So you have a product or a business idea aye? What's the next step? It's time to brand yoself fool. (I hope you said that in your best Mr. T voice) "What's in a brand?" You ask? I'll break it down for you.
Your brand is the face and the promise you are making to your audience and potential customers. You brand is made up of many different aspects that convey a vibe. The "vibe" of your brand is translated through the use of communicative tone, imagery, color, sound, behavior, and public interaction.
There is A LOT going on behind the scenes these past few months! Rebranding is happening, the new Gypsy Beard web site is live, the blog has gotten a huge make over recently (still in progress though) and I've been getting my marketing pants back on and taking a new approach to my business. I've got plans guys. Plans!
A huge highlight for me at Gypsy Beard Studio is all of the pretty art from local artists. We've been running on empty in the art department lately, so I'm very excited to be able to include some of my own pieces! I've always wanted to open an art/print shop and I've finally been able to. These will be for sale soon in the shop too, but for now they're only online on Society6. Hope you like them! My favorite has to be the first one that says "Not All Who Wander Are Lost". Which do you like? More to come!
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design
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T-shirt & Hoodie Designs for The Homespun Happiness Christmas Project
7:05 AMUnknown
I designed two different designs that you can order as either a t-shirt or a hoodie. You can read more about it on Jennifer's blog! Order a shirt or hoodie and help support a great cause during this time of year when its particularly hard for some.
Happy Friday guys!
The price is $75 for one hour which is a steal compared to most deals going on. This price includes digital edited copies of your photos to do with as you please! You WILL have the option to print them though us though!
For more info or to book a time/date email howdy(at)gypsybeard.com
A few weeks ago we did this fun shoot on the back patio before the shop opened. I was super excited to do something cool with the space and it ended up being a huge success I think! We knew we wanted a bit of a circus theme and her mom worked really hard on her cute top hat. Happy first birthday to my sweet niece Lydia! We have a weekend full of birthday parties with my son's and hers both taking place.
Happy Friday everyone!
No lie, I sat down and read through Bethany's ENTIRE blog, Love Grows Design yesterday. This may or may not have started at work *cough* but I was so overwhelmed and inspired by every single thing she posted about blogging, working as a freelance designer, personal struggles and creativity. I had to share.
It's so wonderful to come across blogs that remind you that not only are you NOT alone in this crazy freelance design world, but also to help encourage you, inspire you and help you to think outside of the box with your business and yourself. I love coming across bloggers who I feel like we've been friends for years even though I've never actually met them. I cannot stress it enough, check out her blog!
In particular, she wrote a post inspired by another blogger and this tweet by Kara Haupt:
What would 16 year old me think about me today. I felt very motivated to let that stew in my noggin for a while. And I came to this conclusion.
16 year old me was a day dreaming punk rocker who spent the majority of her time doodling in art class, at theatre rehearsals or playing drums in the band she was in. She planned to attend art school at a liberal school in a liberal city and make lots of liberal friends. She was creative and had dreams of traveling the world with her also punk rocker boyfriend and doing the starving artist/designer thing. I wanted to change the world through my art. I've always known that I wanted to be a designer.
What would that girl say about me? I never planned to work in an office all day or get married young and have a child and then get divorced all before my 25th birthday. That's for sure. But I think she would be very proud of where I am today. She'd say that I've worked hard and pushed myself to be different. She'd be very impressed with how business savvy I am and how I can tackle a client meeting without even having a panic attack. She'd probably yell at me for not traveling more though. And also for eating so many Hershey's Hugs. She'd definitely tell me to have more fun and spend less time worrying about the little things.
Sometimes you really just need to cut yourself a break and give yourself credit for how great you really are and for what you've accomplished. Because we are all pretty awesome in our own way. We should never forget that. My life didn't go how I thought it would, but there truly is a reason for everything. All the decisions, mistakes and events that occurred led me to exactly where I need to be. With a wonderful man, with a pretty cool kid that I adore and creating my dream business. 16 year old "US" obviously had a lot of growing up and real world experiencing to do, but her dreams and passions were very real.
So… what would your 16 year old self say about you today? Please share your thoughts!
Kat
It's so wonderful to come across blogs that remind you that not only are you NOT alone in this crazy freelance design world, but also to help encourage you, inspire you and help you to think outside of the box with your business and yourself. I love coming across bloggers who I feel like we've been friends for years even though I've never actually met them. I cannot stress it enough, check out her blog!
In particular, she wrote a post inspired by another blogger and this tweet by Kara Haupt:
"Sometimes when I’m feeling a little down on myself I just remember that my 16 year old self would think I’m the coolest.”
