Hi Lize! Tell us a bit about yourself. I’m a quirky, colourful, creative gal and owner of branding studio Lize Designs. Naarm/Melbourne is my home, but I grew up in Kabi Kabi/the Sunshine Coast in Queensland. I’ve just moved down to the Great Ocean Road for a few months and will be spending a bit of time working from Bali later in the year to avoid winter! Living by the ocean in a tiny remote town has given me a lot of time to process a mammoth few years.How did you become someone who builds brands? My mum is an artist so we were always painting, drawing or making ceramics as kids. I also remember being obsessed with downloading fonts so I could customise the birthday and Christmas cards I’d design for my friends and family. But I didn’t even know what graphic design was until I accidentally chose a graphic design elective in my first year of uni studying media and communications. That inspired me to swap to a graphic design course instead. My first role outside of uni was at an agency where I built the brand identities for political campaigns. Two redundancies from two separate companies within a year of each other gave me the push I needed to take Lize Designs full time. I started Lize Designs so I could be me and do work that brings me joy.

What’s a regular day like work-wise for you? At the moment it’s much slower than a day in the city. When I wake up, I meditate and either take my dog for a walk on the beach or do some yoga. Then I’ll have some breakfast and sit down at my desk (which now has ocean views) to clear my inbox and get stuck into work. I’m not someone who does a million things at once, so I like to block my day into one big task or sometimes two different tasks across the morning and afternoon to break things up. Around 4.30pm, I’ll clear my inbox again and make a plan for the following day. I'm still travelling back to the city every few weeks, so if I’m there I’ll either work from a cafe, catch up with a client for a meeting or attend a brand shoot!You’re also an illustrator and web designer. What inspires you? I can find inspiration from flowers in a cute vase, a colourful baked treat or funky homewares that live rent-free in my head! But lately, being down at the beach, I’m finding inspiration from my environment. I love spending afternoons searching for shells and admiring their beautiful patterns. My latest personal project – a tufted mirror for this beach house – has been inspired by the shells I’ve collected on slow afternoons here.

What’s your brand building process like? I begin every project with strategy. Strategy is super important because it firstly informs the ‘whys’ behind the visual identity. Then I’ll begin sketching brand ideas on my laptop. From here, I’ll usually begin typography research, illustrating and creating brand elements, as well as fleshing out the brand story in Adobe Illustrator. I’ll present this work to my client with mock-ups of how the brand applications will actually work. Then I’ll take a look at their customer journey and how we can make the seemingly ordinary brand moments joyful!

Finally, client education and a thorough handover is the really important closing step of my process. One of the most important aspects of branding is consistency. It’s all well and good to create an awesome new brand for my clients, but if they’re not feeling confident in executing and upholding their brand, there is no point!What do you think is your superpower? I think all of our superpowers as creatives (and humans) is to be authentically ourselves. When we stop caring what other people think of us and our creative expression, and instead choose to follow a path that makes our heart and soul happy, that is where the magic lies. When I let go of what I thought a ‘good’ designer was, started letting all the sides of my personality be free (including the ‘uncool’ ones) and started creating work that naturally flowed from me, that’s when incredible things started to unfold.

What is the most important lesson you’ve learnt as a small-business owner? Running a business can be really hard at times. Some of the downsides I often face as a small creative-business owner include loneliness, lack of motivation, burnout and feeling like I’m juggling a million things at once. It’s essential for our mental wellbeing to have other small-business owners in our corner – especially if you’re running the show solo! Connecting with other small-business owners keeps me grounded, makes me feel less alone and also gives me bursts of creative energy.How did you find working on the ​​MSI Modern 14 laptop? As a colourful gal, of course the first thing I noticed was the cute beige rose colour – we love a pink tinge! Day to day, I’m always working with big files and usually across multiple Adobe programs – some of my laptops in the past have not been able to keep up, but I loved how fast the MSI Modern 14 was. It’s also super-thin so it’s very easy to take with me between the beach and the city.

Any tips for budding creatives out there looking to follow in your footsteps? Find a niche that makes your heart sing! Whether it’s a certain style you love to create in, a creative medium you love to work with or a specific skill or service you can bring to people, find it and go after it!

This chat was presented by MSI and their new Modern 14 in dreamy beige rose. It’s lightweight and easy to transport, plus has a 180 degrees lay-flat and flip-n-share design so you can easily share your work with others. For more, take a peek at the MSI website.