We were lucky to catch up with Cristyn Hypnar recently and have shared our conversation below.

Cristyn, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today Some of the most interesting parts of our journey emerge from areas where we believe something that most people in our industry do not – do you have something like that?

I believe in educating clients about design, including the rationale behind my decisions and especially the importance of maintaining consistent brand visuals. I also believe in empowering clients to “own” their brand identity and truly become their own brand ambassadors. While that is hopefully not a controversial stance, I have known designers who don’t think it is a designer’s job to explain our process to clients. It definitely takes more time and effort on my part, but I believe that lifting the veil and explaining the behind-the-scenes of design helps the client understand the finished product better, which in turn helps them trust in me and my expertise.

In line with this, a service that I offer clients is the creation of templates and toolkits to empower them to create their own branded materials in the future. Giving up complete control over a finished product was a difficult place for me to arrive at! And, I was conflicted about it because it in effect obviates the need for that client to come back to the designer for additional work.

But, at the same time, I understand that my clients (especially when I am working with small businesses or nonprofits operating with very small budgets) will often want—or need—to take design matters into their own hands at some point. I have seen clients or coworkers take graphics that I have created, hack them apart, and paste them back together to create something else entirely. This is always frustrating to see because it ruins the integrity and intention of a design that was created with a very specific goal and purpose in mind, and it can dilute the power of the visual brand as a whole.

I know at times this DIY design was done to save me the time/work of having to spin off new graphics, and at times it was because clients didn’t have the budget to pay me to create additional assets. So instead of being angry that my designs were being “ruined,” I decided to try to educate clients about why having a consistent visual language is important and how maintaining brand standards strengthens their business. This has led me to offer clients templates (made on easily accessible software like Canva) that can be used to make their own designs in the future. While this might mean a client doesn’t come back to me to design every single social media post, it does ensure that they have the tools they need to create on-brand graphics which will strengthen their visual identity.

With any templates I provide, I make sure to include extensive how-to guides to explain how to use it with brand integrity. And, I do charge a premium for these services, as they are a far more valuable product than simply providing finished products.

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?

I am a graphic designer, brand strategist, visual artist, and problem solver. It is important for me to include all of these titles because they each play an essential role in how I show up for my clients. I have done a lot of work creating brand identities and logos for clients. And, I am a bit of a generalist, designing everything from front-end UI/UX websites to social media campaigns, marketing and promo materials, brand packaging and everything in between.

I come from an art history and fine arts background, stumbling into design a bit unintentionally. I believe that my non-traditional path to graphic design has strengthened my craft. All of the papers I wrote in art history taught me the importance of clear communication; now I use that skill to explain the rationale behind design decisions that I make. My fine arts background laid the foundation for my understanding of design principles, and gave me language to articulate the aspects of design that show up more intuitively in my brain. My love of fine arts has also allowed me to go beyond typical digital creation tools and to incorporate other elements into my work, like hand drawn illustration, typography, and my own photography.

One thing that sets me apart from other designers is that I ask questions and listen to my clients’ answers in order to solve their problems. In my experience, clients often have an idea of what they think the answer to their problem might be, but it may not be the only path forward. I am wired to think big—always zooming out to figure out how a project fits into a larger brand ecosystem and how it aligns with a client’s wider goals. This helps me arrive at the best long-term strategic solution, and not just what they might think they need. Together, we can come up with a solution for something that accomplishes their goal, prioritizes visual communication, and sets them up for that long-term success.

As a designer, I feel that I have a degree of power in creating visual communications that the public will see. I see it as my responsibility to use my “powers” for good, and to ensure that the organizations and companies that I work with share my values. Some of my values include: advocating for social justice causes, leading with compassion, thinking critically, connecting and empowering people and communities, and communicating with transparency and authenticity. I communicate frankly with clients about my values, which has taken them off-guard at times. I don’t think people are used to seeing each other as “whole humans” within the structure of working relationships. But we are all full, complex beings! And it feels important to me to bring my full self to my working relationships, including being clear about my beliefs and my ethics.

What do you think is the goal or mission that drives your creative journey?

I have dedicated my creative journey to bringing high quality design assets to nonprofits and businesses whose missions I support. I have seen that the orgs with the fewest resources often have the most important messages. Unfortunately, many grassroots and social justice causes cannot afford to hire a professional designer, and their visual communications suffer as a result. This can impact everything from whether someone chooses to donate to the org or buy an ethical product, to whether someone pauses to read a social media post.

I believe that small and passionate mission-driven orgs and companies deserve to be heard in the same way that large businesses are. Actually, if I’m being quite honest, these orgs deserve to be heard even louder! I try to help them stand out against all of the other companies competing for our attention (the average person sees between 6K and 10K ads every day!) By choosing to bring my design skills to cause-based clients, I try to cut help them through the noise and have their message be heard.

Any advice for growing your clientele? What’s been most effective for you?

Honestly, I have gained the majority of my clients through personal relationships with coworkers, friends, and my community. I am still surprised to receive emails from clients seeking to work with me who heard about me through a former coworker I haven’t spoken to in *years.* I think this speaks to how I approach all of my relationships—with honesty, authenticity, empathy, and compassion. This has clearly helped me make a lasting impression on the people I work with.

I am also active in my community. I am involved in a variety of organizations and support local causes/activism within my geographic and digital community. By connecting with people across interests and sectors of life, I have managed to attract clients across diverse industries who share my interests and values.

This is by no means the quickest way to gain clients, but it has proven effective in collaborating with clients whose mission I support, which certainly makes working on a project more rewarding for me!

Contact Info:

• Website: https://chcreative-design.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/cristyn.hypnar.creative/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/cristynhypnar