Design index — 2023 to present

Adaptable. Creative.
Made to work.

A sample record of logo, event, signage, and campaign design made for community centers, small businesses, roller derby leagues, and the people who run them.

05 Categories
15 Projects shown
2023–2026 Active range
The work Select a category to expand

A collection of logos built for roller derby leagues and events — each one designed around the specific story of the team or event it represents, rather than a reusable template.

BOTAS Officials, Scranton 2023

Built to echo Scranton's own city seal, then reworked around the two roles the badge honors: a zebra for skating officials, a nod to the classic striped ref jersey, and a flamingo for off-skate officials, who work the perimeter of the track the way the bird stands at the edge of water.

Used for t-shirts and thank-you cards.

I Hate Valentine's Day Brawl 2023—present

Originally a one-off bout logo for Monadnock Roller Derby, built around a snarling skater breaking through a wash of hearts — deliberately undercutting the holiday's softness with derby's physicality. It landed so well with the league that it's been the event's identity every year since.

Used for social media, t-shirts, and stickers.

Whistles at the Wheelhouse 2024

Designed for an officials training workshop, built directly off Twin State Derby's own league logo, based in New Hampshire, so the event badge reads as a natural extension of the league's identity rather than a separate mark.

Used for all event branding, including badges, handouts, and merchandise.

Advertising campaigns built end-to-end — poster, sticker, table tent, banner, and flyer — for events across different clients, each one starting from the client's own photography or branding rather than stock imagery.

Spring Roll Rochester Area Junior Roller Derby, 2023

A cartoon portrait of an actual league skater — not a generic figure — set inside a swirl of spring florals that mirrors Rochester Area Junior Roller Derby's own circular logo. The same illustration carried across a poster, sticker, and Facebook banner.

Town-Wide Yard Sale & Bike Sale table tent The Fitz

A double-sided table tent for two Fitz events sharing a date — the Town-Wide Yard Sale and the Bike Sale — designed to travel to coffee houses and libraries rather than stay put at The Fitz. One side drives sign-ups with a QR code; the flip side calls for bike donations.

Summer Fun @ The Fitz Camp 2026

A full-page recruitment flyer built to answer a parent's practical questions fast — ages, dates, weekly cost, activities — before asking for the sign-up. Candid photos of kids in program activities do the emotional work up top, while pricing, schedule, and a QR code to registration handle the logistics below.

A set of social posts built around Unearthed, First Lego League's 2026 event theme, for the Fitzpatrick Collaborative's (The Fitz) second annual Lego League Festival. I spearheaded bringing the Lego League Festival to The Fitz in 2025, and after strong demand, brought it back for 2026 — partnering directly with First Lego League to make The Fitz an official host site for the festival. The event was popular enough to be scheduled again for 2027.

Volunteer recruitment 2026

Built around the Unearthed excavation theme, pairing a minifigure archaeologist with a wall of raised hands to solicit volunteers for the festival, styled to match the event's branding rather than a generic call-to-action graphic.

Good luck 2026

A send-off video for the festival's young competitors, using real photos of students at work on their builds rather than stock imagery, so the wish feels specific to the program rather than a template greeting.

Great job 2026

A congratulatory video naming each participating team — Light Blue Stormgears, Diamond Diggers, Jr Chickens, Dynamite, Diggy Dogs, Luca Rockstars — paired with event-day photos, closing out the campaign the way the volunteer post opened it.

A cohesive signage system for The Fitz, replacing a mismatch of ad-hoc notices with a single template that carries the organization's branding — tree logo, color palette, and icon set — across every shared space in the building.

Space-use signage Art space, Auditorium, Community rooms, Gym

Each sign follows the same "How to use" structure, but content shifts by room: the Art space leans on studio etiquette — shared materials, labeling, closing lids — while the Auditorium and Gym prioritize booking logistics and exit policy for outside groups. A color assigned per space makes the right rule set identifiable at a glance.

Private event sign

A temporary sign posted whenever a room is rented out for a private party, program, or event, letting other visitors know a space is in active use without needing a permanent placard. Still built from the same tree-mark system as the rest of the signage, but styled apart deliberately — a deeper green and gold script signal an occasion-specific notice rather than a standing space rule.

PACH Outreach donation drive poster

A drop-off point poster for The Fitz's food-pantry partnership with PACH Outreach, using dual branding to signal a shared initiative rather than a Fitz-only ask. Bold, poster-scale type carries the instruction from across a room, while a needed-items list and drop-off arrow handle the specifics up close.

Three flyers for three unrelated clients — a real estate agent, an eyewear brand, and a roller derby league's recruitment drive — each built around photography the client provided rather than stock imagery, so the design work centers on how that photography gets framed, cropped, and paired with type.

Anuradha Rao RE/MAX Innovative

A client-facing flyer built around a provided headshot, structured to lead with trust signals — years licensed, local market knowledge, client testimonials — since real estate is a relationship-driven sale before it's a property one.

Swoon Eyewear

A compact social ad built from a set of lifestyle product photos, cropped tight to keep the focus on the glasses themselves while still giving the shot room to breathe.

Monadnock Roller Derby recruitment "We Are Pack"

Action shots from the client's own bouts cut directly into the letterforms of "JOIN," so the recruitment message and the sport it's recruiting for read as one image rather than photo-plus-caption.

Portrait of Melissa Griffin About

I'm a marketing communications professional with a design eye and 15+ years experience across content, design, events, and digital marketing for diverse industries from financial services to non-profits.

Most of the examples here started as a practical need, like a community center whose signage had become five different flyers taped together and needed one consistent system, or a team needing branding for a specific event.

I enjoy bringing both the vision to shape a communications function and the hands-on fluency to execute it.

Let's talk about your next project.