FEMME STORIES | Edition 26 | Sabrina

What is Saint Street Creative?

Saint Street Creative is a full-service boutique design studio, specializing in forging unique and hand-crafted brands and websites. I have a collaborative approach which allows me to uncover what it takes to make your business grow. I analyze your audience, look at your businesses pain points and discover what truly makes your brand stand out from the rest. The deliverables at the end of the project are an added bonus to the clarity and direction you will uncover in the process.

What is the meaning behind your brand name?

Growing up I was always intrigued by my initials ‘S.T.’ because it’s an abbreviation for both Saint and Street. This was my homage to my name since I knew I’d be changing it once I got married and through why not make it my business name. 

What does your client look like, if someone is reading this and thinks could I work with her, what would you answer?

I wouldn’t say that I have an ‘ideal’ client, I really want to cater to a wide range of people and love to work on different types of projects. From more established businesses that need a more in-depth branding or web experience to someone with a smaller business and perhaps a smaller budget. For these clients I offer VIP Design Intensives that come at a smaller price point and help get their branding done in an 8-hour day or their website done in a 1 or 2 week time period.

Talk more about your intensive design days. I did our VIP design day and loved that at the end of the day my branding was done and ready to go. What kind of a client could a design day work for and what does that day look like?

I recommend reaching out, this call helps me decide if this option is a good fit for you. If we decide to move forward, I will come up with a mood board ahead of time and have the client look it over it to make sure that I'm on the right track before I start designing. Because it is only an eight-hour day, I do as much planning beforehand as possible to make sure that those hours are productive. I start designing right away, and throughout the day I’ll hop on a call with the client to make sure that they like the direction. This gives the client time to review my work and see if there are any changes to make, then I go back to the drawing board, make those changes, and we repeat this as needed throughout the day. I usually try to design one main logo, one brand mark, and one icon along with a colour palette and font system. At day's end, they have a whole rebrand completed. The following day I upload all of the files to a shared folder and the client then has all of their branding completed and ready to use.

A VIP intensive isn’t for every client, some projects need more time. For these, I also offer a 1-week or 2-week-long VIP Intensive or a Full-service design experience.

Are people shocked that it can be done in a day?

I find it's a mix of both. Business owners often don't have the time themselves and they want it done quickly, also it could be that the business doesn’t have the budget to do a full brand or rebrand, because that obviously costs more money, takes more time and research.

Each client that comes to me is at different stages, some don't need the whole research aspect right now, maybe down the road they will but at this moment, they don't, so an intensive VIP day works perfectly for them.

You left the company you were working for in 2018. Was it always the plan to start your own agency?

It was a spur of the moment decision, and I probably should have planned it out more. If  you are reading this now, my advice is, plan it out better, because for me it was rough at first. What brought about this spur of the moment decision was a mix of me not loving the work that I was doing, and having that nine to five job that left me stressed. I wasn't enjoying it. Both of my parents are entrepreneurs, and seeing how they had flexibility showed me I wasn’t getting that by working for someone else. We have a trailer that we would go to every summer, they were able take time off to go up north with us, and in the end,  I want to have that flexibility in my life too. Now if I want to have a slower morning, and go for a longer walk with my dog, I can. You  only have this one life and I wanted to live it my own way.

You have been working on website templates that just launched this week. How has this process been and how can customers see/shop these templates?

The process has been great! Actually working through it, I hadn’t anticipated how much work there would be but now that it’s launched I am so proud of it. I wanted to create these templates to diversify income in my business but ultimately to help businesses that are starting out with a really low budget or even businesses that love to DIY. The templates are a starting point to help you get your website into the world by replacing the template information with your own. They’re easy to edit, and mobile optimized and you can shop these templates by going to my website.

You talk on your Instagram about imposter syndrome, this was a post during the pandemic and in your first year of business. Does that imposter feeling still come up, if so how do you combat it?

Yes, it does, and honestly, I push through. For me I love what I do and I love helping amazing business owners get their branding ready to go, so it does crop up but I try to keep it in perspective. If I don’t push through then everyone's missing out, I'm not making an income, and I'm not helping people and their businesses. When it comes to imposter syndrome, I try and remember that when you’re younger you think ‘my parents are superheroes’ they know everything! Then you grow up and realize they didn’t always feel 100% confident in what they were doing, but they pushed through for their family.

Lastly what are you currently reading?

The Alice Network by Kate Quinn

Working with Sabrina was a perfect experience. I have always done everything for Copious, so it could have felt scary to hand over the reins, but with each step Sabrina listened to me, learned about my company and worked to bring our vision together. Saint Street Creative is a full-service boutique design studio that translates what makes a company unique into a set of visuals that compliments their style, their business and their values. If you have been thinking of your branding or know your website needs a redesign, or are at the start of all this, reach out to Saint Street Creative today.