Packaging design used to be something only bigger brands really invested in, but between direct-to-consumer shipping, farmers markets, and the sheer amount of product photography happening on social media now, small brands are under more pressure than ever to have…
I look at a lot of small business social media accounts, both as a designer helping clients and just as a regular person scrolling my phone at 11pm like everyone else, and there’s a pretty consistent pattern in what makes…
I want to be fair about this one, because I know exactly how this post is going to read given who’s writing it, so let me just say it plainly upfront: yes, I have an obvious interest in this argument.…
I talk a lot in the abstract about how logo design works, so this time I wanted to actually walk through one real project, start to finish, minus the client’s name and identifying details (client confidentiality is a real thing…
I want to be upfront about something before I get into this one: I use AI tools in my own workflow, more than a few designers would probably admit out loud. I use them for research, for quick mockup placeholders,…
People are sometimes surprised by how much talking happens before I open a single design program. There’s a version of this job that exists mostly in people’s heads where a designer hears “I need a logo” and just starts making…
The most common misconception I run into, hands down, is that “branding” and “logo” are the same word. I get it — the logo is the part you can point at, the part that goes on the sign and the…
Every January (okay, this year I’m a little late to the party) design blogs put out their trend predictions, and every year about half of them are just “bold colors” and “authenticity” dressed up in new language. So let’s skip…
I need you to know that I say this with love, because I have heard it from clients I adore, clients who paid on time, clients who sent me cookies once (still thinking about those cookies). But if you open…
Somebody texted me last week in all caps: “WHY DOES MY LOGO LOOK WRONG.” No hello, no context, just a photo of business cards fresh off the printer next to her laptop screen, and yeah, I got it immediately. This…
