We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Megan Day a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Megan, appreciate you joining us today. How did you learn to do what you do? Knowing what you know now, what could you have done to speed up your learning process? What skills do you think were most essential? What obstacles stood in the way of learning more?
As a Graphic Designer and business owner, I learned how to design through theory, research, and practice practice practice. My business partner and I graduated from the same design school, The University of Cincinnati College of Design, Architecture, Art, and Planning, commonly referred to as DAAP. Our experience at DAAP provided an excellent design foundation and gave us the tools to enter the industry with our pencils sharpened and our MacBooks fully charged. We each worked professionally for other companies and clients, large and small, developing our taste, vision, and confidence before we came together and started our boutique design agency, Sign & Sealed. Regarding the learning process, we would say staying curious and open-minded is essential when trying to accomplish anything. You will take the most significant strides and gains if you ask questions, seek out multiple ways to solve a problem, and ask yourself “What if” along the way. As far as obstacles that may have stood in our way of learning more, we think that feelings of hesitation and imposter syndrome held us back from going all in at times and taking on larger roles or projects. We see now that taking that fear and turning it into excitement opens us up for more opportunities and learning as we grow our skills and business.
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?
We’re Megan and Megan, the co-founders and principal designers at Sign & Sealed. We design spirited brands and timeless wedding stationery. Our designs, which are layered in meaningful details and crafted with the utmost care, hit the sweet spot between style and substance. We can create a new brand, refresh an existing one, and provide a scale of design services from branded goods to a fully functioning website to the wedding invitations of your dreams. Our mission is to create designs that reflect your story and are consistent at every touchpoint. We champion the genuine, the underdog, and the individualist. We support those who take risks and who dive headfirst into the unknown. Our approach is collaborative and meticulous. We’re committed to delivering work that helps you stand out and meets your business needs. We are a small but mighty team, a dynamic Megan duo, and our newest member Allyson.
Megan Day is a Co-Founder and Principal
I am a graphic designer whose work centers on clever little details while focusing on the big picture. As a graduate of DAAP at the University of Cincinnati, strategic design is in my bones. But I am happy to bend the rules for a well-placed rainbow. My background has been focused on branding, environmental graphic design, and advertising.
Megan Fakes is a Co-Founder and Principal
Megan is also a graphic designer and a bit of a tortured artist at heart. She’s focused on the strategy behind the design and strives to create engaging brand experiences. After graduating from DAAP, she worked as a sign painter, graphic designer, and photo stylist before co-founding Sign and Sealed.
Allyson Fakes is a Partner and Solutions Strategist
Allyson is our detailed problem solver. She works behind the scenes to help keep our projects moving forward, ensuring everyone stays organized and that no typo goes unnoticed. We like to think of her as a Jill of all trades.
Are there any resources you wish you knew about earlier in your creative journey?
Anything and everything on how to run, manage and operate a business. We have consumed countless podcasts, and books, taken business courses and use a myriad of digital tools. We are still consuming as much knowledge as possible as we build our business and try to make it as strong as possible. Our favorite tools and resources are Honeybooks, Quickbooks, Asana, Figma, Google Workspace, Milanote, Freelance, and Business, and Stuff: A Guide for Creatives, 6 Figure Creative Podcast. Of course, finding an attorney and an accountant should also be at the top of your list of must-have resources.
Is there something you think non-creatives will struggle to understand about your journey as a creative?
I think there is an assumption that graphic design is easy or just pretty pictures. Quite a bit of skill, education, and training goes into any design, big or small. Achieving a timeless, original, and brand-right solution for a client takes a process and years of practice to make informed design decisions. Any design project starts with research – getting to know the client or product and the landscape where the design will live. We look at competitors, and we gather insights and inspiration to discover where there is an opportunity or “white space” within the market for our original designs to live. From there, we establish design guardrails to push upon and help the entire team define the design solution. We always share mood boards and design options during our creative explorations and gather feedback to help strengthen the work as we refine the chosen direction. The final design delivery is where we want the client to stand behind the creative proudly and feel like they were a part of the journey to get to the finish line and see their unique story reflected in the designs.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.signandsealed.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/signandsealed/
- Other: https://www.pinterest.com/SignandSealed/_created/
Image Credits
@alexdavis.photography @picsmith.photography @rebeccacarmelphotography