A Note From Me

And a look at the branding process for my new studio!!!

Hi!

I’m interrupting regularly scheduled programming today to write a little personal note because just a couple of hours ago (well, by the time you read this it will have been a couple of days ago, but regardless) I announced the existence of my branding studio and creative consultancy, Ali LaBelle Creative! I’m feeling sentimental, so it felt like a good time to chat.

It was around this time three years ago that I decided I wanted to leave my job of almost nine years, but being the risk-averse perfectionist that I am it took me a minute to come around to the idea of starting something on my own. Truthfully, looking for a creative director role in the middle of year one of a pandemic just wasn’t the move and I really only had two choices: to stay in a place that no longer felt right or to try my hand at freelance.

So one day, a few weeks after I put in my notice, I unceremoniously closed my laptop and, thus, an important chapter of my life. Even though I had no idea what I was going to do next, I took the first step in figuring it out on January 1, 2021 when I incorporated my business (specific services TBD) and Ali LaBelle Creative LLC was born.

I’ll spare you the details of everything that has transpired since — lots of good things and a few minor freak outs. I spent time unpacking my philosophy around what makes a “good” brand, examining the passion that small businesses owners have for what they are building. I tried not to compare myself to creative directors running giant agencies or with decades of experience. Instead I stayed focused on what I knew to be true: that the people pouring their time and resources into the thing they are building need to feel seen and supported by the people they hire to bring it to life. I tested my theory thanks to some trusting clients, tweaking my process each time. Soon, it became clear that what I had on my hands was the beginnings of a studio, a practice built on the idea that strong brands reflect the values of the people behind them.

Which brings me to today! Ali LaBelle Creative offers branding and consulting services, but it’s also the home for all of the other work I do, too. If ALC is the foundation, things like One-On-Ones and JOBS are the windows and À La Carte is the wallpaper. Pasta Girlfriend is, of course, a Nancy Meyers-level kitchen with a row of copper pots on the wall. It all stems from my own priorities: building brand worlds that mean something, encouraging a life of creative abundance, and providing resources and opportunities for artists and designers along the way.

So, I thought I’d show you a peek of what the branding process for Ali LaBelle Creative was like because let me tell you, it was a real trip to do this for myself (but a rewarding one!) Treating this like I would for a client brought a lot of perspective to the “why” behind it all and what it means to me.

I always start a project with a questionnaire that’s specifically engineered to allow me to peek inside a client’s brain, so I took my own survey. It includes some classic strategic questions about competitors and target customers but also some conceptual ones, which is where the good stuff really happens. You know how I ask my At The Table With guests to describe perfect happiness by what they sound, smell, taste, and feel like? I do that with my clients, too. Here were my answers:

Ali LaBelle Creative…

Sounds like: piano and light chatter

Smells like: Cowboy Kush from Boy Smells, fresh laundry, orange blossom

Tastes like: a buttery croissant, lemon curd, mascarpone frosting, pistachio ice cream

Feels like: cashmere, sun on a crisp day, sitting in front of the fireplace

From there I made a mood board. Normally for clients I’ll make three, but here I just made one:

Embarrassingly I didn’t save sources for these, which is against one of my cardinal rules, but here’s what I can find: top left is Bode, the sweater and skirt is J. Crew, the green painting is John Zabawa, the scalloped envelopes are Peterkin Paper, the green pattern is a 19th century Turkish paper, Longchamp is from a collection of vintage ephemera by Frank Kelsey, the glass door is at Desert Vintage in NYC, and the painting of the oranges is by Claire Milbrath. Phew.

The next step involves me analyzing the common themes in the inspiration and breaking them down into visual tools for my designer, in this case the brilliant Maddy Nye, to use. The themes that came up for me were bits and bobs (things like postcards, business cards, restaurant mementos, and old photographs), textiles and trims (which included things like ribbon, some patterns, texture, and fabric swatches), and a palette that felt like the colors were once vibrant but had softened with age.

And then the fun begins, because I took all of that direction (plus a lot of notes, thoughts, and requests) and handed it over to Maddy. I need to take a pause to sing her praises for a second: Maddy has been the designer and developer on so many of my projects over the years (including the ones at ban.do) and is truly the best teammate. She’s patiently helped me refine my process, allowing me to evolve it each time, and I’m so grateful for her collaboration and willingness to explore big new ideas with me. While ALC will include the contributions of more designers, writers, artists, and so forth, Maddy is essential to its growth and I’m so lucky that she’s a part of it.

And voila! A few rounds of edits later we landed here. It feels very *me* but also a lot like what I hope the future of ALC includes — constant inspiration, an ever-evolving world, and dinner parties galore.

I have no idea if any of this is interesting, but like I said, it felt like a good time for reflection. You can check out my new site at alilabelle.co and the studio’s new work-only Instagram at @alilabellecreative. I can’t express how much the encouragement and enthusiasm by way of your DMs and emails means to me. I’m tearing up thinking about it!!

I’ll be back to sharing artists and talking about table scapes next week. Thank you for being here!

x

Ali