Onward // 2019 in Review + Goals for 2020

Here we are: the end of a month, a year, a decade. I’ve been running my company for three and a half years. It was a hard year, but I have learned a lot. I guess that typically comes with hard experiences. There were days that shook my confidence and days that showed me just how capable I am of doing this. There were a lot of things that weren’t great about 2019, but I am in a great place because I have a fresh start ahead, and know what I need to do differently.

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The Value of Personal Projects

You know those nights when you go to bed and you almost dread going to work, and then you get to work the next day and you don’t want to do anything? You sit in your workspace exhausted. You’re annoyed that you’re even there and you’re unhappy with everything you’re doing. On every front, you feel beat down and stuck. For weeks on end, going through the motions has been the name of the game.

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Cairn vol. 18 // Feeling Like a Fake

I’ve been a business owner for 3 years. I’ve been a designer on a professional level for 5. I’ve been a photographer for 11 years and doing it professionally for 7. I started my life as a creative in 2006, thirteen years ago. And you know what? I still sometimes feel like I’m not enough. I still feel like a fake and a fraud. This month, all of these feelings came to a head and I was forced to confront them. One of these moments came in the form of a creative breakdown where I realized that I hated what I was shooting, erased the card and went and cried my eyes out in the bathroom till I felt sick.

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The Power of a Good Creative Brief

Hiring a designer should be very little work on your part, right? Right. Clients tend to have little interest in being heavily involved in the design process. They are busy people and have work to do and companies to run. They’ve hired a designer so they can avoid doing extra work. So why the hassle of a creative brief, and is it really necessary?

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In My Bag // Graphic Design Edition

About a year ago, I promised a look inside my bag and what I carry as a graphic designer. Amazingly, I got to how I travel as a freelancer before I got to posting that. What I need as a designer varies from day to day, depending on the project and what I am working on, so this post could really be a short chapter book. To narrow it down, I’m going to cover what I take to a meeting where I will be working at the meeting location afterwards.

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Why Cheap Design Sites Are Usually Bad News

We’ve all seen ads on social media for “$5 logos.” Fiverr and Logotournament are just two of them but they are everywhere. As designers and especially creative entrepreneurs just starting out, it can be extremely tempting to participate in these kind of gigs through companies commonly known as logo mills. As unsuspecting business owners, it can be equally tempting to get a logo, for little more than your morning joe. Seems harmless, right? You get a cheap logo, a designer gets work. What could possibly be wrong? Well, let me tell you.

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On The Road: Design Camp Time!

Greetings from Brainerd, Minnesota! It’s so great to be back up here again! Design Camp is a fall staple on my calendar and every year I look forward longingly to the crisp, cold air all the quality time I will spend with friends. It’s a different world than the Sonoran Desert of Arizona. The highs are in the 40s and 50s this weekend, and even this week, I was hanging out in triple digit temps. It’s a bit of a shock to the system, but as much as I miss Arizona, I’m happy to be here.

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