Lettering Works - 2020 Year in Review
It’s finally time to say goodbye to 2020. I am most grateful that I took the time on a weekly and monthly basis to reflect on the small wins and lessons learned. It made for an easier setup to reflecting on the year as a whole and helped me see the many little silver linings that were present throughout the many challenges.
2020 was filled with learning and planning for growth. Most memorable moments included seeing the Lettering Works Chicago Heart postcard in the airport for the first time, speaking at the Business of Art Conference, working on our largest contract project to date, completing Digital Course Academy and ScaleUp, and spending too much time on Zoom attending meetups, webinars, and online conferences.
A lot of BIG things happened!
Top Highlights from 2020:
• Became “Lettering Works, LLC”
• Delivered 4,000 enamel pins to the Field Museum
• Hired an accountant and virtual assistant
• Launched Cool Beans, a passion project dedicated to raising awareness for kidney disease
• Presented on topics of branding, passion projects as well as led virtual lettering workshops
• Graduated from the WBDC’s ScaleUp program
• Made it on the local news (WGN for our Candid COVID Cards)
• Created the Are You on Brand? 5 Day Challenge
• Celebrated FOUR years in business (and one and a half years in Chicago)
• Revamped all wholesale catalogs and the Lettering Works website
• Started a new Facebook group for artists
• Applied for consideration for the City of Chicago Aviation Artist Pool
Thank you to our clients who trusted us this year to help accomplish their creative goals. From vibrant branding projects to custom designed merchandise to the biggest campaign we’ve worked on - it was such a joy to bring your brands to life with artistic and strategic visuals.
Project highlights from 2020:
• Branding for The Pink Ginkgo
• Annual Report, logo design, and various design projects for the Illinois Supreme Court Commission on Professionalism
• Custom products for the Chicago History Museum
• A 2020-esque poster for The Marty Monologues
• Branding and custom artwork for CandleTit LLC
• Logo design and t-shirt illustrations for Mid-Century Aloha
• Branding (and the most fun hand-drawn vegetable pattern) for Up Beet Jams
• Custom lettering for a global recruitment campaign
• A variety of illustrated portraits and logos for Artemisia VanHo, Let’s Unpack That (a series by Sojourner White), Hobbies for Happiness, and Here in Little Town
• Website design for Ava Preston Music
• Custom brand graphics for Practice Simple Wellness
• Custom postcard for the Morton Pumpkin Festival
• Six-month marketing consulting contract with new author J Kirk Perry
• Branding for Yam Global Travel LLC
Cool Beans Restaurant Concept Design
Be Kind Coloring Page
Chronically Positive Hand-Lettered Designs
Passion Projects are still our jam. And there’s no better time to start a new passion project than during a global pandemic. In addition to the projects listed below, we created several new series of designs around themes of social justice, saving the USPS, increasing voter participation, scoliosis, sending more happy mail, and women’s rights.
Passion Projects from 2020:
• The Plant (Sticker) Collection
• Cool Beans
• 20 Days of Coloring
• Candid COVID Cards
• Chronically Positive
• Shop Local Chicago Campaign
2020 was going to be the year for travel - with three conferences (including Letter West) within the US and two international trips (to Spain and Italy) planned. Before travel came to a screeching halt, we got to visit Portland and attend the First Round Conference. While the Brand New Conference was postponed to 2021, we were also able to explore Austin for a few days and really enjoyed staying at the East Austin Hotel as they had great safety precautions.
Podcast episodes + interviews from 2020:
• People of Peoria Podcast
• D155’s Workforce Wednesday
• Women in Design with Chykalophia
• She Makes Chicago
• The Glossary
• Project 1612
• Simply Unstoppable
• IdeaMensch
Looking Ahead…
Here’s to hoping that all of the hard work we did in 2020 pays off in 2021. We are most excited to launch our first online course for artists and continue to pursue wholesale opportunities with museums and airports in Chicago and beyond.
Stay tuned for more creative work to come. If you are in need of a brand makeover or other custom artwork, you can book us for a project via our contact form.
ABOUT THE OWNER
Chelsie Tamms is an award-winning lettering artist and designer based out of Chicago. She is the owner of Lettering Works, a branding studio that connects businesses to their audience through creativity and strategy. With over 10 years of practice of lettering and design, Chelsie is passionate about craft and intention. When she’s not designing, she can be found eating ice cream, traveling internationally, or starting a new passion project.
