User:BrZzerkr/sandbox

= Kel Lauren =

Kel Lauren (born Kelly Conway ) is a graphic designer and YouTube content creator. They specialise in merchandise design and music branding for popular musicians. They are also known for uploading YouTube videos where they show their process while redesigning logos and packaging. In 2020 they came out as being gender non-conforming and asked to be referred to with she/they pronouns and now currently display they/them in their public Instagram account as of 2023.

Early Life and Education
Kel Lauren was born in California, USA. They studied at the Fashion Institute of Design & Merchandising (FIDM). They Originally started their university education by studying fashion design but after seeing the work of a flatmate who was doing graphic design, they decided to transfer to the graphic design course at FIDM after their first term.

YouTube Career
Their Youtube channel was created in 2015 and worked as a Casetify content creator between May 2016 and October 2017. They originally made videos about fashion and lifestyle but later found their niche when they started focusing more on making videos about graphic design in 2019. As of November 2023 they have 378 thousand followers making them comparable to other large Youtube creators within the graphic design genre, some of them having far less subscribers than Kel Lauren. Their videos usually consist of Kel talking through their design process as they are doing it on screen. They are said to have felt nervous joining the Youtube space because at the time most design-centric YouTubers were men.

Design Career
After graduating in 2016 they started working for ZERO GRAVITY as a graphic designer which lasted for 8 months. They started their own freelance career as a branding designer. This lasted until 2018 when they started working for Live Nation Entertainment as a merchandise designer. It was while they were working at Live Nation Entertainment that they had contributed to designing for popular music icons such as Carly Rae Jepsen, the Jonas Brothers and Kesha. They ended up leaving Live Nation Entertainment and pursued a freelance career once again in 2020. They now claim to be freelancing for Bravado/UMG and EPIC Records as of 2023.

Gender and Activism
Kel Lauren announced on social media that they describe themselves as being gender nonconforming and would like to be referred to with they/she pronouns. As of 2023 they use they/them pronouns on their Instagram.

Kel Lauren appeared in the Dieline Magazine after their video where they redesigned Playtex tampon branding to be gender neutral. They did this in response to political discourse that arose after the Tampon brand Always decided to remove the Venus symbol from their branding, which is associated with femininity from their branding, which upset some anti-trans activists. Kel Lauren argued in favour of inclusivity by saying "Someone who is trans, gender-fluid, non-binary, or simply a not overtly feminine female won’t feel drawn to the bright pinks and floating butterflies you find on some tampon packs, but they still need to purchase the product” .

As well as being described as being pro-LGBTQIA2S+ they have been described as being anti-racist and anti-fascist. They are also a supporter of Bernie Sanders and have produced posters in support of Black Lives Matters and Defund the Police.

Adobe Live Appearance
While they were still a merchandise designer at Live Nation Entertainment Kel Lauren appeared on Adobe Live, a YouTube stream run by Adobe which is the company behind some of the most popular design software. In this stream they designed an ice cream brand based in San Francisco named 'Karl', which is the nickname given to the fog in San Francisco by locals, demonstrating their local knowledge of the California area. They also discussed how Live Nation Entertain had designed for big names in the music industry including Madonna and the Jonas Brothers, demonstrating their relevance within the design and music industry.