Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Sydney Michuda. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Sydney, appreciate you joining us today. Can you talk to us about a project that’s meant a lot to you?
It’s 2020. I’m working as a freelance graphic designer out of the tiny second bedroom in my apartment in Milwaukee, WI. Over the last several years, I’ve done some part-time freelance work and steadily grown my social media following but now I’m in it full time. In October, I received an email from Adobe asking if I’d like to participate in an Adobe Live stream, essentially to design a brand identity live on YouTube for 4 hours. I was wildly excited and terrified at the same time. But first, I had to find a client to design for on the stream.
Just in the nick of time, a new business reached out to me to design their brand identity, Pottery with a Purpose. Sam Hoff, the founder, had a vision to create a shippable DIY pottery kit brand that allows folks to get their hands dirty, shape their own creations, and unwind in the process. She agreed to have her brand design process broadcast for the Adobe Live session.
After the mood board discovery process, we narrowed down on a few fruitful directions in which to take the visual brand, and before I knew it, it was live stream day. Even though I was incredibly nervous, it went off without a hitch. Viewers tuned in and commented, I created engaging thoughtful work, the host interviewed me throughout the process, and all was well.
The finished brand, which can be seen on my website, supercreative.co, features a still life style layout in the icon, using a series of clay creations to express the versatility of the material in use. The reverse contrast type is clean and easy to read, while exuding a lighthearted, playful energy. From the imagery in the logo icon, a series of organic shapes were designed to convey the natural, handmade quality of the pottery pieces created from the kits. These shapes are used throughout the brand to convey this raw aesthetic. A set of custom textures and patterns accompany these shapes to further elevate and distinguish the identity. The colors are unique and unexpected, similar to the outcome of the finished products of the kits. All in all, a fun, thoughtful brand identity was designed.
Once the live stream and brand were finished, something unexpected happened. The video went “viral”, for lack of a better term. Receiving thousands of hits a day, the video grew in popularity, and so did my social media following. My Instagram account went from 7k to 25k in a matter of weeks. Compared to the mega influencers of the world, that’s nothing but it was very much something to me. With those followers came an onslaught of new client inquiries, exciting opportunities, and a packed schedule.
Essentially, the Pottery with a Purpose brand identity combined with the Adobe Live stream launched my career as an independent freelancer, letting other brands and designers know that I had arrived.
Sydney, love having you share your insights with us. Before we ask you more questions, maybe you can take a moment to introduce yourself to our readers who might have missed our earlier conversations?
Similar to most creatives, I always knew I wanted to be an artist of some sort. When I discovered graphic design in high school I fell in love and knew what I wanted to do with my life. I went to college and graduated with a BFA and graphic design emphasis in 2014. Then came the real world.
I was lucky enough to get a job as a graphic designer right after graduation at an advertising/experiential agency. While it was quite different than what I was expecting, I eventually settled in and found my place. We collaborated with large companies such as Intel, Amazon, and Chacos, working on niche specialty projects. While I learned a lot, after a year or so, I started to feel like I had plateaued and was all around unfulfilled. I needed a new design related creative outlet to keep myself interested and improve as a designer. I started by just illustrating the items on my desk, and keep in mind, in no way did I consider myself an illustrator. I had no idea what I was doing, but I did it anyway and posted it on Instagram for all the world to see. I kept at it, giving myself my own prompts and projects, experimenting with different styles and techniques, and sharing it all on social. I eventually began to improve and started gaining some freelance projects via Instagram.
These new skills led to a new fulltime job at a design studio. This was exactly what I was looking for. It demanded peak performance, all day everyday. It felt like a design bootcamp. While it was very tough at first, once again, I settled in and found my place. The studio’s main offerings were brand identities, illustration, web design, and day to day design needs for the clients. I found a new passion for design, improved immensely, and gained more confidence as a designer.
And then, the pandemic hit. The design studio had to let everyone go since most of their clients were in the hospitality industry. With no job and nothing to do, I decided to finally make a go of fulltime freelance. I had been doing side jobs for various clients over the past 3 years so I’d just have to up my game. Since the world was at a standstill, it was slow going at first, but I eventually built up enough clients to be fulltime within 6 months.
Since my early days in school, I was drawn to designing brand identities and logos. Creating something from scratch and bringing a vision to life seemed like the most interesting and fulfilling work I could get my hands on. From the beginning of my freelance career, I’ve had a steady stream of brand identity clients, most of them small businesses with a deep connection to their work. Gradually, I began to find my niche—designing identities for creative, engaging brands by bringing a collective vision to life. And working with all around nice, cool folks.
