Michelle Nguyen

I'm Michelle, nice to meet you.

I've spent 24 years as a senior graphic designer, brand designer, and UI/UX designer — twenty of those years working under a Top Secret clearance on Department of Defense projects at the Pentagon and with the U.S. Department of State's Foreign Service Institute, designing web applications and visual communications to government standards.

Along the way I built a diverse skill set spanning creative design, front-end development, and DoD government contracting, and I hold a Top Secret security clearance from the Department of Defense. I'm also a mother of four with a lifelong passion for art — one I've been fortunate to turn into a career.

Beyond graphic and web design, I've worked as a marketing content and communication specialist and as an aerial photographer for Prince William County. Part of that role took me behind the lens — flying aerial drone photography across the county to document its scenery for marketing and social media, and photographing Economic Development events, job fairs, and community events. That photography and design work shaped the social campaigns that brought new business and visibility to the community I call home.

That same passion led me to found ClayOrchid in 2012, a handmade clay flower business, which has since grown into Ivory & Bloom Atelier — a Northern Virginia luxury bridal brand offering handmade clay flower accessories, jewelry, and personalized satin purses. It's a venture I still run today.

I've been freelancing in web design since 2018 — building brands and websites for businesses of every size, from nail salons and real estate agents to restaurants and enterprises — and in 2024 I opened Michelle Nguyen Studio full-time to bring that same federal-grade discipline to founders and small businesses. If you're building something that needs to be right the first time, that's exactly the kind of project I want to hear about.

A process built for founders, borrowed from federal review boards.

Every project moves through the same four steps: discovery, definition, design, and delivery. Nothing skipped, nothing rushed — the same rigor whether the client is a federal agency or a first-time founder.