ELLIOT SALAZAR ☺︎





Designer, Illustrator & Art Director
A quiet yet witty, perfectionist originally from West Texas. He now lives and works in New York City where he is helping shape design, branding, and creative strategy at TikTok. He also doesn’t drink coffee or eat avocados – weird, right?.

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+ elliot.e.salazar{at]gmail.com +
CV ↘︎





Education
 School of Visual Arts
MFA – Designer as Author and Entrepreneur Program
New York, New York

Texas Tech University
BFA – Communication Design 
Lubbock, Texas



Experience 

TikTok
Senior Creative Lead
↘︎ 2023 – Present

Currently focused on design, creative strategy and art direction for marketing projects, events, social content and in-app e-commerce campaigns for the launch of TikTok Shop in the US.

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Instagram
Brand Designer [2021-2022]

On the Brand Design team, I helped shape a variety of brand touch-points across product, editorial, and experiential. I was the lead designer for @design, including the #BlackDesignVisionaires grant program and art directed Instagram cultural moment stickers.

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Virtue Worldwide
Senior Designer [2019-2021]

Virtue is the creative agency born from VICE, and I worked on some exciting projects with clients like Urban Decay, Beats by Dre and Cholula Hot Sauce, new business pitches, and internal projects for the agency. 

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Refinery29
Senior Designer 
Social Media [2014-2018]

Sitting on both the Design and Social Media teams, I oversaw editorial and branded content for all social media channels. If you’ve liked, double tapped, or retweeted an @R29 social post then you’ve probably seen some of my work!

• Designer [2015-2017]
• Freelance Designer [2014-2015]
• Editorial Design Intern
  [2014-2015]

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Warby Parker
Graphic Design Intern [2013-2014]

As a bespectacled intern by day and graduate student by night (I was pretty busy then)I worked on design assets for collectionsand other special collabs.

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Texas Tech University
Graphic Designer [2011-2012]

Worked with faculty, staff, and students in developing new projects for the School of Art and Landmark Arts Galleries – brochures, exhibitions designs, and recruitment materials.

• La Ventana Managing Editor
  [2008-2011]
• Rec Sports Marketing Designer
  [2009-2010]



Organizations

AIGA NY Board of Directors 
Communications and Social Media
[2017-2020]



Awards & Honors
Society of Illustrators 66th Annual: Advertising & Institutional Jury [2023]

AICP Next Awards Judge, 
Category: Influencer [2023]

#ArtOnLink World Pride Featured Artist [2019]

Chandelier Creative – Mermaid Ranch Artist In Residence [2018]

The Young Ones: Advertising & Design Student Competition Juror [2017]

Print Magazine Regional Design Award [2017]

Ace Hotel: New York Artist in Residency Program (#AceAIR)

AIGA Command X Competition [2016]



Speaking Engagements
SVA MFA Design Guest Lecturer
New York, NY

Laguna College of Art + Design
Guest Lecturer 
Laguna Beach, CA

Shillington School Of Design 
Guest Lecturer 
New York, NY



Press AIGA Eye on Design
Planoly
Newspaper Club
Brand Therapy Podcast








Last Updated 25.02.13
SELECTED WORK [WIP]





Virtue Worldwide
Update in progress – more coming soon! 

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Beats by Dre – Flex That

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+ Press: Ad Age, ADWEEK, Refinery29, Yahoo!, Baseline, Sports Business Daily, LBB Online, iMore, The Grio.
To launch the new Beats Flex headphones,
Virtue Worldwide created a campaign with some
of this generation’s most defiant voices to encourage Black youth to “flex” who they are. Titled “Flex That”, it aims to tell authentic stories that challenge perceptions and empower youth everywhere.

Client: Beats by Dre
Talent: Naomi Osaka, Cordae, and Flo Milli
Director: Rohan Blair-Mangat
Creative: Genie Gurnani, Jake Matthews, Garrett Mutz, Shakayra Moore, Alicia Bee, Mauricio Santos, Will Stallmeyer, Elliot Salazar, Joe Ferraro.
Team: Luke Taylor, Emily Walsh, Marianne Pizzi, Susie Lyons, Justin Davis.


Planned Parenthood – Be Seen

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+ Press: Ad Age, Adforum, Essence, LOGO, Young Director Award 2021: Charity, Shortlist, The 1.4 Longlist.For so long, so many people in Black and Brown communities have been ignored, mistreated, and misunderstood by those meant to provide care. For so long, they have felt unseen. This campaign takes the first step to communicate Planned Parenthood’s mission: to see everyone fully and judgment-free. Not just as patients, but as people. We launched with a message of affirmation from one generation to another, delivered by Emmy-winner Lynn Whitfield. We then put out a call for kind words from the community. Artists, podcast hosts, and even real people answered, leaving messages of encouragement on their platforms and ours — the Be Seen Mailbox — for anyone who may feel unseen.

Client: Planned Parenthood
Director: Bianca Poletti
Creative Team AND Design: China Macena, Jackie Mucilli, Katie Cascio, Meg Pearce, Elliot Salazar, Theresa Darlington.


Urban Decay – Legends Never Fade

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To launch the updated Urban Decay All Nighter Setting Spray, Virtue Worldwide were tasked with bringing this cult favorite to life. Inspired by real reviews, from real people found on social media, we recreated our favorite tweets with the help of celebs like actor Joey King South Korean Rapper CL to bring to life LEGENDS NEVER FADE.

Client: Urban Decay – All Nighter Setting Spray
Director: Mark Leibowitz
Creative + Team: Lia Koo, Mary Grace Moseley, Jackie Mucilli, Jill Dugger, Alexandria Hilliard.
Design: Elliot Salazar, Paul Abood


Cholula Tacothon

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+ Press: Ad Age, Campaign, Travel + Leisure, UsWeekly, Bloomberg.
In 2020, Cinco de Mayo fell on a Taco Tuesday, a momentous occasion that happens only once every seven years - but because it was early in Covid, people were trapped inside and too afraid to celebrate with friends and family, while independent restaurants were hurting financially on a normally busy day.

To bring people together and help facilitate joy and connection on what could have been the loneliest Cinco ever, Cholula hosted a star-studded Tacothon on Instagram Live that cooked up something totally new for quarantine-weary fans. Chef-hosts Tom Collicchio, Christina Tosi, Aaron Sanchez, Dwyane Wade, Sophia Bush, and Vic Oladipo cooked, laughed, and celebrated together as they cooked their own original taco recipes in their home kitchens with 200,000 live viewers, ultimately reaching 12.9 million people and raising $120,000 to help save independent restaurants.

Client: Cholula Hot Sauce
Creative AND Design: Nicole James, Kat Brodo, James Santiago, Nick Jackson, Elliot Salazar.


Virtue Worldwide Social Design System

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To relaunch the Virtue Worldwide Instagram profile, I designed and implemented a new visual system to showcase a variety of social content – employee profiles, thought leadership posts, new client work features, and other inspiration. Included were content and design solutions for feed, stories, and Instagram GIF stickers.

Creative and Design: Will Stallmeyer, Joe Ferraro, Elliot Salazar.


Virtue Worldwide Flight Fellowship Program

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Flight Fellowship is a hands-on agency experience from Virtue Worldwide where fellows (students, recent grads, and new creatives) craft and create work with global brands to be seen by the world.

I created the branding and visual identity for this program and was inspired by space, pop culture, and retro-futurism.


Creative AND Design: Elliot Salazar, Will Stallmeyer, Joe Ferraro, Christina Jones.


© Elliot Salazar 2024-2025