Today we’d like to introduce you to Jennifer Playford

Jennifer, we appreciate you taking the time to share your story with us today. Where does your story begin?

Hello, I’m Jennifer and I’m an illustrator, art director and product designer. My mission is to create vibrant art and design that is uplifting and uses the power of colour to evoke joy. I believe there are no limitations to the use of colour in design and even selective little pops of colour can enliven our homes and lives.

I studied fashion at university and wanted to be a fashion designer but my brain couldn’t handle the technical aspects of sewing and pattern drafting so I switched to visual communication. I never thought of pursuing illustration as a career until my art director friend in Los Angeles saw my whimsical drawings in my hand written letters to her and encouraged me to build a portfolio. My first illustration job was for Girls’ Life Magazine, illustrating an article for teens on coloured braces! Girls’ Life ended up becoming one of my longest lasting clients and I worked for them for years. Soon after deciding that being an illustrator was a dream job, my art director friend started an illustration agency called Magnet Reps and I was one of her first artists that she represented.

Over the years I worked mainly in publishing with clients that included LA Times, Delta Airlines, Fast Company, The Royal Bank of Canada, Zoomer magazine, the Limited, the National Post, Food Illustrated, Klutz Publishing and Running Press. Some of my favourite jobs were for Mudpuppy/Galison out of New York where I designed children’s stationery and art products including a magnetic doll set, mermaid flip book, dollhouse, diary, colouring dress-up crowns, a felt crown and more. It is always a thrill to see your work on the shelf in shops and I particularly remember the excitement of noticing the magnetic doll set in Pottery Barn Kids while shopping in Vancouver.

Along with illustrating, I have worked as an art director and designer for various magazines and for ten years as a book designer for Orca Book Publishers, designing books for children from board books to picture books, teen novels and non-fiction. It has been a great combination to have worked on both sides…as an illustrator providing the art and as an art director working with illustrators. It gives me a deeper understanding of the process from both angles.

I have always had a passion for surface and textile design and two years ago I launched a product called Art Wraps – a versatile fabric art square printed with my illustrations and used as a tablecloth, cushion cover, reusable gift wrap, packaging, lunch wrap, travel wrap, as a fashion accessory and so much more. My custom designed wraps are used as a keepsake for special occasions and a tasteful, branded marketing tool. When used as gift wrap, Art Wraps provide a reusable alternative to disposable gift wrap where the wrap is part of the gift.

I am also the author of Wrapagami, the Art of Fabric Gift Wrap, published by St. Martin’s Griffin/Macmillan, NYC, a book which teaches the many creative ways to use fabric gift wrap.

Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?

I’ve loved the variety of my work but with that can come a lot of change. One of my first design jobs was ironically designing fashion (after switching out of the fashion design program because I couldn’t sew – obstacle number one) and it did require sewing but in miniature form! I was hired as a fashion doll clothing designer for a Hong Kong based business that had their own version of Barbie. My job entailed scouting fabric and design trends and designing hundreds of outfits and sewing the samples for the dolls. It was a very unique job that I loved but I didn’t stay long because I got offered a graphic design job for a safari company that wanted to send me to Zimbabwe for a month to travel the country and get to know the tourism industry. Photography has always been one of my greatest passions and I ended up taking a lot of the photos that were used in the travel brochures. In the end, I worked for the safari company for under two years but it was a very rewarding experience and I was happy I jumped on the opportunity.

Being creative with an entrepreneurial mindset and embracing change, it has always been a struggle for me to find the right balance between working for someone else and being my own boss…freedom and stability. I have often worked a combination of freelance mixed with steady contracts/jobs. I’ve opted for a variety of experiences versus growing steadily within an organization.

The process of designing a product and bringing it to market, comes with many obstacles and challenges to overcome as you figure out the details and design of the product itself, how to display and sell the product and the packaging design. It can be trial and error and sometimes not ideal but it is important to be able to pivot and respond to feedback and make changes along the way. For the Art Wraps, I decided to re-package and re-brand the wraps after the first year which was a big undertaking but I learned things about my product from my customers that I couldn’t have predicted at the beginning.

One of the greatest challenges is not knowing which designs are going to be popular and sell and which you will end up with lot’s of extra inventory. The key is to keep production as low as possible at the beginning while you test out your designs.

Thanks – so what else should our readers know about your work and what you’re currently focused on?

