Today we’d like to introduce you to Sarah Sigg.
Sarah, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started my journey working in graphic design back in high school, specifically in the fall semester of 2012. I took a free elective involving the creation of original, small projects such as logos and vector graphics for the athletics, the arts department, etc. Simultaneously, I was beginning to be an active member of my high school’s Future Business Leaders of America chapter. The following academic year, during the spring semester of 2014, I began competing in competitions for two categories: Desktop Publishing and Digital Design. Both in spring 2014 and 2015, I placed first for both competitions are a regional level, and in March 2015 placed in the Top Ten (at 10th) out of 30+ other teams for the state level for Desktop Publishing. This gave me such great confidence and wanted to continue the talent and passion I was finding in myself into my college education to begin a career.
My college education was at Kennesaw State University, where I majored in Art but had a concentration in Graphic Communications and received my BFA from there this past May. I don’t think I could recommend or promote that program more than I already do. The projects and creative work I was assigned were a challenge and tested not only what I was actively learning in the lectures, but how my skills were improving and how my concept-thinking was developing and growing. My professors were always pushing for us to do good, were always willing and happy to talk with you and help you in creative-blocks, and constantly promoted the importance of networking and growing your portfolio.
From then and on, life after graduation has been a wild ride and the biggest challenge I’ve had to face. Any college student reading this would say I’m wrong, and I could be for your situation, but everyone thinks they’re going to get an amazing, once-in-a-lifetime job opportunity immediately after school. It’s a strange and sad reality, but it’s false. Finding a job and starting my career has been really hard after graduation and after having the privilege to work two internships in Atlanta, I felt empty and had nothing. I’ve been lucky to have loved ones surround me with support and encouragement, but it’s been a challenge. I started freelancing under Sarah Sigg Design closer to the end of my college career and have done a lot of personal work for my portfolio. I’ve created logos and branding identity for small communities and organizations back in my hometown of Augusta, Georgia and I’ve even been working on my own wedding’s creative work, such as the save the dates, invitations, etc.
From starting back in 2012 to now and moving forward, things have not been easy and smooth and being successful isn’t a breeze for anyone that truly cares and/or has the drive and ethic that people such as myself I’d say would have. I’ve been let go of jobs without notifications, I’ve been turned down after almost every single job interview – if they called me back at all, been taken advantage of those I thought were friends, but the sad reality of that is, is that the people who are successful and made it big in this career field are the ones who’ve struggled most. That feeling of struggle is what gives people the drive to change. Sometimes we fall and we don’t want to get back up, and even takes a moment to get back up. All that matters is that you are motivated, you are driven, and you have goals to set and are determined to meet. I am really excited to see what other work I create under my brand of Sarah Sigg Design and where I will be going career-wise over the next few to several years.
Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Definitely a no, but I have been surprised to see what comes through and the reasons why things don’t. There have been many hardships I had to face to grow and become the designer that I want to be, the biggest being what people thought/think of me.
Obviously the first thing someone is going to notice about you as a client, colleague, an employer, etc. is your branding and how you carry yourself. It took me to find a branding image for myself that I was actually happy with because I kept worrying about what people would think of it. I remember having thoughts like “if I use this PMS color over this one, people won’t like it” and “my branding is too corporate, it makes me look too serious” but none of that is true at all. Also, if you have met me or know me (especially at a personal level), you know it is so hard for me to be a serious person and not show my emotions or anxieties. That is something I’m very self-conscious about is that I am not the professional that I should be, even though I know I work hard, have goals and work ethic, and that I truly care about the work I create and making a client or colleague satisfied.
Another struggle I’ve dealt with is people telling me that I won’t make it, and sometimes even believing it to be true. When I left my hometown to go to college, several people back home would question my choice of studies and career path and would try to make me paranoid and afraid of failure. An old roommate and friend of mine constantly would tell me directly that I was a failure and always would be. Some old co-workers from a seasonal job would always tell me I would never get far cause “anyone can do graphic design” and that I was wasting my time. I think that being afraid to fail is oddly a good thing because that shows you care about yourself and your work. While maybe these folks were either truly concerned or had the goal to make me feel bad, it pushed me to work hard and prove the people who doubted me wrong.
Alright – so let’s talk business. Tell us about your brand – what should we know?
I just officially launched Sarah Sigg Design this past summer, so far working on the smaller-end of branding projects and going to soon be working with packaging, web design, and I want to pick-up motion graphics again and start videography. I’d say I specialize in branding and majority of print design, but I also work in digital design such as icons, presentation graphics, and web layout design. For more of the hobby-end, I enjoy taking part in digital illustration and photography, both of which I started in college with elective courses.
People who ask me to work on projects are mostly word-of-mouth through friends, family, and colleagues. I’d say from previous and current clients and through my colleagues and peers, I’m most known for my reliability and trustworthiness for projects. I always do my best to put the client as my number one priority and that there is always good communication between us. My personal brand identity has been a huge plus to assist people to easily recognize the logo and remember it for an example situation such as “oh hey, that’s the girl I met at school, she could help out my friend and her apparel store brand”.
Young designers like myself, I feel oftentimes “design for themselves” for their client work. Say a client is targeted to the Gen X audience but designers want to make it playful, fun, and modern, which I feel is something not many in that audience could understand what people in a Millennial audience would. I design for what fits best with a targeted audience, research the demographics and competitors, and sketch out all ideas on my iPad and present them before ever moving forward to Illustrator or InDesign. That way not only is my time not being wasted, but the clients’ time isn’t wasted either. I am most proud of how far I’ve come from a young girl with passions and dreams a lot of people had doubt in and growing more each year not just as a normal and fun ATLien graphic designer, but as the woman I know I’ve made my parents proud for.
Any shoutouts? Who else deserves credit in this story – who has played a meaningful role?
This list is quite long, and I believe they know how much I do appreciate them but saying “thank you” once I feel just as a person is never enough. I’d like to give credit and thank you to Jim and Tina Sigg, Brendan Dufek, Kylie Daniel, Rachel Wyatt, and all the past professors and teachers I’ve had in my education.
My parents and fiancé are there for me to listen to my rants and struggles but also for the celebrations and joy. My parents have literally been there since day one of my life and watching me grow and continue my journey of design and being the fun, creative person I’ve always been. My fiancé Brendan is in the same career field as me, so it’s really awesome having someone by your side to understand the hardships and be able to critique one another’s work and portfolio to help one another grow.
Kylie Daniel is my old mentor I had through AIGA’s Rise Up Mentorship program that we completed together this past spring. She really helped me come out of my comfort zone and see the work I was creating from an outside perspective to really appreciate it more and since I feel more confident and less worrisome about having a negative attitude towards the work I was creating. Rachel Wyatt is an amazing, adorable human who actually helped me get my first internship during college at House of Current. She not only would be the one I’d go to for feedback and help with projects I worked on there, but has been someone I can go to for help in general about design struggles and being a reference for me for job applications.
For all of my past professors at KSU and teachers who are/were at Greenbrier High School, thank you for helping me become the person I thought I’d never be. You all are the reasons why I am the designer and professional I have become through your teachings and help.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.sarahsigg.com
- Phone: 7068258138
- Email: design@sarahsigg.com
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sarahsigg_design/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/sarahsiggdesign
- Other: https://www.linkedin.com/in/sarah-sigg-035269147/
Image Credit:
Headshot Photos: Brendan Dufek
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