From Corporate Graphic Designer to Full Time Freelancer: A Conversation with Hollei Anne Hayes
TODAY ON THE BLOG
Today on the blog, I am so excited to feature Hollei Anne Hayes to share about her journey as a designer, illustrator & hand letterer. Hollei has been in the creative industry for over 10 years and has worked with clients such as Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Christmas Tree Shops, and more. Her passion is creating colorfully optimistic illustrations that feature playful hand lettering for product design, surface design, and commercial work. In this interview, Hollei shares about how her career as an artist began, her journey into illustration and pattern design, and how she balances freelancing full time with being a stay-at-home mom. I’m grateful to have Hollei on the blog today as she shares her story with us.
Sophie: For those that are new to you and your work, can you share what you do and a little bit about yourself?
Hollei:: I’m a Designer, Illustrator & Hand Letterer based out of Pennsylvania freelancing full time all while being a stay at home mom. I’ve been a Designer, Illustrator & Hand Letterer for over 10 years and have worked with clients such as Target, Walmart, TJ Maxx, HomeGoods, Christmas Tree Shops and more. My passion is creating colorfully optimistic illustrations that feature playful hand lettering for product design, surface design and commercial work. With a one year old & a 5 year old mini goldendoodle at home, my husband and I keep busy! I love interior design and do lots of home projects with my husband. It’s a really nice escape for us and something we love to do together. Some of my favorite things: embroidering, iced chai lattes, eating at cute local restaurants & cafes, road trips, earthy yet vibrant colors, gardening & caring for our indoor plants.
Sophie: Where did your career as an artist begin? How did you get started?
Hollei:: I’ve always been an artsy person, doing any craft I could get my hands on and drawing all my favorite characters. I never really took it seriously as a kid, it was just who I was, until I was granted a scholarship to a local fine art school in middle school. I remember having to have a portfolio review, I was so nervous! I brought in my multi-media Crayola sketch book and used sticky notes to mark which pages I wanted them to review and was embarrassed when they skipped to the back where I had my favorite Neopet illustrations. Needless to say I got accepted and looked forward to going to class each week. When it came time to start thinking about college in high school I thought I wanted to be an art teacher because I loved art class so much and Kutztown University of Pennsylvania was a great local school for teaching and design. I wasn’t 100% sure if that’s what I wanted to do so I applied as undeclared and got in. While at Kutztown I learned about their program called “Communication Design” which includes Graphic Design, Advertising, Illustration & Web Design, I had no idea what any of that was called until I went to college. I remember calling my mom to tell her I was switching majors and how nervous I was and explained to her that Graphic Design was everywhere, it’s on a Coca Cola can! Once I got into that program I felt at home and landed a job at Kutztown University’s Student Involvement center where I designed & illustrated event posters and graphics.
I officially started my career my senior year before graduating college at a small agency local to my hometown designing websites and restaurant graphics. I was there for a few months when I landed a dream job at Toys R Us working under their Babies R Us Brand as a Graphic Designer. I moved from Pennsylvania to New Jersey with my now husband to be closer to the Toys R Us corporate headquarters and worked there for almost 5 years, until they went out of business. I learned so much at that job, I was able to sharpen not only my graphic design skills, but my illustration skills too while also making friends who felt like family.
Sophie: How did you know you wanted to get into illustration and pattern design? Are you self taught or how did you learn the ins and outs of illustration/design?
Hollei: I’ve always loved illustration and have been drawing since I was a child. My mom still has a book cover Illustration I did in middle school for a book report! When I went to college Illustration was a concentration within the Communication Design program but I chose to stick with Graphic Design & Web Design. I challenged myself to infuse illustration with everything I did. Eventually when I had corporate jobs I offered to add in illustrations at every chance I could.
Over time I realized I enjoyed illustrating more than I did graphic design. Don’t get me wrong, graphic design is still my passion but I love the challenge of illustrating and honing in my style. I have taken a lot of online classes about art licensing, creating patterns in photoshop/illustrator and creating art that clients are looking to use in a commercial setting. So I’d say I’m self taught from an illustration perspective. Illustration is something that requires a lot of practice and honing in on your style. My illustrations have evolved so much even from a few years ago!
Sophie: You worked with Target in 2021 on their Bullseye Playground Art Decor. All the artwork and the mood boards you created were INCREDIBLE. Can you share what that experience was like?
