I’m just stopping in quickly to say I’ll be away for a few days, meeting up with other graphic designers/bloggers (Bre!!!) for a girls weekend in Palm Springs / Ace Hotel. I’ve never been to California before…or even traveled alone, so I’ve got a good mix of excitement and nervousness brewing inside. I’ll have lots to share once I get back.

Stay tuned my dearies 🙂

*above photo b David Richardson Photography

Here I am again, blabbing about my personal discoveries. I hope that by sharing my experiences during the rebranding process, that I’ll be able to provide insights to other designers going through the same thing. It’s a scary thing, people.

I’ve been talking a lot about gathering inspiration because I have found this part of the process to be the most rewarding and beneficial to discovering personal style. I’m able to see the big picture, visually, and use that as a guide for the next steps.

Discovery No. 2: My personal design style & my personal “clothing & home” style are polar opposites.
Now you can see how this can be a troubling/confusing thing to discover. For months now I’ve been so torn about what images to include in the rebranding mood board. Do I pin the perfectly neutral natural home photos or the bold graphic images with lots of gray and overlapping textures? I’ve discovered that cassie as a person who wears certain clothes and buys certain furniture pieces prefers her home and wardrobe to be cozy, comfortable, natural, neutral, & simple. (examples here & here)

On the other hand, her design style is drastically different. The designer in her chooses a neutral base to start with (black, white, gray) and then layers color and texture on top (Examples here & here). The colors found in her design work don’t usually show up in her wardrobe or home.

ODD! So odd to me. I think it comes down to expressing both sides of my personality without giving anything up in the process. In my home I’m able to elaborate on the handmade details, the natural materials, and the cozy comfy surroundings. My wardrobe mimics that style. This is very comfortable for me. It’s really easy. The other side of me likes to step outside of the box and present something unexpected. My design side takes advantage of this trait quite often. I think it’s an interesting combination.

Has anyone else discovered this about themselves? Seems like an odd combination to me, but then again…I’m a rare duck.

Hi guys! I thought I’d update you on where I’m at in the whole rebranding process. I’ve been collecting inspiration images like a mad woman and then sitting with those images to see if there is a theme throughout. Somedays things seem to click and then the next day, everything seems blurry again. Along the way I’m finding a system that works. I prefer to collect a bunch of random images first, and then streamline along the way, refining as I go.

As I’ve been collecting images, I’ve discovered two pretty big things about myself as a designer and my brand. The first discovery has really given me confidence in the decisions I’m making along the way, which is really refreshing.

Discover #1: My style hasn’t drastically changed, it’s only evolved.
Going into this whole rebranding adventure, I thought my personal design style had drastically changed over the past 3 years ( 3 years outside of my design school days). Just the other day I was sitting at my computer, starring at my mess of a Pinterest rebranding board (images I’ve been collecting for months now) and realized that my style really hasn’t changed all the much. My preferred color palette is basically the same (shocking actually) and the overall “mood” is scarily similar. I even brought out my senior year design portfolio to compare…crap…its basically the same aesthetic.At first I took this discovery as bad news. How could my design style NOT change after all these years? Is that normal? Later I was able to see the discovery as good news. It proves that through all the years of growing as a designer, my “natural instinct” is still intact. The things that make me tick and the things that get me to say “yeah!” are still the same. Deep down, I’m still me…just a more sophisticated me. Less random. More precise. It proves that I know what I like and that I’m able to define an iconic style that I can truly own. Hooray!!!!

* Here’s a really great blog post by Ana Louisa Perkins of Grown Up Shoes. She’s a self-taught designers and gives her perspective on defining your own personal style…and how it takes time. Thanks for a great read Ana

To be continued…

*photo collage by Veda House (images pulled from here)

Hey team! Hope all is well in your worlds 🙂 I’m stopping by today to talk about “being uncomfortable”. If you’re anything like me, you’re happiest in your perfectly constructed bubble of goodness. For me, just the thought of doing something NEW tends to rattle me a big. Most times I’m good to go once I talk myself down, but OMG do I have something uncomfortable happening next week.

I’m not a fan of airplanes, or traveling alone, or being away from home…alone…for very long. That’s exactly what I’m doing next week. I’m hoping on a jet plane and flying off to the west coast  to meet up with some blogger/freelance pals for a little girls weekend/retreat. Fun right? I’m excited…don’t get me wrong, but OMG am I uncomfortable. I don’t do this, but I took a step in a new direction and bought that plane ticket months ago. I can do this.

Do any of you know what I’m talking about. That excited, but completely hesitant feeling? The feeling that you’re acting like a childish fool? You know…that feeling? Please tell me I’m not alone.

So last week I was out and about around town and decided to stop in a newly opened boutique shop. I loved it. The aesthetic, the business model…everything about it was unique. A friend and I got to talking to the shop owner about how she got started and specifically how she’s currently running things. My friend and I mentioned a business idea we’ve been throwing around and then it happened…the shop owner asked for a business card. I was also making plans in mind for marketing or having review on sites.

AHHH, I didn’t have one with me and instantly felt inferior and less professional. I felt like if I would have had a card with me, the business plan we were blabbering about would have been more convincing. That’s the moment that I decided I really needed to make more business cards…and pronto. I’ve known the importance of having a business card since my college days, but I’ve been slacking.

Have you guys ever been caught in a situation where you wish you would have had a business card or some kind of leave behind? I’d love to hear your “I could kick myself in the face” moments.

I’d love to talk with you guys about what I’m calling “Frankenstein revisions”. You know what I’m talking about…the “I really love this aspect of THIS design and THIS aspect of this design. Is there a way you can redesign it to look like both of them?” As a freelance designer/ art director at an agency, I feel like I’m dealing with the Frankenstein syndrome everyday.

Here’s my experience. As a very young designer my response to the client would be “of course I can”. As I aged into a more veteran designer I was able to stand my own a little easier and say, “Let me take a look at it and see what I can do”. I learned that GREAT design is about having a solid foundation of reasoning behind WHY things were done in the first place. If you do too many rounds of Frankenstein revisions, you start to lose that original concept/vision. I know this process takes a while to grasp, and I’m definitely still learning how to respond to clients in a professional way. How do you do it?

photo: Palm Springs by Jose Villa