Sustainable Design Gives Small Consulting Firm a Competitive Edge

Studio 22 Helps Strategic Sustainability Consulting and Its Clients Walk the Talk

Jennifer Woofter is Founder and President of Strategic Sustainability Consulting, which provides organizations with the tools and expertise they need to actively manage their social and environmental impacts. The firm specializes in helping under-resourced organizations implement sustainable solutions usually reserved for large, multinational companies. To learn more, please visit SSC’s website.

THE CHALLENGE
I met Eryn four years ago in late 2005, when I’d been in business for about a year. My business was starting to get traction, but all I had in terms of design were a very basic website and a logo. I was really starting from scratch. No business cards. I was just winging it. I didn’t have a design style or a point of view. After Eryn and I hit it off at a networking function, I asked her to develop my business cards, letterhead, and envelopes—all the printed materials my business needed. And it developed from there.”

WHY STUDIO 22?
I chose to work with Eryn because we had a good vibe. We were both brand-new entrepreneurs who had skill, but not necessarily a long track record. It was exciting to explore working together.

My other problem starting out was I didn’t know what good design actually cost. Was this something that would cost $50? Or $5,000? I didn’t have a good grasp of that, which made me nervous. And I didn’t want to be rude by asking for a ridiculously low price.

Eryn reassured me by helping me plan out how to get a really good value for my design budget. She did such a good job talking through what was valuable now to put my money into, how I could maximize a tight budget, and, most importantly, how I could scale my investment over time.

One of the nice things about working with Eryn is she’s really sensitive about what you can do on a tiny budget. She always takes a mindset of “How will this develop over time? How do the pieces work together? What is the feeling that you want to convey? Is it serious, fun, practical, down to earth?” Eryn says things like, “For this money here’s what we can do, but if you’re willing to spend 5 percent more we can slice it up and get a little bit more.”

She’s really good at being flexible, in thinking about how can we maximize this money, and offering suggestions I wouldn’t have thought about early on.

THE SOLUTION
Eryn did such a great job of designing a business card that played off the website someone else had done. That’s one of her strengths overall. Being able to come in and stay with a theme, but also to make it her own.

After we finished my business cards, I asked Eryn to redesign the SSC website to make it look more sophisticated. Now that it’s been five years, and as the business has grown, we’ve done more sophisticated things. She’s designed postcards and all three of our sustainability reports—which, as a sustainability consulting firm, is a big deal for us.

Having a sharp-looking sustainability report is one of the most important things we can have. It’s about more than looking fancy. It matters what kind of paper we used to print it, too. We need to walk the walk and go above and beyond the standard “green” practices. Eryn helped us choose paper stock and work with green printers. She’s been a real resource for us and for our clients–especially when our clients want a sustainability report.

Eryn is really savvy in terms of thinking about what’s important in feel, aesthetics, and sustainability. Rather than feeling like I have to tell her the layout and the concept and have her design to my ideas, I can say, “You know what I like—what will you recommend?” That’s really important to have.

THE APPROACH
When I started working with Eryn, my perception of working with a designer was that either I’d have to dictate exactly what I wanted, or that I’d have to completely give up creative control.

In working with Eryn, I’ve learned that design is a collaborative process. Your personal relationship with a designer says a lot about the quality of the deliverables you’ll get at the end of the day. There are a ton of great designers out there, but finding someone who gets you and gets what you’re trying to do is really hard. It’s a bit like finding a good therapist. Of course you want practical skills, but you also want someone who gets where you’re going.

I was surprised how easy it was to fall into a relationship with Studio 22. It happened in the course of a couple months. It became second nature to ask Eryn questions about design. I’d say things like, “I’m thinking about a postcard. What size and how much text should I include? What are the hot colors this year?” It’s nice to have that working relationship where it’s not just a “pick-up-your-phone-and-they-charge-you-by-the-minute” thing.

The nice thing about working with Eryn is we could start small, and she was there whenever I needed her, but never pushy. Never looking for bigger projects. Now I think of her as part of our in-house team. She’s the only graphic designer we work with.

It’s like having a creative maven in your back pocket, and being able to use her whenever the time is right—and for so many projects, too.

She’s really great at not trying to be everything for everyone—but she has this network of people she can bring in when she needs to.

THE RESULT
Eryn has done a fabulous job. I can’t tell you how many people say wonderful things about our website, business cards, stationery, and postcards. I think that the best benefit of working with her is we looked really professional from day one. For a small company, from a design perspective, we exceed our larger competitors. That is worth so much.

When you’re small, your design has to reflect that you’re professional. An important part of our success has been looking like an established player in a field with a lot of bigger companies—as well as lots of smaller competitors. In this industry, a lot of people are calling themselves green; but their websites look sloppy, like they designed it themselves. That says you’re not a credible source.

I hear from our clients that they chose us because we look like we know what we’re doing in a field that can be confusing and vague.

Eryn’s work was definitely worth the price. I refer someone to Studio 22 about once a month. All the clients we’ve referred to her have been so happy.