When it comes to the amazingly creative minds that lead the projects at Designity, each Creative Director brings their own unique story to the table.
And Brianna D, one of our newest creative forces in the Designity Creative Director team, is no exception! From leading design teams in India to a lifelong love of photography, her journey to becoming a Designity CD is as interesting and exciting as her approach to branding and design!
And if you’re ready to learn all about how her creative path took her across the world and to Designity's community, then today’s your lucky day!
Today’s blog is an inside look at Brianna D’s career so you can learn more about her, see some of her amazing work, and discover why we’re so happy she’s in our corner!
Get comfy and pull up a chair because it’s time to meet Brianna D.!
How did you get into design?
From a really young age, I always did creative, crafty kind of things.
My mom was a graphic designer back in the day, so, I was always around design and drawing, I always loved that. And even throughout school, it was always a thing I excelled in.
Then I went to Mass Art, an art school in Boston, and studied both photography and graphic design. So, I definitely started as more of the person doing the design work, but over the years, I started to really love the operations side and leading designers.
I had a really incredible opportunity working in India for three years as a creative director.
In India? Can you tell us more about that?
It was called NEWJ (New Emerging World of Journalism) and it was basically a social news startup, like a Vice, Now This, Buzzfeed kind of thing, but for Indian content.
It was also really cool because we did it in a bunch of different languages that I didn't even speak. I led a 15-person team and was able to actually help grow the company. I was one of the four founding people, and we grew it to 200 people, and I was able to help with that whole creating the operations, creating the systems, creating the designs, working with designers; I loved that side of it.
So, that's why I've kind of kept moving in that direction and done a lot of different things.
What was your first creative-related job?
I worked as an assistant for a photo curator in Boston right after college.
So, that was my first design job. I did everything for her from assisting with projects to organizing her design stuff. It felt like an endless library of design work and I was just constantly looking through it so, it almost felt more engaging and exciting than when I was studying in school.
And then I also started traveling and doing my own photography and things like that. And then I started to get more freelance work with graphic design and more opportunities that came my way, so then I sort of shifted photography into more like a hobby.
I still have a ton of equipment. I love doing photography, but it's definitely not a primary thing that I do. It's just for fun now.
How did your career lead you to Designity?
I had been doing a bunch of different things; I'd had that opportunity in India, then, I came back during COVID, and I had been doing UI/UX work.
I built design systems and started working for another company. I was a senior visual designer, and then I went up to becoming the design manager. I stayed in for a little bit as a senior visual designer, I eventually was promoted to the Design Manager and helped create the structure for the team and led two creatives for that company. I did that for almost over two years and then did freelance work for a little bit.
But I really wanted that opportunity to work with creatives again; that's some of my favorite parts of doing work like that is helping lead projects, helping creatives grow in their own unique talents and skills, and creating my own sort of processes with little mini teams and I found Designity on LinkedIn and it was just the perfect fit for that.
What did you think about Designity’s unique onboarding experience?
When I started going through the whole process, you had to record yourself speaking a lot. And the one thing I actually found super fascinating with the whole process is that I've personally felt like I've always had a challenge with recording myself speaking and feeling good about it.
And the fact that I kept making it through each round started to grow my confidence in that area! It's been such an incredible experience to kind of work on areas that I felt like were personally weaknesses.
What is your favorite kind of project to take on?
Branding. It's exciting and challenging at the same time.
I love just really creating a brand from scratch or even just working on enhancing their current branding and really understanding the audience and making sure that what we're creating is for that audience.
Obviously, the challenging side is making sure that the client understands what you're designing for and your goals for the project and aligning and getting them to approve. Because I think the hardest thing with branding is the client will want what they want, but that's not always what’s right for the audience.
So, it's always that balancing act; making sure that you're creating something that sits well with both the target audience and the client.
What type of project is the most challenging to you?
I would say that branding is both my favorite and most challenging then, after that, would be web development and video production with animation work and stuff like that.
What would you say is your favorite thing about working at Designity?
The collaboration between the Creatives and the Creative Directors, definitely.
I feel like all of the Creative Directors I’ve met were amazing. The CDs here are absolutely incredible, they’re all so unique and so talented. With the way we juggle things, you have to have a good sense of organization and process for yourself and for the things you’re working on in order to push on. It’s just a batch of really talented people and it’s really cool to be connected with them.
I also love working with multiple designers with many kinds of different talents and skills and working on so many different projects. It’s so exciting and exhilarating at the same time.
And even the clients, a lot of them are super nice and wonderful to work with. You really get it from both ends. Working with the clients is such a wonderful experience and then working with the Creatives is such another wonderful experience.
How do you keep yourself up to date with design trends?
My three primary things are Pinterest, Behance and Instagram.
I love following certain accounts on Instagram that are about design tips, tricks, trends. I also love Behance and just searching for creative things, maybe I can use the things I see on mood boards and stuff like that.
And then Pinterest, it's just an abundance of cool different ideas, all in one shot. Those are my three primary places where I look for inspiration.
Is there any insight you can give about current design trends?
I feel like this isn't necessarily new but definitely creating this 3D feel to things; like really trying to make things interactive and feel like you're in these layers of something, even if it's a digital world, just creating that sort of flow and 3D feel.
Motion as well is a huge thing. You can see it a lot in different types of website designs where people are using motions to flow through pages.
It's really creating this new cool experience for users to go through.
What do you like to do when you’re not working?
There's a few things that I like to do in my free time.
I go to the gym regularly, so that's something that I love to do for myself. I practice Buddhism, so I do a lot of meditation.
And then I like to play video games. Recently, I've been addicted to Fortnite, but I also love Ark and Assassin's Creed.
I also love to travel. If I can make time for it, I'll probably be traveling. My top three favorite countries in the world are Nepal, India, and Morocco. I’ve done 25 countries now!
<div class="c-blog_comp-cta cc-component-2"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left"><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-wrap"><img src="https://global-uploads.webflow.com/61cdf3c5e0b8155f19e0105b/63695243d096983691046ac3_Potential-Creative.png" loading="lazy" alt="" class="c-blog_comp-cta-left-img"></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-cta-right cc-dark"><div class="c-blog_comp-content"><div class="c-text-wrapper cc-mb-32"><div class="c-title-4 cc-bold"><strong>Like to work as a freelancer with consistent income?</strong></div></div><div class="c-text-wrapper"><div class="c-text-2">Designity's collaborative model is designed to give you all of the perks of being a freelancer without the income instability.<br></div></div></div><div class="c-blog_comp-wrapper"><a href="http://designity.com/creatives" target="_blank" class="c-button w-button"><strong>Join Our Creative Community</strong></a></div></div></div>
Any words of inspiration for aspiring creatives out there?
Never give up.
Keep pushing through even when days get really hard. Those are probably the days where you're learning the most.
