New Website/ Seasonal Crash Out

Happy April, y’all! And a very warm, “Welcome!” to my new & improved website. We’ll get into that in a minute. For now, thanks for being here! 

I figured since I made myself this little journal space on my brand new website that I’d use it to explain the new website, and host a written storytime of why I decided to redo the whole thing on a whim one day. 

One version of the story is this: I am a brand & website designer and it’s hard for me to commit to one design for my own website forever because I see cool ideas everywhere and I want them all for myself and I thought the red was a vibe but it turns out I kind of like this whole muted tones thing better and I was seasonally depressed in mid-February and didn’t like anything especially not my own site ofcourse and- 

You get it. Ultimately though, the previous site wasn’t sending the message I wanted it to. I worked really hard on encompassing the growth and redirection of my business in this new website, and I’m super happy with it. It feels more “me”, you know?

Since deciding to offer my services as a freelancer, I’ve learned a ton about myself. One thing (good or bad) I've learned is that I can’t stop at one thing. A client comes to me for a business card order and next thing you know I’m in Illustrator redoing their entire brand design. The reason for this is that most of my clients don’t start their businesses seeking professional design, and it kinda bites us all in the ass in the long run. 

I realized amidst my annual February burnout that I probably need to be marketing myself and my services. Taking a page out of my own book, I decided I’d first need to dive deep into what exactly it is that I’m marketing, the exact clients I want to seek, and how exactly I want to speak to them. 

When I got to thinking about the work I really want to be doing, the work I’m really passionate about, I realized that the business owner I want to speak to is the one who is ready to invest in a full-scope branding strategy, from the beginning. The fearless dreamers who have a fiery passion they can’t stop thinking about; for the person who knows that their business is unique and complex, and can’t fit into a Canva template (no tea no shade). 

Now, you might be wondering, “Willow, what if I just need you to make me a cute menu for my girls night?”. One, you know I don’t host anything without a cute menu or invitation so I obviously hear you. Two, yes I’m doing it, what's the theme? 

I don’t mean that I’m moving completely away from the one-off design jobs the majority of my clients know me for. I’d just like to be clear with my audience that my passion for strategic brand design and messaging goes beyond a 15-minute design. I want to immerse myself in your business and make it better. I want to give brand owners the tools they need to have a brand people look at and think, “Wow, they spent TIME on that.” 

In the end, I guess all I’m saying is that nothing is really changing, I just have identified the real consumers of my work and I think this site speaks to them more clearly. 

As always, holla at me with all the projects. But if you want your business to be the next Liquid Death or the next Graza, reeaaaalllllly you should holla at me for real for real. 

Ciao for now!!

WW