We were lucky to catch up with Nathaniel Navratil recently and have shared our conversation below.

Nathaniel, thanks for taking the time to share your stories with us today We’d love to hear about the things you feel your parents did right and how those things have impacted your career and life.

Growing up in a small town there wasn’t much as far as organized things to do, especially in the summer. When we would pester our parents for something to do when we were bored they never tried to entertain my brother and I. At the time this was frustrating, but now I understand they were intentionally making us be creative and use our imaginations. Whatever our ideas were however they fully supported them, whether it was putting up a mural in my bedroom or building a ramp in the driveway. If I needed help with something they were of course right there to offer guidance, but the onus was by and large on me to figure everything else out.

It wasn’t until many years later of course that I saw the lessons and skills they were instilling into us. My whole career has been creative problem solving in one way or another and I know I have benefited so much from those childhood lessons.

Even to this day, any chance I get to create or begin a self-initiated project I jump on the opportunity to learn and try something new.

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?

I am a brand designer and illustrator from Fargo, North Dakota operating under the name Foley. I currently work with small to medium size businesses and organizations to help elevate their brands by creating or improving their visual identity. I’ve spent most of my career in the advertising and marketing industry. So while my main focus today is design, I have picked up loads of marketing knowledge over the years that help make me a better designer for my clients. With Foley I really try to take out as much jargon and industry BS as possible. The process should be as fun for the client as it is for me.

With design being such a powerful instrument that can literally transform a business, I get so much satisfaction in taking a small organization or startup business that has little to no visual brand and creating a look and feel that not only matches their mission and goals, but that also gives them the visual presence to go out and be noticed.

Let’s talk about resilience next – do you have a story you can share with us?

Nearing 10 years into my first agency job I was jaded and burnt out. I thought maybe it was time to move on from graphic design all together and start something fresh. As I weighed options I hesitantly took on a few freelance projects to pay the bills. Now for the first time I was the sole leader of projects in a way I had never been able to up until that point. I could control the creative direction, timelines, and budgets. Pretty quickly I was excited to create again. It became apparent that I had not lost passion for graphic design, but had gained the experience where I was ready to have more influence and impact on outcomes. Shortly after I left that full-time job with renewed excitement and begin intentionally pursuing my own client projects. It was a good lesson to learn fairly early in my career and I am forever more conscious of the work I am doing, for whom and why I am doing it.

We’d love to hear your thoughts on NFTs. (Note: this is for education/entertainment purposes only, readers should not construe this as advice

I lean towards it being a fad that will come and go.

Contact Info:

• Website: studiofoley.com
• Instagram: @studio.foley
• Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/nathaniel-navratil-6298374/
• Other: https://dribbble.com/nathaniel-navratil