Karen Spears
LETTERING ARTIST
DESIGNER
MIND-MAPPER
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
LETTERING ARTIST DESIGNER MIND-MAPPER CREATIVE DIRECTOR
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Karen Spears is an award-winning lettering artist, design thinker, and founder of Kareracter, a creative firm in Chicago, IL. She uses her handwriting talent and creativity to create content and experiences that merge strategy, business development, play, and possibility.
The Girl With Neat Handwriting
I was born with an appreciation for alignment, which explains why “the girl with neat handwriting” was how people knew me growing up in Chicago’s Southside. Opportunities were limited then. As a product of mentorship and community investment between generations of influence, being of creative service to others motivates my design work. Evolving from a lettering artist to a full-scale human-centered designer taught me that creativity has the potential to invite us to endless world-building, thereby creating communities in which we all can thrive.
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About Me
My knack for design started when I was young. I slowly peeled back the layers of my passion in high school, where I would hand-letter quotes for friends and fun, which led me to establish my first creative hustle, The Korean Pears (2013-2014).
In 2015, my penmanship evolved into digitized handwriting, and I began teaching myself graphic design. In 2017, I established Kareracter, a brand and graphic design firm. Unknowingly moving through a path of creative entrepreneurship, I set out to pursue my passion full-time and never looked back.
Wintrust Mural
Featured Project
Kareracter designs the Wintrust Mural in partnership with the Daniel Murphy Scholarship Fund for its first-ever mural billboard overlooking Chicago’s I-90 Kennedy Expressway.
