Theresa Duemler
@_therayray
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Independent Designer & Creative Director 🎡 Building brands and visual lands @ Rayse Creative 🫧
Bouncing between Vienna & D.C.
Joined October 2014
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Working on a microbiome company branding and got VERY SIDETRACKED in Midjourney 🙃
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 20 Snapshots 📸
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Dreaming of working with a cocktail/mocktail brand. I could spend all day coming up with formulas in Midjourney🍸
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Job Alert 🚨 I'm looking for a Web Designer who can take an existing branding for a Private Wealth Management Firm and refine their web presence.
I can't take it on myself but would love to refer someone from the design community. Drop you portfolio below ⬇️
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 24 Snapshots 📸
Another good one in the books. Some very exciting things cooking that will launch later this summer 👀
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It’s strange how quickly you develop a sense for a client that will be a hot mess from the first call you have with them.
What’s the best approach to tell a lead that it’s not a good fit? Just starting out & I’m having a hard time saying no.
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I feel like it’s the “cool” thing to be anti Bento Boxes.
I still really like them, great way to summarize a brand and get a 360 degree view of a branding project in 1 slide.
👀 Sneak-preview of a brand we've been developing.
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Have to share this logomark that didn't make the cut but I loved. It's inspired by the Pando Tree, the largest living organism and we leaned into the symbolism of expansiveness and renewal each season🌳
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 26 Snapshots 📸
Aaaand we are done with Q2. Going to be posting some early learnings from the first 6 months as an independent later this weekend 🤓
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First time I tried to go freelance was in 2019 and I chickened out. I felt like I wasn’t going to find clients and retain my monthly income.
Now, I’m making 2x the salary of my last full time position. Honestly feels like a dream most days 🤗
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 29 Snapshots 📸
Get ready for 2 more case studies on new identities in the works!
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🚨NEW WORK🚨
Finalizing a new extended splash page for
@hellomortal_
. We're all going to die, surprise surprise.
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I have had multiple clients now that expect me or would like for me to make company decisions?! Like no, I can run your company for you I can just make it look better 😅
Is this common? How do you keep yourself firmly planted in the Creative Director role?
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Been working with the amazing people
@focl
to bring their rebrand to life. Some previews of the case study I'm putting together 🤩
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 19 Snapshots.
Working on ❇️ 2 new identities ❇️ this month.
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It's Wednesday and we are working on a new brand launch, I love my job 🐝☀️
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Just hit 400 followers. How fun is Twitter 🎉
I never thought I’d enjoy posting and interacting here this much but there are so many cool designers and I’m having a great time 🤓
Thanks for following along!
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 16 Snapshots. Another good one in the books 🌸
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There are days where I think: “fuck, there are so many designers out there that are better than me”
and the next day I think: “who are all these bad designers getting paid for this ugly s***”
(I’m talking about different people ofc)
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We've been working with the FOCL team for months bringing their rebrand to life and it feels so good to finally share it out in the world 🤩
💙Simplifying the science of feeling good.
Full case study now live:
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Damn, playing around with Runway to bring these illustrations to life a little. So smooth & easy
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 15 Snapshots.
So many things to show, this week was hard to pick 🙈
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Working on a new footer design. One of my favorite parts when identities come alive.
Phase 3 *Bringing it alive* of all my branding projects is tailored to each clients needs but usually includes a digital presence.
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 22 Snapshots.
Another week were I found barely time to post anything, but so many exciting things coming up. Trying to wrap a new case study this weekend, looking forward to sharing that with ya'll🤞
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The first 6 months of Rayse Creative by the numbers
💥11 New clients (5 active)
💥3 Brands launched
💥+800 followers
💥3 months of 5 digit revenue
Someone pinch me.
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Had a client reach out that I quickly realized wanted a different style than what I'm known for.
Declining the project and sticking true to your design style is the best thing you can do. It's what will make you the right fit for the right client.
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Yall, I'm about to buy a new MacBook and I'm lost at Apples website with CPU, GPU, Unified Memory and Chip options.
I'm a designer, mostly using Adobe Creative Cloud and Figma. What do I REALLY need and what's nice but not necessary 😅 Help a girl out, thanks!
