• I don’t know about you all, but we have been having gorgeous weather in Philly for the past few days. 80° yesterday was the perfect preview for Summer which just brought a total energy shift for me. So, to celebrate that, I thought I’d share a quick #WIP of some Instagram templates that will be available for purchase on my soon-to-launch website. Want to get on the waitlist for these? You can join my email list via the link in my bio to find out when these bad boys go live 🥳
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    I don’t know about you all, but we have been having gorgeous weather in Philly for the past few days. 80° yesterday was the perfect preview for Summer which just brought a total energy shift for me. So, to celebrate that, I thought I’d share a quick #WIP of some Instagram templates that will be available for purchase on my soon-to-launch website. Want to get on the waitlist for these? You can join my email list via the link in my bio to find out when these bad boys go live 🥳
  • Okay, it’s time for a #fridayintroductions Instagram vs. Reality edition. 📸: @rubyolivia.photography First of all, hello to all of the new faces & those of you I haven’t met yet! My name is Emily and I am the designer behind Refined Studios! I am super passionate about website & brand design, and feel so lucky to have found this little community space on IG. I designed my first website about 12 years ago (I popped off on Tumblr) and somehow transitioned that into a full on design career. When I’m not designing, I’m literally laughing my way through life (swipe right for photographic evidence), drinking lots of iced coffee, and traveling for *design-related-research-purposes* I’d love to get to know more of you in here, so my DM’s, comments, email, etc. is always open!
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    Okay, it’s time for a #fridayintroductions Instagram vs. Reality edition. 📸: @rubyolivia.photography First of all, hello to all of the new faces & those of you I haven’t met yet! My name is Emily and I am the designer behind Refined Studios! I am super passionate about website & brand design, and feel so lucky to have found this little community space on IG. I designed my first website about 12 years ago (I popped off on Tumblr) and somehow transitioned that into a full on design career. When I’m not designing, I’m literally laughing my way through life (swipe right for photographic evidence), drinking lots of iced coffee, and traveling for *design-related-research-purposes* I’d love to get to know more of you in here, so my DM’s, comments, email, etc. is always open!
  • More Refined Studios branded things this week. This is probably not final, but I like it anyway haha. I’m working on refreshing my website, and with that, I’ve started blogging. One of my favorite things I’ve written so far is about the evolution of my brand — and how & why it’s changed as my business has grown. I think it’s important sometimes as a business owner (especially one who works in branding!) to take some time to reflect on your brand & the phases of business your in. It can be hard to know when to rebrand your business, but honestly if you take the time to get introspective and really think about where you’re at / where you’re going, you’ll know pretty quickly whether or not your brand is serving you!
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    More Refined Studios branded things this week. This is probably not final, but I like it anyway haha. I’m working on refreshing my website, and with that, I’ve started blogging. One of my favorite things I’ve written so far is about the evolution of my brand — and how & why it’s changed as my business has grown. I think it’s important sometimes as a business owner (especially one who works in branding!) to take some time to reflect on your brand & the phases of business your in. It can be hard to know when to rebrand your business, but honestly if you take the time to get introspective and really think about where you’re at / where you’re going, you’ll know pretty quickly whether or not your brand is serving you!
  • Sharing some Sunday thoughts that are feeling especially relevant as I just sent out a brand strategy / creative direction this evening. Honestly, being creative on demand can be hard, which is one of the many reasons why I think leaning into strategy is so important in creative careers. Really — a good design decision is one that is strategic. When you put strategy first, the rest of the process really does just begin to fall into place.
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    Sharing some Sunday thoughts that are feeling especially relevant as I just sent out a brand strategy / creative direction this evening. Honestly, being creative on demand can be hard, which is one of the many reasons why I think leaning into strategy is so important in creative careers. Really — a good design decision is one that is strategic. When you put strategy first, the rest of the process really does just begin to fall into place.
  • Earlier this week I shared a little tiny look at the rebrand I’m working on for Refined Studios. Honestly, it’s so hard to do work for your own brand. But anyway, today I’m sharing an unused concept from my soon-to-be-updated website. I ended up going in a bit of a different direction for the website, but I still really love the way the “Process” came together here.
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    Earlier this week I shared a little tiny look at the rebrand I’m working on for Refined Studios. Honestly, it’s so hard to do work for your own brand. But anyway, today I’m sharing an unused concept from my soon-to-be-updated website. I ended up going in a bit of a different direction for the website, but I still really love the way the “Process” came together here.
  • I dare you to tell me this is not one of the best letter R’s you’ve ever seen 😝 Teasing some thing that are to come, I can’t wait to share what I’ve been working on with my brand, it’s already feeling much more aligned with who I am, and what my business stands for.
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    I dare you to tell me this is not one of the best letter R’s you’ve ever seen 😝 Teasing some thing that are to come, I can’t wait to share what I’ve been working on with my brand, it’s already feeling much more aligned with who I am, and what my business stands for.
  • Okay, it’s Monday, it’s a new month, and we’re starting off strong. This week I’m working through some brand strategy research for a new client, working on e-commerce setup for another, and still celebrating the launch of a new site for @leena.Alsulaiman I’m also working in the background on some fun things for my own brand, which I’m super excited to start sharing with you guys 😊 What are you prioritizing for the month of March?
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    Okay, it’s Monday, it’s a new month, and we’re starting off strong. This week I’m working through some brand strategy research for a new client, working on e-commerce setup for another, and still celebrating the launch of a new site for @leena.Alsulaiman I’m also working in the background on some fun things for my own brand, which I’m super excited to start sharing with you guys 😊 What are you prioritizing for the month of March?
