So I shared this on Instagram and Facebook and Twitter already today... But I had to share it here too to be official. ;)
I'm just so over the moon to have my packaging bits and pieces finally all done!
I love them, I love them.
It's the last piece of the rebranding phase to come together and it feels so good to have it finished.
If you're waiting on an order from the shop, get excited because you'll be receiving some of this loveliness in your package.
There's new tags, business cards, instagram cards, and core values cards.
All of the cards.
Cards for days.
Oh and my super cool stamp to stamp all of my packages with of course.
I'm extra in love with my business cards. They're like little luggage tags, aren't they cool? I actually need to get some grommets for them still... but I couldn't wait on that minor detail to share them.
So there you go.
What are your thoughts friends?
Rebranding
On Rebranding: The Logo
This is a little post about my logo.
One of the core pieces of my rebranding phase.
As is the case for most businesses, your logo is what sticks in people's minds when they think about your brand and what it is that you do. It needs to stand out. Be memorable.
Chelsea did such a good job collaborating with me on mine and designing something that fit just right. I'm so in love with it!
And so, because I am so excited about it, I wanted to share a little bit more about the meaning behind it with you guys.
The logo, in it's essence, is a profile of a girl. While the girl is, yes, technically a representation of me (my business is named after me after all) it also as a whole represents the A Girl Named Leney brand. In my mind, the profile is mysterious and intriguing in its presence. It personifies the free spirits, the adventurers, the nomads, the wanderers, the vagabonds, the travelers, the road trip takers, the wanderlust filled hearts, and the explorers.
The gypsy soul in all of us.
Those people who love discovering new things and places and are always looking forward to the next adventure and discovery.
Those people who have hearts so full of dreams and goals they lie awake at night thinking about them.
Those people who have the ambition and drive to chase after those dreams and goals and make them a reality.
The hat is, of course, my beloved Adventure Hat. Which speaks to just what it sounds like. Adventure. To living a life of it. To chasing after the things we're passionate about, that get us out of bed in the morning, that make us want to pack our bags and set out for new horizons to experience something bigger and greater than ourselves.
The shoulder also symbolizes a mountain, furthering the adventursome spirit I want to embody in my brand.
The wreath bits were inspired by rosemary. My favorite plant. Which has been known to symbolize love, remembrance, passion and goddesses of the sea (of course being the daughter of a sailor... Well I couldn't help but resonate with that).
As a whole, I want to help inspire and encourage others to seek out and recognize the passions and adventures they want to pursue in their own lives. I think that's what the A Girl Named Leney brand is about really. Looking outward. Onto bigger and better things. Dreaming infinitely. But ultimately, pursuing those God given passions, talents, and dreams that make us who we are.
As always, I would love to hear your thoughts on this.
In fact, why don't you tell me what your dreams and passions are?
I love nothing more than listening to passionate people talk about the things they love.
On Rebranding: Out With The Old In With The New
So a few people have asked me questions in relation to why I chose to re-brand and what that process was like for me.
The simple and quick answers of "I've evolved as a person, in my style and in my aesthetic", and "I've grown creatively as an artist and needed something new to reflect that", are all true, but it's a little more in depth than that.
So I thought I would compile a list of sorts in hopes that it answers some of the questions I've been getting from you guys. Plus it might potentially be helpful to any other small business owners or aspiring small business owners, in regards to brainstorming about what it is you want your brand to look like, portray, and be.
I also hope that it encourages and inspires you to really think about your brand and what it is you do stand for and represent and what it is you're putting out there and showing people you're about. Because rebranding goes way farther than a new logo, in case you didn't know.
I want to preface all of this with saying that I did not go to school for this. I've never even taken any business classes. So I know that I am by no means an expert on this subject. However, over the past few years of owning my own business I've definitely learned a lot about this sort of thing, whether it's by trial and error or by learning from other makers and small business owners. The latter of which is especially valuable I think, learning from one another. So if anything I've learned in my journey can in any way help someone else, I'm more than happy to share it because I wouldn't have achieved any sort of progress in growing my own business without the help of so many others.
So, without further ado...
Thoughts On Rebranding
Who Is My Ideal Customer?
