Today we’d like to introduce you to Courtney Bradford.
Courtney, please share your story with us. How did you get to where you are today?
For me, design has always been a form of expression and an opportunity to learn something new, technical or theoretical. I was homeschooled and since schoolwork only took me a few hours each day, I had plenty of spare time. Plenty of time to either be bored or find something to do!
In high-school, I started tinkering with layout design using Microsoft Publisher. At one point, I was printing and mailing a small “zine” to about 150 people each month. There was no discernible theme and it was definitely not setting any design trends. But it gave me a reason to learn about design — and to just “ship it” because I had a deadline.
I eventually stopped printing the “zine”, but kept tinkering with design throughout high school. It was then I realized that although I had okay taste, I lacked an understanding of basic design principles. That’s when I started buying and studying design books.
After graduating high-school, I interned with a small creative agency in Deep Ellum. My interest in graphic design quickly evolved into an interest in web design. With the release of the iPhone, the web industry was rapidly evolving; everything was changing. It was the beginning of the end for Flash (RIP). But besides a Graphic Design or Computer Science degree, academia really didn’t have anything to offer someone interested in designing for the web. I knew that for what I wanted to do, the traditional path of higher education wasn’t the right one for me.
After my internship, I was fortunate enough to do contract work with this agency and others for a few years. Thankfully, I’d been steered towards thinking about responsive design, mobile-first, and accessibility. Large agencies were slower to adopt this approach even though there was demand for it, so it was an opportune time to freelance.
Great, so let’s dig a little deeper into the story – has it been an easy path overall and if not, what were the challenges you’ve had to overcome?
A smooth road is a rather uninteresting one. I think every entrepreneur can say obstacles come on a daily basis. Some obstacles come part and parcel with owning a business or working in a particular industry, and some come by way of trial and error. I don’t think we need to glorify failure and its consequences as a prerequisite for success, but I have to admit it’s a most humbling teacher.
In client services, especially when you’re green, it’s difficult to avoid disappointing your clients. You’re eager and driven, but good work isn’t enough. Trust is earned. It takes time, but the sooner you learn more about cultivating trust in addition to delivering good work, the better.
Another challenge is just keeping up! As someone practicing design and running a business, it can be difficult to stay on top of your craft. Technology slows down for no one, so you need to be constantly aware of what’s going on and dialing in your approach, process, and tooling. Not just in visual design, but development as well.
Please tell us about Telegraph Creative.
Telegraph is a digital design studio with a simple mission: create experiences that help brands change our world for the better. Which sounds pretty lofty, but it’s a clarifying statement that helps guide what opportunities we pursue. And we mean it.
We’re hyper-focused on understanding and designing for our clients’ audience. That’s where it all starts for us. Projects typically involve user research, UX/UI design, front-end implementation, and backend development. We dial in everything to be successful in this mission; including the services we do/don’t offer. This is why we bring in strategic partners when a client needs help outside our areas of expertise.
We’re stubborn about process and quality. But because we’re a small team, we’re flexible when it comes to how we work together. We know that no two organizations are alike and that different projects necessitate different types of collaboration. This works well for us, and seems to suit our clients as well!
Do you look back particularly fondly on any memories from childhood?
Before we moved to Texas, we lived in the Bay Area just east of San Franciso. I can’t think of a more magical place in the springtime: virid rolling hills, salty bay breeze, and big blue sky. We weren’t very outdoorsy, but I cherish memories of walks along trails or picnics in neighborhood parks. Except when the geese chased us and my mom had to shoo them away with my plastic shovel and pail.
Contact Info:
- Address: 1300 S Polk St, Dallas, TX 75224
- Website: telegraphcreative.co
- Phone: (972) 863-0682
- Email: hello@wearetelegraph.com
- Instagram: wearetelegraph
- Twitter: wearetelegraph
Image Credit:
Kelsey Wilson Photography
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