Studio Notes Issue 2: Collaborating with designers is fun - really!
“Everything is awesome! Everything is cool when you’re part of a team!”, or so they say in the song from the Lego movie (which is such an earworm for me) 🙉
When you’re a solopreneur like myself, you’ve got to find your teammates where and when you can. This can be through partnerships, collaborations, community, networking, and business organizations. I’m happy to ask a family member or friend for feedback on a design or project so that I don’t feel like I’m just designing in my own little bubble. And I’ve been fortunate that over the years, I have felt like “part of the team” when working with my clients. I can wear my director hat, use my listening ears, and put on my party pants (is that a thing… or is that just eating pants?!) at the end to help them realize and celebrate their successes.
In this blog post I talk about ways you can effectively communicate and collaborate with a graphic designer on your next project, to set yourself up for awesomeness! I talk about:
defining clear objectives
the design brief
feedback… and more
Happy March, and I hope you have a great week!
Kris
Let’s get Meta and talk about newsletters
No, not the new name for Facebook. Meta as in this is a newsletter, and I’m going to talk about email-newsletters. Phew, glad that’s established. Moving on… I’ve had sort of a love/hate relationship with e-newsletters. I see a lot of freebies that I’m interested in online, I subscribe, get the accompanying e-newsletter, and then, well, honestly sometimes I don’t find it relevant, or just want the freebie information. I’m not going to hate on anyone else who does that - promise! But if you’re reading this, seems like you’re sticking around. Yay! And thanks! 😊
I’ve had a list of other cons for not wanting to create an email list for my business: It’s hard to build up a mailing list of willing recipients, hard to create content that has mass appeal, hard to find time to create it, and hard to overcome the nagging “does anyone care” feeling. But then I considered the newsletters that I do read, and what the pros are from the consumer end. Pros: I stay up to date with what that person or group is doing or offering in their business. If it’s a solopreneur, I start to see them as a person that I relate to, and I cheer on their successes and sympathize with their challenges. And I learn stuff. Not everything they send me relates directly to me, but that’s ok - it's usually skimmable, and I know that the next edition might have a helpful nugget for me.
So, I’m sharing my thoughts on this if it’s something you’ve been thinking about for your business. And give you some compelling whys for implementing one into your brand strategy and business tools. Reasons for a newsletter:
Build trust, credibility, and community
Personal and authentic interaction
Establishes expertise
Sales tool to promote offerings
Stay connected
You have control
That last one- staying in control, means you are sending it to an audience that you know will be receiving it. Social media can be a great tool, but with an ever-changing algorithm, you don’t really know if your informative post will even get seen.
Here’s where I employ #4. From setting up the automations, to best practices for sending, and ideas for creating content, I’m here for it if you need help!
What’s New in the Studio
Website Tune-Up: HQM Properties, an affordable housing property management company, wanted a new look for their website, that would highlight their properties, and serve as an access point to their tenant portal. We discussed that UI/UX (user interface and experience) should be kept in the forefront, for a website that fit their accessible and friendly vision, and provided an easy-to-use and navigate interface for their community and tenants. Take a look at the case study!
Please note that this is an online archive of my weekly newsletter. Please subscribe below to get it in your inbox!
