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Portfolio · Creative Direction & UX Strategy

Seema Rao

A creative director and UX strategist turning rigorous research into content that grows audiences and moves them to act.

Things I do

Twenty years of content, research, and creative direction across culture, media, and tech.

About

I help cultural institutions, startups, and media brands unify design, content, and digital engagement into work that grows audiences and strengthens identity, as both a hands-on maker with millions of monthly views and a director of cross-functional teams. I currently lead a team of 15 to 20 across game design, development, design, and content at Playably, where our 30+ brand clients have all stayed and the company was named ShopTalk Startup of the Year. Earlier, I managed budgets of $1.5M and $2.5M for two museums.

Featured in

The New York Times Hyperallergic WWD Daily Mail Jing Daily blooloop

Selected Work

View all work →
The 2026 Playably homepage
01 / Branding · Stewardship

Playably Brand System

The identity, voice, and play-and-win design language that thirty partner brands plug into.

30+
brands on one system
Playably colourway explorations
02 / Identity · Brand System

Playably 2026 Rebrand

A full identity for a gamified-rebate company: thirty wordmarks, thirteen colourways, four homepages, one system.

30wordmarks to one mark
BC Lions OVERTIME storefront takeover
03 / Campaign · Sports

BC Lions: OVERTIME

Win in overtime and the order comes back. Twelve days at full price on a CFL team store, designed end to end.

51%of online orders enrolled at full price
Advent calendar game, day-door entry screen
04 / Game Design

Advent Calendar Game

A 24-day play-and-win calendar built into checkout, with a reason to come back every day.

+41%December revenue · partner stores
Overtime cash-back refund game
05 / Game Design

Overtime Win-Back

If the big game goes to overtime, the order is on us. Real stakes, full margin.

18.25XMeta ROAS · +57% store sales · BlackBoxMyCar
TikTok Launch Strategy
06 / Social

TikTok Launch Strategy

A museum TikTok built from zero. A Top-5 museum account per Hyperallergic.

12Mviews · 645K likes in a year
Safety Communication
07 / Comms · Award

Safety Communication

COVID safety communication, onsite and online, designed for calm.

SilverVisual Comms Award, OMA 2020
Multimodal Centennial
08 / Campaign

Multimodal Centennial

A vehicle, a game, and a free publication, working as one campaign.

EveryZIP code reached · broad press
Website Relaunch
09 / Website · UX

Website Relaunch

The museum site rebuilt around what visitors came to do.

+200%site views in a year
The Sak Find Your Los Feliz quiz, result screen
10 / Interaction · Game Design

Style Quiz Game Engine

A product quiz you play with your hands. One engine, one file per brand.

5xquiz conversion · The Sak
The artlust YouTube channel
11 / Content · Audience

artlust

My own channel. Art history as the way into the arguments people are already having.

1M+followers · 80.7M YouTube views in six months

Selected Games

See them live →

Play-and-win mini-games I art-direct at Playably, each tuned to a brand’s voice and a real reason to play. A few from the shelf:

The Sak Find Your Los Feliz quiz
The Sak: Find Your Los FelizTouch the material, pack the bag, roll to a colour, swipe the weekend. Play it →
Skout Organic snack race
Skout Organic: Snack DashA quick collector race: grab bars or cookies, never both, and win a discount.
Replacements match-3 game
Replacements, Ltd.: Pattern MatchA match-3 built from real china patterns: connect three to clear the board and earn a prize.
Bellzi arcade game
Bellzi: Animal FusionAn endless arcade tap: time the drop to land your plushie and chase a high score.
Friends Central Perk trivia game
Central Perk: Coffee Break TriviaThree Friends questions in fifteen seconds to earn a Coffee Break. Nostalgia, timed.
Schuller design-under-budget game
Schüller: Design Under BudgetRead the brief, then build the best kitchen under budget. A considered purchase, turned into play.
Figure skating rhythm game
Figure Skating: Rhythm TapTap in time as the skater lands each element. Simple to learn, hard to perfect.

“Research tells you what's true. Story is what makes people care.”

— How I approach every project

Impact

12M
TikTok views
645K
likes earned
30M
monthly views · Artlust
+143%
YouTube growth
100+
videos / year

Two decades across culture, media, and technology.

Now
Creative Director & Head of ContentPlayably · 2022–Present
Founder & CreatorArtlust · 1M+ followers
Studio & Leadership
Principal & Creative DirectorBrilliant Idea Studio · 2017–Now
Chief Experience OfficerAkron Art Museum · 2019–2022
Director, Intergen. LearningCleveland Museum of Art · 2007–2017
Recognition
  • Webby-nominated AR game
  • NYT-covered chatbot strategy
  • Visual Comms Silver, OMA 2020
  • Top-5 museum TikTok, Hyperallergic
Education
  • MLIS, UX Design, Kent State
  • MA, Art History, Case Western
  • BA, Biological Sciences & South Asian Studies, University of Chicago
Curriculum Vitae UX & Brand → Museums & Art History →

Selected Speaking

2024
Keynote: Western Museums Association
2020
Keynote: Making Museums AccessibleVisitor Experience Conference
2020
Keynote: Self-Care in MuseumsCalifornia Museums Association
2018
Talk: Hack the MuseumMuseumNEXT, London
2017
Keynote: Trust the RevolutionMuseumNEXT, Portland

Selected Publications

Inclusive Interpretation TipsAASLH · 2018
Change at Work: Not Just Surviving and ThrivingCreateSpace Publishing · 2018
To Journey in Twitter CanoesMuseums and the Web · 2018

Let's work together

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