We recently connected with Leif Lewis and have shared our conversation below.

Hi Leif, thanks for joining us today. Can you talk to us about how you learned to do what you do?

With learning design there are a few ways and directions to go. I started in school. I started in secondary education, some pre-med courses, computer science, everywhere but design. None of these classes made me feel like the career path they were setting up for me was the right one. In the end I started taking a graphic design course, as I was already doodling and messing around in Adobe Illustrator for little projects for friends. From there I took on any project or responded to any social media posts of people needing a graphic designer. I worked at my day job all day then drew and designed into the early morning. In my last semester of school I got into an agency and worked there for a little less than a year. Then Covid came around and I was laid off. I kept freelancing and gained more and more clients. I was then hired on with a clothing brand as an in-house designer and have been there ever since. While here, I continue to learn and grow through my work with them as well as with various freelance projects and endeavors. Learning through experience is how I learned to do what I do. Sure, I went to school and learned theories, and how things work in a classroom setting; however, it was through working with agencies, for clients, and in the industry that I really learned design. Simply put, experience is what taught me.

I learned to do what I do by accepting challenges, being ready to fail and take what I learned through failure to keep growing. Seeking to fail upwards rather than fail, rest in frustration and give up. Learning to do what I do is a never ending process. I feel like in all things we are constantly learning and growing. Rather we should be seeking these things. So I would argue I am still learning. I know what to do if a prospective client approaches me for a logo design and how to work with them sure. I know the processes associated with creating and executing a logo or t-shirt graphic, or whatever the project is but I feel like it is important to seek opportunities to learn and grow with every project.

Knowing what I know now, to speed up my learning process would be to say yes to projects even if it’s intimidating or maybe you aren’t sure how you will do it. You will. The process of figuring it out and growing from that project is irreplaceable. Now this isn’t to say accept a project when you haven’t even taken a design class or let alone opened Adobe Illustrator. Rather accepting and learning to believe you have the steps in place from whether it be from school or on the job experiences from the past to accomplish a project and create good design for a client/job.

Some skills I think are essential are soft skills, communication, self-motivation, responsibility, and others in the same boat. Especially in freelancing. You are the one working with the client, leading meetings, communicating the ideas behind designs, seeking clarification from clients, etc. Another skill is accepting criticism. Now this isn’t to be a push over and let people unjustly critique things and just rolling with it. I mean constructive criticism. People will always have an opinion and design is subjective for sure. But this is in speaking to accept the valid position/needs of who you’re working with, adjusting to their needs for the design and working with them and their critiques to create good design. There is such things as constructive criticism but sometimes it all just sounds like criticism and it is hard to pick out the building blocks from that.

For obstacles, understanding how to work with criticism, being afraid to accept a daunting project and imposter syndrome are obstacles I have learned to accept and am still learning how to overcome these challenges. Though I have and do rise above the challenges, I feel like these are things that will always be around and will have to learn to deal with.

Great, appreciate you sharing that with us. Before we ask you to share more of your insights, can you take a moment to introduce yourself and how you got to where you are today to our readers

Well, my name is Leif Lewis. I am a graphic designer based out of Phoenix, Arizona. I operate under Stilskin Design Co. I got into the industry by drawing in middle school and never really stopped and now I am here. I do everything from logo design to apparel graphics, web/social media, anything needed graphic design wise I can do it. Some problems I help clients solve are, seeking to understand their target demographic by designing and establishing cohesive branding and standards for their target clientele. Another problem is that, some places have a brand/logo they want to keep and use but need additional things like t-shirt graphics, social media ads, web ads etc and being ready to help them to create new material in-line with their established brand guidelines. As well as re-brand projects, one off apparel graphics. It is through these projects I feel like I set myself apart because I do want to help other businesses to succeed. I want to provide the best for who I work with, so I hold my work/self to a high standard to exceed goals and expectations.

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

Past clients. I feel like people are hyper focused on social media and they should be. But sometimes that butcher shop branding project gets you more work than your expensive social media ad. Not saying you shouldn’t use ads, but learning to leverage both. That butcher you just worked with is going to be using all the material you created, and when he is happy with it will want to show people and tell them who did it. Don’t forget when you leave an impression people will talk about it. Then second to that is social media, though ads and just posts and reshares. The hard part is seeing what works best for you and applying it.

Alright – so here’s a fun one. What do you think about NFTs?

I do not know a whole lot, they seem to work for a lot of people. I do like how they create communities and how some have added benefits like access to conmferences or access to secret merchandise drops but NFTs aren’t something I am focusing too much on right now.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://leiflewis.myportfolio.com/work
• Instagram: leifel_stilskin