Last night was the annual AAF Tallahassee ADDY awards.  I entered some designs this year, the first time since being out on my own.  The theme for the evening was "Put your best foot forward"  and everyone was encouraged to wear cool, funky and interesting shoes in honor of the theme.  I wore red and diamond shoes that were super fun!  There were people there in tennis shoes, flip flops, glitter shoes... brightly colored shoes, high heels, no heels, boots, one person wrote design words all over her shoes and a few people put google eyes and flashlights on their shoes. It was fun to walk around and see what everyone had come up with.  The event was at the Hotel Duval in Tallahassee, a venue that never fails to impress with the gorgeous Tallahassee skyline and quality service and space.  The weather was perfect and the company was interesting. ...

Branding is a fundamental part of every company… whether you want to or not, you have a brand…..  If you haven’t focused on your brand you might be allowing others to define it for you.

Here are some books and magazines that I have been reading over the past year.

Brands & Branding

Graphic Design that Works

Instant Cashflow

Eat That Frog

Logo Design Love

Purple Cow

E-myth

Instant Repeat Business

Little Red Book of Selling

From Selling to Serving

HOW magazine

PRINT magazine

Continuing to learn about business and design is so essential to me... If I stop learning new things then I risk getting stuck where I am... and I want to keep moving forward. 

What books and magazines are you reading?

I have learned so many lessons and great tidbits of information over this past year–about myself, running a business and so many other things.  I mention in an earlier post about Matt Cheuvront and hearing him speak about the lessons he has learned in the last year and half after being fired and blogging and starting his own company.  I really enjoyed listening to the lessons he learned and many of them were similar to the ones that I have learned ... I usually can pick up something from each person that I hear speak that I can relate to either personally or professionally and I wanted to share a handful of the lessons I have learned over the past 15 months or so....



1. Just do it... Leap out on faith... Trust your instincts... believe in yourself.  BUT PLAN IT... make it a calculated leap.  You have to have goals and writing them down and figuring out where you are and where you want to go is so important.  You need to know what you are working towards.



2. Attitude is everything. ...

I had a student from Marymount University in Arlington Virginia reach out to me with some questions for her senior portfolio class... Here is what she asked... and my answers.

 1. How long have you been working in the field?

I graduated from Berry College in 1998 and began working in graphic design that following year.  I have been working in my field for 12 years.  



 2. How did you end up at your current position?

I began my business 15 months ago after working as the Art Director of a prestigious PR firm here in Tallahassee, FL for 3.5 yrs. I was fired/asked to resign for economic reasons partially I think, but also, my heart wasn't in the job there anymore, I had just had a baby and I wanted to be home with her, so even though I was there every day on time and stayed late when I had to, my performance wasn't all it could have been.  I had a newborn baby at home and didn't want to get...

This week has been busy and great and tiring and fun.... loads of time to be creative and exciting projects to play with and work on.  The Tallahassee Woman Magazine is coming along, I truly love working with the ladies there.  Make sure to look for it on October 1st, you won't be disappointed! On Thursday I went to the FPRA luncheon where I heard Matt Cheuvront (Matt Chevy) speak about Personal Branding.  I almost didn't go because I was pretty busy, but I am so glad that I did.  It is great to see and hear other designers out there that are going through similar situations and hear what they have learned.  Matt is in his early to mid 20's and has had a whirlwind year... moved, got a job, got fired from that job, blogged about it started his own marketing consultancy and web design firm, got married, moved again and now is about to launch a new company.  WOW Matt!!  You haven't been busy or anything this year have you?

 

Hearing Matt's story was like listening to a somewhat similar...

Hi!  I am Christy, owner of Christy Jennings Creative.  I am starting this blog to hopefully bring value to my clients and others with my thoughts ideas and sharing of art, design and other things that inspire me.  I named my blog, Fresh Squeezed Design, because that has been my ad campaign for the last year and I really like the concept and when I change up my ad I want to keep the Fresh Squeezed idea. 



Why Fresh Squeezed Design?  What do I mean when I say that?  Well, something important to me is striving to be original in my design and my artwork.  There is a concentrated amount of designers out there and I want to stand out.  Yes, I look at others work for inspiration, I would say that most designers do, but then I take the information about my project, perceptions and ideas merge it with my own experiences and creativity to make a fresh and innovative design… Freshly squeezed from my brain and artistic ability.

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