Emily K.

I’m a Pittsburgh-based designer and visual artist working across book cover design, collage-based illustration, and image generation and compositing. I specialize in thoughtful, visually distinctive work that balances concept, clarity, and craft. Recently, I’ve designed book covers for both fiction and nonfiction, including a leadership title and several works of fiction. I enjoy moving between these genres and tailoring the visual language to fit the tone of the book, whether that means something expressive and atmospheric or something more restrained and authoritative. I pay close attention to typography, hierarchy, and color, and I design with real-world considerations in mind, including Amazon thumbnail performance and print production. Alongside book covers, I create collage-driven illustrations and composite images, often blending hand-built elements, antique paper textures, photography, and AI-generated imagery. I’m comfortable refining AI outputs and integrating them into cohesive, editorial-quality images that feel intentional rather than synthetic. My formal training includes the Pennsylvania Governor’s School for the Arts, Syracuse University’s College of Visual and Performing Arts, and Pittsburgh Filmmakers. This background in visual storytelling informs everything I do, from pacing and composition to material sensitivity and restraint. In parallel with my design work, I’m an exhibiting fine artist known for large-scale collages made from antique paper ephemera. My artwork has been featured in New Jersey Monthly, Contemporary Collage Magazine, and sold through Artful Home. This fine art practice directly informs my illustration and design work, particularly when projects call for texture, depth, and a tactile feel. I work fluently in Photoshop, Illustrator, Canva, and WordPress, and I’m known for being collaborative, reliable, and easy to work with. Clients often appreciate that I can translate loose ideas or emotional goals into clear visual decisions without overcomplicating the process. If you’re looking for a designer who’s comfortable working across fiction and nonfiction, and who brings both artistic sensibility and practical production awareness to a project, I’d love to collaborate.