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InnovationSpace grads Angela Hardison and Raquel Raney practice the fine art of entrepreneurial design
As the end of her senior year at ASU was drawing to a close, Angela Hardison embarked on a busy round of job interviews in graphic design. But nothing seemed to capture her interest. After much consideration, she suggested to an InnovationSpace classmate that they start their own business after graduation. Fellow graphic designer Raquel Raney, who was having a similar experience, quickly rose to the challenge. “We decided to go for it,” Hardison recalls. As they spent their last semester preparing for their InnovationSpace final exhibit, the duo also began laying the groundwork for their new enterprise. In May 2007, with freshly minted diplomas in hand, Raney and Hardison opened the doors of their business, SeeSaw Designs.
In little more than a year, SeeSaw Designs has grown from two to four designers. The firm’s portfolio now features a wide range of clients, from yoga studios and insurance companies to real estate developers, jewelers and wine producers. Raney says, “Our field of work allows us to build relationships with all sorts of people. The variety keeps things interesting.”
Raney and Hardison credit their experience in the InnovationSpace program for helping them to master the communication skills necessary for running a complex operation. “Communicating with clients takes up a lot of our time, whether it’s e-mailing, sending out estimates, explaining projects or giving client updates,” Raney observes. Working in crossdisciplinary teams offered both designers a dry run for the real work world. “InnovationSpace gave me an insight into how business really works,” Raney says. “We worked with real clients like Herman Miller. We also saw how students in other disciplines approached projects, and have been able to relate some of these skills in our business.”
And in the early months of launching SeeSaw Designs, they routinely showcased their final InnovationSpace books when meeting with potential clients. These polished, professional-grade Innovation Proposals contain everything from the team’s final product concepts and engineering specifications to marketing analyses and communications plans. “Our clients are impressed by the high level of student design work,” Raney observes.
These days, the SeeSaw partners are applying as much creative know-how to designing the future course of their business as they are to client websites and brochures. In their spare time, Raney and Hardison have been scouring Craigslist in search of letterpress printers. For now, the antique behemoths are stored in the garage adjoining their Scottsdale office, where Raney and Hardison are mastering letterpress design and printing techniques. They recently began selling their handmade letterpress cards through the company’s website. Their dream is to open a storefront where, in addition to offering retail designer products, the pair would house their letterpresses and an office area for client design services. “Good design makes us happy and we want to share that with others,” Hardison says.
For more information about SeeSaw Designs, visit the company website at seesawdesigns.com.