My Journey from Artist to Brand Designer
I started my brand design business almost by accident. I knew I wanted to be a designer, but I didn’t know how to get there. So I just started doing it.
My design story starts with my art story. I started Made by Haley at the beginning of the pandemic as a way to share the digital illustrations I was creating in Procreate. As this account grew, I started getting commissions & thought, “I could make a living doing what I love!”
That wasn’t exactly true, yet.
Working with clients brought me so much joy, but I was becoming burnt out from the process & wasn’t even making enough to cover groceries. Granted, I never really thought I could make a living doing $30 digital portraits, but it started to feel possible that I could make a living doing something creative.
It wasn’t until the end of 2021, I stumbled upon a Netflix documentary series on design, & I knew exactly what I wanted to do. It all made sense.
Okay so I want to be a graphic designer, but where do I start?
For me & many others, we start with YouTube. Some of my favorite design YouTubers include Abi Connick, Paola Kassa, & Megan Weeks, but there are countless free courses & full-length tutorials out there!
I also knew I wanted to read up on it. I wanted to treat this journey as if I were studying at a four-year college. No rush, no expectations, no mistakes, just growing as a designer.
Here are some books I’ve read this year:
The Brand Gap by Marty Neumeier
The Elements of Graphic Design by Alex M. White
While learning the basics of graphic design, I was also learning the basics of Adobe Illustrator. And I remember being intimidated to learn Procreate! Both turn out to be fairly simple if you’re determined & excited to learn.
Not too sure about a name or my own logo, I started Made by Haley Design. I started joining brief challenges & engaging with other accounts. I started growing a little community of like-minded people to connect with. I started making better designs. I started putting together my brand packages. I started a portfolio/website. And I started making reels.
Creating reels helped grow my account from 1,700 followers at the end of March to 10k at the end of April. Yes, I kept track.
With two reels blowing up around the same time, I all of a sudden had so many eyes on my work. I received countless inquiries & even some client work. As motivating as this was, I started to feel like an imposter. I didn’t feel ready to call myself a designer.
I know I’m not alone here — this is something that happens to almost every designer at some point or another. I think part of it comes from the fact that with social media, we’re constantly surrounded by people with more experience, followers, or whatever else. But we can’t let that stop us!
We should look to others for inspiration and for proof that it is possible. Look through our past work to see the improvement. Look ahead at where we want to be & work hard to get there.
Even though in my mind I’m still a freshman at my own little university, I’m getting better every day & striving toward my goals. I never really had a plan, I hope someday I do, but for now, I am enjoying seeing where this journey takes me.
