Alright – so today we’ve got the honor of introducing you to Megan Tingey. We think you’ll enjoy our conversation, we’ve shared it below.

Megan , appreciate you joining us today. 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.

There have been so many times that I have felt like an imposter as a designer and an artist, because I did not go to school for my BFA. My education was online, a certificate and then self-taught (with the good mentorship of other artists and creatives online). Truly, I have learned so much as I have just jumped in. If I could do anything over, I would have just started sooner. Start scared, start before you think you’re ready!
If my art and this business has taught me anything, it’s to take that first step into the dark. You may not have the resources to do everything you want to do, you may not (actually, you probably don’t) know everything you need to know, but I’m finding that opportunities come to the people in the ring. Be willing to put yourself out there- don’t be afraid to create art and conduct business that shares the light of the things you love the most. Marketing yourself is uncomfortable, but the only way it gets better is through practice! I would say especially because my business is so intertwined by my faith as a member of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, promoting my business has made me more bold in declaring what I believe. While there may be people who are not interested in what you have to offer, offer what you have and you’ll find the people who are looking for you. Over time, my custom work opportunities have grown as well as I have had the chance to design for weddings, signs for outgoing and returning missionaries, graduation announcements, you name it. By putting myself out there enough times, I’ve become more comfortable in my own skin and been given opportunities to be a part of these really beautiful moments in people’s lives.

Megan , 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?

I took an unlikely path to get where I am. My undergrad studies were in Political Science and Nonprofit Management. I graduated and took a job at a local nonprofit working to empower those fighting poverty in their lives in our area. In the time that I worked there, a lot of my work was interacting with the public. As I worked to recruit volunteers and spread our message, I ended up working with our Communications team and my supervisor whose background was in Communications. Of all things, I started realizing how much I enjoyed putting together our materials to give out and how I wanted to know more about the design process.

I wanted to learn more, so I found an online professional certificate program in Graphic Design. During the program, we picked up and moved to Los Angeles for my husband’s work and also welcomed our first child. I was experiencing so many changes professionally, personally & socially at the time that were really hard for me mentally. I found myself needing an intellectual and creative outlet. I wanted to start a business, but worried about not knowing enough, taking too much time away from my child and failing.
I started small after the program and began refining my skills through volunteer design work for the youth group in our congregation for The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints and by taking on small projects for friends. In spite of “not knowing enough”, I finally jumped in. Although a lot of my custom work at the first was small projects for friends and family, I was really blessed to land a series of freelance projects for an online business. This carried me until we moved back to Ogden about a year later.
The fall we moved to Utah, I bought my first iPad to expand my design work beyond my laptop and Adobe- and frankly, I was not good. I was struggling to figure out a real direction for my business. I knew I wanted to be involved in the celebrations and happy moments of people’s lives, but it wasn’t clear to me which way I should go. That purpose started to come together when I volunteered my design services in our new congregation. I soon found myself drawing the Ogden Temple of The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints for a handout we were sharing with the women’s organization. I was then asked to draw the Salt Lake Temple for my grandmother-in-law’s funeral program and momentum began to pick up. I began getting requests for more temples. Around that same time, my uncle introduced me to the process of turning my art into books and the rest was history from there.
I settled on journals, and began the work of publishing them. It was surreal to hold the first temple journals in my hands, and before I knew it, I found a sticker manufacturer for my work as well as a printer to produce high-quality art prints. I’m so excited to start releasing puzzles and customized missionary banners soon as well.
Makers markets, websites and marketing have all been a part of my next learning curve as I have progressed and grown to 24 temples (and counting) and miraculously, even though my vision of being a part of the happiest points in people’s lives has had different applications than I thought, it has come true- my products have become gifts for baptisms, weddings, missionaries, Mother’s Day, etc. I really am proud that my products have become a reflection and testimony of what I care about most- my membership in The Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-Day Saints, and the connection I have with Jesus Christ, through these temples.

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

Before beginning my business, I had so many assumptions about everything I needed to know before could I could start, or how I might be taking away from my family by devoting time to this, or why I couldn’t charge very much for my art or services because of any number of reasons. Here’s what I’ve learned though- first of all, if you base your decision to get started on a list of things you “should” know before you get going, you’ll never start, because the list is always growing and you’ll never get to the end of it. If you jump in when you don’t know, the process will teach you, and you’ll be able to figure out the right questions to ask. I am so glad I started even when I was scared to start, and even when I didn’t (and still don’t) know everything.

Second of all, this business has blessed my family in so many ways. By expanding my talents, I’ve been able to give back to my children’s schools, my community and I’ve definitely been able to be a part of so many people’s happiest days- weddings, when my sister was proposed to, and on and on. But more importantly, my children have seen what my faith means to me. They recognize and count temples as we drive, and we can have discussions about why those edifices are so sacred and connect our family to Jesus Christ. In addition, my Heavenly Father has been able to show me how much He cares about my dreams and cares about my success- even when I haven’t been sure if I should keep going.

For you, what’s the most rewarding aspect of being a creative?

I’ve said this before, but I really think the ability to create art that speaks to the most beautiful and meaningful times of someone’s life means so much. My design has extended to welcome home signs for returning missionaries and soldiers coming home from deployment. To know that there are people out there displaying my art in their homes is incredibly humbling. I would also say the process of creating just fills my soul up so much.

Contact Info:

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/megantingeydesign
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/megantingeydesign
• Other: Etsy: https://megantingeydesign.etsy.com

Image Credits

All Photos except for the photo of three journals with pens: Tara Cloward Photography

Journal Photo with pens: Megan Tingey