A few years back, I had no idea animals were famous on Instagram. I had just adopted a senior dog named Chloe from a friend’s aging grandmother and thought it would be fun to keep her previous family up to date on her new life with me. On a whim I decided to use Instagram for this and after a 30 second consult with a friend, called it Chloe Kardoggian, having never watched the Kardashians in my life aside from a few minutes here and there on vacation with a friend who enjoyed them.
Read MoreMy history outside of design, and how it helps me now
What a lot of people don’t know about me when they first come in contact with my work is that graphic design is a second career for me. After graduating from college with a degree in journalism, I worked for a number of years as an event planner in the university setting.
My first big job out of school was for what was then called The John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy (now the John Glenn College of Public Affairs) and I was in charge of their events from head to toe. Which meant I sourced speakers, found locations, coordinated travel, and yes, designed my own advertising.
Working for the Glenn Institute was an incredible opportunity - Senator Glenn and his wife Annie were wonderful people and truly deserving of the American hero status. And I got to organize and be behind the scenes for events for lectures by Supreme Court Justice Sandra Day O’Connor and former Vice President Al Gore (giving an early version of An Inconvenient Truth presentation), a nationally televised gubernatorial debate, and even a lecture by John Glenn himself (for which my entire family flew from the east coast to see).
Eventually I decided I wanted to be closer to family and moved to NYC to take a job at Columbia University, also planning events, but I was also realizing my heart was in the creative side of my work - designing all the materials needed for my events such as posters, adverting, staging, and the printed programs. I decided to apply to a somewhat new program at Parsons the New School for Design which was geared towards people mid-career who were making a change to become designers and the rest, as they say, is history.
What all this all means is that I bring my clients an exceptional level of organization and professionalism at every step along the way. I keep to deadlines, can help with finessing and writing copy, and understand the real world applications for which my work is required. I think this is really important for potential clients to know, as I understand they have to put a lot of trust into me to bring their vision to life.
Check out my portfolio and reviews to see how I take both my creative and organizational skills to bring my clients visions to life.
10 Great Free Font Resources
As a graphic designer, I love a great free font to keep costs low for my clients. Here are some of my favorite resources for free fonts and inspiration.
“50 free modern fonts to download for a contemporary look” from Canva
“28 great free script fonts” from CreativeBloq
“35+ Best Free Script Fonts for Designers” from Inscribe Mag
“73 Best Free Fonts to Create Stunning Designs” from Easil
“45 free retro fonts” from CreativeBloq
“60 Free Retro and Vintage Fonts” from Retro Supply Co
“30 Free Sans Serif Fonts to Download” from hongkiat
“The 100 Best Free Fonts for Designers in 2019” from Spekboy
“50 Best Free Elegant Fonts to Level Up Your Designs” fro Visme
“60+ Best Free Fonts for Designers 2019 (Serif, Script & Sans Serif)” from Design Shack