About Us

Michigan Downtown Design Agency is the downtown branding and placemaking division of The Mural People LLC.

Michigan Downtown Design Agency was founded on a simple belief: great downtowns deserve the same level of creative thinking as the world's biggest brands.

Our Creative Director, Dan Armand, has spent more than two decades designing brands, building companies, and creating experiences that connect people with places.

A graduate of the College for Creative Studies, Dan began his career as a designer and Art Director with Team Detroit, one of the nation's premier advertising agencies, where he developed creative work for global automotive brands and learned the discipline of strategic branding, visual communication, and integrated marketing.

From there, Dan co-founded 1xRUN, transforming a small startup into one of the world's leading publishers of contemporary art. As Chief Creative Officer, he led the company's visual identity, website design, marketing campaigns, product development, artist collaborations, and brand strategy while helping distribute artwork to collectors in more than 100 countries.

Dan also co-founded Murals in the Market, Detroit's internationally recognized mural festival, where he combined branding, environmental design, public art, event production, and community engagement to help transform an entire neighborhood into a global cultural destination.

Most recently, Dan co-founded TROPHY, a creative studio specializing in high-end collectibles, licensing, and brand collaborations. Through Trophy, the team has partnered with organizations including Shady Records, Universal Music Group, MTV, Polaroid, Bleacher Report, Complex, and other nationally recognized brands, creating products and campaigns that merge storytelling, design, music, and culture.

Today, Dan brings that same design philosophy to Michigan Downtown Design Agency—helping Downtown Development Authorities, municipalities, and business districts create brands that people remember. Every logo, website, social campaign, festival, wayfinding system, mural program, and marketing initiative begins with the same question:

"How do we make people fall in love with this place?"