I'm thrilled to share some exhilarating news with you. Welcome to the dawn of a new era – Hijinks Design Agency Inc.! This evolution from Ashe Green Design is not just a change in name, but a leap into a broader, more vibrant world of creative possibilities.

As a graphic designer with more than a decade of experience building brand identity systems, I've learned that being a perfectionist isn't always the best approach. While it's important to strive for excellence in your work, an excessive focus on perfection can actually hinder your ability to produce great design.

As a Registered Graphic Designer (RGD), and the only one living and working on Prince Edward Island, I'm proud to have earned this professional certification. It means that I've met rigorous education and experience requirements, and have passed a comprehensive certification exam that tests my knowledge and skills in various areas of graphic design — business, ethics, accessibility, and design research and principles.

Having a website allows customers to access information about your business at any time, providing them with convenience. Additionally, a website can help you advertise your products and services to reach a wider audience, gain credibility among customers, and reach potential customers who may not have been aware of the business before.

As you may know, Jonathan and I are expecting the arrival of our baby any day now 🥳 and we will be taking some time off to navigate the first few months of our little one's life together. Lyndsey and Lewis continue to work behind the scenes tackling ongoing design work, wrapping up existing projects, and fielding any new requests that may come through.

In this post, we’ll take a closer look at the psychology of colour and how it can be used to connect with your customers and strengthen their affinity for your brand. Understanding the emotions and ideas that colours can convey is the first step to understanding how you can attract your ideal customers and strengthen their trust through your brand colour palette.

Brand guidelines. Identity guidelines. Style guide. Brand book. Brand Bible… there are many names for the document your designer will hand you after creating your visual identity. They ensure that your brand is consistent across all touchpoints, from your website to your social media accounts, and everything in between.

On my quest to reduce our waste I found some amazing items that have quickly become staples in our home! I cannot say enough good things about them and I NEED to share them with you. Their brand identities and tone of voice are also top-notch! There is lots to learn from these stand-out companies!

Purolator is one of the top national shipping companies here in Canada. So when I received an email via my contact form asking me to complete work for them - I honestly thought it was another scam. I don’t know about you — but I get a lot of scam emails and calls!

The voice of your business should always sound consistent. Be it playful or formal, informative or inquisitive, confident or awkward, when someone is engaging with your brand, they should be able to recognize that it’s your business they’re dealing with.

I’m coming off the high of moderating a panel at the Startup Summer Summit yesterday that was full of powerhouse women, leading and creating phenomenal communities and culture in their industries, businesses, and organizations. While we had 45 minutes to chat about their respective communities, it felt like we just barely began to scratch the surface…

In the midst of the COVID-19 panic, every business owner is frantically trying to figure out how to pivot their business to survive the next few months. I can’t tell you how many drastic ideas I’ve heard over the past 6 weeks. But I’m here to tell you to take a deep breath. Take a moment to think back to what your business goals were before all this insanity hit us, and consider whether it’s time to slowly implement something from your future plans instead.

I’ve partnered with Copywriter, Jaime Lee Mann for this exciting new value-add service—the development of brand voice guidelines. We’ll work with you to identify what your brand tone and voice sound like before we come up with what you look like. You’ll still get a logo that makes your competitors green with envy—but think of it as good looking design on steroids.

I originally created this helpful set of “Design Tips for Non-Designers” as content for my social feeds! Here they are all in one place for your perusal. Design tips are (sort of) subjective and rules are meant to be broken. So if you strongly disagree with any of my suggestions, feel free to do as you like! Make that logo bigger.

Your logo is the staple of your brand. It lets your customers know what to expect before they even speak directly to you or your employees. So you need to make some serious decisions about who you are and how you want to be perceived. Because as much as we preach “Don’t judge a book by its cover” – WE DO! Everyone does and your logo is your book cover.

Today I was the special guest at Startup Zone’s Coffee Chat, a great weekly event that puts active/experienced entrepreneurs in the spotlight over a casual cup of coffee with resident companies and local inquiring minds!

Setting Day is upon us. For generations, Island fishermen have taken to the waters after months of preparation to set their first traps for lobster season. On Setting Day, which usually takes place on May 1st in most parts of the Island, captains and their crews assemble on the wharf before anxiously boarding their comically weighed-down boats.

I run a fun little group of 350+ strong-willed women who own or aspire to own businesses on Prince Edward Island! We are constantly seeking advice from each other and posting questions on the Facebook Group.

What a whirlwind week! My Discover Charlottetown co-worker Shannon and I just got home from the first annual SocialEast Conference in Halifax, Nova Scotia. We headed over early to avoid travelling in some poor weather that was about to hit Prince Edward Island, and are we ever glad we did because this conference was spectacular.

On Friday, November 2nd I attended the 2nd Annual Dotgain Conference held at Holland College in the Florence Simmons Theatre. This year Jud Haynes of Newfoundland was the headliner and blew attendees away with his story, work examples, and client list.