We caught up with the brilliant and insightful Jordis Small a few weeks ago and have shared our conversation below.
Hi Jordis , really happy you were able to join us today and we’re looking forward to sharing your story and insights with our readers. Let’s start with the heart of it all – purpose. How did you find your purpose?
Finding your purpose is actually a practice I walk all my client through during our branding workshops but it actually took me about 5 years into my career to full discover my own purpose… I have always been creative and I have worked as a designer since I was 19, but I sort fell into brand design, I knew I was good at it but I could never really pin point the purpose. It always felt sort of shallow to me… like “I make brands look good”… I felt like a plastic surgeon to businesses. It was hard to put a life changing purpose to it. But after working with a business coach I was able to to sort of unveil it and see my true purpose. My coach challenged me and asked “what is the big impact your clients get from working with you?”, I answered with “clarity and confidence”… thus, my purpose was clear, I help entrepreneurs turn their big vision into a tangible brand.
Let’s take a small detour – maybe you can share a bit about yourself before we dive back into some of the other questions we had for you?
I have been doing brand design for over 9 years now. Over those nine years I have been able to develop a unique process that gets results for my clients. I used to just do logo design, then it evolved to brands and now I have stopped doing “just a logo” because the results were never there… those projects always seemed to go sideways and end with something I was not proud of and the client would get what they thought they needed at the time but never got the big results they were looking for. Brand gives you a plan, a purpose, a roadmap and really dictates the entire creative process. It takes the decision making out of mine and my clients hands and leads us to the solution.
Recently I have created a condensed version of my brand workshops to create a brand in 3 days. It’s called the Brand Intensive, it’s an intense 3 days on our calendar where we work closely with our clients to define their brand and build out an identity to match. Our clients are left with clarity, brand messaging, logo, fonts, colors, and a one page guide to their brand.
There is so much advice out there about all the different skills and qualities folks need to develop in order to succeed in today’s highly competitive environment and often it can feel overwhelming. So, if we had to break it down to just the three that matter most, which three skills or qualities would you focus on?
-Willingness to learn: I have learned SO much for others. It started with internships when I was in college… As I got further along in my career I was always willing to work for more experienced designers, even if it was a lesser rate than I was hoping for, I knew it would pay for itself in knowledge.
-Investing in yourself: Everyone says this… and it’s true. Every time I have splurged on a course, conference, or gone on a design retreat it has paid for itself in one way or another.
-Practice your craft: I still do this when I can squeeze in the time! I love to make logo just for the sake of making logos… no client… just me and some made up business!
What was the most impactful thing your parents did for you?
From an early age it was clear I was a creative…. I was always making stuff. By the time I was in high school my parents were well aware I would not be a doctor or a lawyer. In my junior year of high school they allowed me to go to an occupational school for the back half of the day where I took a class on screen printing. Come my senior year they let me do independent studies so I could go to the junior collage for art classes. I took note of how they paid attention to my talents and interests and hope to do the same for my kids one day.
Contact Info:
- Website: stellendesign.com
- Instagram: @stellendesign
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/jordis-small-45970a92/
- Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCvSQX31lnWu2Hz4pbNcb2PA