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6 months of working as an independent, my biggest learnings:
✅Upselling is key to increased revenue
✅Trust your gut on clients
✅Twitter is more fun for designers than IG
✅A “personal style” develops organically. It’s also what will make clients find and want to work with you
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Working on a new branding sprint for a local coffee shop ☕️
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@D_R_Farrell
Closeup of green algae balls in an petri dish, with some large and small ones floating inside the liquid on white background, petri dish covered in green organism growth patterns some translucent, macro photography, high resolution, soft shadows, clean sharp focus
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Had a potential client ask me to do a “test” project to win the “big” project last week.
When will having a great portfolio and amazing past work be enough for creatives to get hired 🤔
This isn’t just an independent problem either. Even big agencies fight this fight.
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 8 Snapshots. Busy week and another one ahead 😎
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🦋Diary of an independent designer. Week 17 Snapshots.🦋
That's April ya'll. Time is flying and I want to take a second to say: Thanks for following along. 🙏
I'm loving the design community here, thanks for all the love this series has gotten so far!
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 13 Snapshots. Q1 done and still going strong with this series 👏
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6 days ago I had 58 followers. Today I have 276. What is this witchcraft 🧙♀️
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Am I the only designer whose portfolio is always outdated. This is a universal problem right? 🫠
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When presenting multiple branding directions to a client, we all always have a favorite right? Cause I ALWAYS have a favorite 🫣
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Been producing a photoshoot for the last couple of weeks for a brand launch. That space is ripe for reinvention. 15k for launch assets is hard to stomach for new brands.
Going to brainstorm a solution here 🤓
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Just finished
@noahkagan
MDW: "Set a single hyper-focused exact goal" for your company and aligning every activity to it.
I see this so often when working with founders spreading themselves thin. Defining their focus & sticking to it is the difference between success or mess.
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Why I finally took the leap into independence:
💼 Working at a studio job that I wasn’t creatively fulfilled at
📣 Wanting to be in charge of finding and working with clients directly
💸 Being able to earn a higher salary by working with international clients
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In 2019 I took my first stab at being a freelance independent designer.
In 2022, I got my first freelance clients.
In 2024, I took the leap and went full in on being independent.
It takes time. But bet on yourself.
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Starting this new year as an independent designer and couldn’t be more excited. Would love to hear from some of the amazing talents I’ve been following on here. What would your
#1
advice be for a new independent designer?
@mikesmith187
@jstrelioff
@graceongrid
@michelle_mattar
👋
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 11 Snapshots. Back from a slow week and about to kick-off 2 new projects this week! 🚀
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 21 Snapshots.
Here we go with another big week ahead. Spending Memorial Day catching up in work 😎
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The logomark/symbol/icon is always the hardest part of a branding I find
It's this little thing, that needs to look good in 72x72 px and embody EVERYTHING that a brand stands for 😅
Honestly feels like rocket-sience sometimes
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I can't count how many times a client has made me pivot our design mid-project, specially new founders.
It's part of the process of bringing a new vision to life. It used to annoy me, but now it just shows me that something truly great is being created.
PS: I'm pivoting atm 😎
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Started the year totally unproductive (I was jealous of those people updating their portfolio over the holiday break). But now I’ve really found my groove and exceeding my income targets for the first 4 months.
Reminder to self: It will all come, one day at a time.
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Another lesson learned: When a scoped project get’s pushed always include phrasing about having to reevaluate capacity when the project is actually ready to start.
This can avoid getting into a sticky situation with a client 🫣
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Realizing that defining what your expertise and core offering is as a one-person studio is really important
Not just to hone your skill but for clients to identify you as an expert in that specific field
You can’t be know to be good at “everything”, no one searches for that
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How do my fellow brand designers deal with clients that take your branding and completely butcher it in collateral?
1. Breaks my heart 💔
2. How do you approach your clients about it? Do you approach them at all? 🤔
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When you see a logo you designed as a profile icon out there in the world … that feeling will never get old 🤩
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800 FOLLOWERS 😅🥳💙 Thanks for everyone following along, been so great to share my work here & connect with amazing designers!
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More things from a recent patisserie branding project as I'm getting case studies ready this Sunday🍬
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Working on a new launch for a DTC company and looking for a 3D designer to produce a rendering for us. Any recommendations? Nothing too crazy - I promise 🤓🙏
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 9 Snapshots. Two months in an still going strong 💪
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Personal style develops naturally. It’s what clients will start to recognize & why you shouldn’t ever design like someone else.
