Practice

Work



Mountain Hardwear
Founded by a small group of industry iconoclasts in California in 1993, Mountain Hardwear gained credibility and praise from outdoor enthusiasts. But the brand had fallen into familiar category tropes and it wasn’t standing out or amplifying its core strengths and points of difference. 

This was an opportunity to reinvigorate the brand with its innate rebellious spirit—which unlocked MHW’s unique point of view on the outdoors.


Truth:
“We’re old enough to know better,
but young enough to do it anyway.”

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Purpose:
Seek Wilder Paths

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Design Idea:
Wildly Engineered


Rhode Island School 
of Design A 145-year-old institution, RISD had entered a period of transformation in 2020. This meant deep structural commitments to evolve and open up—to new voices, new disciplines and new faculty.

The brand challenge was to create unity across the school without imposing uniformity. This required an intentional process, designed to ensure deep, continuous engagement with the entire RISD community, including students, faculty, administration and partners.



Guiding Idea: 
Question to Create,
Create to Question

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Design Concept: 
Complete/Incomplete


Philadelphia Museum 
of Art
The Philadelphia Museum of Art was transforming to be more collaborative, more engaging, more expansive, and more future-focused. 

As a Philly institution, it wanted to embrace the city’s independent spirit and put Philadelphia front and center. To bring art more into the everyday, and invite everyone in to contribute to the dialog at the museum. 

The new brand honors the museum’s past and intends to forge new paths and new exchanges through which we experience the impact of art. 
Purpose: 
Explore how art can shape our world.  

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Design Idea: 
Outside & Inside



ModeMode sought to expand its audience reach beyond data analysts and into a wider enterprise market. 

The new brand positioning needed to capture its optimism for a new kind of business intelligence: data that’s easy, fast and actionable. 

The tone and behavior of the new identity system embody how Mode works and what it enables customers to do: changing perspectives, adapting to new information, in short, shifting modes.


Core Idea: 
Let’s shift our thinking.

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Design Concept: 
Shifting Modes






Principles 


Reality is Rich
Strategy feels meaningful when it’s rooted in what’s true and alive—to internal teams and audiences, in the category and in culture. I start by listening for the whys and hows, then distill what matters most into ideas that shape the brand.


Words that Stick
Clear, memorable language offers brands powerful shorthands for complex ideas. Strategy sticks when it becomes a shared reference point across teams and something people can put into practice every day.


A Voice with Purpose

How a brand speaks should reflect the relationship it wants to build with its audience. Defining the role it can credibly play in their lives sets the foundation. From there, perspective, personality and language follow.  


Brand as a System
Strategy doesn’t work in isolation. It gains value through the ways it connects with design and experience. I look for opportunities to partner with creative teams, translating ideas and words into distinctive behaviors that make the brand recognizable wherever it shows up.

Kasia Galla I help organizations articulate who they are, what they stand for and how they show up in the world.

A brand strategist, consultant and writer for over a decade, I have shaped brands of all sizes and across industries, including fashion, tech, media, sports, wellness, and arts & culture.

My work is driven by a conviction: that the best brands emerge at the intersection of strategy, language and design. I collaborate closely with creative and leadership teams, connecting business objectives with ideas that come to life online, in apps, OOH, retail and environments.

Beyond my work with brands, I’m passionate about building teams and processes to strengthen collaboration across disciplines and deepen confidence in branding as a practice. 


Contactkasiagallabarrett@gmail.com
LinkedIn
Substack

Capabilities
Insight & Direction:
Category Analysis
Stakeholder Interviews
Primary Research
Mission / Purpose
Positioning
Values

Expression & Experience:
Naming
Personality / Tone of Voice
Verbal Systems
Messaging Frameworks
Content Strategy 
Creative / Design Concepts
Design Strategy

Systems & Structure:
Brand Architecture
Portfolio Taxonomy
Design Systems
Guidelines

Teams & Growth:
Strategy Team Design
Process Development
Strategy–Creative Integration
Scoping & Engagement Design

Select Clients    MoMA
Philadelphia Museum of Art
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Apple
Mountain Hardwear
Nike
prAna
Curology
Halsonus
L’Oréal
LOVB
NBA
OKC Thunder
The Athletic
The New York Times
ProPublica
CBS
Barron’s
Goldman Sachs
Mode
Fireworks
GitHub

Awards Silver Cube ADC103
Mountain Hardwear

Bronze Cube ADC102  
Mode


ExperienceIndependent Strategy Director
2026-

Gretel
Head of Strategy
2019-2026

clarkmcdowall
Senior Strategist
2018-2019

sparks&honey
Cultural Strategist
2016-2018




Los Angeles, CA



















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