Hollei: Thank you so much! I was working with a company who develops & manufactures products specifically for Target Bullseye Playground. They brought me on to develop, design and art direct the 2021 Art Decor program that was focused on mix & matching wall art. We started with moodboards to get a sense of the different types of art collections that Target was looking for and then went ahead and started creating art. There was so much art to be made, so we divided artwork and distributed it based on other illustrator’s styles. I ended up illustrating 10 different designs while art directing 4 different print assortments. This was the first time I saw my artwork IN MY STYLE on a product at a store, and at TARGET?! Pinch me! I’m still so proud of this collection and so proud of everyone who worked on this.
Sophie: What has been one of your favorite creative projects to work on to date?
Hollei: Oh my goodness, it’s so hard to choose! There are a lot of client projects I’ve done this year so far that are super exciting and I can’t wait to share about them but they’re under lock and key! I’ve recently done some work for a dream retailer of mine in the gift supply industry. I also just worked on a style guide and character illustrations for a HUGE well known streaming service. I’m waiting to hear back if that project will actually be approved to move forward, fingers crossed! Primarily my business is focused on illustration & product design but I still do graphic design work and one of my clients is Advertising Week. The past two years I’ve designed their signage graphics and have helped to art direct onsite at their NYC event. It's amazing to design the graphics and then see them come to life at the venue and see people interact with the graphics at the event.
Sophie: You have an incredible portfolio of beautiful designs both on social media and your website. You are such an accomplished artist and I’m always so inspired by your work! But can you take us back to the beginning? Do you remember what it was like when you got your first client and how you first started making sales/attracting clients to your business?
Hollei: Thank you so much, that means a lot to me! After losing my job at Toys R Us I quickly learned what an anomaly it was to truly love your work, coworkers and be able to grow in your career all at the same time. After that job it was hard to find the right fit. I worked in NYC for a little and bounced around until eventually I learned nothing would quite feel the same as what we had at Toys R Us. I’ve always done odd freelance jobs here and there while working in the corporate world and I started dreaming about what it would be like to work for myself full-time.
PLOT TWIST, COVID. I lost my job and was searching for a new corporate job, but I was pregnant. I was scared and didn’t know where to start. I felt lost in my career but grounded in the fact that I was now going to be a mother. My mindset wavered between “what if I don’t have a steady paycheck” to “what if I had flexibility to care for my daughter”. I honestly prayed to God so much in that season of my life to give me signs on which direction to take my career in. I was getting closer to my daughter’s due date so any work that I could take at that point would need to be part time freelance. I thought to myself, no one wants to hire a pregnant woman full time who was about to go on maternity leave. Because I was still on the job hunt, opportunities and interviews were still popping up for me but this time I strongly voiced I was only looking for freelance because I would soon be on maternity leave. I finally landed some new clients with a combination of praying to God, voicing I would only take freelance and saying yes to every opportunity even if it scared me. During that time I got to work on a new kids product line and even went into NYC to art direct the signage for Advertising Week all while pregnant. Losing my job while I was pregnant was a blessing in disguise. I’m so thankful for the mindset change it’s given me and for my first clients that said yes to me!
Sophie: What’s a pro tip for growing your client/customer base that you wish you would have known when you first started?
Hollei: Client outreach via email! I wish I would have known this right out of college. It takes some work to design an email and a lot of work to create content for it but really the concept is so simple: email the companies you want to work for and show them the work you want to do. When I first started trying to get freelance clients I always wondered how people did it. I literally would reach out to illustrators I admired on Instagram, ask them how they got opportunities and would sign up for classes that gave you the “secret” on how to get clients. Every single one would say they would just randomly get clients that reached out to them after they saw their Instagram. Personally this has NEVER happened to me and if it has it’s usually someone looking to pay me via “exposure”. In life I have learned that you have to ask for what you want, opportunities won’t just fall in your lap. The best way I’ve been able to grow my client base is by creating an email using Mail Chimp that includes a recent project asking them if they would like to collaborate on something similar, followed by more of my recent work and a little bit about me. There are a bunch of apps and websites that help you find people’s emails like Agency Access & Wiza. Do some web sleuthing via linkedin, make yourself an email template and don’t be afraid to ask for what you want!
Sophie: What do you think is one of the most underrated ways to market your business?
