Check Out Nick Newhart’s Story

Today we’d like to introduce you to Nick Newhart.

Hi Nick, it’s an honor to have you on the platform. Thanks for taking the time to share your story with us – to start maybe you can share some of your backstory with our readers?
My design career started when I was a drawing and painting major at the University of North Texas. I was studying art and the different avenues of art that I could apply my skills I practiced growing up. I really enjoyed technical drawing, architecture, and precision. I was attracted to design immediately. It was my way to practice drawing but with a purpose. I was also heavily interested in illustration as an outlet to showcase my thoughts and ideas. Design and art are two different things, in my opinion. Art is subjective and might have a direct or indirect interpretation. Design is conveying a message as clearly as possible. So the two things I was interested in learning, I thought at the time, fought each other.

Only come to find out years later they actually complement each other very well. I went forward with graphic design as my best option for continuing to explore both avenues – design and art. After putting a fair amount of work and effort into graphic design, I started out at an advertising agency called Proterra Advertising. It was a small agency with a close group of people knocking out project after project. I learned the ropes of what a standard graphic designer does and decided I wanted to explore further options. As much as I loved graphic design, I felt I was missing out on what I had learned in my studies. I was creating a lot of brochures and business cards, which was great, but I wanted to push myself, so I decided to specialize and focus on branding specifically. I started my own freelance side company, newhartdesign ltd. to acquire more projects in the area of my focus. I was able to create a series of logos with branding and loved what I was doing, even though they were all side gigs. I decided to leave Texas to pursue my design career in Denver, Colorado, which had a great reputation for not just graphic design, but all creative outlets, specifically, illustration. It was here that I frequently went to the art and design museums, constantly was looking at the murals in RiNo, Baker, or downtown, and taking small gigs to further explore my skills. I had remembered what I had learned in school, that in order to become a better designer, you must constantly be exploring. Not just design, but life in general. Cultures, cuisines, lifestyles, and of course, design became my primary focus in 2017 as I started to travel around. I spent a fair amount of time in Asia and Europe exploring, drawing, and designing to gather some inspiration for my next step forward in my career.

In Denver, I became a Senior Graphic Designer and started working with other designers and marketing directors and quickly pushed my design career in branding and logo design. I met my now wife during this time, Sam Taylor, who was a professional painter and watercolor artist at the time. Watching her illustrate and create inspired me to e-established my love for illustration and I found a way to integrate that with my work. My logos became more illustrative and creative, and my web designs were created with illustrative features. Sam and my mom came together on bought me an iPad Pro and an apple pencil for my birthday in 2019, and I have not stopped using Procreate for my illustrations since. I found myself in the same position as I was in during my time at Proterra Advertising. I was creating good work, and communicating with a team, and delivering quality designs at way above average timelines, but I found myself limited by the requests of the clients and higher-ups. I wanted to be the one calling the shots. I wanted to be the art director, the designer, the animator, the illustrator, and the developer. It felt like a lot at the time, and usually one would specialize in any of those areas, but I couldn’t shake my interest in all of them. I was tired of waiting for something to show up to give me this opportunity, so I decided to take it into my own hands. I bought an S-Corp and named my business A New Design, Co. A play on of my last name ‘Newhart,’ and my mission statement of utilizing new techniques to create creative solutions. I started specializing in branding, marketing, animation, and packaging design. All these areas I had plenty of experience in and loved to do, and this time I strived to make the decisions and work with the clients directly to provide designs they not only loved but also worked. I asked myself, “how do I know it works though?” I had proven significant results and the work spoke for itself, but I lacked accountability for my research. It was here that I discovered the wonderful world of UX design.

I researched and discovered UX as a way to meet a client’s needs with the analytics and research to back it. I decided to apply to the General Assembly class of UX Design to get myself started. I was immediately intrigued with the process and delivery quality of what UX offered. I finished the class and applied UX research and UI design to my work and came up with my own creative process that I still use today. I have created a couple of apps and websites utilizing this service and I am always happy with the outcome. Unfortunately, right as I felt I started gaining momentum, the COVID-19 virus hits three months after my business opened in December of 2019. All small businesses got struck and I was no exception. I was still working as a Senior Graphic Designer at the time to maintain a steady income but was laid off at the beginning of the pandemic in April. Life seemed bleak as the protests erupted and the political divide in the United States worsened, but in all the chaos, I just kept working and enjoying the quarantine days with my then-fiancée, Sam, and our cats, Salem and Ophelia. I focused heavily on A New Design Co. and was able to make bills and payments with the clients that still needed work. I took on web development to preoccupy my downtime and spent a good four months in the world of coding. I have since added that service to my business, along with UX and UI Design. Here I am now in 2021 with high hopes for A New Design, Co, as we now have a steady client base and my work with the local community of Denver has increased. I feel like I am headed for the spot where I have been constantly working toward, and I am excited about what my past experiences and knowledge will drive me to create in the future.

Would you say it’s been a smooth road, and if not, what are some of the biggest challenges you’ve faced along the way?
Not at all. There have been a lot of challenges. Starting a business and gaining clients who have no idea who you are is no easy task, and you quickly realize it’s up to you to make it work. Luckily, if you work hard and spend a lot of time on your craft, the work will start to show for itself, and you can depend on it to get you to where you want to be. I think my biggest struggle was COVID. As I had JUST opened my business it scared a lot of my client base away as marketing and design went further down the list of needs to survive a pandemic financial blow. Also, some struggles for a standard designer are self-doubt, deprecation of your work, pricing yourself too low, pricing yourself too high, understanding project management, mastering efficient timing and delivery, and of course, the grey areas of production and ensuring a successful application as you might have to teach yourself extra skills to make it work overnight.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I have three categories I like to define what I am currently involved in career-wise: 1. What I am best at, Branding 2. What I like to do the most, UX Design 3. What I want to be better at, Coding I specialize in branding, packaging, UX/UI, motion graphics, marketing/advertising, and websites. I am mostly known for my branding and logo work. I am most proud of my ability to learn and adapt to what it takes to learn a new skill or craft. What sets me apart from others, I believe, is my ability to produce high-end results with extremely fast timelines. I have had to learn to find a way to ensure my work meets my own design expectations while delivering at the required timelines.

What’s next?
I am really excited to spend this next year utilizing my proven methods and creative process and see what I can produce. I have also teamed up with some other creatives to do some really awesome projects, and I can’t wait to get them started. I am moving more into animation and coding, so I will hopefully be able to concept, strategize, design, and develop apps and websites with animated effects on my own and not depend on an outside source to assist.

Pricing:

• $100 Hourly
• Monthly Retainer – 40 Hours/ Month – $2400
• Monthly Retainer – 80 Hours/ Month – $4000

Contact Info:

• Email: nick@anewdesignco.com
• Website: www.anewdesignco.com
• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/anewdesignco/
• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/anewdesignco