Love + Skill = Masterpiece
Faith, Branding and Art with Jessica Connolly of Telos Design
Today, I have the pleasure of featuring Jessica Connolly and her company, Telos Design, LLC. Jessica helps businesses with branding, logo design, and print and digital design. She also owns a shop on Etsy, Telos Art, where she sells “Art and design inspired by truth, beauty, and goodness.”
After I read that tag line, I just knew I needed to bring Jessica over on BRC. Then I found out that she partnered with various artists to create a liturgical calendar and she is using the opportunity to promote their work. Here’s more on what she had to say about the project:
We believe the arts can strengthen and enrich our faith. Therefore we chose to include works from 7 current fine artists and 6 classical artists as a way to help support and promote their vocations. The artists include Kristyn Brown (of the Saints Project; also featured at the World Meeting of Families in 2015), Brian Jekel, Gwyneth Thompson-Briggs (Artist-in-Residence at Thomas More College), Jeremy Matick, Ali Cavanaugh (Marietta Cobb Museum of Art), Bernadette Carstensen, and Michelle Arnold Paine.Each calendar also includes short biographies and websites for each artist so that you may see more of their work.
How awesome is that?! I’m so thankful that Jessica also took the time to answer some of my questions below about branding, what inspires her, and how she juggles work and family life.
1. Do you have any branding tips for people who are starting a business? Any rookie mistakes to avoid?
Well, my dad is an entrepreneur, so I like to think I picked up a few things from him. There are certain tricks for any new business that you pick up along the way from reading or watching how other people promote businesses. My step-mom is also a marketing expert in her own right, so I have bounced ideas off her in the past as well.
– Be sure there is a need for your service or product. If your product or service is not unique, what makes what you’re offering different than your competitor?
– When choosing a name, be sure you choose one that is easy to remember! For myself, I love the meaning of “telos” and the mission it defines for my work. But other names might have been more memorable!
– Strive for consistency from the beginning in your message and imaging. This is still something I work towards in my Instagram account, but the rest of my branded print and web images are fairly consistent and of high quality.
– Also, join a group where you can learn and commiserate together. Whether it’s a Facebook group or even better, Young Catholic Professionals. Try to find one and learn from each other!
2. What do you recommend that a potential client be ready to answer when meeting with a designer to discuss customized branding and graphic design?
One of the biggest pieces of the puzzle is the audience: Who are you trying to reach with your message? Once we know the general demographic, we can tailor the aesthetic towards that group or groups.
It also helps to hear the client’s preferences–whether it be strong likes or dislikes. Examples of other branding or design that the client is drawn towards can also help.
For the month of November, Buy one monthly calendar, get an Advent poster free. These posters are printed on a heavyweight, 12×18″ paper. Purchase at Etsy.
3. I think it is so wonderful that you are including the biographies and websites of the artists for the liturgical calendar. How did you find the artists that you chose to collaborate with on this project?
The project actually came about because I realized several of the current artists I appreciate most are actually part of other denominations. There is merit in their work and it can have a strong message for our faith, but Catholicism used to have such a loud voice in the arts. I wondered why this had changed so drastically in our time. So, I set out to find some of our current Catholic and Christian artists. There are a couple of decent websites that help promote Catholic artists and social media helps if you know what to search for online. Once I put together a list of some of the artists I admired, I realized it might be worthwhile to band them all together into one project. A calendar seemed like the perfect way to bring the different styles together. It’s exciting to see it all come together and to offer this little glimpse into the larger art world. If the project is successful, I hope to repeat it again next year with new artists!
4. What inspires you to do the work that you do?
Working with people, companies, and organizations I admire always inspires me. So, for Telos Design it has to be my amazing clients.
With Telos Art, having the freedom to work on projects that promote our faith is very exciting. Being able to dream up and create new projects without any boundaries, has helped expand my abilities in other, client-based projects.
And as a fairly new convert, finding ways to bring the liturgy home so we can talk about it as a family outside of Mass is something my husband and I strive towards. So, the liturgical calendars are a tool we can use to talk about upcoming feast days or a quick reference for the day’s readings.
5. How do you balance owning a business and raising a family?
It is a constant effort to keep an eye on my family and my work commitments. Both my husband and I work from home, so we are able to share the responsibilities a bit differently than most families. He is a huge force of encouragement and support behind my work. My kids are also excited about the handmade projects I create and are inspired to make some of their own.
Thanks again, Jessica, for sharing your advice and inspiration, and for delivering hope and beauty to the world!
I Don’t Live an Instagram Life
The day after the Business Boutique conference ended last weekend, I faced a messy house, piles of dirty laundry, and the reality that my life is just not conducive to well-designed, curated Instagram posts.
Attending conferences can be inspiring and motivating, but they can also make you keenly aware of areas of improvement. I think we’ve all found ourselves at times comparing our lives to friends’ and influencers’ highlight reels. I almost started to feel like I needed to start leading a different life just so my posts could look fancier on my Instagram feed.
This is the reality that I faced this past Sunday:
My weekday mornings are spent hurriedly getting myself and my girls ready for school. I am out of the house Monday through Friday from 7 AM to 6 PM battling traffic and working at a behavioral health agency. I spend my days under fluorescent lights in an office with no windows surrounded by an uninspiring, dull shade of yellow gold paint. When I get home, it’s already time to start preparing my girls for bedtime. I’m lucky to start working on all things Bold Red Creative by 7:30. This usually means that cereal is a complete possibility for dinner if leftovers aren’t in the refrigerator from the weekend.
I don’t have time for crafting pretty flat-lays, and sharing a page from my planner would be a complete disgrace to bullet journalers everywhere! And although I admire it, I don’t do hand-lettering nor do I have the time to make every letter look fancy.
I don’t have a nice white, clean desk with a little potted succulent in the corner. At this point, I don’t even have a desk. My office is a comfortable spot in the corner of my slip-covered living room couch or at the kitchen table.
I haven’t seen the ocean in nine years. I haven’t been on vacation outside of the state of Tennessee for, well, nine years. Who knows if I’ll ever get a chance to go to Greece one day? Right now, I’ll take summers at my parents’ pool!
My car is coated in a nice layer of dirt and sap. The yellow mums on the front porch are turning brown from a lack of consistent watering. I haven’t worn my cute workout clothes lately, because exercise is last on my list right now…
The funny thing is, as I started to take pictures to document the state of my totally real and non-glamorous day-in-the-life, I realized how blessed I am despite all of the areas that I feel that I’m failing in. I may not cook a lot these days (thank you, slow cookers!), but I made chocolate chip pancakes and green smoothies after Mass. In between loads of laundry, I cuddled up with my girls and listened to them practice Christmas songs on the piano. My husband did ALL of the dishes. At the end of the day, we gathered around our fire pit in the backyard and made s’mores.
It doesn’t make sense for me to try to reflect a life of a rich twenty or thirty-something female entrepreneur with no kids and no mortgage.
That’s. not. my. life.
My life is a crazy, daily juggling act. When I lay my head on the pillow each night, I fall asleep fast because I’m working hard for my family and giving it my all. And my husband is, too. I may work too much some days and not enough other days, but that’s what it’s like to be a working mother.
It’s about the day-to-day journey.
It’s about putting love where it needs to be in that moment.
It’s about being intentional and knowing what things to let go.
It’s being okay with not being perfect.
It’s being thankful each day… dirty laundry and all.
Follow my imperfect life, business adventures, and inspirational quotes on Instagram: @stefanieshick. See you over there!
Vincent Van Gogh Quote
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