Hollei: I would say email is underrated. There are a lot of great ways to use email whether it’s new client outreach or keeping your existing clients up to date on new projects you’re working on to keep yourself top of mind for client work. I also just started a newsletter which was a huge goal of mine and turns out it wasn’t as difficult as I thought, so I wish I had started it sooner! But I’ve gotten a lot of great feedback via email so far and like how I can view the analytics. Another underrated way to market your business is surprisingly Facebook groups. I specifically use it for freelancing and commissions. Some of the groups I frequent are Freelancing Females, Create & Cultivate and Creative Lady Collective. I actually have had quite a few leads for clients and commissions there. Usually someone is looking for something specific or posts about an opportunity available and I reply with a little description about me and a link to my portfolio.
Sophie: You sometimes share instagram stories with your beautiful daughter and what it’s like working from home with her. Can you share what it’s been like to work from home now as a mom and how you’re balancing it all?
Hollei: It is super challenging to find the balance between being a mom & wife, working and finding ways to take care of myself emotionally and physically. I’m just now starting to feel more balanced and she’s 15 months old! I am super fortunate that my husband also works from home with a flexible schedule so we’re able to take shifts with our daughter. Usually I will get up at 5am and work until our daughter wakes up from her first nap around 11am and then again when she takes a second nap. I started working again 4 months after my daughter was born and limited the amount of freelance hours I could take on at first. When my daughter was under one her schedule was changing more frequently and she was still nursing which was very demanding of my time. But now that she’s older it’s much easier to manage. There’s no getting around it, being a mother is a full time job and there’s only so much time in a day. So I’ve learned to give myself some grace and be more flexible in adjusting my schedule and expectations for myself. This is just a season of my life and I know it won’t last forever so I want to savor as many moments with my daughter as I can.
I could talk about the balance of motherhood and work for days but here are some quick tips!
Work and take meetings when the baby is sleeping whether it’s a nap or at night
Find time to move your body physically (personally it helps me think clearer and more efficiently)
Accept help when it’s offered
Give yourself grace!
Sophie: Do you have any tips for aspiring artists who are just starting out but have dreams of doing something similar with their business someday?
Hollei: I heard someone say once that you lose every opportunity that you don’t ask for. It’s so true. My biggest advice is just get out there, ask someone if they need a new logo or are looking for an illustrator. You’d be surprised by the amount of people in your network who are looking for your talent. Reach out to brands or companies that you want to work for. Create the art that you want to see or you want to make with clients. Just do, and don’t think too much about it! All of the invoice keeping, contracts and back end business stuff can be learned via an online class or a book. You will learn along the way once you cross those business bridges. My other biggest advice is purchase and read The Graphic Artist's Guild Handbook of Pricing and Ethical Guidelines. Literally everything you need to know about invoices, rates, contracts, etc. is in there. I frequently look at that book for different scenarios that may pop up in my business, it’s a must have for graphic artists.
Sophie: Any opportunities, dreams or new things coming soon for you that you can share with us?
Hollei: Yes! Super excited that the product line I helped develop and design with The Influencer Initiative for Boss Baby Brody is now at Walmart stores this week! I actually haven’t got to see it in person at my local store yet but when I do I will definitely be sharing it on my Instagram. I am so proud to have illustrated and designed products that inspire learning through self-confidence, inclusivity, and positivity!
I also just started a newsletter for my business last month which I’m really excited about. It’s a new and exciting way for me to share my process, personality, knowledge and connect with people who follow my journey in a different way from social media. In my newsletter I share recent client work & personal work, life updates and some of my favorites like TV series, podcasts, books, etc. I also plan to give monthly freebies for my newsletter subscribers!
As far as dreams and goals, I HAVE SO MANY! But what’s on the top of my list for this year is sharing the knowledge I’ve learned along the way with other aspiring creatives who want to start freelancing. Throughout my 10 years in the industry, I found it so hard to find information on client outreach, contracts, proposals, invoicing, rates, etc. It discouraged me so much that I would have a panic attack or turn down work! When I felt like other artists were gatekeeping their “secrets”. So my goal for this year is to start giving back that information to our creative community and share that knowledge via my email, social channels & classes.
ABOUT HOLLEI
I’m Hollei Anne Hayes an illustrator, designer & mama living in Pennsylvania. My passion is creating colorfully optimistic illustrations that feature playful hand lettering for product design, surface design and commercial work. I started my career as a graphic designer in the corporate world and now I freelance full time all while raising my daughter from home.
