We were lucky to catch up with Haily Bartlett recently and have shared our conversation below.

Haily, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Learning the craft is often a unique journey from every creative – we’d love to hear about your journey and if knowing what you know now, you would have done anything differently to speed up the learning process.

TL;DR The trifecta of a quality design education is mentorship, opportunity, and time.

Everything I know now stems from a life-long love of art and observing the world around me. I was always a creative and curious kid. Having parents, teachers, and friends that supported my passions allowed me to explore different avenues of art and design which ultimately led to a love and appreciation for graphic design (a career field I didn’t even know existed until I graduated high school). From there I enrolled at Pittsburg State University (OAGAAG) in their Graphics & Imaging Technologies program where I learned all my base knowledge of design and the Adobe programs. What I didn’t learn from traditional classes, I researched online and taught myself (thank you Google and Youtube University). It was at PSU that I met some of the most influential professors and peers who pushed me to take my designs to the next level and enter my work in design competitions. During my time at PSU I also worked as the design chief for the school’s paper and took on two design-related internships (one at a sign company and one at an agency). After graduation, I was offered a full-time position at blu20 (the small agency where I interned) and spent the next year learning how to source images, edit videos/photos, design logos, build decks, design websites, create animations, present to clients, and implement the creative process. When I left that agency and moved to St. Louis I thought I knew all I needed to know to jump right into a larger agency… I was so wrong. After moving to STL I had a hard time finding a job with the amount of experience I had at the time. I was eventually hired in-house at Washington University as a website designer. This role ended up expanding to include video editing, animations, social media, and icon design. In the background during this time I worked as a freelance designer on my own and through Creative Circle. My contact at Creative Circle eventually reached out with an opportunity as an associate art director at Brighton (a mid-sized agency in STL). Mentorship really played a huge role in my time at Brighton. I was able to apply a lot of what I learned previously and grow my skill set to be more competitive in my field. I spent five years at Brighton expanding my knowledge and by the time I felt I had nothing left to learn I was the lead creative running our Pampers client work. After reviewing my skillset and trying to identify parts of my portfolio that needed improvement I went looking for a role with a more digital influence. I currently work in-house at Mocha Global as a senior art director where I am able to leverage every tool I have in my toolbox with a digital twist.

Knowing all of that and looking back at the last seven years I feel like there are a few things I could have done to speed up the learning process. The first being seeking mentorship sooner and asking them the right questions to better prepare me for what was ahead. Learning from trusted resources with more experience will always be valuable even if you don’t realize how valuable it is until later on in your career. The second thing that could have sped things up was doing research to better understand what was currently being valued for the position I was interested in. I’m grateful for the education and training I have received so far, but I feel like I would have gotten where I am today a little sooner had I done the work to understand how valuable wearing multiple hats is when looking at where I want to take my career. The final thing that I think would have sped up my career path is learning how to be an expert in the industry I am designing for. Not only would this have taught me to be more of a leader and a go-to voice for the work, but it would have also helped accelerate my ability to present to clients. The only thing that stood in the way of not learning all this sooner was the experience and knowledge to know I needed to learn all this in the first place. Yet another reason why I think mentorship is so critical.

I have found that my most essential skills are time management, thinking strategically, leadership, and the ability to present to clients. If you’re working in a creative field you already research trends and want to improve as a designer, but it’s the skills that aren’t so visual that are often most important. These skills will help elevate your career far past a design position.

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?

Hello, my name is Haily Bartlett and I am an award-winning art director, storyteller, and educator (as well as a mom, wife, and friend). I wear many hats day-to-day working in print and digital media but logo and badge design are where my designer heart is. I have done work with Pampers, Rolex, and Iams just to name a few clients I have served over the years, providing services including directing photo and video shoots, packaging design, animations, social media, ad layouts, and print production.

Outside of design, I am known for my burnout workshop (Don’t Smother the Flame) that I’ve given at multiple universities and events (I have also given a talk about the grief journey during a women’s conference that I’m pretty proud of). Being able to give back to an industry that has taught me so much is very important to me. That’s why I love the work that I’ve done for and within these workshops. Designing something for yourself and being able to show it off is always fun but when I give this workshop I receive emails and messages from those who attended saying how much it helped them realize and prioritize their creative aspirations. That makes it more than worth it!

My own brand of positivity sets me apart from others. Being able to self-reflect and empathize while on your own self-awareness journey is very important.

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

Working at an agency definitely has its positives, but for a people-pleasing designer a couple of years out of school, it also has its negatives. Early on in my career, I had to learn the hard way that no one cares about you as much as you do. This can be boiled down to the idea that you aren’t taking up as much space in people’s thoughts as you think you are. So as a young designer new to agency life I was constantly under the impression that I wasn’t meeting expectations. You could say that I had a bad case of imposter syndrome. I also had a manager that would kick off projects with all the pertinent information EXCEPT the info that he already had an idea of what the project should look like. This lead to me designing things 3, sometimes 4 times until he would let me in on the idea he had at the beginning of the project. Even though I knew I was doing everything I could, I still had the voice in my head saying that my manager thought I was incompetent and was regretting bringing me on board. It got to the point where I was afraid to go into his office to show him a project when it was ready for him to review… It was then that my husband told me about a Renaissance painting called Landscape with the Fall of Icarus. This painting depicts a beautiful landscape with a far-off city surrounded by an ocean. In the foreground, you can see farmers going about their day and a man fishing. Among all of this beauty, in the lower right corner, is Icarus drowning in the ocean after flying too close to the sun. The idea behind the work is that life goes on. A farmer doesn’t stop farming for a man drowning, or in more relatable terms, no one cares about you as much as you do… I know that sounds harsh, but it was a valuable lesson to learn at that time in my life, so valuable that we have a print of that painting hanging in our living room. It taught me that I need to do my best for myself and not for my manager. Learning that took the pressure off of each project and lead me to produce better work. I wasn’t scared anymore which allowed me to confidently execute my designs.

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

I have always been passionate about teaching others. Maybe it’s because I’m an older sister, or maybe it’s because I always thought I would end up being an art teacher, but learning lessons about what to do or not to do and then passing down that knowledge is fulfilling. Being able to educate others through my workshops about things I’ve learned from my experiences over the last seven years means so much to me, and has helped me carve out a path through my creative journey. Eventually, I see myself teaching design at the college level or taking on younger designers as a mentor. Until then I will be focusing on improving my skillset and gaining experience so that one day I can pass that knowledge on to the next generation of designers, whenever that may be.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.hayhaily.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/hayhihaily/
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/hailybartlett/
• Other: Dribbble: https://dribbble.com/hayhaily Email: [email protected]

Image Credits
Caitlin Termini (@caitlintphoto) Rachel Garozzo (@rachelgarozzodesign) Dan Doelling (@dandoelling)