Jalita Aspelin — Head of Brand & Creative
I came to design from the commercial side rather than the art school side, and in a specific order. Marketing first, at Agence France-Presse in Paris, selling sports media products into international markets. Delivery next, three years running digital projects across London agencies — Paul Smith, Jamie Oliver, the Natural History Museum, Harley-Davidson's #DiscoverMore campaign across 32 countries. That order still shapes how I work — understand the business and the audience before touching the design.
Then Shanghai, launching an EdTech company's first China center. Learning a market that owed me no attention taught me the thing that still runs through everything: taste isn't universal, and a brand that works in one market can be invisible in another.
Only then did I move into design properly — Columbia Road, then a decade across the Nordics, South Africa and remote leadership roles, most recently three years as Head of Design at Mailbird, running brand, product and marketing creative for a 4.7 million user product on a two-person team, reporting to the CEO. It's why I can move from commercial strategy to brand to product to execution without losing the thread — sit with a founder on the business case, then turn around and work the experience myself.
Alongside all of it, I kept making things by hand — a studio and gallery on South Africa's Garden Route, a wallpaper collection exhibited at Decorex Cape Town, murals for high-end interiors. It keeps me close to materials, craft, and the joy of making. I'd love to hear what you're building, let's talk.
15+ years connecting brand, product and growth — leading from strategy through to execution, with a bias toward making things happen.
She's one of those people that everybody took a shine to.
Her feedback was the kind that helps you clarify your own thinking.
A rare ability to bridge the gap between great aesthetics and real business results.
Jalita has a fantastic work ethic and delivers top-quality work across all digital categories.
She doesn't just make things look better — she makes them clearer.
Highly valuable recommendations that transformed our customer journey.
She led the usability studies that identified our biggest onboarding friction points.
Her strongest skill is combining brand thinking with digital experience.
If you have the chance to work with her, take it.
Practicality and methodology brought to complex creative challenges.
Combined with a killer taste.
Given us completely new ways of working.
Things I make when nobody's asking.
IKU Studio — a wallpaper and mural collection I design and sell, exhibited at Decorex Cape Town and used in interiors from South Africa to Europe.
