MND has deep experience in creating exceptional materials for finserv and professional services, technology, educational nonprofit organizations, and cultural heritage institutions.

MND Branding + Design Services

Bringing Brands to Life

A brand isn’t just your logo, it’s the confluence of strategy, messaging, data, tools, templates, and visuals—seamlessly executed across different media. When built well, your brand can inform and strengthen your dialogue with prospects, clients, and your own employees.

We employ a unique, common-sense approach that we call Brick-by-Brick Branding which combines exceptional design with smart, user-ready tools and templates that, employed together, are the building blocks of a strong brand.

Our approach is equal parts strategy, inspiration, great design, and templates—from your PowerPoint, to your website, to your latest employee’s business card, and everything in between. 

Whether we’re starting from scratch or working within an existing brand, MND knows how and where to apply pressure to get your materials and your brand where they need to go.

MND for Cultural Heritage Institutions

Designing the Future of History

MND combines exceptionally strong communication skills with a deep understanding of and appreciation for history—which can help you leverage your messages and reach new audiences.

Museums, libraries, and archives are no strangers to external forces affecting access, digitization, and context. Most are having to do more with less while the ever-changing media landscape demands content in more formats.

 = Brand-Design and Brand-Strategy

= Archival Services and Preservation Consulting

= Marketing Services

= PowerPoint and Presentation Services

= Website and Intranet Services

= Event, Exhibit, and Trade Show Services

FinSrv + Professional Services

Altrinsic Global Advisors  

Barclays  

Brio Benefits Consulting  

Broadridge / Paladyne  

Cabot Wealth Management  

Cape Ann Capital.

Capstone Investment Advisors.

Drexel Morgan Capital Advisers  

Goldman Sachs  

Harding Loevner LP  

The Haverford Trust Company   

Hirtle Callaghan & Co.   

NorthRoad Capital Management   

Option3Ventures   

Paloma Partners LLC  

SEI / SEI Wealth Network  

Solomon Edwards LLC  

Technology

KDDI America / Telehouse America  

Nobel Biocare  

Pharmacist Partners LLC    

Psionic Doppler Lidar Navigation (NASA-founded commercial entity)  

Time Warner Cable Business Class  

Consumer

Mars-Wrigley  

Pinnacle Foods Group  

Media + Events

The Barclays FedEx Cup / PGA  

Braithwaite Communications  

Sherri  

Thirteen / WNET  

The Wendy Williams Show    

Professional + Educational Nonprofits

The Center for Holistic Defense  

The Clinton Global Initiative (CGI) / CGI U   

City Harvest  

CSH—Corporation for Supportive Housing    

Doc to Dock  

Dress for Success  

Fordham University School of Law    

The Genealogical Society of New Jersey  

The Genealogical Society of Bergen County, NJ  

History Camp  

The History List—Rare Finds  

Memorial Sloan-Kettering Cancer Center  

The National Genealogical Society  

New York Genealogical and Biographical Society (NYG&B)  

The Pursuit of History  

RAPID Manufacturing Institute / AIChE  

Science Philanthropy Alliance, a project of the Rockefeller Philanthropy Advisors  

St. Francis College  

The Visiting Nurse Association Health Group of NJ    

Galleries, Museums, Libraries, Archives, + Estates

Bergen County Historical Society, Archival Collections  

New–York Historical Society (Archives Processing Intern)  

The Pilgrim Hall Museum  

[Private Estate] (archival inventory and processing, assessment and collection consultation, August 2024)  

[Private Estate] (archival inventory and processing, assessment and collection consultation, June 2024]  

Seth Kaller, Inc.  

The Pursuit of Liberty—2026 National Roadshow  

Michelle D. Novak, MI, is a professional archivist, brand designer and strategist, writer and editor, and instructor.

Novak received her Masters of Information degree (MI, formerly, MLIS) in Archives and Preservation from Rutgers University (summa cum laude) and holds a BFA from the Rhode Island School of Design (RISD). She also holds professional certificates from Boston University School for Continuing Education, Gen-Fed Institute for Federal Records at the U.S. National Archives and Records Administration, and the Genealogical Institute of Pittsburgh, the ZAG Branding Master Class, among others.

She has developed brands and big projects for start-up companies to former President Clinton’s global philanthropy foundation, the Clinton Global Initiative. Her brand work has been, and continues to be, her lifelong passion—and her branding and strategy is used by for-profit and non-profit clients around the country.

A lifelong history nerd, Novak sees a lot of overlap in the management of brand assets and the structure of libraries and archives—in that both collect, organize, preserve, provide access, and interpret ephemeral materials. These historic materials can help present-day researchers and entities understand its past and experiences which can help inform future initiatives.

Novak is an active volunteer for numerous historical and genealogical societies and is Trustee and Webmaster for the Genealogical Society of Bergen County (GSBC) and a former Trustee of the Genealogical Society of New Jersey (GSNJ). She is Editor of the GSBC’s national award-winning newsletter, The Archivist, and is involved with numerous transcription, indexing, publicity, and digitization projects. During her tenure with GSNJ, she created a comprehensive index for the Society’s 70+ year old Bible Records Collection from numerous indexes supplied in various paper and digital forms. The resulting index consolidates the disparate sources and contains more than 35,000 entries for 6,500 records. She also revamped the Society’s website, finding aids, social media, membership materials, exhibit materials, and newsletter.

Novak serves as Project Administrator for the New Jersey Early Land Records Project, a joint project between the Genealogical Society of New Jersey and the GSNJ-New Jersey State Archives. The project is currently indexing and digitizing (partial) more than 80,000 pre-1800 land records—which were in private hands from 1664 until only a few years ago.

She is also a teacher, and her professional talks about Microsoft Word and PowerPoint have been conducted at SEI, AIG, the Association of Professional Genealogists, among others. She has lectured on technology, digitization, and genealogical topics at local, regional, and national conferences including the National Genealogical Society Family History Conference, Association of Professional Genealogists Professional Management Conference, New England Regional Genealogical Conference, and is developing a digitization workshop.

See more details on various projects at LinkedIn >

Novak is an experienced presenter and has presented on numerous topics at local, regional, and national events—online and in-person.

A particular specialty is digitization and organization, with delivers a healthy mix of “how-to” with best practices and wit.

View current talk topics. >