expert panel: graphic designers
The following responses were generously provided by four graphic designers who agreed to be featured here. Please enjoy the variety and range of this panel of experts; responses have been lightly edited.
> Amy Clark | AJC Create | amy@ajccreate.com
What path got you here? I loved doing crafts and projects as a kid—I was very artsy. Then I took an interior design course in high school and the teacher suggested graphic design to me, versus illustration. Following that path, I graduated from UW Stout with a Bachelor of Fine Arts with a concentration in graphic design. I applied for jobs and started as a part-time admin and part-time designer at Beehive Agency, which was growing quickly at the time. Twelve years later, we were a design department of two, but in 2020 the position was eliminated as the agency was facing revenue challenges during the pandemic. They encouraged me to start my own business and very generously set me up for success.
Within the world of graphic design, what is it that you do? I’m a content designer who will develop brands but I prefer to work on existing brands in partnership with marketing teams. I like to produce lead magnets and presentations and find other ways to help mature a visual brand. I also work on infographics and ebooks.
Who is your ideal client? Ideally, I’m partnering with a communications agency or working with a marketing department that needs a resource in place of an on-staff designer.
What is an example of a project you really enjoyed? While I was working with Beehive, we did a big campaign for Friends of the Boundary Waters aimed at raising awareness about the potential environmental risks of sulfide-ore copper mining near the Boundary Waters Canoe Area Wilderness (BWCAW). It was highly visible and required a lot of design concepts and related collateral including reports and billboards.
I also did a comprehensive dashboard for a health systems client, moving a vision into reality for them. This dashboard showed mission, vision, and values all in one view and made the strategic plan digestible at a glance.
What should someone expect to pay for your expertise? I generally put together project pricing with a budget based on an hourly rate of $120, but am happy to provide estimates for projects. A comprehensive brand project with planning, strategy, design and collateral starts around $5000.
What else should we know? I rely heavily on Asana—it has saved my life to keep track of my to-do lists in that system. I also like to use Instagram as a resource for design tips and tricks, particularly regarding best practices in Adobe Suite. There’s a strong design community on that platform that can be very informative and inspirational if you follow the right people. Check out Allan Peters and James Barnard to get started with ideas!
> Patti Isaacs | https://patti-isaacs.com/
What path got you here? I double-majored in art and physical geography in college, combining these skills and knowledge base to become a cartographer. Early in my career I worked for the Minnesota Geological Survey, but when funding ran out, so did the job, so I spent a year teaching in China. When I returned I went to grad school and landed an internship with National Geographic. I couldn’t find a full-time cartography position without moving to Washington DC or one of the places where the US Geological Survey had a facility, but I reasoned that while no single organization in Minnesota needed a full-time cartographer, many people here still needed maps, so I started offering my services as a freelancer. Having worked for National Geographic was key in establishing my credibility.
Within the world of graphic design, what is it that you do? I create maps, charts, graphs, and diagrams. I interview the client and customize the content to best convey their message or concept. Because I have geographic content knowledge and an art background, my work is accurate and aesthetically pleasing. The wide variety of subjects I cover means I am always learning new things; that’s one of the best parts of my job.
Who is your ideal client? Someone with an interesting concept to explain graphically, who has the time and resources to get it done well.
What is an example of a project you really enjoyed? I did maps for a geology book back in the 1990s that incorporated shaded relief for the first time, learning Photoshop and combining that with my Illustrator skills. My favorite map in that book showed the relationship of continental land masses to the tectonic plates they sit upon (if you’ve heard of continental drift, that’s what this map shows). I used transparent overlays to show that relationship in an almost three-dimensional way. The author loved the maps, and decades later, a YouTube geology teacher still uses that map and several others from the book. He told me that no other map of tectonic plates shows the concept as clearly.
More recently—and locally—I created maps and diagrams for a book about Lake Superior entitled North Shore: A Natural History of Minnesota’s Superior Coast. My work on that book ranged from restyling computer-generated maps, which can look cold and mechanical, to creating cross-sections of forest types, to a diagram of how a mound septic system works.
What should someone expect to pay for your expertise? I create a bid for each piece of art I do, based on specifications from the client. Prices can range from as little as $75 for a simple chart to over $2000 for a map that covers a two-page spread in a book. The price depends upon the complexity of the map—how much drawing do I need to do? Sometimes I’m given a rough sketch; other times I’m asked to combine information from multiple sources, or I’m furnished with a list of place names and need to research locations or historical boundaries. The amount of time doing that work gets figured into the cost of the piece.