I think this is something they teach you in business 101 probably right? I mean, again, I've never taken a business class but I think it's pretty standard stuff to think about who it is you're marketing your brand for when you create and start a business. Until recently I didn't really know who my ideal customer was. I never really thought about it. I just sort of took the photography jobs that paid the bills, made the knits that sold and as a result I was a little bit all over the place. Additionally I wasn't very proud of a large portion of the work I was putting out there because I felt like it wasn't conducive of who I was and what I wanted to represent as an artist.
So, I realized that I needed to identify and pinpoint who it was that I'm marketing to and trying to reach with my business. I want to be more purposeful about reaching a more specific and curated style of people who represent my ideal customer. People who have similar ideals and dreams and who I would work well with creatively.
It's not about looking good, or being picky and choosy about who I work with or for, or thinking my work is too good for certain people. It's not about that at all, and I hope I can properly convey that. Simply put, it's about working for, with and alongside people who I gel with. Again, people who have the same, or similar, goals, dreams, aspirations and mindsets. And that list isn't as limited as it may initially sound. Because I think a part of the creative process and working with people is also to challenge one another and stretch each other during your process of creating and working together. However, it's important, especially from a creative standpoint, to work with people you mesh well with and who have similar tastes, interests, styles, etc. to your own. Because when that's on the table, that's when the magic happens! That's when you can make beautiful work for people who will truly love and appreciate what it is you do because they get what it is you're doing. They love and accept what it is you represent and aren't going to be disappointed with the outcome of what they hired you for because they aren't trying to change you and ask you to be something you're not.
Make sense?
Be More Intentional
I wanted to be a lot more intentional about what I'm putting out there as a whole. My brand is a very personal one and largely a part and representation of who I am. The things I do, the things I love, the places I see, what I'm passionate about etc.
I wanted that to all be cohesive and make sense. I also wanted to challenge myself to question and analyze what it is I am putting out there to people. Is it positive? Is it uplifting? Am I encouraging and inspiring in the way I'm similarly encouraged and inspired? Not to say that I have to put on a good face all the time and claim to have this perfect and put together life (there's going to be a post on that later), but to make sure that I'm being real and authentic and doing and saying things that are true to who I am and what it is I want to represent.
In a nutshell, pretty much just stay true to my core values.
Bring Knitting and Photography Together
My business is essentially a two part business. My photography and my knitwear. The two didn't neccessarily coincide before and I didn't do a very good job of bringing the two together under one umbrella in relation to my brand.
So now I'm working on doing that better. It's a bit of a work in progress, and It might not make a whole lot of sense still to most people, but Essentially I think if you read about The Traveling Photographer and The Knitting Queen, you can kind of get now what it is that I do and why I do it. At least I hope so!
Essentially though, I think there's a lot of beauty in the world. But, I think a lot of it get's overlooked because it initially appears to be something that's in and of itself normal, average and mundane. Plus we are all in such a rush nowadays, we overlook a lot of the these things in our hurry to get wherever we're going and we don't stop to appreciate them. I essentially want to help point out the beauty in those every day things with my work. Whether it's with picture taking or designing knits. They're the two biggest ways I have of interpreting and contributing to the beauty I see in the world.
I want to help you notice the simple but unique little pieces that make up our lives and that make them ours. I want to notice and appreciate these little moments and correlations of simplistic beauty in my day to day and in turn help you do the same.
Growth
Not only as a person have I grown and evolved over the past few years, but as an artist as well. In my style, aesthetic, goals, thought process and my creative process as well, to name a few things. So obviously I really wanted a brand that reflected that. The "new me" if you will. I think it's really important to leave yourself room to grow when working under a brand that's heavily influenced by who you are, and not only that but embrace and welcome change when it's time for it. I was starting to feel very limited and confined under my old brand and realized a lot of the stuff I was trying to put out there just didn't coincide with the overhead of what I said that I did. My style and my work to name a few things, just weren't matching up and that was confusing not only to me as I attempted to grow and evolve as an artist, but others as well.
Traveling
Traveling has always been a big part of my life. I grew up with a family who was always big on going and seeing and experiencing new things. Some of my favorite places in the world have been discovered while on family vacations actually.
