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

Byron , thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Earning a full time living from one’s creative career can be incredibly difficult. Have you been able to do so and if so, can you share some of the key parts of your journey and any important advice or lessons that might help creatives who haven’t been able to yet?

Currently I am a graphic designer at a large grocery chain named Food Lion, previously was Senior Lead Designer for Circle K and I also have my own freelance design company named Creative Design Lab. Getting here has been a testimony, in college I became a large party promoter and was kicked out of school, while throwing parties I taught myself how to create flyers/ads/Video editing/Photography to help promote my events. Seeing how much people loved my work I started a graphic design company and eventually went back to college at North Carolina Central University for a Graphic Design degree. Design is a hard field to enter being that it is a subjective field, theres no correct way to design only developing something the clients like while targeting the right demographics. It was easy to find clients since I already had a large name from events and social media. It was very difficult to enter the corporate space being a black graphic designer but I was offered my 1st role for a motocross race team and product development company named Risk Racing/STKR Concepts. There i was under paid and over worked but I knew that if I could land on my resume a design job that doors would begin to open, 5 years later i’m now making over 6 figures from designing. As a younger designer I wish i knew about recruiters and learning all the technical details of all adobe software.

As always, we appreciate you sharing your insights and we’ve got a few more questions for you, but before we get to all of that can you take a minute to introduce yourself and give our readers some of your back background and context?

Byron Woods CEO/Founder of Creative Design Lab, a graphic design and website development studio based in Charlotte, NC. I work with people and businesses that need strong and effective brands, website, apparel, packaging, newsletters, amazon A+ content, Social media marketing, publications and more. At Creative we care about the clients who come to us, and we strategically help them reach their goals threw research of current market trends, studying the competition, while creating a brand identity that stands out and is efficient “The study of at, is the science of design”. I stand apart because of my confidence of knowing i’m the best in my field, the work and outcome speaks for itself. I’m most proud of a few moments, 1. doing design work for multiple celebrity clients like Tyler Perry, Kanye west, Soulja boy, Tammy Rivera and more. 2. Designing packaging for major retailers like QVC, Home Depot, Walmart, Lowes, Food Lion, Belks and more. 3. i’m most proud of myself for believing in my skills and following the process. Some important things to know about me is that I will always aim to please the client even if it depends on multiple edits and drafts i’m willing to take negative feedback and learn, I’m an artist by nature I have art pieces in the NC State museum located in Raleigh NC, so I have a natural talent and eye for design and I study and stay ahead of market trends always advising my clients into understanding what designs work best in order to reach their target audience.

Learning and unlearning are both critical parts of growth – can you share a story of a time when you had to unlearn a lesson?

I had to unlearn that I thought I knew everything and was humbled quickly lol. So when i went back to college as a designer my professors noticed my work instantly and noticed I was the best in my class. Majority of the time they wouldn’t even check my work because they already knew it was going to be amazing. So by my senior year I have to do an internship which I did at Kompleks Creative which is A creative agency in Durham, NC, There I had to present my portfolio and was humbled instantly. They had me zoom in on my logo designs and noticed it was pixelated meaning that my logo design wasn’t created in vector or using adobe illustrator. They instantly had me shut down my presentation and that was the first time I ever had someone challenge my work. This gave my the dedication to study and learn every adobe software and become fluent with every short key command. Looking back if I had paid more attention in my college classes I would have learned the skills needed sooner and I possibly would of been hired directly after my internship with the agency.

Can you tell us about a time you’ve had to pivot?

I was an event planner/party promoter for years, hosting events with over 1k-3k people and sometimes even larger. Traveling and booking multiple celebrity artist to perform. It was a lot of fun and a fast paced lifestyle, but it was extremely risky business with high expenses and usually low profits. To plan an event with out an artist it would cost upward to 10-15k in expenses between rental fees, bar guarantees, security, Djs, Radio ads, Flyers and more. So I went back to college in order to get a graphic design degree, using the skills of marketing and studying trends from planning events it was an easy crossover into the marketing field. For a long time I felt lost and not knowing what my passion was and instead of just following the standard way of life I followed my own journey and found my passion.

Contact Info:

• Website: creativedesignslab.net
• Instagram: Bwoods704
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=1214911150
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/byronwoods/

Image Credits
fashion nova, getty, google, bing