We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Esperanza Garcia a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.

Esperanza, appreciate you joining us today. Is there a lesson you learned in school that’s stuck with you and has meaningfully impacted your journey?

The most important lesson I learned while I attended UHCL is to take criticism/constructive criticism/feedback with grace. As a designer, you sometimes get attached to your work and it’s your baby. When anybody comes back with feedback it may feel like a personal attack. It is important to understand that feedback can help you grow as a designer. A new set of eyes can help immensely and it will teach you to communicate why you did what you did and to stand up for your work as well.

Esperanza, 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?

My name is Esperanza Garcia and I am the owner of Tiny Giraffe Design. I started my freelance graphic design business to have another creative outlet in my life and as a side hustle. I was working at a local credit union, full time, and wanted to design projects outside of the corporate world. I focused mainly on invitations, logos, and an illustrative project that I would like to finish this year (fingers crossed!) I offer design services for individuals and businesses for both print and digital media to help them start or grow their business or focus on a more personal level, like invitations. I look forward to meeting new people that come my way and love hearing from past or current clients. I enjoy helping people achieve the idea they had in their head and making it a reality.

Do you think there is something that non-creatives might struggle to understand about your journey as a creative? Maybe you can shed some light?

I think everybody is creative in their own right, but some are able to create something with it. Having a creative career, especially as a graphic designer, can probably be seen as something that is very easy to do, but it’s not. A designer has to understand color theory, layouts, typography, etc., and be able to create a design from a couple of sentences provided by the client. Sometimes we even have to have that ability to read their minds to find out what they really want. It can be very exhausting at the end of the day and why it is important to have a passion for it.

What’s been the best source of new clients for you?

The best source of new clients for me has been word-of-mouth from past clients. If you know a designer, please mention them to whoever is looking for a freelancer. You never know if the opportunity will come to fruition, but it’s always helped me.

Contact Info:

• Website: www.tinygiraffedesign.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/tiny.giraffe.design
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/tinygiraffedesign/