We recently connected with Staci Janik and have shared our conversation below.

Alright, Staci thanks for taking the time to share your stories and insights with us today. Are you happier as a business owner? Do you sometimes think about what it would be like to just have a regular job?

The grass is always greener. I did think about what it was like to have a regular job until I went and got one. In 2018 I was at a crossroads with my business. I needed to either start hiring and grow or jump back into the hustle of agency life before it was too late. I was thinking about the future and wanted more financial security. The last time I held a full-time design position was in 2012 — I was a little out of touch. I quickly realized I’d taken a role mostly occupied by designers fresh out of school. I undervalued myself and applied for positions that were beneath my skill set. I also thought I would be simplifying my responsibilities. In actuality, my role was undefined and murky. I struggled for almost a year to define it. I was flailing and I felt helpless. Then the pandemic happened and I was laid off — I haven’t looked back.

As a business owner, I have to wear so many hats. Ultimately, I found that is how I think my job stays interesting. My weeks are not always full of the same repetitive tasks and I can break my days up with different types of responsibilities. I like using different parts of the brain this way. I also think the ownership I have over all aspects of my business is a level of autonomy that brings me happiness. I don’t think I will ever get the joy of collaborating with small businesses and helping them bring their ideas to life from working on projects in a larger agency. No amount of free snacks, happy hours, or ping pong tables could ever persuade me. Also, I really just hate Slack.

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?

I run Staci Janik Studio — a tiny little space where I primarily focus on interdisciplinary design for small businesses. I tend to dabble in a lot of areas. I am using the term interdisciplinary loosely here. I bring in writers, developers, and illustrators when needed but I also experiment with printmaking, photography, styling, and ceramics. I currently do not offer all of these services. I do believe they all inform each other.

My main focus is visual identity work. Usually, a client comes to me with a business concept and a name and I work closely with them to turn their narrative into a visual system and apply it across necessary touch points. As part sparring partner and part spark plug, I assist in launching the new visual identity to their audience.

My interest in design started with typography when I was in high school. I worked in visual merchandising at a department store. I was learning about kerning, spatial layouts, and hierarchies with signage, windows, and shelf displays. I didn’t realize those things were related to graphic design at the time. I moved to Atlanta to study at the Atlanta College of Art, but it merged with SCAD. Eventually, I went to the Creative Circus where I had a teacher who introduced me to letterforms and gave me an internship at her letterpress. I fell in love with the details of typesetting, the tactile aspect of printmaking, mixing ink colors, and how the repetition of printing allows your hands to work and your brain to meditate. I ended up teaching typography for six years while getting my own studio off the ground.

In 2011, I purchased a letterpress of my own. I wanted to keep some of the print work for my clients in-house. The thing weighed like 2,000 pounds. It was about half an inch too wide to fit through the door in one studio space so a glass company had to remove the door frame to roll it in. It became a financial burden after I moved studio spaces twice, so I sold it. I eventually plan to buy another (less heavy) one. The future studio space will have a press, a pottery wheel, a meeting room, a small corner where I can sell curated goods, and perhaps some additional printed pieces or hand-thrown pots.

What sets SJS apart is that we are not an agency and aim to work on specific and small projects with our clients. We want to develop long-term relationships with them and hope to collaborate and empower them throughout the process from design to launch. We also embrace our versatility and curiosity. In an industry that champions specialization, we want to welcome inquisitive minds. I am proud that I have managed to maintain this tiny business for so long without having to market it. I also changed careers in my late 20s. I do feel like I’ve had to work hard to catch up to where I want to be in the industry. I am proud that I have made it this far and achieved a level of success that works for me that I never thought was possible.

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

Pollution, monetized.

How I feel has already been summed up by Josh Drummond in David Farrier’s Substack. You can read Josh’s take here:

https://www.webworm.co/p/needlessfuckingthings

We’d love to hear a story of resilience from your journey.

I have been able to build resilience by taking risks. In 2018, I was asked to create and manage the production of two custom floor mosaics. Little Tart Bakeshop and its sister soft serve shop, Big Softie would be opening with two separate storefronts. This was something I’d dreamed about doing! I was in the dark a little on how to approach this. I wasn’t exactly qualified but I really wanted to learn. I designed both the mosaics and sent them to the client for approval which was the easy part.

Once the design was approved and moved into the production phase, I learned there is a lot more to picking and getting the right tile colors. There are only a few tile manufacturers in the US that make the sort of tile needed to design mosaics because porcelain and glass tile is preferred. It is much easier to cut and is colored all the way through. Also, tile prices vary based on colors. For instance, red is the most expensive pigment to purchase and some tile colors are only available made to order, which can have a turnaround time of 8 to 16 weeks.

It took about four weeks to adjust colors to get these designs within budget and get the result we wanted with the least expensive and available colors. It was a race against time because the contractor could not put in the wood floor until the mosaics were in — not knowing about the colors, we didn’t factor in the extra time. I had the opportunity to consult with the team at Sideshow Sign Co. on the best approach for completing the mosaics within budget. After many revisions, it all ended up working out.

I took a risk when I accepted this job and I wasn’t 100% qualified but it forced me to find the answers. This diligence led to some great portfolio pieces and expanded my resilience through problem-solving.

Contact Info:

• Website: https://www.stacijanikstudio.com/
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/stacijanikstudio/

Image Credits
Bread + Butterfly — Andrew Thomas Lee