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Meet Camille Hayes

Today we’d like to introduce you to Camille Hayes.

Thanks for sharing your story with us Camille. So, let’s start at the beginning and we can move on from there.
I’ve been creating custom type and logos since I was a kid. Every chance I had to hand letter all of the place cards at Thanksgiving dinner or design emblems for my friends, I would jump all over it. I began the first iteration of my graphic design business in 2007 designing gig posters, band logos and album art for my friends’ bands. Athens is a music town, so I always had plenty of freelance work, although it didn’t pay as much in those days. After graduating from the Lamar Dodd School of Art at the University of Georgia, my business continued to grow and in July 2019, Camille Hayes Design moved into its first brick and mortar studio!

We’re always bombarded by how great it is to pursue your passion, etc – but we’ve spoken with enough people to know that it’s not always easy. Overall, would you say things have been easy for you?
Starting in 2012, I began live painting. I would set up my easel and a blank canvas and paint “live” as bands would play in venues all around Atlanta and Athens. While I’ve always loved painting live, I feel like there was a time when people would mostly request my professional painting practice instead of hiring me for graphic design jobs. People would recognize me out and about as the ‘girl who paints.’ While I was happy to be spreading art to others, I wanted to grow my design business more and focus on that instead. While growing my business quickly over the past few years, the challenge became when to take the next step with my graphic design business. It’s taken a while, but once I found my studio, I decided it was time to make my freelance business a real company. As of February 2020, I formed my LLC!

So, as you know, we’re impressed with Camille Hayes Design – tell our readers more, for example what you’re most proud of as a company and what sets you apart from others.
Camille Hayes Design, LLC is a full-service graphic design and branding company based in Athens, Georgia. I design for clients of all shapes and sizes from small start-ups to large companies needing a full-scale brand refresh. I specialize in print design, digital design and UX. Connecting clients with their visual identity is rewarding. The moment when the right design clicks in their heads and hearts is one of my favorite steps of the creative process. I absolutely love creating a logo for a new business and guiding my clients through the branding process. I also work with clients in creating a digital strategy for their business, and aid in creating ad and website copy as needed to highlight their story.

Since 2019, I have been the graphic designer for the Athens Twilight Criterium, which is an annual road cycling race that takes place in the spring and is in its 41st year. Last year I came up with the theme “40 Years of Gears.” Designing thematic elements for large scale festivals has been taking up a lot of my time recently, and I’m currently working on the graphic design for the AthFest Music and Arts Festival held each June in downtown Athens and the AthHalf half marathon and 5k races held in October. Working with Twilight and AthFest, which are extremely loved annual events in Athens, has become some of my favorite work within my design business. Creating a theme and applying it to all aspects of the festival to give the crowd a great visual experience is extremely satisfying!

I’m in constant contact with my clients. If I need to work in a time crunch, I absolutely can make it happen. I think one thing that sets me apart is the way that my mind sees visuals and brand marks as soon as clients begin talking about their businesses in our initial meeting. Many times, the very first thing that I sketch roughly after our first meeting ends up being how the final design looks. That gut visual instinct has been with me as long as I can remember.

So, what’s next? Any big plans?
I plan to continue growing my business and hope to take on more large-scale event and festival designs.

Another change in the future will be to add my first team member. While I currently design all client websites, I would love to add a web developer to my team to expand the business and offer more customization to my clients.

Pricing:

  • $65 / hour for additional scope

Contact Info:

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