What else should we know? I’m now semi-retired and spend some of my time writing. I lived in the Chinese city of Xi'an when the country was still communist. I returned to work in the same city 24 years later after China had switched to a market-based economy. I published a book about that transition called The Second Long March.
Now I’m working on a completely different topic: a memoir about living in a changing food landscape as immigrants came to live in my mid-century, middle American city—and I graduated from tuna noodle hot dish to risotto alla Milanese and mapo tofu by marrying an Italian and living overseas. The cultural aspects of food are interwoven with my personal story. I was told from infancy that I was overweight, which led to an eating disorder and complicated feelings about food and self.
> Jean Kindem | Kindem Design | jean@kindemdesign.com
What path got you here? I went to St. Olaf College and majored in Fine Arts and Spanish. At the time, I didn’t really think about how that would translate to a career, and after graduating, I waited tables for a few years and then took a few classes in graphic design at a technical college. I got a job as a Keyliner (pre-computer design) and did paste-up (this job doesn’t exist now). I designed logos and other things on the side, and at this time, all was done by hand—no computers.
Then, I worked at a printing company doing marker comps, and as computers (Mac) started to come out, design took a new turn. In the late 80s, QuarkXpress came out, and I and others were sent to classes at the science museum, in a big auditorium, to listen to Lynda from Lynda.com give a lecture with slides on how it worked.
I worked for other designers and ultimately went out on my own about 20 years ago. I am primarily self-taught. When website design started to come into play, I learned to code because I wanted to understand how to design for development. Now, I design and develop, and continue to do a lot of brand design and print work.
Within the world of graphic design, what is it that you do? I am a graphic designer who specializes in print and web design and development. I am skilled at problem-solving and offering creative solutions.
Who is your ideal client? I like working with small business owners and individuals to create a brand that represents them. I also enjoy working with decisive marketing professionals who bring me in as part of a team.
What is an example of a project you really enjoyed? I am proud of the brand design work that I did for Immunize.org. A marketing person brought me on after they had changed the organization's name from Immunization Action Coalition to Immunize.org. I designed their logo and collateral, as well as social media templates, and provide ongoing updates to their materials.
What should someone expect to pay for your expertise? I typically bid on larger one-off projects. I bill hourly with ongoing clients.
What else should we know? I work on a yearly program for MnTech that honors girls and women in tech, and I am blown away by the skills of these high schoolers and their ability to compete in what was such a heavily dominated STEM field.
> Christy Nix | Curloo Designs Graphic Design Studio christy@curloodesigns.com | www.curloodesigns.com
What path got you here? I've always leaned towards anything creative ever since I was a kid. I went to college for theatre and moved to the Twin Cities to pursue that. Along the way, I found interest in graphic design. My first step in putting that interest into practice was creating internal content and presentations for the bank I was working for at the time as a teller. To this day, I am so grateful for my supervisors there who fostered that interest and gave me the space and opportunity to build those skills when that wasn't really a part of my job description. From there, I continued to build, hone, and refine my skill and understanding of graphic design through college classes and self-education. I took side jobs for several years and then in 2020 decided to make graphic design my full-time career and have been enjoying it ever since!
Within the world of graphic design, what is it that you do? I work primarily with businesses to provide graphic design services such as logo and branding, print material design (brochures, flyers, business cards, ads, signage, etc), and and some digital content. I also design and build Squarespace websites. My goal is to help businesses build a professional, cohesive look that visually communicates their business message in their own unique style and voice across several mediums.
Who is your ideal client? My ideal client is a small to medium-sized business that needs a new or refreshed logo and branding design or a business with ongoing graphic design needs that want to work with a designer who knows their company and branding and can consistently create designs that fit their needs and messaging.
What is an example of a project you really enjoyed? I love it when I can incorporate subtle elements into a logo design that aren't initially obvious but add multiple levels of customization to the design. Recently, I had the opportunity to design a logo for a woman who has a home styling business. The logo design ended up being a line-drawn silhouette of her head with her hair actually being the initials of her business. She loved it and it remains one of my favorite designs I've built.
What should someone expect to pay for your expertise? For logos/branding, I offer packages that range from $1250-$2250. For hourly work, I charge $75/hour.
What else should we know? Small business owners are packing so much into their day and wearing so many hats to keep their business running. I want to be able to take one thing off their plate and remove one stressor from their day in the way of graphic design. I can save them the frustration of figuring out a last-minute logo, choosing the best font to go on a brochure or designing a template for their newsletter so that they have the space to do the work that drew them to start that business in the first place.