Notes from the Studio
A collection of insights, ideas, and behind-the-scenes stories from Astrid Storey, a strategic graphic designer and creative director. Here, you’ll find smart takes on branding, marketing, design trends, and the messy, meaningful work of building bold brands. Whether you’re a fellow creative or a marketing lead looking for fresh perspective, these posts are written to inform, inspire, and keep things real.
What Your Starbucks Order Says About You
Are you a cold brew creative or a matcha visionary? Your go-to Starbucks drink might reveal more than your caffeine preference—it could reflect your brand voice, too. Discover what your order says about how you show up in business.
Creative Problem-Solving: How Graphic Designers Tackle Challenges
When most people think of design, the first thing that comes to mind is making things look amazing – and that’s definitely part of the
How to Scale Your Marketing with a Fractional Creative
Let’s be real: as a small business owner, keeping up with marketing can feel like you’re in a constant juggling act, trying to balance everything
5 Common Mistakes You Can Avoid When Choosing a Font
When it comes to design, choosing the right font is crucial. Whether you’re working on a new website, sales materials, presentation deck, annual report or
Should I still use Facebook for my business page and marketing?
It depends on your specific audience and their demographics. While Facebook remains one of the most popular social media platforms with over 2.8 billion monthly
How much should my monthly ad spend be?
This is a question that comes up a lot when I am working with small businesses planning on running ads for the first time. Business
The Ultimate Guide to Outsource Your Company’s Creative Needs
Tired of juggling design, copy, and content in-house? Learn how to outsource your creative needs confidently—from hiring freelance designers to building a scalable creative workflow. This guide breaks it all down.
Is your UX preventing your website from closing deals?
User experience or (UX) is the feeling users have when they are using a product, app, system or service. It covers anything from how the
Hourly rates, project rates and retainer rates: which is the right one for my project?
During my time owning a business and serving clients, I have been fascinated by the topic of pricing and rates. So much so, I wrote
Should I have my Virtual Assistant do my day-to-day graphic design?
This question pops up fairly often when my smaller clients – successful business owners with growing businesses – are interested in hiring me to create