Work in Process
The Swail Studio Blog about Branding,
visual identity, magic, and the void.
Do you know yourself “well enough” to rebrand yet?
I want to answer an FAQ that often comes up when talking to prospective clients:
Do I know myself and my business well enough to get a brand kit? I’m in a transition, and I'm not completely sure who I am, or what is next, right now.
How I broke down my business to build it back up
Once I opened up how I was available to work, the kind of work I thought I wanted, and detangled my hard boundaries from systems that made things unnecessarily hard for my clients and myself... work is beginning to flow again.
Post-traumatic creative growth
For so long, I let my experience of creating the work, the pressure and fear that I felt in the trenches of it, completely cloud my perception of the result. Until this month, I couldn’t bear to look at so many of these projects, and it was IMPOSSIBLE for me to consider them as they are: truly some of my best work.
6 ways that branding = magical practice
For all the witches and occult practitioners: Have you ever wondered if your brand and “aesthetic” is important or worth investing in? Well, it’s kind of like explaining to someone why they should give a fuck about MAGIC.
Beauty is what makes life worth living.
I am not here for the people who find beauty trivial, shallow, superfluous. For my people, beauty is what makes life worth living.
Why what you’re aesthetically drawn to isn’t always FOR YOU
I am saturated, opaque, intense. I am not sheer. I am not soft. I am clear, bright, obvious. I am high-contrast. There’s no point in toning it down - it is my natural state. It is so much easier for me to embody “bright, crisp, and clear” than “muted.” No matter how much I was told or shown otherwise.
Ode to dollar store notebooks
As a graphic designer, stationery girl, and connoisseur of luxury printing, it’s time for me to own up to something…
Not loving your brand isn’t your fault (and other hot takes)
A well-calibrated brand aesthetic for you and your desired audience isn’t just pulled out of your ass. It’s going to take a while to learn, experiment, and get it right, and that’s ok.
Intuitive, affordable branding for the new era
If you’ve ever wished you could hire a designer to figure out your brand for you — once and for all — but are nowhere near having the 4–5 figure budget for it… this is for you!
Graphic design is not my passion.
At risk of self-sabotaging, let me explain…
The truth is that I don’t, and have never, “lived and breathed” brand design. However… I'm pretty fucking good at it. I enjoy and care about it deeply enough to make a sustainable living out of it.
And it happens to make my clients a lot more money.