Today we’d like to introduce you to Olivia Trujillo.
Hi Olivia, thanks for sharing your story with us. To start, maybe you can tell our readers some of your backstory.
We all met in graduate school in Boulder, Colorado pursuing our Master’s degree in Strategic Communication Design. Each of us went into this program with different backgrounds and goals: Olivia coming out of architecture with a passion for visual branding, Caroline as a D1 student athlete focused on user experience and strategy, and Kindsay with an entrepreneurial background looking to further her career through creativity. In our short 12-month accelerated program, we grew close through a shared love of design, a lot of collaboration on projects, and a mutual interest in pursuing a creative career. It took another year or so after graduating, but eventually we came back together to create Hi Lo Design Co. Our story didn’t just happen overnight. It took several months of continued effort, ideating, and learning new things in order to produce a business that is everything we dreamed it would be. Now, we have a fully fledged woman-owned creative agency, and we are loving every minute of it, from the highs and the lows.
Alright, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
Starting and running a business is always an adventure, and it certainly comes with its share of challenges, no matter how much experience you have. Overall, we really had to learn how to work together, learn our own strengths and weaknesses, what our goals in life are, and what we are collectively working towards. Though challenging, this has been an amazing growth opportunity for all of us to really sit down and line out our future.
One of the main challenges we’ve faced is balancing our own marketing efforts alongside client work. With any creative agency, a common challenge is not neglecting your own branding and marketing. Sometimes you can get so caught up in making every client project pixel-perfect, that you inadvertently put your own marketing on the back burner because there’s not necessarily a contractual deadline on it. It’s important to not lose yourself in that, and stay true to your original brand through and through.
That said, we’ve discovered that clear and open communication is the key to overcoming these challenges. Our strong friendship and shared values make this communication not only easy but enjoyable, keeping us both aligned and consistently moving forward.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
We are known for our visual storytelling. We spend a lot of time getting to know the story behind each of our clients, how they got to where they are and what their vision for the future of their business is. Our specialty is being able to take each of these stories and turn it into a strategic, creative, and unique brand that they can apply across all touchpoints of their business.
In today’s crowded market, a brand needs to do more than stand out—it needs to connect. A brand strategy goes beyond just a logo, it is the foundation for a website, content plan, and how a business presents itself to its audience. What sets us apart from other hand-off design agencies is that we don’t just stop here. We guide our clients through every step of this process, from ideation to implementation. Plus, our work speaks for itself. In the past year, we’ve helped dozens of CPG brands secure spots in national retail spaces. After investing in our “Total Package”, one of our clients saw their annual gross sales increase by over 30%. We’ve led the art direction for multiple marketing campaigns for a nationally recognized health food chain with over 150 stores across the US. Another client saw an increase in social media engagement of an additional 1.7k views per month. All of this just goes to show that investing in design really does matter, and we’re here to turn that investment into tangible results.
So, what do we want readers to know? Hi Lo Design Co. is your one stop shop creative agency. From websites to packaging to logos to social media management, we do it all. This allows us to use our clients’ brand strategies to their fullest potential and maintain a consistent image for their businesses. Plus — we get it. We’re business owners too. We understand the pressure our clients might be under and all the different things they are trying to juggle at once. The difference is, we are in the business of making your life easier. All in all we enable business owners to gain back valuable time, elevate their online presence, and take their business to the next level.
Any big plans?
As we continue to grow, we would like to establish ourselves as a partner in the CPG (Consumer Packaged Goods) space. We have been working with food brokerages over the past year, and would like to continue helping unique and organic food brands secure spots in national retail spaces. The power of design is so crucial within this space, and it can be so much fun pairing it with humanity’s universal language — food.
This year our goal is to move onward and upward. We want to keep expanding into different channels of the food retail industry, and to develop brand identities and websites that really capture the business’s vision through visual storytelling. These new channels focus on women-owned companies, in industries such as alcohol and spirit brands, local restaurants, and up-and-coming cafés. We are excited to network, hear new stories, and help new clients elevate their businesses to be everything they dreamed they would be.
Pricing:
- See our website for a more detailed list of our prices
- https://go-hilo.com/design-agency-services/
Contact Info:
- Website: https://go-hilo.com/
- Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/go.hilo/
- Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/gohilodesignco
- Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/company/go-hilo/
Image Credits
We like to thank our photographer, Kimberly Mitiska, a wonderful Denver-based photographer.