After 25 years of working as a creative, I still love illustrating the best, it still feels like my dream job. I have come full circle with the Art Wraps, creating a product that is a blank canvas that I illustrate whether it be for my own collections or a custom design for a client. When I think back to when I first started to illustrate, I used to draw by hand and scan my drawings into the computer and use a roundabout, time consuming way to create my digital files. And now I can draw directly on my iPad with Procreate anywhere in the world. The advances in technology have been exciting for my creative process. As are the advances in the printing process…digital printing on fabric has allowed me to create with unlimited colours and small minimum orders.

My style has remained consistent over the years…brightly coloured and graphic with a hand drawn quality. The comment I receive more than anything else is “I just love the colours.” So I would say that I am known for how I combine colour in my designs. I love saturated colour and it can take awhile to get the right colour combinations that work and don’t vibrate too much. I’ve observed that people can be afraid of colour even though they love it. Bright colour stands out and not everyone wants to stand out but I think there is a sense of pride when people let go of this fear and decide to wear that red dress or add that bright art to their walls. I live in a part of the world where most design is in natural hues…white, grey, neutrals (west coast, British Columbia) and so my art stands out here and evokes memories of travel and other places and I can see that my customers like that.

I have always enjoyed the research element to illustration projects and finding the best solution to enhance the story. With my custom Art Wraps, the same process applies where I research the client’s brand, and come up with ideas and solutions that form a piece of art that compliments their products or an event. I have always been able to work within my illustration style and the clients brand, melding the two so that it feels representative of both. For example, I recently did a custom design for a Nordic spa that wanted a black and white graphic Scandinavian theme with one or two colours. It was a challenge at first to work within a limited colour palette but in the end I think it is is one of my strongest designs. I pushed myself to focus more on the design and less on the colours and it still very much feels like my style while fitting into the client’s brand,

Do you have any advice for those just starting out?

I have always found that with illustration it is best to develop a distinct style and cohesive body of work that you enjoy creating and reflects your strengths. You want to stand out and be recognizable for your style so that Art Directors can clearly visualize you as a match for their vision. If there’s too much variety in your body of work, they will feel uncertain whether you will deliver the style they like best and may be reluctant to hire you. Draw what you love and not what you think other people will love. You don’t have to appeal to everyone. I have tried many times to do an Art Wrap design in neutral tones, something that might appeal to people that don’t like bright colour but it is never successful. Although I can adjust while collaborating with clients to fit within their brand, for my own collections, the designs are bright and lively because that is what I enjoy creating.

I think to be a successful illustrator you must learn how to balance coming up with original concepts and ideas with taking direction and making client’s changes, staying open to the collaboration process. I’ve always taken the attitude that I want my clients to be happy and that it’s ok if not every project you do ends up as one you showcase. I approach things with a curiosity mindset and I find that I always learn from collaborating, it is an opportunity to see things from another perspective and to push yourself in a way you may not have had you done it all on your own. There can be the tendency to want to have full control over your creations especially when you work alone at home but sharing and getting other people’s feedback is so important. And allowing enough time in the creative process to sit with things for awhile and go back to them with a refreshed set of eyes. Often deadlines are tight so this isn’t always possible and sometimes you just have to go with your gut instincts in the moment.

When bringing a product to market, think about things that will reduce your stress like keeping inventory small until you see which designs people like best and simplifying your packaging and shipping to keep waste and cost to a minimum. At the beginning, it’s better to produce a smaller amount of a design and pay more than to go for volume and cheaper cost but then be left with too much overstock. It can be very difficult to know which designs are going to sell better than others.

Also, think about your lifestyle when building a business…how do you want to spend your time? Where do you want to live? Do you want a product that is easy to ship? Do you not want to deal with inventory at all? Do you want to be location free? There are a lot of great ideas for creative businesses so pick one that allows you to spend your days doing what you love and living where you want to live. I am entering the empty nest stage and am consciously building my Art Wrap business to be location free so that I can create my designs while traveling and connect remotely with my clients. Limiting my physical inventory and making decisions that direct my business more in the custom design area is in alignment for the next chapter of my life’s vision.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://playfordstudio.com
• Instagram: @playfordstudio
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/people/Playford-Studio/100070676935624/?mibextid=LQQJ4d
• Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/@jenniferplayford263

Image Credits
Carla Unger Photography
For first 3 photos only

Rest of the photos taken by Jennifer Playford