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.  

↓
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.

↓
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

Work 
Principles
Practice

Kasia Galla helps organizations articulate who they are, what they stand for and how they show up in culture.

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

Her work is driven by the belief that the best brands emerge at the intersection of strategy, language and design. She collaborates closely with creative and leadership teams, connecting business objectives with ideas that inspire how brands show up—from websites and apps to OOH, retail and headquarters.

In addition to building brands, Kasia builds teams, processes and frameworks that strengthen collaboration across disciplines and deepen confidence in the brand practice. 


Contactkasiagallabarrett@gmail.com
LinkedIn


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

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

Systems & Structure:
Brand Architecture
Portfolio Taxonomy
Guidelines

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

Clients    Afterpay
Apple
Barron’s
Brex
CBS
Cline
Cosmos
Curology
Fireworks
GitHub
LOVB
Mode
MoMA
Mountain Hardwear
NBA
Nike
NYCFC
Peacock
Philadelphia Museum of Art
prAna
ProPublica
Rhode Island School of Design (RISD)
Spectrum
The Athletic
The New York Times

Awards Silver Cube ADC103
Mountain Hardwear

Bronze Cube ADC102  
Mode


ExperienceFreelance 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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