Mariam Makram-Ebeid, also known as ‘Marsy Creates Things’, is the artist behind the graphics that live rent free in our mind every day. 

Marsy, 26, is an Egyptian creative who created her own company with nothing but a team of two. To her, creativity comes first, and her main goal is to remain honest and transparent to her audience. Since she was 24, design was her tool to communicate with people in a friendly, approachable, and interactive way.

With art and her voice, she plans to interact with the world by sharing her life experiences in her startup podcast (Marsy Talks About Things), whether it’s about dreams, horoscopes, or boys.

Marsy Creates Things is def ‘making content cool again.’

Cosmo ME had the chance to catch up with the Mariam to take a little sneak peak into her world of creativity…

Cosmo ME: What inspires you to create these unique graphics?

Marsy: I’m always looking at things; I feel like the most important part of getting inspired is to be a sponge and always be soaking in everything. I’m always on Instagram, I’m always on Tiktok, always on Pinterest, on Twitter, like I’m literally always taking in content. Movies and books, and all of that, I think you should always be keeping your eyes open for new things.

C: Who *is* Marsy? How would you describe yourself?

M: That’s a very deep question. I am Mariam Ebeid. I’m 26 years old, I’m left-handed, Capricorn, and I would call myself a creative. It is a very vague term like I wouldn’t say I like to use the term graphic designer because I feel like that’s very limiting and I would like to think of myself as a creative in terms of … I like to create cool stuff for brands regardless of what that format is. So, I like to think that, ‘Marsy Creates Things’, makes things for brands like in whatever form they need, so it’s not necessarily like an Instagram post, or a video, or a logo; it could be anything. Literally, whatever kind of things they feel they need to express themselves as a brand.

C: Did you study graphics? Or was it a talent you had since you were young?

M:  I went to UAL, University of the Arts in London, and I studied creative advertising. It wasn’t a focus course; it is more of an overview of how to be creative, so it was very hands-on; they used to give us briefs. For example, Cadbury wants to sell more chocolate to 12-year-old girls – go! So in terms of design, I had to teach myself. I knew how to use photoshop early on from high school and stuff, and I just like went down that route myself. 

C: What do you want to achieve with these designs?

M: In terms of the company as a whole, ‘Marsy Creates Things’, my goal is to expand. Let me first explain what we do, so Marsy Creates Things is, I would say like a creative studio, we are a team of two, and we are trying to expand. We have like three clients right now, which are mainly on social media if they need something creative for their store, or something for their logo, or website or a nice idea for a campaign or a shoot. And on the side, we take on like branding projects for other companies, logos, whatever kind of comes our way that we find interesting. So I’d say like the bigger scale goal for Marsy Creates Things is to expand. Creativity comes first. So, I want when people look at us, they say that we’ve never seen something like this before, that’s clever, or that’s visually pleasing.

C: Any hidden talents?

Marsy:  Well, there is something that I discovered recently and it is doing voice overs. I enjoyed that when I was working on a campaign for an ice cream ad. I did the voiceover for that campaign that year. It was a Ramadan campaign, there was crazy exposure, and then the next year the same ice cream brand, which was Mega (an Egyptian ice cream brand), asked me to do the voiceover again, and again last year, so I did it like three years in a row, and so on. So I’m currently trying to get into that more.

C: Do you have a role model? 

M: My favourite music artist is Mac Miller, the rapper. I’m very inspired by his music and how he kind of created his albums, he’s very realistic… you know when I come to create for brands, I think the most important thing is transparency. I think it is interesting because in advertising and social media in general, there is a lot of dishonesty. BUT if you want to talk about my role model creatively, its is Ivan Cash – he is just a really cool creative, and I think his ideas are super out of the box. He inspires me, because I think it’s nice to create things that would make people interact.

C: How old where you when you started designing?

M: Marsy Creates Things started two years ago, when I was 24, that’s when it all began. It was just personal, messing around and getting to know the programs, and figuring out my style. I think 24 is when I found myself in design.

C: What is the secret behind the name ‘Marsy’?

M: First of all, I don’t like my name. Marsy just kind of became a nickname that my friends call me. It went from Mariam to Mars and Marsy, and then it just kind of stuck. When I decided to come up for a name for my Instagram for like the company, it just kind of felt more friendly. I don’t want the studio ever to be a boring corporate where we have to take big clients; I always want it to be fun, friendly, and very approachable, and so I wanted it to name it after my nickname rather than my actual name.

C: What are some of your future plans?

M: This year, I decided that I want to start a podcast, which progressed from the voiceovers. Also, I enjoy listening to podcasts (so that’s a plus.) Cairo traffic is ridiculous, like you could spend an hour and a half in the car, and sometimes you get bored listening to Drake (lol). Since I enjoy listening to podcasts, I wondered why not create a podcast, where I could talk about different topics in every episode. I want to be able to talk about things that are relevant to me and relevant to my audience. It is not going to be political or serious, and it is not going to be specifically fashion or art or design, but topics about Marsy’s dreams, horoscopes, and boys.

C: How would you inspire youngsters who wants to follow your path?

M: Actually, I had written a list of points that are important to remember:

– It’s important to remember that your target audience is human.
– Your brief doesn’t have to be juicy. The boring briefs are actually the important ones.
– Only create when you feel creative.
– Be a sponge to content you see or listen.
– Get your foot in the door. It’s easier to get a job when you have a job.
– Surround yourself with people whose work you love and appreciate 

Photo credits

Outfit: MGMP, Egyptian Brand by Malak Shamsi: @mgmpthebrand

Photographer: Ahmed Tarek, @tarek.Jpeg