Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Dani Donahoe. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Dani, looking forward to hearing all of your stories today. It’s always helpful to hear about times when someone’s had to take a risk – how did they think through the decision, why did they take the risk, and what ended up happening. We’d love to hear about a risk you’ve taken.
Yes, the role and the job I had was difficult, like any place really, the job (much of the time) had little to do with design or great ideas. It started to feel like it was more about managing the mismatched visions and opinions of leadership against unfounded timelines and sales goals. Even so, it would have been much easier for many reasons to just ‘suck it up’. I was fully aware of how stupid this could seem to those around me. But I didn’t really care. It felt unnatural for me to stay put. The gut feeling of needing to jump ship and hope the net would appear outweighed the feeling of guilt and shame. What I’ve learned is that there is real truth in trusting these feelings, and trusting the universe. Thankfully the road since then has been rewarding, and even when it’s challenging I still believe that risk-taking when done with intentionality, and a vision can only result in positive outcomes. They say ‘What you allow will continue’, without taking risks and doing things differently we can’t expect our circumstances to change. It’s important to be flexible and give yourself grace. Sometimes we need to be reminded that we won’t and shouldn’t get it right the first time every time. It’s not only freeing but it’s transformative.
Dani, 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?
Hedge is a branding studio founded by and primarily run by me, Dani, bringing in other talented designer and copywriter friends to collaborate on project to project basis. ‘Do what’s natural’ is the objective and driving force behind the approach to the creative we make.
We cultivate brands, visual identity systems, and strategic foundations, for makers, crafters, founders, and brand builders who have no choice but to share their vision with the world. Hedge Studio combines strategy and creativity to celebrate the spaces we seek to define. Our small patch of earth on the big wide world. The communities we envelop. The culture we cultivate. The visions that become our realities. The purposes we were meant to provide. Like a hedge, we build it stone by stone and grow it branch by branch. From a force to create something new, a force to make our mark, we will it into existence.
We believe that aesthetics find their power when they tell us something. When a Brand is crafted with purpose and authenticity we feel it, and your audience feels it. Your brand, your service, your product, it’s all an extension of you. A physical manifestation of values, reaching out into the void to find others who share those values. Intended for connection at its core.
Is there mission driving your creative journey?
Paula Scher recently said in an interview with Rick Rubins, “You can’t really brand something, that’s sort of silly in terminology because a brand is not what you make it, a brand is what you make it plus the way everybody else perceives it, plus everything that happens along the way.” In other words, it is a living breathing thing that is always changing and evolving. A brand is an abstract idea and its existence in the world at its core is in the hands of the audience that perceives it, the community it speaks to.
This way of thinking is necessary to understand the position Hedge aims to take in this saturated industry. I wanted to package a perspective into a service that brings authentic connections back to the center of branding. We live in a world where The Rock was a line of bottled water and where the term “personal brand” has become a cultural zeitgeist used by everyone from politicians to mommy influencers. It has cheapened things and has watered down the ancient concept of a brand into nothing more than a marketing tool. I believe a brand should be a manifestation of the purpose driven, vision driven unique people that create them.
What do you think helped you build your reputation within your market?
In the last 10 years, I have worked at all sorts of places and learned all sorts of things about the vast corners of the industry. I’ve branded restaurants and designed luxury wedding ephemera. I’ve worked 70-hour weeks at large agencies designing campaigns and identity systems for NFL teams, national grocery store chains, and universities. I’ve led the digital design team for a global fashion company. The list goes on. These experiences taught me how powerful and transformative great creative and design can be, not just for bottom lines but for communities and people’s lives. They also taught me that there are a lot of people out there who don’t really care. Those who just want to make trendy work or please the client or meet quarterly sales goals or up their followers. I wanted to find and help those that opposed the ladder. Those who have something unique, a passion, a purpose to offer to the world.
I am beyond grateful for the people and places that have been beside me in all of these endeavors. There is nothing more powerful or helpful than having a network of former mentors and colleagues, now close friendships that you can reach out to. That being said, I think there is something they would all agree on, that I am relentless. I’ve always questioned ways of doing things. Always believing that the work can be better, that pay can be fairer, that titles are made up, etc. I’ve never been one to follow rules ‘just because’ that’s the way things have always been done. Being this way hasn’t made things easier for myself or the c-suites I reported to, nonetheless, for better or worse this is in large part the reputation I’ve acquired. This relentless pursuit of “better” I believe is also the cause of my success. I am proud knowing that I’ve pushed the envelope, broken down internal barriers, and asked the hard questions. To me, this is the only way that great and authentic work can be made.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://hedgestudio.co/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/danidonahoe/
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/dani-birnbohm-b589a391/
- Other: PERSONAL SITE: https://danibirnbohm.com/ HEDGE INSTAGRAM: https://www.instagram.com/h_e_d_g_e_/
Image Credits
Jason Donahoe (Dani portraits)