The Makery Mission is to make opportunity for others

The Makery's mission is make opportunity for others in the world. To support this mission, we re-invest a percentage of our profits and time into our free design education programming for students of under-represented communities. We also are strong supporters of our nonprofit sector and take on pro bono design projects each quarter. 

The next generation of Makers!

Our users come from all walks of life, so should user experience designers! We work with nonprofits and schools to provide free design education to students 16 - 24 of economic disadvantage.

As one of the fastest growing professions, User Experience Designers are in demand - we are doing our part to help those have alternative career pathways into user experience design. 

We partner with nonprofits and schools to provide free user design education. We can work 1:1 with a student or we have an after school classroom program as well. 

How We Can Help

• A great place to start is having The Makery come give a fun "career day" talk to your students to highlight UX Design Careers.
  
  
• From there, we can collaborate together to launch our UX curriculum - we can work 1:1 with a student, or set up an after school program! 

Meet the Makery

We are an independent and focused design agency. The Makery specializes in User Experience and User Interface design. We are agile and have a bias for action. Above all, we make the complex, simple and beautiful. If you are looking to bring a new idea to market or revitalize a stale digital experience, we are experts at UX/UI for B2B, eCommerce, and SaaS companies. 

We have a balance of full-time Makers, as well as deep roster of industry-leading consultants and freelancers to bring expertise to specialized collaborations. The Makery has the agility of a tech startup, with the capabilities of a full design team. 

​Alec Hogstad

Lead UX/UI Designer

We're proud to be a member of the Nostos Network -  a community of best-in-class agencies with complementary skill sets and diverse industry expertise, who all share similar values, infrastructure, and ethics. We are located in Northeast Minneapolis, Minnesota.  

Anatoly Khalizev

UX/UI Designer

​Design Matters.

We have many designers and creative organizations that inspire us - we hope, we can inspire others too. We pride ourselves in thoughtful, fresh and unique approaches to design. In doing so, we will make design that stands apart - and will truly matter to clients and users.
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Less, But Better.
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Taken from Dieter Rams, “less but better” informs our design practice as well as our way of life. We are dedicated to simplicity and sustainability. It is through this ever constant perspective that we can focus only on essential aspects; a return back to purity, back to simplicity.

Make Others Successful.

Regardless of talent, we’ve all had someone reach out and give us help in our professional journeys. Whether through our apprenticeship program, bootcamps, career day events, or just though grabbing a cup of coffee, making others successful is a value we live every single day.

Ayan Ahmed

UX/UI Designer

McLean Donnelly

Maker-in-Chief

Prior to founding The Makery, McLean was the Vice President of User Experience Design for Shutterstock and a Design Manager for Expedia.

He's been a speaker at industry-leading gatherings including: Creative Week, The Art Director's Club and the Design Thinkers conference.

He has won a Webbby Award for Best of Use of Artificial Intelligence in Design as well as a UX Magazine Design for Experience Award for nonprofit design work.

He earned a Masters of Business Administration from St. Thomas University, a Bachelor of Arts at Gettysburg College, and is a Adjunct Professor of Design at the University of Minnesota. 

Say hello at one of our upcoming events!

At The Makery one of our core values is Design Matters. We believe that designers and our work can truly inspire and bring positive and lasting change - for ourselves, our customers and our organizations. To amplify this change, we take time to share our ideas through talks at conferences, meetups and at organizations.

Blacks in Technology National Conference, October 9,
https://www.eventbrite.com/e/bitcon2019-blacks-in-technology-annual-conference-tickets-63642117286 


Design Thinkers Conference
October 24, 2019
https://designthinkers.com


Product Camp 
November 8, 2019
http://pcamptc.org/


World Usability Day
November 14, 2019
https://worldusabilityday.org/

A recent Makery talk with the User Experience Professional Association of Minnesota

We share ideas on design & the world we live in.