Who We Are – illume

We are a small but mighty team of talented creatives with experience across a range of industries.

While our core team drives the heart of our work, we adapt as needed—bringing in the right expertise to best support our clients and their goals.

Operating where strategy meets good design.

We merge strategy and design to create custom solutions that level up your business and attract your dream clients.

Good design is more than beauty, it’s also function, strategy, and intention. Through our design process, we do research, get to know the competitors in your industry, and help organize your marketing materials to best suit your business objectives.

SC = strategic creative

Meet the Team

Illume is powered by a small but mighty team of diverse, talented creatives with experience across a range of industries. While our core team drives the heart of our work, we adapt as needed—bringing in the right expertise to best support our clients and their goals.”

Christine Kaufman

Founder + Creative Director

Christine is a Creative Director at Illume with nearly 25 years of experience in graphic design, animation, web creation, and marketing strategy. She leads the creative team and has partnered with global companies like Colgate, Southwest Airlines, and Pfizer, along with a diverse range of growing businesses, to create design solutions that drive success. Since founding Illume in 2019, Christine has focused on building brands that align with clients’ values and goals, offering strategic support and creative guidance to help elevate their marketing.

Brett Kaufman

CFO + BUSINESS MANAGER

Brett is the CFO and Business Partner at Illume, overseeing the financial and operational aspects of the business with a methodical and analytical approach. With a background in engineering and extensive experience managing multimillion-dollar government contracts, he ensures efficiency and high-quality service. In addition to his CFO role, Brett leads client onboarding, contract management, and project coordination, streamlining operations so the team can focus on delivering creative solutions and exceptional results across industries.

Gina Rozek

Art Director

Gina is an Art Director at Illume based in Los Angeles, bringing a wildly creative, artistically driven approach to every project. With experience across publishing, pharma, agriculture, and education, her work ranges from leading the design of Brené Brown’s Atlas of the Heart to crafting visually compelling projects in environmental spaces. Known for her bold, impactful design, Gina blends artistic intuition with strategic thinking—staying ahead of trends to create work that feels both fresh and timeless.

Kirsten Israel

Art Director

Kirsten is an Art Director at Illume with over a decade of experience in the sports and entertainment industry. Based in Los Angeles, she brings a holistic approach to design, seamlessly blending strategy, branding, and web experience to create cohesive, impactful work. She’s passionate about pushing creative boundaries, exploring bold concepts that elevate brands. Her work has been recognized by ESPN, Fox Sports, and Sports Illustrated.

Serena Ortloff-Tang

Art Director

Serena is an Art Director at Illume with a talent for design, video editing, and bringing creative ideas to life with precision and attention to detail. With a background in healthcare and pharma advertising—plus experience in educational compliance and prevention training—she ensures every project is both visually compelling and thoughtfully executed. She’s worked with brands like AIG, Horizon BCBSNJ, and Sam Adams, and her keen sense of organization makes her an invaluable part of the creative team.

Hannah Smith

Multimedia Designer

Hannah is a Graphic Designer at Illume who brings curiosity, compassion, and a love of learning to every project. With a background in Graphic Design, Visual Experience, and Product Design, she thrives on exploring all sides of the creative process—from illustration and logo design to brand identities, web design, and motion graphics. Known for her thoughtful eye, fresh perspective, and out-of-the-box thinking, she approaches each project with both strategy and heart. Her work has been recognized with multiple ADDY Awards, including a National Student Silver for Website Design.

Business name consultation

The name of your business is integrally tied to the rest of your brand. Why not work with experienced branding professionals like us to help brainstorm ideas, research competitors within your industry, scout out available domain names for your future website, and create a few strategic naming options?

Branding board

We create a fully custom logo designed collaboratively with you as well as a guide for the visual tone of your business – fonts, color palette, design elements, photography direction, and mock-ups of how it might be applied. Your branding board becomes the foundation for every element of your business so each piece can be consistent, cohesive, and polished.

Collateral

Collateral pieces are the essentials – business cards, letterhead, email signature, social media templates, and more.The list looks a little different depending on your industry, but we can help identify what you might need and have you covered from design to final product.

Packaging

Packaging is one of the biggest extensions of your brand! From helping you identify what kinds of packaging you may need, to creating the designs, and reaching out to our network of trusted vendors for production, we’ll be with you every step of the way. Whether it’s boxes, stickers, packing tape, tissue paper, gift tags, belly bands, labels for drink cans, candles, or something else – you name it, we can do it.

Web

We can design and develop the perfect website for your specific business – which we all know is vital in today’s market. After identifying what your website goals are, we design and build websites on the WordPress platform with a premium visual content builder which allows for beautiful design, easy content management, eCommerce capabilities, and works seamlessly between all devices.

Ready to take your marketing to the next level?

It’s not just about standing out—it’s about making the right impact. We can help you connect with your audience, build your brand, and drive meaningful results.