A New Era

This post has been a long time coming. I’ve been working hard to create a website that fully reflects my brand and personality, that’s easy to navigate and that showcases my work well. I want to recap what led me to change my business name in the first place... 

Why rebrand?

Your business name says a lot. It says a lot to people when you’re not even around. I realized that using Melon Head Productions possibly made me come across more like a larger company when in reality I’m doing a majority of the work myself and clients deal with me directly. Not to mention it made me one step removed from people associating my work with me. This led me to feel that I had to uphold this certain persona when I presented myself and come to find out that just isn’t me. 

Why “Hello Kathy Jo”?

Instagram Inspo: I was brewing on this for a solid week as I was trying to think of names I could use. I looked up other artists on Instagram and how they branded themselves and I came across the same stuff i.e. “So-and-so Art” or “Joe Shmo Animation” but those didn’t do it for me because “Kathy Jo Art” just didn’t sound catchy. It’s really important in marketing to pick a name that rolls of the tongue and is easy to remember, plus I wanted to use my first and middle name. 

"Kathy" vs "Kathy Jo": I picked up my business minor at SCAD-Atlanta and in one of my classes we had to do elevator pitches to the professor in front of the whole class. When it was my turn, I went up and introduced myself as Kathy Jo and the whole class said that presenting myself like that made me more memorable than if I had just said Kathy - I’ve found this to be true countless times so I've used it professionally since.

Losing My Last Name: I also got married to the love of my life last year... which is amazing but that also meant I lost my last name that I had made so many connections by already, so I knew I wanted to just use “Kathy Jo” to minimize potential confusion with my new last name and make it less wordy.

When It Clicked: So when I was coming up with names, I was sitting on my couch with my husband and I was like, “What about Hello Kathy Jo?” It rhymed, it was inviting, and it left it open for me to build my brand rather than being pigeon holed into a certain genre of art. He loved it and when I got some other opinions with the same feedback, that was it! I updated my LLC through the state, I got all my social media handles made, and I started posting my art and journey on instagram as myself, rather than as a company business. It was extremely liberating! 

Email Mistake: Lets not forget about branding my new email address! After spending over 2 years giving out a ridiculously long email address that wouldn’t even fit in one line when I had to text it (i.e. kathyjo@melonheadproductions.com) and people always asking if melon had 2 L’s, it made me realize how valuable it is to have something easy and to the point. Now it's as short as I could make it (kj@hellokathyjo.com) and hopefully much easier to remember!  

So what happened in-between Melon Head and Hello Kathy Jo?

Life Took A Turn: Well, it's funny where life takes you. Back in 2016, I was finishing up a school mural and I got a phone call. I was asked to come in for an interview to do graphic design at a cabin rental/management company called Cabins for YOU. The people were really nice and although it was in a totally different field, I decided to take the job. The first few months I was also working on finishing my 2nd short "Shelf Life" but I definitely got burned out working 40 hours and then coming home to try to work on the film AND doing 40 min commutes each way... I was exhausted. 

Projects, Projects, Projects: After I released my short, I was doing a lot at CFY. I got to help rebrand the company by creating style guides, logo treatments, designing everything from email signatures to quality control on design orders. I created a brand mascot named Barry and used him in postcard illustrations, marketing campaigns, and so on. I got to design a really fun pop up mailer from scratch and worked with vendors to get them produced so the company could send them out to guests. I also created some promo videos and got into 360 photography, so I got do lots of shoot in the cabins in Tennessee (it's so beautiful there). I did a lot of fun things that would create a better experience for guests, cabin owners, and other employees... It was very rewarding.

I got engaged: I was so pumped!!! I always thought I'd never find anyone because I didn't want to marry an artist and I went to art school (where there were only artists) and I was so focused on my student film that I wasn't really looking... BUT it happened! We met through mutual friends and my senior year we started dating and then fast forward 3 years and he pops the question on a theater marquee with all our friends and family and in that moment I felt like the world rotated slower... it was crazy.

But what's even crazier is trying to plan a huge wedding without breaking the bank, training and trying to fit into that dress, and working full time! Needless to say the only personal art I did during those 8 months were illustrations for my wedding invites.

After The "I DO's": After we got married and settled into the new groove of life, I felt like I hit that fork in the road. I wanted to do so much more with my art and my career, but you only have so many hours in the week and I was pretty much spent after I got home from work. I loved my team at CFY but I decided to part ways from full time and just do contract work when they needed me. 

Ramping Up: After the transition at CFY, I started to get things going and built up some client work. We turned our downstairs office into the new studio and I painted the walls white so we have a whole photo wall! I geared up on some equipment (my iPad Pro is basically my baby, I love it so much) and got all set up with invoicing systems, updating running systems, all that fun stuff. I've also been navigating some weird working hours... shoutout to all my night owls out there. 

What's Next: So far I've been doing a lot of logos, graphics, illustrations, and designing websites along with other types of client work. Now that I've rebranded and created my new website, I want to continue building up my clientele, building my online presence, and selling my art.

I've also been itching to do another film at some point... so I guess it's time to start thinking about that. Stay tuned!

Until next time ♡ Kathy Jo