But as I've grown up and done my own traveling and exploring independently over the past few years, I've realized how much it's become a part of who I am. As a result it's seeped more and more into my brand and my business. I love the stories that come with traveling and the ability to create my own and in turn be a part of others. Which, again, you can read more about here and here. But I want to challenge myself, and you, to step outside of your box and comfort zone more. Challenge yourself to do and be more. This doesn't have to necessarily entail hopping on a plane/bus/train to travel physically to a new place. Although I'm a big advocate of that, but I've found I'm also stretched and challenged just as much if not more so in situations and places closer to home. I think it's more so about the mindset I have in regards to things. Traveling, for me, symbolizes trying new things and facing fears and opening yourself up for growth and change that can be hard but necessary for bettering yourself and others around you.
But, simply put, because it is one of my biggest loves, I want to incorporate it more into my lifestyle and business and what I get to do for a living.
The Glasses
While this is more of a silly reason, it did play a part in the rebranding process so I thought it was worth mentioning. I don't really wear my glasses as often as I used to (yes they are real, not fake. I know, I know. I'm such a hipster, and it's even more hipster for me to say I've had them for over 5 years before they were cool but whatever). Contacts just make more sense for a girl who's constantly on the go and wandering about in all kinds of weather and situations and holding a camera up to her face 75% of the time. So those representing me and my brand didn't really make sense anymore. When handing people my business card, they didn't really get it. "Oh cute!" they'd say, "But uh... why the glasses?", because, you know, I wasn't ever really wearing them so people didn't see the connection (no pun intended. Get it? Get it?)
So it was time for a change. For something that wasn't so specific and to broaden my brand past that limited representation. (More about the new logo and some details and story behind it coming in a post later next week!)
So. Those are pretty much my thoughts on that!
Props to you if you actually read this whole thing.
I would so love to hear what your thoughts are though, and if you're going through a similar process with your own business and what some things are that you've learned as a result. So feel free to leave a comment or shoot me an email!
Thanks for being you.
I couldn't do what I do without you.
♥
Hello!
So I sat here for a good fifteen minutes trying to come up with the title for this post and while “Hello!” is about as simple as it gets, I figured it was appropriate.
Because, I mean, HELLO! The new site is finally here!
Wowee wow wow.
What do you guys think??
Gosh, this process has been quite a lengthy one but I'm so excited to finally be at the end of it. I've missed blogging and connecting with you guys and sharing all of my photos and what I've been up to over the past few months. Taking a hiatus from blogging at the turn of the new year wasn't really my intention, but then with everything going on with rebranding and my workload it just sort of happened and all of sudden before I knew it it was March (insert monkey covering eyes emoji here)!
But it feels good to be back.
I have so many exciting and wonderful things I've been working on and I can't wait to get started sharing with you guys!
First though, a few shout outs are in order:
Thank you thank you thank you to the (soon to be newly launched) Green Root Designs team for working on this project with me! Luke, Chelsea, James, you guys are rockstars. Seriously. Thank you for all of your hard work!
Next, no surprise, my beloved friend Meagan Abell for the new photos of me you see around the site! She makes my day to day goings on look glamorous. There’s more to come. Get excited.
One of my favorite adventure buddies Michelle took this photo of me, which I have to say thanks heaps for. I don’t know if an image has ever more appropriately captured and summed up “The Traveling Photographer”.
My Mother for helping me with second opinions on logos, grammar correction/run on sentences for various written things (not my strong suit… I know... Why am I even a blogger?) and for being one of my biggest supporters and cheer leaders, always, but especially during long 4 a.m. nights/days on end of working in front of a computer. She's my favorite.
My father for lots of early morning coffee dates that entail lots of brainstorming and chats about passions and what I want this whole thing that I'm doing with my life to look like. And for being a sailor. And giving me his gypsy soul.
Honestly, all of my friends and family deserve a shout out because they’ve all been so incredibly supportive and excited for me during this process and without them I wouldn’t be able to do any of the things I do. You know who you are.
I adore you.
Gosh. That felt like an acceptance speech at the Grammys or something… (Ima let you finish but….)
But seriously, it might not seem like a big deal to some of you, but I’ve been waiting for this moment for quite some time. It feels so wonderful to have a space, and a brand, that better portrays what I do, who I am, and why I do it. I’m so so incredibly excited to be back in the swing of things and to continue sharing, connecting, inspiring and living life with you all in all of the ways that I do. Virtual and otherwise.
So here’s to you, if you’re reading this, you’re one of the reasons why I do what I do.
Now go check out the site! Click around, explore, read silly things about me that you maybe didn’t know before and let me know what you think!