Creating beautiful custom websites is one of our absolute favorite things to do at Firespring. And many of the striking, fun, functional web designs we build for clients come from the mind of Dakotah Hicks. Dakotah is a designer and art director with vision to spare, and her work can be spotted on some of the sites Firespring makes and our marketing work too.
We’re super proud to have Dakotah and her insight (and her eagle eye for kerning) on the team. She is thoughtful, generous and makes clean designs perfect for making websites easy to navigate. See her work in action on the revamped, modern Lincoln Airport website.
When Dakotah isn’t creating websites or helping her fellow designers bring their ideas to life, she is still buzzing with creative energy.
“I love volunteer opportunities that let me use my creativity, but aren’t necessarily design work,” Dakotah said. “Volunteering is a break from my daily routine, so I like to try new things that use my talents for good.”
Firespring’s Power of 3 program encourages all team members to volunteer about 8 hours per month to causes they care about and charitable endeavors. And when Dakotah started at Firespring, she found some Firespringers who used their volunteer time to get creative.
“When I found out a group of Firespringers were crocheting blankets for charity together, I was so excited,” Dakotah said. “They taught me how to crochet at the office. It was the perfect chance to do something good for others while creating with my coworkers.”
The first blanket they made was a cozy patchwork of random colors lovingly stitched together. They sent the blanket to Warm Up America, an organization that provides handmade blankets, scarves, hats and gloves to those in need around the world.
“I don’t know where exactly they sent our blanket, but I know at that time Warm Up America was sending stuff to Australia after the wildfires,” Dakotah said. “Wherever it is, creating it brought us together and now it’s bringing someone warmth.”
In addition to her work for Warm Up America, Dakotah also served as a volunteer on Firespring’s Culture Club—a place where she could flex some design muscles to make company culture events look amazing.
“Firespring Secret Santa was the most fun event I planned,” Dakotah said. “I assigned everyone their Secret Santa then designed little letters from ‘Santa’ for everyone to use as they gave out their gifts. For our first time trying an event like that, I was thrilled with how everyone responded.”
Dakotah has given her time and talents so generously over the years—to Warm Up America, Culture Club and also St. Baldrick’s Foundation event planning team as well. She represents the selflessness of Firespring’s missions so well, and we can’t wait to see what awesome stuff she makes next.
“I like that Firespring encourages us to do good in any way we can. Any way that fulfills us,” Dakotah said. “I can volunteer in my own time, come back feeling refreshed and know I’ve helped make someone happy.”