BILLIE RENÉ
in/billiedesigns
billie.rene.working@gmail
I’m Billie René, a multi-disciplinary graphic designer and artist interested in the strange ways ideas take shape. I work across visual identity, typography, editorial design, illustration, often somewhere between language, image & emotion.
I’m drawn to work with a point of view thats thoughtful, curious, a little unexpected, and attentive to the details that make something feel alive and human-made.
[ site under construction ]
SELECTED WORK
001—LILLY PULITZER
w/PENTAGRAM
For Lilly Pulitzer’s 65th anniversary brand refresh, I recreated Lilly Pulitzer’s original 1976 signature, refining it into a contemporary and legible script while preserving the character of the original. The lettering was first drawn by hand, then redrawn and developed digitally in Glyphs. I also collaborated with the broader team to refine the brand’s color palette, secondary typefaces, and other brand deliverables such as newsletters, website landing pages, and icons.
002—T-MOBILE BRAND REFRESH 🏆
w/DENTSU CREATIVE
I was part of the team that developed a visual system, using the shapes of the T-Mobile logo, that could flex across a variety of brand applications. Photography was inspired by the 0.5x phone camera lens, bringing the playful + authentic perspective of Gen Z into the brand with photographer Dave Hill. The direction was selected as the winning concept by client, since it acheived the goal of modernizing T-Mobile and making it stand out from the category. I worked on numerous campaigns using this new visual system including MLB, Valentine’s Day (w/ Adolescent), etc.
003—”TEDDY SANS”
W/ USEFUL SCHOOL
I designed and produced a custom typeface for Pinna.fm to capture the playfulness and almost naïve quality of childhood while maintaining a sense of sophistication. Conceived as a hybrid between handwritten and digital forms, the typeface feels expressive while feeling intentionally constructed.
The design draws inspiration from vintage penmanship books, whose letterforms struck the right balance between childlike expression and structure. This became the foundation for a typeface that feels playful and familiar without becoming overly juvenile. This project was super fun because it was a safe space to really lean into playfulness and almost a certain kind of “wrongness” when designing type, which allowed for a rich personality to shine through for the brand. My collaborators, Julee Victoria Rene and Yihuang Zhou helped with production & finalization.
004—SONDEHIM CELEBRATION POSTER
W/ PENTAGRAM
For a commemorative series celebrating Stephen Sondheim, each member of the design team created a poster for a production at the theatre. My poster, for Into the Woods, reimagines the story through playful illustration and collage.
Using a mix of found imagery and stock photography, I edited and composed each element in Photoshop to create a cohesive visual world while maintaining the colorful, whimsical spirit of the production. This project really brought my love for collage and illustration alive and is something I continue to work on and admire to this day.
005—ICD BEAUTY
w/ PENTAGRAM
For this project, I designed a suite of logos for an international skincare company. Our team was tasked with creating a monogram that felt elevated and luxurious while remaining approachable and attainable. We studied monograms from fashion brands to understand how they were constructed, which led me to further explore a serif-based typographic direction.
One of the key challenges was ensuring that the letters “ICD” could be read in the correct order while still functioning as a unified mark. I solved this by nesting the letterforms within one another, creating a monogram that feels both distinctive and simple. The design was ultimately selected by the client and is now used across the brand’s products in the U.S. I also contributed to the packaging design for the brand’s lip products, extending the visual identity across its product line.