life work

an interview with Sara Levine

tagged: interview, fiction, Creative Independent

The Creative Independent ↗

about

Maddy Bruster is a graphic designer, writer and web developer living in New York City. She has worked as a graphic designer, front-end developer and copywriter with organizations of various sizes.

She has written for The End, The Creative Independent, Dimepiece, New York Review of Architecture, AIGA’s Eye on Design and other publications.

She has taught in the Communications Design department of the School of Design, Pratt Institute.

more

From 2020-2022 she held design and web development roles at Partner & Partners. Since 2020 she has run an evolving independent design practice, IT HAS TO BE REAL, collaborating with design and architecture studios, small businesses, startups, cultural institutions, artists and individuals to realize ideas across printed and digital matter. IHTBR works with clients from industries as various as art, architecture, technology, government, advocacy, politics and sports.

In the capacity of IT HAS TO BE REAL she works on projects that range from the hyper-commercial (websites for software companies) to one-off articles and illustrations driven by her own interests. In an era of increasing specialization she remains a committed generalist and jack of all trades.

As a designer her work is highly typographic and involved with language and ideas over and above images. She is interested in language and writing as part of a design practice, exemplars of which include Lorraine Wild, Stuart Bailey and Paul Elliman. Her work often explores solutions driven by ideas, coincidences, borrowing, and copying as strategies for creativity, and the aesthetics of the default or banal.

services

graphic design

creative direction

web design

identity design

web development

information architecture

ux design

copywriting

strategy & naming

project management

dev management

technologies

Figma

Wordpress

Astro

Next.js

Hugo

Gatsby

11ty

PHP

React

JavaScript

HTML & CSS

Select clients include the WNBA, RICOH, AI Now Institute, Jain Family Institute, Van Alen Institute, The Rockefeller Foundation, The University of Texas at Austin, Final Draft, Mailchimp, The Locavore Guide, and Taylor & Francis.

writing

The End Magazine, Issue 5: Shame

the Creative Independent: Sara Levine

for Dimepiece magazine: on the .beat watch

for nyra skyline

On The Fence Magazine for Eye on Design

on co-op design studios, with Partner & Partners

naming & titling services

coming soon...

© 2026, maddy bruster design & art direction Brooklyn, NY back to top