Creativity, packaged

When it comes to creativity, Mira Holifield ’23 has never lacked inspiration. From sketching as a little girl to creating designs for national food and beverage brands, she’s built a career grounded in imagination. 

“I’ve always been a super creative person,” Holifield said. “I loved drawing growing up,  and as soon as I took my first graphic design class, I knew that’s what I wanted to pursue.”  

Today, Holifield works as a graphic designer at Unpack’d, a studio in Austin, Texas, where she helps develop brand identities, packaging design and marketing assets for clients nationwide like Tacodeli, Waterloo Sparkling Water and Bearded Bros. Her day-to-day is a mix of fast-paced collaboration and detailed creativity, from sketching new ideas to shaping entire brand stories.  

“Our studio offers strategy, brand identity, and packaging,” she said. “Every day is different. Some days I’m illustrating or creating digital and print assets, and other days I’m working on larger rebrand projects where we’re creating a whole new identity for a company. It’s a combination of design execution and creative ideation, and I love that mix.”  

Though she works remotely, collaboration is a big part of her process: “We’re a small  studio, so we often work with other contractors and freelancers from around the world,” Holifield said.  “We communicate a lot online — brainstorming sessions, sharing ideas back and forth, refining designs together. It’s very collaborative, but there are also moments where we’re heads down, creating independently. That balance works really well.”  

Most of the brands Holifield designs for are ones consumers might recognize on grocery store shelves. 

“We mostly work with consumer packaged goods brands, things you’d find in Whole Foods,” she said. “For me personally, one of my main clients is Tacodeli, a  Tex-Mex restaurant in Austin.” 

“It’s really rewarding to see your work printed and out in the world.”  

That passion for seeing creativity meet reality took root during her time at UD. Holifield, a graphic design major, said her professors were vital in preparing her for the professional world by emphasizing  hands-on experience and teamwork. 

“One of my most influential classes was design practicum with lecturer Kathy Weil Kargl, where we got to operate like our own design agency,” she said.

Holifield said it was this type of hands-on experience in class that first gave her the opportunity to create real-world quality work — and the experience was very similar to the work she’s now doing on a daily basis. 

“That definitely helped prepare me,” she said.  

These days, when she needs a little spark of her own inspiration, she turns to the same things that first drew her to design. 

“Sometimes I’ll just walk the aisles of a grocery store and look at packaging,” she said. “It’s amazing how many creative ideas come from everyday places.”  

Photos provided by Mira Holifield.