There can be a lot of competition in the design world, especially when it comes to logo design, but a few things, in my opinion, set me apart. First, my level of care, attention to detail, thoughtfulness, and organization. Ok that’s sort of 4 things, but all closely related. Every project I take on is triple checked, reread, and thoughtfully analyzed to prevent confusion or mistakes. In that same vein, I have a clearly defined process with frequent communication so my clients never feel left out of the loop. They know what phase we’re in, when the next task will be delivered, and what is expected of them. It saves time and keeps everyone happy. Lastly, I believe my overall creative mindset makes a difference. In my opinion, good design often happens when solid concepts meet the right style and are executed properly (concept + style + execution = good design). For every project I take on, I make sure the concept is sound, the style is appropriate and innovative, and the execution is nearly flawless.
Some great examples of that approach are the brand identities for Pottery with a Purpose, Rooted MKE, The Garden Company, and Toppagreat Coffee Roasters. All started with interesting concepts, paired with the right style, and brought to life through proper execution.
After 3 years of fulltime freelance, I’ve learned a lot along the way. While it’s never easy, I still love what I do—creating artful work for groovy brands. There’s no magic ingredient, just hard work. And now that I feel steady, I’m aiming my sights higher; bigger clients, building a team, exploring new offerings, and seeing where this career will take me.
Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?
My dream has always been to be a stellar graphic designer, what’s changed the most has been how I reach that dream.
When I was in school, the three paths I saw were working at an agency, working in-house, or as a freelancer. The agency route seemed like the most elite so that’s where I set my sites, plus being a freelancer sounded way too scary. I got a job at an advertising and experiential agency right after graduation and thought I had arrived. I made my way into an agency and that was that. But after a while, I started to realize this wasn’t the glamorous agency gig I’d imagined. Design was secondary and I was a cog in the machine. I wanted something more. I had to change my dream of working at an ad agency and shifted it to wanting to work at a design focused studio, something I hadn’t considered before.
I soon started a new job at a design studio that specialized in branding, illustration, and web design for small and midsized brands. This was the kick in the pants I needed. It demanded peak creativity every single day. Once I found my footing, I thought this was were I belonged. That is, until my dream started to shift again. Behind the scenes, I was gaining freelance work from clients that found me on Instagram. I started to see the benefits of freelancing—the freedom of creative direction, work hours, daily structure, company values, even what projects to take on. Even though I never thought I would be a freelancer, it gradually became my new dream.
In 2020, that new dream was realized. I was finally a fulltime freelancer with all the freedom I wanted. I secured a full roster of clients, even being booked out months in advance. I thought being as busy as possible with a line of clients out the door was a marker of freelance success. Once again, I thought I had arrived and all was well. Until, I started to burn out. I couldn’t keep up with the work, wasn’t performing at 100%, and just felt drained. I began to think I could use an extra set of hands to help with my workload. This was a huge surprise and realization to me. At my last design studio job, I saw how challenging it was to manage a team and run a studio. I thought there was no way I wanted to do that and put myself through that much stress. But low and behold, that’s where I’m now starting to see myself. Managing a team of creatives, creating killer design and illustration work, and running my own studio. For now, that’s my new dream. We’ll see where it leads, but after all these pivots, I’ve learned to welcome change and come what may.
We’d love to hear the story of how you built up your social media audience?
As a designer, I receive a majority of my clients through social media. Primarily through Instagram and YouTube, but Pinterest and TikTok are starting to pull their weight as well. But keep in my, in no way am I a social media expert, this is just what’s worked for me and my brand/business so far.
Years ago, I started by posting small personal projects on Instagram, a floral doodle here, an icon set there, just small ideas I had rolling around in my head. Admittedly, getting likes and followers felt great so I kept at it. I’d always keep a long running list of future design ideas: a pizza day graphic, lettering for random phrases and affirmations, summer time cocktail illustrations, etc. Whenever I had time to create, I’d reference that list, pick a prompt, draw it up, and post it. I did this for years and eventually gained freelance projects from those posts which led to more work to post and so on.
In 2020, I did a live streamed my work for Adobe Live which went far better than expected, receiving almost 20k new followers over 3-ish months. I always saw that spike as a fluke, something that couldn’t be replicated, but now I see it differently. The live stream and its evergreen video performed so well because I gave an authentic, unfiltered look into my brand identity process, something not many creatives do. This drew in new designers looking to learn the process, business owners unfamiliar with brand needs, and experienced designers looking for new inspiration. I’ve come to learn that freely and openly sharing some of your favorite industry secrets is an excellent way to pick up some new followers while tearing down outdated gatekeeping habits and supporting other creatives along the way.
These days, I try to apply a bit more strategy to my social posts. I’ve established 4 main types of content based on my work, expertise, and follower engagement. These categories are brand identity work, educational/how-tos (like the live stream video I mentioned), illustration, and random cool stuff. I try to post them in that order too so my feed shares equal amounts of content. I definitely leave room to break from that system, but having some kind of loose structure takes some of the guesswork out of the equation and allows me to keep posting and growing. 
Contact Info:
- Website: supercreative.co
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/supercreative.co/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sydney-michuda-5146435a/
- Other: Behance: https://www.behance.net/SydneykMichuda TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@supercreative.co
Image Credits
Headshot credits to Nicole Caliva Photo