Our Newest Murmette: Renee Dimalla

We’re very excited to welcome Renee Dimalla to the Murmur team! She’s a fantastic designer, her logo skills are top-notch, and her illustrations are gorgeous. And she’s really nice and great to work with too! We feel pretty darn lucky to have her on board.

Want to get to know Renee a little better? So did we! So we asked her some hard-hitting questions.

What do you like best about Murmur?

Not only are the clients right in my ballpark (meaningful companies, many of which are local), but I get to work intimately with them in an unpretentious setting. Everyone has a defined role at Murmur, and that gives each member of the team the ability to be deeply talented and appreciated. It also helps that many of our clients are in the food industry!

How did you become such an amazing designer?

My Dad has a 1934 Graham Paige Coupe and obsessively collects every known artifact related to its existence. When I was little, part of this obsession manifested as 12-hour days spent in the lower depths of public libraries where they kept the micro film readers, with me in tow. He’d flip through reel after reel of newspapers from 1934 to hunt down Graham ads or references of ads for motor parts and accessories. Little me, having nothing better to do, would sit at my own machine and scroll through his discarded rolls, pausing to trace ladies fashion ads and pretty, scripty typography. Maybe having brilliant mentors and professors has more to do with it though.

Name 3 of your favorite books: 

Color by Victoria Finlay

Fragrant by Mandy Aftel

What Are You Looking At by Will Gompertz

And one more for good measure….

Mycophillia by Eugenia Bone

Describe a favorite childhood memory: 

My family lived in Australia when I was young, and I have a short and sweet memory of us sitting down for a dinner of lamb steaks in a trailer in the middle of nowhere, under a brilliantly clear Milky Way-filled sky. My first bite included the flattened bullet that killed the poor lamb. Luckily, I didn’t break any teeth. I really should have kept that bullet.

Tell us about an embarrassing moment:

In other childhood mouth-related memories: When I was 6, I lost a tooth way too early by way of McDonald’s ball pit. I bit down on the surrounding ball pit net (like how ALL children do), slipped and fell backwards, and my right front baby tooth had an early departure.

What’s your favorite spot in Portland?

After only 4 months, I haven’t figured that out yet, but there’s a little oasis called Cistus Nursery on Sauvie Island where I could easily spend a large portion of my life.

What are your favorite tv shows? 

Antiques Roadshow

Masterpiece Theatre period dramas

Louie

What is your hidden talent? 

I have a keen sense of smell.

What is your go-to fast-food order? 

Spicy. Chicken. Nuggets.

What are you easily swayed by? 

My cat, book covers, packaging and good smells.