and strong production and creative guidance, he inspires and leads his team to produce exceptional, award-winning work.

Three-dimensional sculptures of Huia birds are suspended from the ceiling, creating a large mobile. There are 28 birds arranged in formation, all pointing in the direction of the last known sighting of a Huia in the Manawatū.
Features a map of New Zealand displaying data points across various locations, with colours arranged in a traffic light system. This colour-coding helps users identify which rivers, lakes, and oceans have good water quality for swimming.
An illustrated image features a young smiling Māori girl with freckles standing outside her marae. She is wearing a red top, a pounamu necklace, and bone-carving earrings and has long, curly hair.
Kāhui Irarau logo, flashing in various bright colors. The colors were selected for the brand and nod to a rainbow-like selection, making the brand very vibrant and appealing to university students.
A mock-up of a banner featuring two cheerful Māori students playing their guitars while sitting outside near their university marae. The text on the banner reads, "That moment you feel the manaaki."
Mock-up of three TikTok screens showing various scenes from the promotional video of the Bachelor of Screen Arts with Honours.
A man stands between four brightly coloured signage pillars. Each pillar is colour-coded (red, green, yellow and blue) and guides visitors to various sections in the Discovery Garden at Wellington Botanic Gardens.
Various pages from a publication are laid out flat, showcasing the blend of information design and typographic layout. Includes several graphs, tables, and section dividers featuring hero images and reversed-out titles on a solid-coloured background.

I produce and co-host a podcast – which interviews young New Zealand emergent design thinkers.

Open Lab the podcast is a space where we open up conversations about the transition between University life and the creative industry. Join us for real-talks with creatives who are sharing their experience and the choices they made. We also dive deep into side hustles, passion projects and the importance of selfcare and wellbeing.

Grab your AirPods and let's go! Open Lab, the podcast