Card Designer Highlight: Good Juju Ink
6 min read
The Card Designer Highlight is a collection that includes unbiased makers whose greeting playing cards you could find in Paper Supply shops. Meet and be impressed by a brand new designer each month on our weblog!
Juliana, sparked by her longtime love of playing cards and candid recommendation took her journey full circle from Paper Supply admirer to vendor. What began with 3 greeting card designs has grown right into a thriving enterprise with over 500 well-loved designs bought worldwide.
How did you start your card-making profession?
First, let’s go means again to elementary faculty. I distinctly keep in mind having a little bit white Easter basket in my bed room once I was rising up, and I might fill it with all of the playing cards that I acquired over the course of every 12 months. Nobody informed me to do that—and I started doing it at a really younger age (possibly as early as 5 – 6). I’ve great recollections of pulling that little basket off of my bookshelf and re-reading playing cards from relations and pals. It was type of like my first actual acutely aware act of self-care!
Okay—quick ahead to 2014. After a few years, I had lastly ended an unhealthy skilled relationship with the appearing trade (that’s its personal story, however I’ll spare you the small print), and I used to be in want of some severe skilled self-care. I LOVED to attract, and I used to be delighted on the prospect of a brand new profession the place my inventive output was not instantly tied to my very own look. Imagine it or not, I began frequenting Paper Supply areas the place I might stand in entrance of the cardboard wall for hours, simply studying playing cards and laughing or feeling impressed or being moved to tears…(nothing higher than a superb card wall, amirite?) One afternoon, I used to be purchasing for a birthday card for my sister-in-law, and I picked up a pleasant card from an organization known as Fats Bunny Press. It turned out Fats Bunny Press was primarily based simply up the street from me in San Francisco! So, I known as the proprietor, Eva Hamden Grall (who’s now a lifelong good friend) and requested her if she’d contemplate hiring me? She had a fair higher concept—she stated, “Juju, when you understand that almost all card corporations consist of 1 chick gluing issues and packing issues in her condominium till two within the morning, you understand that you simply, too, can begin your individual enterprise. You don’t want an MBA, you don’t must apprentice wherever…you simply want guts and a little bit little bit of insomnia. Juju, simply begin your individual firm!” Two months later, I launched an Etsy retailer with 3 greeting playing cards. Now, we’ve got greater than 500 designs bought in hundreds of shops all over the world!
The place do you draw inspiration from?
I believe the higher query is the place does my inspiration NOT come from…celebrated literature, the ocean, lovely butterflies, historic Egypt, toile, rivers and mountains and forests, Parisian structure, the human expertise…and laughter. Heaps and many laughter. Thank god I’ve a workforce to rein me in, as a result of I’ve far an excessive amount of inventive inspiration and much too little time. However I’ll say this—there’s NOTHING extra entertaining than a Good Juju Ink inventive workforce brainstorming session. My junior designers are completely good/humorous/empathetic, and so they assist push ALL of our work to the following degree! Simply have a look at our latest releases and I believe you’ll agree!
What does your day appear like as a cardmaker?
Actually no day is similar. And in addition to my morning cup of Irish breakfast tea, I’m not one for routines. So every day could be very very very completely different. Subsequently, I’ll let you know what I did yesterday, because it’s most likely pretty much as good of an instance as any! Half 1: I awakened, had tea and breakfast with my household, and admired my beautiful cat, Wallace. Half 2: I ready for our weekly Good Juju Ink inventive workforce assembly with my two extremely proficient junior designers. We talked about patterns, dancing snowmen, walruses, vintage clocks—and the way we’d incorporate all of this stuff into upcoming deadlines. Half 3: I drew all kinds of ribbons for our summer season puzzle launch (GAH, I’m so excited for these!). Half 4: I obtained distracted and checked out beautiful textiles for much too lengthy. Half 5: I spotted that I forgot to eat lunch so I ate some meals. Half 6: I picked up my daughter from preschool and took her to swimming classes. Half 7: We ate dinner as a household and obtained my daughter ready for mattress. Half 8: I stayed awake till the wee hours of the morning doing a little mixture of drawing/brainstorming/emailing/studying/ fairly footage. Half 9: I fell asleep on the sofa.
What’s your most popular medium?
One way or the other, again to start with of this journey, I created all the things on paper earlier than scanning and making ready for print. I’m speaking coloured pencils, scissors, charcoal, oil paint on canvas—and it took FOREVER. Sooner or later, I obtained a mild nudge from a fellow designer to take the leap into the scary digital world. Right here’s the factor—my background is in performing arts and old skool positive arts. Earlier than beginning Good Juju Ink, I used to be an expert actor, dancer, and choreographer. I had completely zero graphic design expertise or training. So this was terrifying!
However you recognize what? By sheer dedication and Pinterest and the world broad internet, I figured it out! And looking out again, how did I ever do something earlier than my iPad Professional? Now, I create nearly all the things utilizing Adobe Fresco/Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. My recordsdata don’t all the time comply with the most effective organizational layer practices, and so they’ve typically been identified to crash computer systems, however the ultimate product is all that issues, proper?
What does your inventive course of appear like?
It appears like a messy mixture of Pinterest boards, typed notes on my telephone, written notes on numerous items of paper/notebooks/notepads, typed notes on my laptop, sketches on my iPad, emails, Instagram, Google Docs, texts to my husband telling him to recollect a tremendous concept that I actually don’t wish to overlook, and 5 billion concepts which might be consistently bouncing round my head. After which, after many discussions with my junior designers/manufacturing workforce and plenty of MANY hours of digital illustration and rendering, all of these issues miraculously come collectively into new merchandise.
What are you most happy with as a creator and card maker?
These questions are TOUGH and I’m happy with so many issues, however for the sake of all you readers, I’ll restrict myself to 2 issues. First, I’m unbelievably happy with the Good Juju Ink workforce. I like the those who I work with, together with our junior designers, our printing companions, our success workforce, and my two enterprise companions (one is my greatest good friend and the opposite is my husband and it’s wonderful). Second, I’m happy with the considerate, engaged, human connections that our merchandise assist facilitate. Life is stuffed with all kinds of joys and challenges and celebrations and devastation and magic. Understanding that we can assist individuals navigate all of this—wherever they occur to be in their very own particular journey—figuring out that we will contact the hearts of tens of hundreds of individuals all over the world is one thing that conjures up me each single day.
Discover Good Juju Ink’s Lunch Field Mom’s Day Card and New Residence New Adventures Card at your native retailer or on-line at papersource.com. For extra inspiration and behind-the-scenes motion, comply with @goodjujuink on IG.