What would 16 year old me think about me today. I felt very motivated to let that stew in my noggin for a while. And I came to this conclusion.
16 year old me was a day dreaming punk rocker who spent the majority of her time doodling in art class, at theatre rehearsals or playing drums in the band she was in. She planned to attend art school at a liberal school in a liberal city and make lots of liberal friends. She was creative and had dreams of traveling the world with her also punk rocker boyfriend and doing the starving artist/designer thing. I wanted to change the world through my art. I've always known that I wanted to be a designer.
What would that girl say about me? I never planned to work in an office all day or get married young and have a child and then get divorced all before my 25th birthday. That's for sure. But I think she would be very proud of where I am today. She'd say that I've worked hard and pushed myself to be different. She'd be very impressed with how business savvy I am and how I can tackle a client meeting without even having a panic attack. She'd probably yell at me for not traveling more though. And also for eating so many Hershey's Hugs. She'd definitely tell me to have more fun and spend less time worrying about the little things.
Sometimes you really just need to cut yourself a break and give yourself credit for how great you really are and for what you've accomplished. Because we are all pretty awesome in our own way. We should never forget that. My life didn't go how I thought it would, but there truly is a reason for everything. All the decisions, mistakes and events that occurred led me to exactly where I need to be. With a wonderful man, with a pretty cool kid that I adore and creating my dream business. 16 year old "US" obviously had a lot of growing up and real world experiencing to do, but her dreams and passions were very real.
So… what would your 16 year old self say about you today? Please share your thoughts!
Kat
Spring time seems to be when everyone is having garage sells, doing their spring cleaning, and gets a little bit more pep in their step. Apparently that's when businesses also get the urge to do some fresh new marketing. I've been bombarded with quotes for web site designs and graphic work these past weeks. I'm completely stoked! Here's a mood board for a project that I've been working on recently.
I've been a bit MIA these past weeks due to work, my son's school activities and soccer, but hopefully things will be a little less chaotic this coming week.
What have you lovely people been up to? Creating anything great lately? Please share!
Kat
I've been a bit MIA these past weeks due to work, my son's school activities and soccer, but hopefully things will be a little less chaotic this coming week.
What have you lovely people been up to? Creating anything great lately? Please share!
Kat
I had a great new project come in this past week! I've been very selective lately about what kind of work I take so that I don't get too busy and stressed with my 8-5 job and everything at home. I couldn't pass this one up though. I can't share too much yet, but here's my first round mood board (inspiration board).
The vibe of the project is a little bit grungy, masculine, strength, innovative, mechanical, and with a touch of 50's futuristic advertising thrown in there . The product is an innovative new idea geared towards men (and even some women) who work (and play) outside. Think adventurous ATV adventures and hauling massive loads across America. I can't wait to share the end project with you.
kat
The vibe of the project is a little bit grungy, masculine, strength, innovative, mechanical, and with a touch of 50's futuristic advertising thrown in there . The product is an innovative new idea geared towards men (and even some women) who work (and play) outside. Think adventurous ATV adventures and hauling massive loads across America. I can't wait to share the end project with you.
kat
The ending of 2013 was crazy busy preparing and working on this web site for S.W.A.T Firearms. I cannot begin to say how rad these guys are! The owner I worked with was basically a dream client and I truly had a blast from start to finish getting to know her and their company. I knew immediately that I was going to be steering towards a metallic and grungy vibe and I think it turned out great. They've already gotten a ton of compliments from customers which is always a plus. Happy client, happy me. If you happen to be in the market for a great firearm (Check out that hot pink one!) they truly are wonderful. I'm also happy that they are return customers and we are working towards adapting it to be responsive and constantly adding features to increase customer interaction.
What do you think?
tata for now. Happy Monday everyone!
Kat
When heading into this project I knew, from a photographer's point a view, that your clients, work and locations are very diverse and ever changing. Keeping this in mind I wanted to create several different logo/watermark options to fit any occasion or person that she could be photographing. The top image was all the logos I presented her in white over a photo to show the "idea". She ultimately ended up picking a few of them, but I still wanted to present her quite a few options.
I had a lot of fun with this project since Jamie and I share similar tastes in just about everything it turns out. I was like designing for myself, only easier because I can NEVER decided on anything for myself haha. Usually I spend a lot of time sketching first, but I hardly did this time. I just dove into it in Illustrator. I knew immediately what colors, fonts and shapes I wanted to start with and it all evolved from there.
Well hope you enjoy another peak into my work life.
Kat
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