Where do I begin? I can’t say enough good things about this wonderful, talented woman.
I first “met” Danielle on Skype, after I bugged her on Twitter about hosting one of her awesome Girl Crush Tea Parties in Seattle and started lining up attendees to make my convincing even more convincing. I was pretty excited because I’d been a fan of her blog, The Jealous Curator, for a while at that point. Girl Crush Seattle happened, it changed my life, and I got a new creative friend in the process. Get to know Danielle!
What is your creative mix? Tell us about all the awesome creative things that you do.
Oh boy. There’s a lot going on right now! I’m a graphic designer by day – I have my own company that I run with my husband, quite appropriately called she & he. I also write my daily art blog, The Jealous Curator, and am thrilled to be a contributor to sfgirlbybay, and Style by Emily Henderson. I just finished my first book with Chronicle Books (due out next spring!), and am half way there on the second book (due out fall 2014). As we speak, I’m sitting in an airport on my way to Austin to do one of my GIRL CRUSH workshops. AND, I’m a mixed media artist. Sadly, I always seem to put that one at the end of the list, but I’m working really hard on moving it closer to the front!
One of the things that I want to talk about in this series is the dark side of “glamorous” jobs. Tell us what it’s really like to be an artist, blogger, graphic designer, and soon-to-be published author – the awesome and the awful.
There is A LOT of awesome at the moment, and I feel incredibly blessed to have the opportunities that have come my way, but yes, the unglamorous part… there’s lots of that too. Two things I don’t love about having my own design business: no1. paper work! Invoices, account management etc!!! Almost makes me miss my days at big agencies when there was a team of people doing that for me! And no.2: The tough thing about design is all of the changes to your “vision”, that you don’t get to control. Most of my clients are fantastic and let me do what I do best, but every now and then you feel like you’re going to get washed away in a hurricane of changes, tweaks, and “oh, just one more little thing”.
Next. Writing the books. Honestly, I have to say, there was nothing bad about this experience! It was a dream come true, and working with the editors and designers (I got to be the one who tweaked and changed things!) at Chronicle was the easiest, most supportive experience I’ve ever had. Granted, I had a lot of self-doubt at the beginning of book no.1, simply because I had no idea what I was doing! That’s where the supportive/awesome editor comes in – thank goodness for Kate!
And once again, left til the end, my own art work. The awesome part is making something I love, because it wouldn’t have existed in the world otherwise. I know this part isn’t supposed to matter, but I also really like having people tell me that they love my work (is that bad?!) The awful part is sitting in your studio staring at a blank page with a fantastic idea in your head that your hands refuse to put onto the paper. I really hate that. A lot.
You and your husband have your own branding company, she & he. What’s the hardest part of working with the person you’re married to?
I met Greg at work years ago. We were on the same team, and so before we were together (in a lovie, smoochie kinda way), we learned how to work together really, really well. We moved from company to company together, and so it only made sense for us to start our own thing. If we were both designers, I think it might be a disaster, but we do very different things. I do all of the branding and design, and he does all of the marketing strategy… see, nobody’s stepping on anybody’s toes! Is it annoying to say that I never get tired of hanging out with him? I really don’t. However, he does sit at his desk, directly across from mine, and eats almonds really really loudly, which drives me nuts. No pun intended.
You have a lot of things going on in your life. How do you stay focused and make sure that you’re working on things that are really important to you?
Yeah. To be totally honest, I felt like I was going crazy for awhile. Add being the mother of a 6 year old boy, and it’s hard to find time to sleep. I had a little meltdown a few months ago, and my awesome husband turned off all of the computers, phones etc, and we just went for a two hour drive and talked about what I really wanted to be doing. That was exactly what I need to get refocused. I started assigning days to various things and then just absolutely sticking to it. If Tuesday from 9am – 1pm was assigned to working on the book, then that’s what I did for that block of time. No checking email, twitter, fb etc or else I’d get side tracked. Now I try to put aside one day of the week just for art, and then chunks of other days for all my various design projects. 3pm – 8pm is reserved for my son, and then we usually work (and eat almonds) til about midnight.
How has blogging and social media impacted your career?
As a designer, not at all. As for everything else… my world has been completely rocked! I have curated shows, flown all over the US to speak, written two books, and I’ve just been asked to curate the artwork for a new, amazing space in LA. All because of a blog. Kinda crazy, and yes, I’m still pinching myself to make sure it’s all real!
Thank you so much for sharing your creative mix with us, Danielle! xo
Check out the work Danielle is doing with Emily Henderson on her new project The Fig House and an interview with Danielle about Alleglory, her art show at Assemble at the end of last year. It got a mention on Frankie too! And last but not least, her most recent Girl Crush event in Austin with the fabulously talented Alyson Fox.
What about you? Do you have a book in you that you’re trying to get out? Has writing been more challenging than fun lately? Click here to learn more about my online creative writing workshop that will help you reclaim your voice! Registration ends on Saturday. xo