Lauren McPhillips is an award-winning interdisciplinary creative consultant & educator.

Expertise

With over a decade of experience in marketing, design, and business development, Lauren helps organizations, institutions, and individuals create connections, communicate their differentiators, and craft engaging narratives. Lauren holds a Bachelor of Fine Art in Photography from Columbia College Chicago and a Master of Architecture from the Illinois Institute of Technology. Leveraging her interdisciplinary background, and a collaborative approach, Lauren can help you share your story, connect with your audience, and grow your business.

  • Process is just as important as the product. Lauren works closely with organizations, and individuals, to demystify the process, identifying where they have come from and where they are/are going and helping them get to where they want to be.

    Click here for storytelling samples.

  • Pairing her explorations of the physical and psychological impact of natural, virtual, and constructed environments with her interests in human performance and spatial and social engagement, Lauren creates designs that invite participation and encourage reflection.

    Click here for design samples.

  • Lauren loves bringing people and perspectives together and promoting opportunities for communication and exchange. She is passionate about mentorship and preparing the next generation of creatives through curriculum development, education, and training.

    Click here for pedagogy & programming samples.

Industries

AEC

Lauren partners with Architecture, Engineering, and Construction firms to elevate—and at times, pioneer—marketing and business development efforts. From storytelling, pre-positioning, and procurement to project milestones, project closeout, and awards and conferences, Lauren will partner with you to ensure that your messaging is clear, engaging, accessible, and successful.  

Art & Design

Lauren collaborates with artists and designers to showcase their work, share their story, and bring their visions to life. Whether it be art directing and curating editorials and exhibitions or developing technical drawings for fabrication and installation, Lauren will meet you where you are in your process and help you get to where you want to go. 

Hospitality & Events

Lauren works with hospitality, meeting planning, and event production professionals to create bespoke experiences. Whether it be through programming and workshops, production strategy and on-site production support, virtual graphics or physical signage, maps and wayfinding material, Lauren will be sure to capture and convey your message.

Process

Collaboration is the cornerstone of Lauren’s process. Rooted in her formal training and tenure as an artist and an architect, Lauren will partner with you to position you for success. Her listen first approach is iterative, empathetic, and value aligned to uncover and uphold narratives that are reflective, inspiring, and authentic.

Qualifications

Lauren is passionate about exploring and communicating how the built and social environments impact people. Her work has supported projects ranging in scale from digital experiences and site specific-installations (such as Inside Out, Parallels, Crossover (Aspen), Corners (Aspen), Elevation, and numerous Progressions by the artist, Barbara Kasten) to city-wide initiatives that have held an international reach (including destination marketing for the City of Chicago through Choose Chicago and public program management through the Chicago Architecture Biennial).

Recognition

Lauren has been recognized with awards in both the art and architecture industries. Her work has been published internationally and has been featured in publications such as: the Wall Street Journal, Fast Company, Architectural Digest, Chicago Architect Magazine, among others.