Renée Stevens is an award-winning art director and motion designer with 20+ years building visual systems, motion language, and design identities for editorial, video, and emerging media at scale.

She runs an independent art direction and motion design practice working with global brands, publishers, and creative teams — including Forbes, Google, DreamWorks Animation, Suave Kids, West Elm, and Minted. Her work has reached millions daily, including 300+ motion-based Google Web Stories for Forbes featured in Google's global Web Stories launch.

Her work spans 2D and 3D with equal fluency — motion design, visual systems, and immersive media — which means she can move from a typographic motion system to a spatial 3D experience without losing the storytelling thread that makes both feel intentional.

That same depth informs her work as an educator. As Associate Professor and Chair of Visual Communications at Syracuse University's Newhouse School, she has spent more than a decade building curriculum around motion design, AR/VR, and immersive media — and directing Pixels & Print, an annual 48-hour design workshop that pairs 60+ students with nonprofit organizations to solve real creative problems. Teaching, for her, has always been an extension of practice: a way of staying rigorous, staying curious, and staying connected to what the next generation of designers are making.

As a speaker, she has been invited to share her work around the world — including a TEDx talk at Syracuse University, SXSW, Sundance Film Festival (moderator), Beijing Normal University (keynote), and the U.S. Department of Defense — on the future of motion design, immersive media, and accessible storytelling. Watch her TEDx talk: Never Forget a Name Again.

She is the author of two published books — Powered by Design (Rocky Nook, 2020), named one of the Best Graphic Design Books of All Time by BookAuthority, and Designing Immersive 3D Experiences (Pearson, 2021).

Stevens has been recognized nationally and internationally with 80+ awards including Graphis Gold, GDUSA Person to Watch 2022, GDUSA American Web Design Award, AEJMC Creative Research Award, 66+ Minted design awards, and the Laura J. and L. Douglas Meredith Professorship at Syracuse University — awarded to faculty who demonstrate extraordinary dedication to teaching and creative practice.

Currently available for contract and temporary art direction, motion design, and systems design engagements.

Adobe Certified Professional

SKILLS

Design Skills

Motion Design, Augmented Reality Design, 3D and 360° Animation, User Interface

Design, User Experience Research, Data Visualization, Typography, Identity Design, System Design

Publication Design, Advertising, Project Management, Art Direction, Social Media

Marketing, Digital Illustration, and Storytelling

Photography + Video Skills  

Nikon and Canon DSLR for video and stills, 360° video, Digital Leaf Back, Audio

Recording and Editing, Studio Lighting, Non-Linear Editing, Storyboarding, Still

and Video Color Correction, Image Stabilization and Tracking, Post Production

Retouching, Visual Effects, and Motion Graphics

Computer + Development Skills  

Adobe: Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign, After Effects, Premiere Pro

Cinema 4D, Unity, Skybox, Final Cut Pro

Web: HTML5, CSS3, PHP, Javascript

iOS: Xcode, Swift 4