  • Okay, today I want to talk about something that is not discussed often enough, and that is investing in typefaces. I think a lot of non-designers might not know, but typefaces can often run between $125-$500 depending upon the required license. Now, I completely understand why typefaces are so expensive — it takes a lot of work & skill to develop them, however not all typefaces are equal! Which brings me to the actual intention of this post — walking you guys through the decision making process when I’m deciding to drop $$$$ on a new typeface. I’ve outlined what I look for before investing, and make some suggestions on special things to pay attention to! 1️⃣ DOES IT COME IN MULTIPLE WEIGHTS? In my mind, the more weights the better. It opens up different possibilities, allowing the typeface to be a bit more versatile. 2️⃣ DOES IT INCLUDE NUMBERS & SPECIAL CHARACTERS? The worst feeling is when you’re working on a project that requires special characters that are not included in the font system — try and get ahead of this by evaluating the system before you buy! 3️⃣ WHAT LICENSES ARE AVAILABLE? This is verrrrrry important to check, especially if your work, which includes the purchased font, is going to be sold on products etc. A commercial print/web license will cover most service based small business owners, but if you intend to sell goods or do any advanced advertising with the typeface, you’ll likely need to explore an extended commercial license. It’s always good to check this upfront, to make sure the license you require is available / within your project budget. 4️⃣ IS THE FONT LEGIBLE? Okay, this should seem obvious, but I swear sometimes it’s not. Fonts can be more / less legible at different sizes, sometimes you can scale down so small, you can no longer read the content. I see this the most often with super thin, low contrast fonts...it’s like they just fade into the background. If you’re buying a font you know you’ll be using at 14px or less, make sure you’ll be able to read it at that size! I can go on for days, but these are the “big” ones in my mind. At the end of the day, for designers typefaces are a business investment.
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    Okay, today I want to talk about something that is not discussed often enough, and that is investing in typefaces. I think a lot of non-designers might not know, but typefaces can often run between $125-$500 depending upon the required license. Now, I completely understand why typefaces are so expensive — it takes a lot of work & skill to develop them, however not all typefaces are equal! Which brings me to the actual intention of this post — walking you guys through the decision making process when I’m deciding to drop $$$$ on a new typeface. I’ve outlined what I look for before investing, and make some suggestions on special things to pay attention to! 1️⃣ DOES IT COME IN MULTIPLE WEIGHTS? In my mind, the more weights the better. It opens up different possibilities, allowing the typeface to be a bit more versatile. 2️⃣ DOES IT INCLUDE NUMBERS & SPECIAL CHARACTERS? The worst feeling is when you’re working on a project that requires special characters that are not included in the font system — try and get ahead of this by evaluating the system before you buy! 3️⃣ WHAT LICENSES ARE AVAILABLE? This is verrrrrry important to check, especially if your work, which includes the purchased font, is going to be sold on products etc. A commercial print/web license will cover most service based small business owners, but if you intend to sell goods or do any advanced advertising with the typeface, you’ll likely need to explore an extended commercial license. It’s always good to check this upfront, to make sure the license you require is available / within your project budget. 4️⃣ IS THE FONT LEGIBLE? Okay, this should seem obvious, but I swear sometimes it’s not. Fonts can be more / less legible at different sizes, sometimes you can scale down so small, you can no longer read the content. I see this the most often with super thin, low contrast fonts...it’s like they just fade into the background. If you’re buying a font you know you’ll be using at 14px or less, make sure you’ll be able to read it at that size! I can go on for days, but these are the “big” ones in my mind. At the end of the day, for designers typefaces are a business investment.
  • Okay, so I took a brief little social media break this week as I’ve been feeling a bit ✨creatively exhausted ✨ I know I’m not the only one that struggles with this, and I know how disheartening it can be to feel stuck within your own creativity...especially when you own a business that relies on said creativity. It’s become even more of a challenge for me since COVID began, the things I would typically do to recharge my creativity, like hanging out with friends, traveling, or shopping have become much less commonplace with the pandemic. So while I’m sitting here reminding you to recharge your creative energy....don’t feel bad if it’s harder than normal! (Also, yes, I did list shopping as a creative activity & I have no shame. Let’s call it trend research!)
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    Okay, so I took a brief little social media break this week as I’ve been feeling a bit ✨creatively exhausted ✨ I know I’m not the only one that struggles with this, and I know how disheartening it can be to feel stuck within your own creativity...especially when you own a business that relies on said creativity. It’s become even more of a challenge for me since COVID began, the things I would typically do to recharge my creativity, like hanging out with friends, traveling, or shopping have become much less commonplace with the pandemic. So while I’m sitting here reminding you to recharge your creative energy....don’t feel bad if it’s harder than normal! (Also, yes, I did list shopping as a creative activity & I have no shame. Let’s call it trend research!)
  • Do you ever design something that you just love...beyond words? That’s how I’m feeling about this fun Squarespace blog design 🥰 it’s super minimal and clean, but still very impactful. I have to give a huge shoutout to Rache at @squarestylist and her Standout Squarespace course. I thought I knew Squarespace well before her course, but her systems and development process have opened up so many new design doors. If you don’t like Squarespace websites because you think everything looks like a template...you’re just not working with the right people 🙊
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    Do you ever design something that you just love...beyond words? That’s how I’m feeling about this fun Squarespace blog design 🥰 it’s super minimal and clean, but still very impactful. I have to give a huge shoutout to Rache at @squarestylist and her Standout Squarespace course. I thought I knew Squarespace well before her course, but her systems and development process have opened up so many new design doors. If you don’t like Squarespace websites because you think everything looks like a template...you’re just not working with the right people 🙊