Interview: MixDesign

Michaline Pavnica, CEO

Can you briefly give an overview of who MixDesign is and your role?

Mixdesign is a full service branding studio that creates brand identities, graphic design, marketing and interior design theming. Our ideal customer is a business that is reinventing themselves and wants to create a recognizable brand with a strategic approach to forming that brand and presenting it to their internal operations and the general public.

We not only provide the creative, but also facilitate the research and media planning needed to launch the new brand image, style and campaign. Even procure and install the interiors. We are a turn-key creative boutique.

What sets Mix apart from the rest of the shops in NWI?

We are a design company that offers a mix of unique services. I believe that our design, illustration, mural work and interior design combination together makes us stand out. There is no other company in NWI that has the creative approach to interior theming like we do and can apply that to all of your collateral as well. That makes us a great fit for restaurant, retail and themed destinations.

Being a multi-disciplinary studio, which of your services (or types of projects) are in demand now and what type of work has slowed down?

The construction industry and the economy overall has slowed down our interior design procurement a lot. Budgets are tighter, so it is harder to sell to those that are building. But we are doing a great job helping those that are remodeling stores instead of building new. We have done more proposals over all this year than any other year in business here. However, the comment “we are waiting to see what happens with the economy” is the biggest obstacle.

Do you ever use Freelancers or would you consider working with them?

We definitely use freelancers, they are vital in keeping us inspired and help us to avoid limiting the styles that our customer can receive. It is especially useful when we are providing copywriting and creative illustration or photography. There are too many talented people out there to limit solutions to our internal group.

How has the caliber of design students been, in your opinion over the past three years?

I have interviewed many students in the last 8 years and the dart for “on-target talent” has been all over the board. There is no question that northwest indiana schools have graduated hardworking people (most hold jobs while they are going to school and that is a great feature in a potential hire because it shows that they will do what it takes). However, the actual portfolios coming in showcase a huge lack of fundamental design training. Most graduates like to impress you with their long list of programs that they have learned on their resume. But when I look for new talent, it needs to be a complete well rounded package.

The biggest hurdle is finding personalities that jive with your current team and also ones that think outside of the box…especially when you’re working so closely and creatively. The second hurdle is finding the personalities that want to learn and advance themselves. Open minded smart designers can learn programs, which are always changing anyway. But it is truly a unique find when I discover talent, fundamentals, desire, open-mindedness and work ethic all in one person. I’ve been lucky enough to have several of those through my shop and currently. I don’t think that is something that has varied or changed over the last 3 years, I think that is more of a NWI hurdle because the schools here are more technical.

Have you seen any trends with the quality of students from NWI schools as oppose to those coming from Chicagoland schools?

I should have read all the questions before starting (lol). I covered that in the last one, but the answer is YES. The NWI schools teach technical design, not purposeful, meaningful design fundamentals (typography, color theory, design history, lithography, ect). However, I have hired many from Purdue and IU. I must have just gotten really lucky or had some intuition about them. They have all been designers that wanted more and eagerly sought out the fundamentals after they found their first design job. I have also had those that don’t, and they don’t last. I’d like to think that my background in fundamentals and not programs has influenced that desire as well.

What is your overall take on the design scene in NWI?

Disappointment. It takes A TON of energy to get NWI audiences to appreciate design. I have proposed a lot of great ideas to big companies and the right people and many of them die a fast death. On the flip side, there are some great people in our area excited about design sprinkled around the county. The problem is the way NWI is layed out, there is no SoHo or Wicker Park of Lake County. I always joke with other creative business owners; if we could take all the professional creative people in NWI and put them in one little downtown row, it would be a cool little destination and we could make an impact whether they were stylists, tattoo artist, chefs or graphic designers.

As far as business goes, when you are running a for-profit entity you mostly experience the views of business people and not other designers because you are viewed more as the competition by the designers. You also have to spend a lot of time saying yes to projects that might be less creative when you have a payroll, keeping that promise to your employees is equally as important as great design. Although we have been lucky to be part of some really really cool projects as well. So it balances, I guess.

It’s great to see your entity forming a design community. A virtual community is better than none! Overall, graphic design has not yet been recognized in NWI and I think it is highly undervalued and misunderstood. The fine art, music and performing arts are out there, graphic design, not so much.

Do you or your firm give back to the creative community and if so how?

We do. It is not a strict regiment that we follow as far as mix goes, but we always have been an advocate of NFP.
Our most proud moments were our creative lock-ins that we hosted (which I would love to bring back with the help of your design fan base). We lock-in our creative team for 24 hours and help 3 to 4 non-for profits by doing as much marketing collateral for them as possible in one night. We have something similar up our sleeve for 2010 which I will unveil soon. Also, we host high school students for 10 week programs to learn about design in work study programs and we participate in most all events that we are asked to attend or assist with. My team also assists with all of my foundations events and fund raisers.

My husband and I run our non-for profit “Halo of Hope Foundation” – Our foundation takes kids from NW Indiana, Chicago and Omaha children’s hospital to a kids cancer camp 3 times a year. All the children that we have helped and host at camp have cancer or life threatening blood disorders. This year we organized 2 motorcycle runs, 1 golf outing, and a huge outdoor event in Lincoln NE where my husband played college football. Our charity raises about $32,000 a year to take 20 some kids and the camps each have between 40 and 60 kids per camp. It is extremely rewarding and you really learn that your problems aren’t problems at all.

What advice you would give someone who wanted to start their own design business in NWI?

Have a lot of resources outside of NWI. NWI is a small market. When times are tough, design and marketing are the first things that they cut or “do themselves”. Also, every media outlet servicing NWI offers “free” layout and design (you just pay “bucu” bucks for the media space) – The billboard companies, sign companies, newspapers ect. The average business in NWI loves “free design” over thoughtful design. It is both discouraging and the reason why we see all the types of ads and signage we do in our region.

Oh yah, and watch out for mixdesign, we’re good (I had to throw that in there- lol).

What personal goals have you set for yourself in 2010? and for Mix?

My goals for the following year are something that I really hammer down throughout December. 2009 has been the roughest year for all businesses and the marketing industry, design is no exception. I will be having a baby this year and that will make my planning even more detailed as we weather the storm of the economy. I predict that it won’t be at least until 2011 that the design industry feels improvement. I opened mixdesign 6 months after 911 and the world wasn’t really buying things then. But 2003 and 2004 (a year and a half later) were our best years. So I believe there is hope.

Any additional comments you would like to add or promote?

I am really proud that in 2010 mixdesign will be 9 years old! It is not an easy task for a design studio in NWI. Branching out to other companies in the country is so important. We are decorating Buffalo Wild Wings around the country, we have worked with Church’s Chicken, Idahoan Foods, Purdue University and more. It has been really hard work and I am proud to have made it through such a rough year when huge American companies have not. I am still learning and if you ever open your own business; i can promise you one thing. By your third year, you will feel like you have earned your masters in business by your eighth year, a doctorate. Design school doesn’t prepare you for that, that’s for sure.

* Special Thanks to Joseph Gonzalez for his help getting this interview to the web.

This entry was posted on Monday, December 21st, 2009 at 8:47 pm and is filed under Interviews. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed.