We recently connected with Crisy Meschieri Dyment and have shared our conversation below.

Crisy, appreciate you joining us today. Are you happy as a creative professional? Do you sometimes wonder what it would be like to work for someone else?

I feel like I have to pinch myself every morning for being able to make a career out of my passion. I have loved the world of art and design since I was very little (looking back I should have known I would be a designer when I would spend hours trying to write the perfect version of each letter of the alphabet). I find the process of melding logical problem solving with visual aesthetics to be an exciting challenge. No two briefs are the same, and there are so many possible outcomes that it always keeps the “hunt” for the perfect solution exciting. I try to find the excitement in every project, no matter how big or small it is, because at the end of the day, every type of project has the potential to have an unexpected twist.

I do sometimes stop and wonder what it would be like to have a “regular” job, but then I realize there are no “regular” jobs. Recently I was speaking to a friend about a strange tax law I had heard about, and while the details of the law had my head spinning, she instantly smiled and dove into the intricacies of what the implications of the law were, and why it existed. I would never even dream of becoming an accountant, or being that impassioned about tax laws; but then I realized that she likely felt the same when she had to sit through me going on and on about the kerning on the menu, and why this font choice was the best for small text.

The world is a fascinating place with details tucked away for us to discover wherever we look. Thankfully there are folks out there who are just as passionate about the formation of atoms as I am about the formation of branding elements, because otherwise this world would be a monotonous drone of all of us looking in the same places for the same answers.

Crisy, before we move on to more of these sorts of questions, can you take some time to bring our readers up to speed on you and what you do?

You are actually catching me in a huge moment of transition in my career! Starting March 1st I will be full-time graphic designer for The LEGO Group over in Denmark (I’m typing this out with my feet perched on my very overpacked suitcase.) For the past 9 years however, I have been a full time freelance graphic designer working out of Huntsville, Alabama (aka Rocket City).

The majority of my work has included branding, advertising, and illustration. I’ve enjoyed helping businesses harness their visual identities by getting to the heart of what makes them unique, and finding the most memorable solution to their design problem.

I’ve been fortunate enough to have worked with a wide range of clients; from mom and pop shops, to savvy start ups, and Fortune 500 brands.

I’ve helped companies design their company’s mascot; craft a company’s brand from the name up; and design packaging that will connect with both their existing and potential customers.

Whenever I work on a project I try to make sure to keep in mind what makes this particular company/product unique from everything else, and find a way to help that uniqueness shine.

Before becoming a freelancer; I grew up outside of DC and graduated from George Mason University with a BFA in Graphic Design. After graduation, I worked in-house at Discovery Communications in Silver Spring, Maryland before moving to Huntsville in 2014.

Oh, and anyone who’s chatted with me long enough knows that I’m fully obsessed with Nutella.

Is there a particular goal or mission driving your creative journey?

Oh man, I don’t know how to answer this question without sounding like a complete dingus, but honestly my main goal in life is to help put a smile on every person I have the chance of interacting with. If I can help someone have even two seconds of happiness in their day by smiling at them and seeing them smile back, it makes me feel like I’ve been able to make some sort of impact on the world. That’s the main driving force I feel when I’m trying to solve a creative problem: how can I find a creative solution that will not only make the client smile, but ultimately the end user as well.

Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?

I wish I had known that almost every single creative out there suffers, or has suffered, from impostors syndrome. Actually being honest and open with fellow creatives has been so rewarding and so freeing, I wish I’d been able to do that earlier on in my career. Most people are just as curious to know how to grow their social media followings, and how to best lay out their portfolios, or even how best to approach brainstorming. As soon as I allowed myself to be vulnerable and ask someone “hey, I don’t know how to do this, can you give me some pointers?” it opened up a world of learning for me.

And now, after spending some time putting together resources for students who reach out for help, I see  just how much time and effort my art and creative directors put into helping me learn. I hope to repay their efforts by passing it along to the next generation of creatives.

Contact Info:

• Website: http://zacrizy.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/zacrizy/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/crisymeschieri/
• Other: https://dribbble.com/zacrizy