Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Kristina Bleiler. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.
Kristina, thanks for joining us, excited to have you contributing your stories and insights. Do you have a hero? What have you learned from them?
Ilse Crawford is a British interior & furniture designer with a remarkable way of thinking about the heart behind design. Even though she practices a different craft than I do, I consider her my design hero. Watching her documentary, reading her book, and studying her work continually informs my creative approach and reminds me why I believe in what I do.
Her philosophy is that successful design keeps the well-being of people at the center. She deeply considers human values and the context of a space in order to improve the quality of life of those who engage with it. This human-centric approach is one that gives meaning behind every design decision — rather than just doing things for trend or for show. For example, she often uses raw, unfinished materials in her work, knowing that the textures will wear with use over time. She sees this as a mark of humanity, comfort, and tangible connection. On the other hand, “plasticizing our world” lacks the capacity to ground ourselves to being fully present in space and time.
Similarly, I highly value the process of design led by curiosity, shared values, and emotional intelligence. I help businesses harness the power of brand identity design so they can better connect with the people they serve. When a brand can effectively communicate what it stands for visually and verbally, it grows a community built on trust. In Ilse Crawford’s words, “We explore how [design] can bring us together and better connect us, how it can make us more open and aware, how it can encourage us to keep learning and growing, how it can make us more active and encourage generosity and trust.”
Kristina, 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?
“Hey! I’m Kristina — Designer & Creative Director of my branding business, Gem Creative Co. I join forces with forward-thinking entrepreneurs to transform their makeshift brands into elevated identities. We harness the power of goal-aligned branding through strategic logo creation, graphic design, web design, and messaging.
I recognize that my clients are also inherently creative, just in different ways. They’re visionaries too, and it’s my job to help extract that vision into a brand that speaks for them. Before diving into creation, I lead with curiosity— knowing that the best creative outcomes come from a place of thorough observation and deep understanding. I enjoy getting to know my client’s backstories and helping them discover their unique position in their industry. This enables us to build highly original and aligned branding that goes beyond deliverables.
I’m also fascinated by the dynamic spectrum of personality and how it plays into branding. Our ability to connect on a personal level increases our sense of trust and loyalty, and brands are no different. Defining a brand’s distinct persona is one of the most effective (yet underutilized) ways to build a loyal community. Knowing this, my branding process focuses on emphasizing the unique aspects of a business by thinking outside the box of the latest design trends and industry stereotypes.
For context— I’ve been a constant refiner of my craft since the moment I was introduced to a computer. As a kid, I played around with Powerpoint and create graphic presentations about my family just for fun. I learned Adobe programs in high school and then went to college and earned my BFA in Visual Communication Design. There, my developing design skills were shaped by industry-experienced professors among peers. I appreciated having my work critiqued in order to constantly improve. After college, I spent 5 years creating experiential brands for an in-house creative team. Eventually, the freelancing I was doing on the side became more of a priority and I took the leap into entrepreneurship.
Since then, I’ve thoroughly enjoyed serving brands in various industries— including wellness, beauty, photography & film, marketing & media, home improvement, real estate, and etc. My sweet spot is partnering with established businesses that are evolving into new seasons of growth. Most started out the DIY way, but later realize that their makeshift branding simply isn’t representing the value they offer. Together, we build a new & improved brand identity that elevates their image and builds trust in their business moving forward.”
We’d love to hear the story of how you turned a side-hustle into a something much bigger.
Gem Creative Co. started as a creative outlet with no idea where it’d land. To be honest, I originally disqualified myself from working for myself. I was of the mindset that I was more of a follower, and wasn’t cut out for the entrepreneurial life. It wasn’t until I was 4-ish years into working on an in-house creative team that I started to see past this mental block.
The non-profit I worked for was actually a large nondenominational church that operated like a community center. I worked alongside all kinds of creative leaders (not just other designers) to build momentum and meaning around large experiential events. I learned how to apply big-picture thinking to the nitty gritty details, and practiced a variety of problem-solving skills beyond the design proficiencies I developed in college.
This environment not only challenged me to stretch my creative capacity— it exposed me to a much wider network of connections in the Rochester area. My first official freelance brand clients were all attendees of the church who approached me for help. This included an apparel company, a seamstress, a leadership institute, and a home renovation company. At the same time, I was getting contacted by local creative agencies for white-label work. My Fridays off became “freelance Fridays” where I’d camp out for the day at local coffee shops.
Despite this natural progression, I remained resistant to leaving the safety of my day job. The realm of self-employment still felt all too uncertain and out of reach. Especially as the tumultuous year of 2020 rolled around, I was fully invested in helping the organization navigate unforeseen circumstances. I continued to treat Gem Creative Co. (the Instagram account) as a creative outlet.
Eventually, I landed on an Instagram ad for an online summit for design business owners. I signed up without many expectations, but curious about what I might learn from people doing what I didn’t think I was capable of doing. To my surprise, it completely demystified my perspective about what was possible for me and my career. The summit featured around 25+ guest speakers who’d been running successful design businesses for years. It motivated me to make my first big business investment in a design business mentorship course, and later, a marketing mentorship program.
At this point, I could no longer deny that priorities shifted within me. My excitement about serving small businesses began to outweigh the fears I had about working for myself. I felt motivated by my online support system and knew that if failed, I still have valuable skills that I can apply at a new job. So I put in my 4 months (yes, I wanted a 4-month buffer) before officially taking Gem Creative Co. full time.
During those 4 months, I focused on preparing my business for a smooth transition. First, I took on some freelance projects and used the money to register my LLC. I also saved up some “paychecks” in case I had no income for the first few weeks. Then I got a business bank account, accounting software, and a client management system. Not every business owner starts out this way, but for me, having solid systems in place helped me stay organized and made me feel safer to take the next big step.
Finally, I launched my business full-time in May 2022— Gem Creative Co, the brand designer. Instagram was and remains to be my primary hub for driving awareness and traffic to my business. However, I also credit my local community and online mentorship sources for widening my network. I began booking projects slowly but surely, refining my service offerings and process with every lesson learned. The more I worked with other business owners, the more I honed in on the problems they were facing and the outcomes they wanted.
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?
Creative outcomes are tricky to quantify, formalize, and predict. Though I’ve benefited immensely from business mentorship and implementing systems, there are many aspects of the creative process that don’t quite fit a repeatable mold for simple scalability. Since I aim to create brands that have truly never been done before, there is never a specific step-by-step path for arriving there. Every project requires me to explore uncharted territory to arrive at that one-of-a-kind solution.
For example, it might take 3 hours to come up with the right creative solution for one project, while it could take over 8 hours for another. Sometimes the best ideas pour forth without hesitation. Other times, the problems end up being more complex than we realize at face value. Coming up with creative solutions to specific contexts requires a heavy amount of brain calories — and it can never be replicated.
This is also why creative people struggle to charge sustainable pricing. The only way to protect our creative energy is to charge a rate that accounts for both the external outcomes people see and the internal processing people don’t see. We find ourselves feeling the need to educate people on the value of our services, especially the intangible sides.
So it is tiresome work, but essential, important, and rewarding work. Our work shapes perspectives, clarifies messages, impacts our emotions, builds connections, influences culture, and adds meaning to life. I am honored to be able to support people with creative thinking, and can’t imagine making a living any other way.
Contact Info:
- Website: https://gemcreative.co/
- Instagram: @gemcreativeco
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/kristinableiler/
Image Credits
The 3 images that have “Impassioned Art” in the file name are by Rachel Coutant, https://www.impassionedart.com/. So this includes the first 3 photos uploaded. All the rest is my work