We are delighted to welcome Karen Pappin as our guest speaker in the Design Mingle Series: Creative Connections supported by Galway City Council aligning with Galway's Cultural & Creativity Strategy 2023–2027.
Karen Pappin is a brand strategist and storyteller, and the founder of PointZero, a brand strategy and visual storytelling studio based in Kinvara, Co. Galway. Her belief is a simple one: every business already has the story it needs. Most are just too close to it, or too busy running things, to tell it well. That is where she comes in.
Karen has spent 26 years in the creative industries, working across graphic design, branding, print production and visual communications for everyone from sole traders to national brands, including 13 years with Brown Thomas, building and evolving the brand behind the shop floor. She began her career in design and print, trading for years as Kaz Productions, before rebranding her practice as PointZero in 2020, a deliberate return to first principles that gave the studio its name. She holds an MA in Interdisciplinary Design Practice from TUS (LSAD).
She has produced design for Áras an Uachtaráin, including President Higgins' Machnamh 100 centenary series, and serves as Brand and Creative Lead across three connected Irish tech initiatives: the Limerick IT Summit, Startup Atlas and MidWest TechFest. She is co-founder of Women Unbranded, an Irish community and media platform championing women over 40, and works closely with artists, makers and creative businesses helping them find the words for what they do.
Karen is also a regular tech panel moderator and emcee, sits on assistant lecturer panels at ATU and TUS, and is deeply embedded in her own community, from leading communications for the Kinvara Plein Air Festival to founding the local Grow Remote chapter. She has worked remotely from Kinvara for over 20 years, proof that a creative career in Ireland does not have to run through Dublin.
