About Mi Ae Lipe
I am Mi Ae Lipe, an editor, author, blogger, artist, graphic designer, book doula, fashionista, project manager, and general grunt worker. For over 25 years, I’ve been helping companies and individuals create beautiful, award-winning publications, as well as publishing my own writing.
My background and interests are diverse and unlikely, from food writing and social sciences to advertising and traffic safety. I’m a whole-systems thinker, and I bring curiosity and passion to every project with energy, humor, thoughtfulness, and positivity.
I specialize in helping authors self-publish nonfiction books, guiding them from raw manuscript stage to the final printed product, as well as assisting companies and publishers produce amazing publications and brand identities.
Selected Projects
- Editing, design, production, and publishing consulting of self-published nonfiction books, including autobiographies, poetry, health/wellness, religion, memoirs, cookbooks, resource directories, and personal family histories.
- Branding identity and marketing collateral for businesses and nonprofits, including urban farms, educational institutions, a nutritionist, and a law firm.
- Creation and updating of patient and physician education brochures, flyers, manuals, and internal documents for a major pediatric hospital.
- Technical editing of scientific reports and software and electronics technical manuals.
- Editing, writing, and graphic design for a Minnesota regional magazine.
- Editing, design, and production of monthly newsletters for nonprofit organizations relating to cancer treatment, orchids, and Italian cars.
Corporate Clients
- Seattle Children’s Hospital
- ECLEE (European Center for Leadership and Entrepreneurship Education)
- University of Washington
- Urban Edge Sustainable Farmers
- Featherstone Fruits & Vegetables
- Empower Law
- Washington State Department of Health
- US EPA
- US Fish & Wildlife Service
- Watlow Controls
Praise and Testimonials
I’m delighted to endorse and recommend Mi Ae Lipe and What Now Design. Mi Ae proved herself to be an exceptional project partner as the graphic artist for a book written by Seattle Children’s Hospital with contributions from healthcare organizations around the region. Her performance and professional judgment are exceptional.
With slightly over 100 figures and tables, Mi Ae delivered production ready work on or in advance of deadlines. As a result of the quality of Mi Ae’s work, the publisher’s art review was completed in little more than a day—far more quickly than expected. If you are publishing or need graphics that impress, I highly recommend What Now Design and the work of Mi Ae Lipe.
I am part of an editing team based in Seattle and Mi Ae is our go-to graphic designer when we have projects that include design—she has designed covers and interiors, and created graphics and logos for a variety of different types of publications.
Mi Ae is a fantastic communicator, understands how to determine the scope and scale of a project, and is great at estimating time and cost of projects. Mi Ae is easy to work with and has a great sense of how to match design recommendations with the client’s needs. She does beautiful work and it is always a pleasure to collaborate with her.
One of my businesses is the referral business. My clients simply have come to trust me because I will not refer someone who does not do an excellent job, especially if they are a good friend. Mi Ae is literally one of the finest, most talented, and dependable contractors I have ever used.
Mi Ae Lipe is everything you want in a competent editor: smart, precise, thoughtful, and detail-oriented. A wonderful team member who works extremely well under pressure, Mi Ae is an experienced editor and designer, and will always be one of my top picks for any project.
I feel fortunate and very blessed to have hired Mi Ae to be the editor and designer of my book, Paradise. Her expertise is invaluable, as is her patience and knowledge. I love her creativity and sense of style. She puts her heart and soul into her book projects, protecting, guiding, counseling, and taking action to meet deadlines and goals with an incredible work ethic and professionalism. She is very flexible to work with and she will do her utmost to make sure you get what you want for your book. She is a true professional and her products are outstanding. I personally could not be happier! She is an absolute delight to work with, and I would gladly hire her again and enthusiastically recommend her to my friends and clients.
During the years she worked for Riverwise, Inc., Mi Ae Lipe was always a skilled and dependable employee. She worked well in collaborative situations that called for good communications and flexibility. She is skilled with a variety of software and a talented artist, editor and writer.
On behalf of everyone you’ve worked with here at Seattle Children’s—how very much we enjoy working with you and how much we appreciate everything you do for us. You bring so many added values to the projects we do that it’s challenging to even think of them all:
Your attention to detail is amazing. Just when we think we’ve thought something through (from our end) you listen to us—really listen—and then ask wonderful questions that help us think through the details and the desired end product even more thoroughly.
You’re great about finding ways to make projects more cost-effective and time-efficient—helping with the engineering of work, work flow processes, and helping us stay on track to get projects completed on time and on budget.
You tell us “no” when we need to hear it—although your way of wording it is much gentler. And we do need to hear “no” every now and then—when our goals and objectives and budgets and timelines and way-out-there requests don’t all line up. But your “no” is always followed by an idea or recommendation of a way that we CAN get to the end product appropriately.
As a designer your eye for incorporating pleasing and attractive artwork that is consistently “in-brand” is much appreciated, as is your ability to be an information architect as well. Looking at what we want to do and bringing order to a variety of (sometimes unconnected) ideas/thoughts, etc. is superb.
You work as a team member—adding value, working with everyone involved in projects and helping us at every step along the line. You bring a solid strategic thought process, that is followed by superb tactical executions to everything you do. And you do it all with a smile, and grace and sense of humor that makes everyone truly enjoy working with you.
I have needed the services of an expert editor on about 15 occasions over the past 28 years, and I can say without hesitation that Mi Ae is the finest editor I have ever had the good fortune and privilege to work with. She not only has extraordinary skills as an editor, she also possesses unique abilities as an overall book mentor, designer, technician, artist, and conceptualizer. She’s too good to be true!
For the last four years, Mi Ae has edited, designed, and published a 12-page monthly newsletter for our organization. She has been responsible for procuring the feature articles, advertisements, and membership news and information, as well as doing the graphic layout. At times she has submitted feature articles of her own. Since Mi Ae’s assumption of these duties, I have received nothing but complimentary comments from our membership regarding the unique style, appropriateness of materials, and the attractive appearance of the newsletter.
Mi Ae has worked with our small business for a number of years, designing a logo and producing marketing materials of all kinds. She has taken the initiative to develop a Featherstone brand concept, researching and thinking through all applications for this brand for our public relations and farm marketing. Mi Ae is a talented graphic artist, editor, and overall business PR consultant. We have been thoroughly satisfied with her work at every level: She has taken our business seriously from the earliest days, and helped us grow to where we are today. Mi Ae has been punctual, responsive, and conscientious in all aspects of our work together. She has a unique ability to hear our goals and ideas, and to use them fully as a foundation for her work. I cannot recommend her too highly.