Elevating with The Brand Stylist
As someone who hates hustling, I’m always looking for ways to improve my offerings and skills in order to best serve my clients and grow creatively. I decided to take a big leap of faith last year and invested in Elevate – a mentoring programme for Brand Designers committed to excellence.
I had never invested so much in myself but I knew I had to jump at the chance to work directly with someone who has been so hugely influential in my work. The Brand Stylist, aka Fiona Humberstone, is an exacting creative director, brand consultant, best-selling author and visionary, whose books on branding had already revolutionised my approach to brand design.
The premise of Elevate is that over a course of six weeks, Fiona acts as creative director and creates fictional briefs for the designers to choose from. Fiona reviews your work individually and provides feedback, and you complete three brand identity projects in total.
Key areas are explored throughout the program that are fundamental to both brand design and running a successful design business in general. There is emphasis on improving your process, boosting creativity, meeting the brief and creating intentional, elevated work.
To be honest I under-estimated how challenging the program would be and was still working on client projects and deadlines alongside Elevate. It was an intense experience, with long days and longer nights, and there were times where I had to really dig deep to go through the process. But it was an incredibly rewarding experience, not only to grow rapidly in a short period of time through Fiona’s expert guidance, but also to connect with nineteen other talented designers, all with a mixed range of experience who supported each other throughout the full process.
It has been truly inspirational to focus on levelling up my skills with support and I have already seen the impact on my work since I graduated a few days ago. I know my process has elevated dramatically and I have also increased the level of intention for every element of a brand identity. By focusing on clarity, vision and meaning, I feel more confident than ever that each client is getting the care and attention they deserve, and that my own creativity has received a boost of inspiration.
Throughout the program I completed three brand identities. Check out the images below or follow links to the full case studies.
01. Monk’s Wood Muse
A range of candles for a Cotswold hotel, inspired by the English countryside.
02. Shirini
A dessert and patisserie subscription box with a Middle Eastern twist
Brand Essence - innovative, aspirational, exciting
“Chandra has consistently inspired us all with her care, attention to detail and flair for presentation. Her work is so thought through...it’s a beautiful, thoughtful and thoroughly compelling style.”
03. Meadowsweet
A natural beauty range, designed to rejuvenate body, mind and soul.
If you are a designer looking to seriously elevate their game, I can’t recommend The Brand Stylist and Elevate highly enough. I would encourage you to clear your schedule so you can put your all into the program, you will certainly take your business and creative process to another level.