Who are we? Well, our team is a group of 12 to 14 creatives joined together by a common love for design, culture, technology, branding and more. We live and breathe what we do, stay on top of trends, and generate innovative ideas backed by strategy and research to create enduring brands. The Brand Collective is a full-service branding agency, taking on diverse projects from a wide variety of industries, from hospitality to tech. As TBC’s Founder and CEO, I’m an entrepreneur with many ambitions. With over 16 years of experience and with an accomplished background in sales, marketing, design, special events, brand strategy and experiential media, I’d like to think that I have been successful in bringing together a talented group of creatives and cultivating a unique approach, environment, and mindset at our agency to see brands differently. As a team, we choose not to conform and try to break barriers in design. I am extremely passionate about the industry and the clients we serve. We see ourselves as a small creative family and our clients’, an extension of that tight-knit family. We always look forward to continuing to grow as a team and alongside our creative peers.

Again, as we are a full-service agency, we provide services that span the gamut from marketing to branding, web development, SEO, influencer media, events and more. We pride ourselves on providing a comprehensive 360 approach to each project and presenting the necessary services that offer value to each brand. We approach every project with a unique vision and take a hands-on approach with the client to ensure that they are as much a part of their brand’s inception as they should be. We flesh out every aspect of the brand’s qualities, goals, and visions from start to finish. We pour ourselves into each step of the process and work tirelessly to achieve an intimate connection with the end user and target audience.

In the history of our agency (8 years), this is the very first time we had submitted our work for award recognition and we are earnestly grateful to say all projects submitted, were recognized in some way. Our team is not only extremely honored and humbled but also incredibly excited to have won three 2018 Muse Rose Gold Awards this year. I believe these awards are a true representation of our team’s creative talents, tireless dedication, innovation vision and our desire to have our work representation alongside our award-winning creative peers. It’s moments like this that propels our team to strive to work harder and push the creative boundaries even further on our upcoming projects. We look forward to submitting in 2019. THANK YOU for the opportunity Muse Creative Awards!

If I could give one piece of advice to another creative or ‘potential’ creative, I would say to ‘stay inspired’! The creative industry is a very fast-paced industry, with little to no downtime, long hours and no shortage of deadlines. We are always working in the moment on multiple projects with different clients from different industries. The key to always staying engaged, passionate, continuously inspired and excited about what we do. Whether by art, culture, music or design, there are always opportunities to explore what ‘brands’ mean to us individually and to explore how we engage and experience with even the most basic of brands around us on a day-to-day. Inspiration is everywhere and the life of a brand is a complicated one. There are so many trends that are coming and going that the key is to not get lost in a fad and learn to create timeless and enduring brands. There are lots of tools to stay inspired, whether using Behance or Pinterest, the goal is to have resources, and many, for when the project strikes.

No matter the level of expertise, every great creative knows the importance of utilizing their resources. Here are our top five resources for any creative project:

1. Pinterest/Behance: All designers need a source of inspiration. Both Pinterest and Behance display works of art and design from almost any category you can think of, you’re bound to spark a creative flame somewhere. Ideally, Pinterest allows you the unique tool of creating inspiration boards of your favorite work or compile pins specific to a certain project you’re working on. Many designers would agree that Pinterest “inspo” boards are the best way to pre-organize all your jumbled ideas in one location. Allowing you to share with other team members or clients in advance to convey your inspiration for a project.

2. DeviantArt: For textures and patterns visit deviantart.com to browse the world’s largest art gallery. The art available here is a great base for building your graphic design masterpiece. DeviantArt is also an online social community which gives creatives the opportunity to interact with other artists and art enthusiasts.

3. Font Squirrel/My Fonts: For fabulous fonts look no further than frontsquirrel.com. As a designer, it can be tough to find quality fonts that are both free for use and licensed for commercial work, but Front Squirrel provides a wide selection. Just search for a desirable font, upload the font file to your site, and add the font to your CSS! Their web-embedded-ready fronts make the process simple and easy to use and their fonts are supported by all major browsers. However, if you happen to come across a font from anywhere else and would like to know what it is, you can avoid the endless search by using the “what the font” tool from myfonts.com to identify it.

4. COLOURlovers: Color sets the mood. So, when it comes to mastering the design you’ve envisioned, mastering the right color combinations is essential. All good design plans include a color scheme. COLOURlovers.com provides a great place to start when selecting a color scheme for your project. Via COLOURlovers, creatives around the world are able to share the color palettes and patterns they’ve created. You can browse all the color options or refine your search by selecting a theme.

5. Graphic Burger for mock-ups: After you’ve perfected and completed your project design, the best way to show off your work is by mocking it up. Whether you’d like your design displayed on a tablet, wine bottle, or anything else in between, Graphicburger.com has all the mock-up templates your heart desires in one place.

Success in a term defined differently for each person. For me, success means that I have been allowed the opportunity to show up to work every day and do something I love with the people I love. I have been blessed to have created a ‘family’ environment at TBC and working alongside each team member with their unique creative insight opens my mind to new opportunities to grow and create. No day is ever the same. On another note, since our agency’s inception, it has always been important to me to see myself and my team as an advocate for the client at hand. We see ourselves as an extension of their brand and treat their business priorities with the same importance as our own. I have led my team to be honest and to always strive to deliver on their promises made. I am very proud and thankful to say that in our market, I believe that this dedication and mindset sets us apart from the rest and has allowed our agency to be very successful over the years. We have been blessed to be one of those agencies that are sought out and very rarely solicit for new clients. We are thankful to be a very busy agency with no shortage of exciting brands and clients to work alongside. I do believe staying true to what we do, has been our key to success!