My client ❤️
“Theresa, I was telling my colleague that I liked how your designs are modern but not trendy (hard line to walk), &would love to chat”
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I get really annoyed at these designers that never create any on-going assets, handle the brand guidelines and then call something evergreen "off-brand".
You try to create 20 emails a month and 20 paid ads without evolving the branding and see how interesting those turn out 🧐
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On of the things I love the most about being an independent designer so far: The freedom to experiment, innovate, and express my own unique design style. It makes work not feel like work. Happy Work Saturday💡🎨
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#daretoshare24
Footer design that I worked on this week. Honestly, how fun are footers? Really starting to love them 😍
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I always tailor my quote to each specific project, multiple factors that influence my price:
👀 Size of company
👀 Funding
👀 Personal alignment with brand vision
How are other designers doing this? Are fixed prices working for you?
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@bentenwoodring
@jstrelioff
Yes exactly what I’m doing. If there is ongoing collaboration work then I work in their file and they need to pay for me to have access to their files.
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@jstrelioff
I’ve always made my clients get their own Figma subscription and setup a team for their company and then add me to it as a collaborator. This way they own the files and they pay for the hosting of their files themselves. Has never been a problem 🙃
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Here I was thinking I’d be lucky to get 500 followers all year. It’s May 22 and I’ve got 654 🤪🎉
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Diary of an independent designer. Week 12 Snapshots. 🌜Worked on a new branding, email promos and art direction, love weeks with a good mix 😋
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Finally getting around to uploading some case studies of the last few months projects, excited to share the full site when ready 😎 Heres a small preview
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New AI explores, this is my new way to unwind not gonna lie 😋
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Update! I already got 2 of these accomplished 🙄
✅ Grow to 500 followers
✅ Relaunch Rayse Creative Website
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I’m kicking off a new brand positioning project this week, with branding to follow.
Designers: When doing brand position & strategy work with a brand at inception what does your process and final deliverable look like? Before moving into branding?
🙏 thanks for the advice!
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@kayfromlandline
Yes! Their storefront is going to be in a state here in Austria who’s flag features a heart & the the owners wanted to play on the fact that they are pouring their heart and soul into it. They initially got inspired by Italian coffee culture. Heart = cuore. Short COR 🙃
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#daretoshare24
Another one! Generated these today for a new supplement client of mine.
AI is been so rewarding, especially for ingredient shots, trying different styles is so much fun!
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Just finished reading Art for Money by
@ArdeleanExtra
after
@mikesmith187
recommendation. These are my biggest learnings from the book 🧵⬇️
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LA design community! Looking for a photographer & studio for a 1-2 day launch shoot for a new supplement brand 🌟 Any recommendations?
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Some happy a.i.ccidents to share. These are from a project that didn't see the light of day but boy were they pretty 🌿
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What you offer and what you don’t is important to get straight. Ask yourself:
📌 Do you want to do branding?
📌 Do you want to do ongoing social and marketing design?
📌 Do you want to hand off to an internal design team?
📌 Do you want to stick to websites?
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@ArdeleanExtra
@mikesmith187
Calendarize your projects. If you are delivering late your reputation will suffer. No matter how good you are.
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@ArdeleanExtra
@mikesmith187
There are no good or bad clients, only clients you didn’t setup proper communication and processes in place with.
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Quick recap from Q1 at
🏁5 projects completed
🚀 Kicking off 2 new projects next week
📮2x projected income
⭐ 300 New Twitter Followers
Never thought I’d be here 4 months in. What a way to kick-off 2024.
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Big first year goals as an independent designer in 2024:
➡️ Create a beautiful workspace worthy of
@workspacesxyz
➡️ Relaunch Rayse Creative Website
➡️ Grow to 500 followers on Twitter
➡️ Refine my offers & project packages
Wish me luck 🍀
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@ArdeleanExtra
@mikesmith187
Freelancing doesn’t mean doing it all alone. Your team are your mentors and collaborators. Which gives you a huge team to work with and lean on.
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@Hazel__William
Totally open. Needs to be discussed and align with the client. I recommended Webflow so it can be transfer and managed by a marketing agency post hand-off.
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Thanks everyone for your comments & dms. I’ve handed contacts off to the client and hope someone great will be a good fit 👏
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At least once a week I have to clean out my downloads and desktop. It gives me too much anxiety looking at that mess every morning and can’t design otherwise 😅
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