My “dream” was to find a studio near home that did amazing work and just happened to need a freelance designer. It sounded like an impossible order, and yet here I am at IMAGE: Global Vision working with Regina Rubino.
After working in both advertising and design studios full-time and freelance, eight years ago I decided to work from home with my own clients. My priority was to be with my young son as much as possible while still pursuing my career and passion for graphic design. But he's twelve now, so it seemed like a good time to consider other ways to share my skills and to be a part of a "team" again.
Late last year I heard about the opportunity through a mutual friend Randy Parkes of Lithographix. Randy mentioned that Regina was looking for a designer. I received an email from Regina inviting me to meet with her at the studio. I've known of Regina Rubino and Robert Louey for a long time through their work, which is spectacular. I was excited to meet her, and when she invited me to join the studio I felt a new career chapter was about to begin.
In previous years I'd been working with smaller clients that needed basic marketing tools that would include overall branding and help understanding and defining their niche in a saturated market place. They would realize that we needed to do some talking about who they were, and then solid research before an appropriate visual representation could be created. I love helping people get started and admire the courage and passion it takes to start a new business or take an existing business in a new direction.
These experiences fit in nicely with Regina's approach. She takes time to know the client. That's why I have tremendous respect for her. She thinks everything all the way through, handles so many aspects of each project, and the outcome is always beautiful. And since Regina is so collaborative, my time with her and the other artists has allowed me to take the kernel of what I have been doing with my clients and see how it might play out on a grander scale. It's both fun and challenging to be included and have anything and everything thrown at me. Production, packaging for an existing client, design or brand research for a presentation.
I don't know what my place or title is; I don't know if I even have one. I began freelancing at IMAGE: Global Vision little by little, and that evolved into a three-day schedule most weeks and I also do some assignments at home. I'm open to whatever the needs of the studio are; and happy to work on so many amazing projects.
It's funny. I'm a planner at heart, but it is good that I have had to take things as they come. My philosophy is that we create our own journey and with hard work and a bit of luck, our "dreams" can become a reality.
~ Kathleen Lamphere
