A woman with long, wavy, gray-blonde hair smiling, wearing a black top against a plain gray background.

Katinka de Ruiter
creative director & graphic designer

our story

Katinka’s design journey began long before she ever set foot in a studio. In the late 1990s, while working as an office manager, she found herself irresistibly drawn to the graphic design books she kept checking out of the library. What started as small passion projects — a recipe book for her sister, a vanity book for a friend, and event invitations for anyone who would let her create — slowly revealed itself as something bigger.

As the calendar flipped toward a new decade and a new century, Katinka made a leap that would define her career: She quit her job and enrolled at Parsons School of Design in New York City, where she earned her Graphic Design AAS with Honors. From there, she stepped into a world where craft, curiosity, and creativity collided.

Her internships read like chapters in a designer’s dream book. At Abigail Sturges Graphic Design, she worked on lush coffee table books for Rizzoli and absorbed the rhythm of museum‑level design. At Milton Glaser’s studio — home of the iconic I ❤️ NY logo — she contributed to projects for Brooklyn Brewery, Tomato Records, Stony Brook University, and the Rubin Museum of Art, learning firsthand what it meant to design with cultural impact. At the same time, she was designing billboards, posters, and DVDs for WWE, stretching her visual vocabulary in new directions.

Katinka's next chapter took her to WestPoint Home, where she specialized in packaging, and then to Starwood Hotels & Resorts, where she became an Art Director. Her work touched brands like Westin, Sheraton, St. Regis, Element, and W Hotels — from brochures and in‑room collateral to style guides, holiday cards, and annual reports.

She launched Dotworks Design in 2008 with Starwood now as a client, a testament to the trust she built and the clarity of her creative voice. Today, Katinka's work carries the same spark that first drew her to those library books: a love of design as both craft and storytelling. She brings curiosity, versatility, and a designer’s eye for detail to every project — always evolving, always creating.

  • “Katinka is one of the best graphic designers I’ve ever worked with. In addition to excellent design and listening skills, she has an intuitive understanding of the underlying business objectives/challenges involved in marketing the product or service. She has very high quality standards and pushes the client to adhere to them. I highly recommend Katinka!”

    Kathleen Mahoney, Founder | Porches at Exeter & The Bungalow Club

  • “We’ve worked with many agencies and designers over our nearly 20 years in business and I have to say, Dotworks Design is one of our very favorites. Katinka just has an intuitive sense of what a client wants—often before they know themselves—and executes on that vision flawlessly. She is highly responsive and very deadline conscious. She routinely blows us away with her creativity and dedication.”

    Anna Goldsmith Stern, Partner | The Hired Pens

  • “Katinka is my ‘go to’ branding and graphics person as she seamlessly tackles so many types and styles of projects with versatility. She translates a vision and conversation into collateral that speaks to the mission of that company or initiative.”

    Becca Nell

  • “Katinka is a consummate professional. From coming up with concepts to the final product, her work is of the highest quality. She’s an attention-to-detail creative that understands how important smart design is to branding and a positive user experience. She’s a joy to work with and exceeds expectations on every project.”

    Caroline Vella, copywriter / content strategist

  • “Working with Katinka is an absolute pleasure. When it comes to her files, we always find that they are high quality, set up to specs, and easy to work with.”

    Woody Husted | Infinite Imaging

  • “Over the last few years Katinka de Ruiter has produced several beautiful designs for the Wyndham Land Trust, both online and on paper. Her designs captured the spirit of the land trust and were clean and elegant and engaging for our members. She operated independently with minimal input from us and always produced the material on schedule.”

    Michael Green, Vice President | Wyndham Land Trust

  • “Katinka does it all: book layouts and covers, websites, and brand identity. She also designed my business website and logo. No matter the project, Katinka expertly visualizes client requests and turns those ideas into reality. Her depth and range of experience with various design projects are tremendous assets, and she approaches each assignment with total professionalism. I wholeheartedly recommend Katinka and look forward to working with her again.”

    Barbara Basbanes Richter | In Ink Ghostwriting

  • “We have loved working with Katinka on several of our higher profile external projects. In addition to her professional but warm nature, she took the time to understand our culture and then captured it beautifully in her designs. The projects she designed for us were polished, sophisticated, modern, and captivating, all at once. We recommend her highly!”

    Birches School, Lincoln, MA

  • “I’ve worked with Katinka on benefits materials for a mutual client. As the copywriter, I need to be able to rely on the designer to take my words and create a picture(s) that connects to the audience and reinforces what is being communicated. Katinka comes to the table with multiple concepts for making the words come to life. Whether it is a brochure, a newsletter, a flyer, a poster, a table tent or some other vehicle, Katinka always produces a high-quality finished product. She is very reliable and a pleasure to work with.”

    Margaret Redmond, copywriter

  • “Katinka is a creative graphic designer/art director with the ability to translate a client’s thoughts into good design. I have worked with Katinka for the past 4 years as she has shaped the brand identity for Mill River Park Collaborative’s public programs and events. She works hard to bring projects in consistently on time and on budget.”

    Nia Rhodes, Director, Visitor Engagement & Capital Planning | Mill River Park Collaborative

  • “Katinka is one of the best designers I’ve worked with. She asks the right questions, listens to the answers and zeros in on exactly what you’re going for. Then gives multiple options, all dead on. I highly recommend her work.”

    Hank Sagman | Cool Calm Creative Group

  • “Straightforward and sincere, Katinka is absolutely committed to design excellence. Her work in print and web expresses great attention to detail with wonderful engagements of elegant typography and color. She is a careful listener, outstanding project manager, and fluid thinker who always considers clients needs when executing concepts. Possessing both a strong work ethic and a strong desire to craft beautiful work she consistenly delivers uniquely attractive yet practical work on time and within budget. Katinka is passionate about design and always expanding her talents. I strongly recommend her.”

    Michelle Knoernschild

  • “Katinka is a highly creative, energetic and bright designer with a keen ability to ideate and develop unique, compelling creative. She exceeded client expectations consistently and brought a level of professionalism and polish to projects within the corporate client groups at Starwood. Her management of a diverse studio team was exemplary with projects being delivered on time and within tight budgetary constraints. She would be a remarkable addition to any core creative team.”

    Alex Cranstoun, Account Manager | Starwood Hotels & Resorts