Leighton Hubbell always knew he wanted to be a creative person – whatever job that might be. Whether it was drawing, painting or making things with clay, he’s always loved creating stuff. 

Having a rather nomadic childhood, Leighton has become pretty good at making new friends in all sorts of interesting places. They’ve been mostly warmer climes, with an occasional snowy address mixed in there to build some character. Lots of life experiences and interesting influences to create from.

An incessant doodler in grade school, Leighton somehow managed to take that well-honed skill on to a rather successful career as an illustrative designer – much to the chagrin of his beloved sixth-grade teacher, Mrs. Brewer. Faithful to his design dreams, he graduated from the Colorado Institute of Art and soon after at the prestigious Art Center College of Design.

Now, he gets to do what he loves – design logos, corporate identity systems, icons, promotions, packaging design, illustration, print, web design and other interesting stuff for a range of companies and organizations. Clients have included one-person entrepreneurial companies, education facilities, nonprofit organizations, government agencies and major international corporations. Larger clients include Sheraton Hotels, Purina Pet Foods, Hanes USA, Lions Club International, Nestlé USA and Samsung.

Leighton’s career has been just as colorful. He’s worked in various ad shops, design firms and in-house departments and a rather lengthy 15 year stint working on his own. Most recently, Leighton has been employed at ESRI as a Senior Designer working primarily on icons and illustration work and LinkedIn as Art Director for their UI/UX thumbnail team. Whenever possible, he is involved in career days, guest lecturing or sharing his love of art and design with others. Another adventure is passing on his experiences teaching graphic design at Chapman University. And, he's most recently had work featured in Von Glitschka's LinkedIn Learning course on Iconography.

When Leighton’s not making stuff, you’ll find him riding his bike, tinkering in the garage or buying more art books.

SELECTED INTERVIEWS

Leighton has been interviewed by several design blogs over the last few years. Here’s a sampling:
Inspiring stories from the OC: Meet Anaheim Hills Illustrative Designer: Leighton Hubbell | VoyageLA
Featured Designer: LogoLounge.com
Featured Artist: Astute Graphics April 2015
Logo Designer Interviews: Leighton Hubbell | The LogoBird Blog
Interview with Award-winning Designer Leighton Hubbell | The LogoMix Blog
Leighton Hubbell | The Design Inspiration Blog

SELECTED AGENCIES

Adidas Group, BBDO, Brann Worldwide, Davis | Elen, DDB, The Designory, Edelman Digital, Epiphany, ESRI Creative Lab, Gabriel DeGrood Bendt, Kor Group, Boston, Lipman | Hearne, MVNP | Honolulu, Ogilvy, O’Leary and Partners, Standard Time, TLPartnership | Dallas, Vitro, WCJ/Y&R

Teaching

Adjunct Professor
Spring 2017 - Present | Graphic Design Portfolio professor, Chapman University
Fall 2017 | Advanced Typography professor, Chapman University
Fall 2020 | Advanced Graphic Design professor, Chapman University
Fall 2021 - Present | Branding & Advertising professor, Chapman University

Workshops
April 2019 | Advertising & PR Portfolio Workshop | Build your Portfolio

Awards

His work has been honored in many awards shows, publications and websites including local, regional and national ADDYs, CLIO, HOW, PRINT, TheDieline.com and Neenah Paperworks. Here is a more complete list of awards.

Leighton has been published in roughly 40 design annuals honoring over 350 works including: American Corporate Identity, iheartlogos, Rockport’s Design: Logos, Rockport’s Letterhead and Logo Design, LogoNest, LogoLounge, LogoLounge Masters Library, PRINT’s Best Letterheads and Business Cards, Smashing Logo Design and the LogoPond Book. Here is a complete list of books.

From his reputation and experience in the logo and icon design disciplines, he has been a writing contributor and consultant to Smashing Logo Design, LogoNest 01, 02, the B&W Special Edition 03 and the Graphic Artist’s Guild’s Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines.

SELECTED CLIENTS

Automotive and transportation.
GMC Trucks, Hyundai, Kawasaki Motors USA, Oldsmobile, Progress Technology, Toyota

Broadcast.
CBS Sports, SPEED Channel

Communications.
Alaska Communications, Motorola, Great Call

Educational institutions.
Cal State Fullerton, Emmanuel College, St. Paul’s Lutheran Schools, Rosary Catholic High School, Rose Hulman Institute of Technology, San Jacinto Community Colleges, University of Denver, University of Sydney (AUS)

Energy and Petroleum.
Shell Natural Gas

Entertainment.
Warner Brothers/Giant Records, Yamaha Music Corporation

Financial.
First Hawaiian Bank, GE Capital

Food service.
Famous Dave’s Barbeque Restaurants, IHOP, McDonald’s, Pizza Hut, Taco Bell

Non-profit.
Lions Club International, Passionfish, Juvenile Diabetes Research Foundation (JDRF)

Packaged goods.
3-in-1 Lubricants, Behr Process Corp., Bimbo Bakeries, ConAgra Foods, Frito-Lay, Hanes/USA, Nestle/USA, PepsiCo: All Sport, Crystal Pepsi, Diet Pepsi, Lipton, Mountain Dew, Ocean Spray, Pepsi, Slice, Purina Pet Foods, Tabasco, WD-40

Public service.
Orange County Transportation Authority, Metrolink, SunBus

Retail services.
Blockbuster Entertainment, Fleetwood Homes, Kinko’s, Mervyn’s, Safeway Stores

Shipping.
Port of Long Beach

Sports.
Adidas, GT Bicycles, Inc., BH Bicycles, USA, No Fear, Pivot Cycles

Technology.
GTE, Samsung, Sprint, Toshiba

Travel and tourism.
Hilton Hotels, Ihilani Resort & Spa, Kona Village Resort, Outrigger Resorts, Prince/Westin Resorts, Sheraton Hotels & Resorts, Tarsadia Hotels/Hard Rock Hotels