As creatives, we tend to be inspired in the moment - getting an idea for a new project or design and wanting to jump right in. But without proper file organization, those spur-of-the-moment creations can quickly become lost in our sea of digital clutter, just look as most of our desktops.

I thought it could be helpful for my clients to do a deep dive into how to pick a branding package when working with a brand designer and what is included. Not all designers offer a “design menu”, but I find it to be the most helpful for the client that I work with and my own process. For branding, I offer three main branding packages along with a menu of a la carte items. (I also have an illustration, web design, and creative direction menu, but for this blog post I am focusing on branding.) Within my branding menu, I have Petite, Full, and Premium options.

I like to think that when people think of ESM Creative Studio, they think of our integration of illustration into branding. It was one of my favorite things to incorporate if it fits the goals and needs of our clients. Although, I do think illustration adds something special to every project. Especially in our extremely fast-paced and digital society, we pay attention and process pretty pictures way more than just text.

February is meant for so much more than romantic love! February is the month to celebrate friends, family, and all the other things you hold dear to your heart…including the business you have grown from the ground up. In a way, a business is kind of like your baby - a concept turned into a something you love that grows every day!

For the Love of Freelance

As two self-starters, Alex (AP The Creative) & I know firsthand how difficult it is to jump into the life of freelance. It requires a whole workbook of knowledge that you have to teach yourself; it can be challenging, frustrating, and draining.

‘TIS THE SEASON FOR GIFT GIVING We’re coming up on the best time of the year! It seems each year it gets harder to be creative with gifts for our loved ones. Here’s a gift guide filled with unique, thoughtful, and affordable gifts!

Let’s start with the numbers. The most important thing you can do while trying to grow your brand is to be tracking your engagement. The great news is there are so many resources on the internet to help track your social media stats like Later, Hootsuite, and Buffer.

Why use Pinterest for your creative business? Plain and simple, Pinterest is a search engine, its in the numbers:

Do I have a podcast, no… So why am I writing about this? A lot of my business is creating graphics for podcasts and podcasters. And because fo that, I get a lot of questions about how to start, grow, and stay with it.

Before you set intentions for the coming year or even goals, you have to know how the past year went. The good, the bad, and where you need to improve. After hours of reading other blog posts, stuff on Pinterest, and a couple of books I read this year, here is how I am looking back on this year.

First off, what is a moodboard? A moodboard is a visual tool that communicates the concepts and visual ideas of a branding suite, website, or project. It is a well-thought-out and planned arrangement of images, graphics, pieces of text, etc. that is intended to evoke or project a particular style or concept.

First off, what is typography or font psychology? It is the study of how different fonts impact thoughts, feelings, and associations. Most of the time this is unconscious + pre-programmed by society and things we interact with daily. It is important to know this when designing logos, print materials, and really anything involving typography.