We’re excited to introduce you to the always interesting and insightful Alex Dewar. We hope you’ll enjoy our conversation with Alex below.

Alex, appreciate you joining us today. We’d love to hear your thoughts about making remote work effective.

I worked for a long time to make my business independently sustainable and stable so that I could work remotely/abroad. I’ve been able to travel and work on and off for the past few years, and am loving every minute of it. There’s challenges with timezones for meetings, and with hitting productivity goals at times…(it’s harder to sit down and design a logo when you have a little day adventure or an afternoon Aperol Spritz calling your name ;) but I’ve built that into my business model. I find there’s about a 30% reduction in output, but I balance those hours out before & after trips with longer days and working during the weekends as needed. While travelling, I’ll typically work early in the morning & late at night, and give myself the daytime and weekend to explore and enjoy my surroundings. I’d also recommend moving locations less frequently than you typically would. I’ve found sticking to each location a minimum of 5 days has produced the best results. I’ve found myself inspired and motivated by seeing new places and meeting new people, so even my passive time is beneficial for my business. Art and design is everywhere, and seeing what different cities and cultures have to offer is a huge benefit for my creative process. I am very lucky & privileged to live this life, and to be able to control my workload and set myself up for success.

Alex, 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?

I have a background in Sales and Marketing Management. Within those roles I was often asked to design the campaigns I was coming up with. After some time, I realized that the part of the job I was enjoying most was the design aspects, and not the marketing. I attended BCIT’s design program to further my self-taught skills, and have been working full-time as a freelance designer under Alex Dewar Design since completion in 2018. I specialize in branding with a focus on colour and illustration. I work mainly with small businesses who are looking to bring some creativity into their brand and set themselves apart in their market. I’m at the point in my business where I have enough local notoriety and a strong enough portfolio that I don’t need to search out new clients anymore – they come to me. I’m very grateful for that. I’ve also worked with some larger companies such as The Westin, Canadian Tire, and the Federal Government of Canada. Supplementary to my business, I work with Brandcamp Digital Marketing Agency as their Senior Designer. Within that role I provide feedback, guidance, and strategy to our team of designers, along with spearheading larger branding projects from time to time. I’m most proud of building my business from the ground up, and maintaining consistent growth and stability throughout my journey.

What do you find most rewarding about being a creative?

I think the most rewarding part of this journey is thinking about my past self, and how proud I would be if I saw where I am now. Growing up, making a living as an artist wasn’t really an option. All discussions about career paths said that anything creative was destined to land you as a “starving artist.” Now, I’ll often be working and think “wow, if my child-self could see me now…” I really fought this path for a long time because I wasn’t confident I could be successful…First I was working through an undergrad in Biology at SFU to eventually (hopefully) become a neurosurgeon…then later moved on to Sales and Marketing Management. Every message ingrained in me was that being a successful artist wasn’t an option, but here I am! There’s been such a shift in the past decade in our culture towards respect for those working in creative fields, and so many new jobs and fields keep developing and popping up as technology progresses. I feel very lucky to live in a time and place where I’m able to be a part of it and make my 7 year old self proud.

Where do you think you get most of your clients from?

Facebook groups, my website, and word of mouth! As someone with a mostly small business oriented niche, connecting person to person is where most of my success has been. This also applies to hyper local online communities such as Facebook and Instagram. I’ve found many clients in local Women in Business Groups, Queer Business Groups, and groups similar to that. Connecting with people that I have similar values and experiences has been the key to working well together and building trust from the get-go. I’ve also worked with lots of friends and family! Everyone says this is a terrible idea, but I’ve found as long as you’re setting clear boundaries (sometimes even stricter boundaries and clearer contracts than you would with a stranger,) then I don’t see any reason not to collaborate with the people you care about and already have relationships with. They want to support you, you want to support them…as long as it’s clear that they respect you, your work, your boundaries, and your time..then happy trails!

Contact Info:

• Website: alexdewardesign.com
• Instagram: instagram.com/alex_dewar_design
• Facebook: facebook.com/alexdewardesign
• Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/alex-dewar-design

Image Credits
Shannon Elmitt