Lizzie Frost
WHAT DO YOU DO?
“I’m a graphic designer who specializes in branding for restaurants, but I also love keeping things fresh and taking on a variety of other creative challenges; editorial design for art books, art direction for still life photography and animated illustrated GIFs for digital album covers. ”
A digital element to most projects is unavoidable these days, but I’m still heavily in love with print and other physical objects, which I why I love working with restaurants and other clients that need their brand expressing off screen.
WHAT STEPS DID YOU TAKE TO GET TO WHERE YOU ARE NOW?
I studied BA Graphic Design for three years at University College Falmouth in the UK, which was an amazing opportunity to spend a long time on projects, getting creative, hands-on and experimental, in order to develop my personal style. I then moved to London and spent five years working at boutique branding agency & SMITH. This was a brilliant chance to learn from more experienced designers, and the perfect introduction to running my own business – it was a small team, so by the end of my time there I was handling my own projects, all the way from briefing meetings and presenting initial ideas, to liaising with printers and web developers to realize my vision! I’ve been working for myself for 5 years now, occasionally taking short term freelance contracts in larger studios, but mostly working directly with clients through my own business
How do you stand out in your field?
I like to think that my sense of humour and relaxed attitude always come through. This affects the whole process from (hopefully!) making me an enjoyable person to collaborate with, through to a final result that feels unfussy and effortless, scattered with little visual surprises or sparks of humour.
WHAT ARE YOU WORKING ON RIGHT NOW?
I’m currently putting the finishing touches on a collaboration with photographer Joseph Fox. We spent the last year photographing pinchos de tortilla (Spanish omelette) in various bars across Madrid, and we are now compiling this into a zine which will be published by Terranova later this year. I also work regularly on album covers for two production music libraries – Altitude Music & Altitude Underscore. For the Altitude Music covers, I listen to the music, then source props and art direct a still-life image to visually represent the genre or typical usage (in collaboration with photographer Richard Paul). The Altitude Underscore albums are a similar process, but for these I represent the sound with abstract geometric illustrations. I’ve recently completed two branding jobs for restaurants in London (Pacific and Townsend), so am on the lookout for the next project to get my teeth into!
WHAT'S YOUR STYLE/PERSPECTIVE/TASTE? DO YOU HAVE A PROJECT THAT REPRESENTS THIS?
My style is quite bright and bold and light-hearted, but I’m also a real stickler for beautifully and carefully executed typography. I think my recent branding work for Pacific is a pretty good example, because it balances a cute and quirky pufferfish character with an elegant wordmark. Neither would fully represent the brand by themselves, but together? *chef’s kiss*
WE ARE ALL SLASHIES WITH MULTIPLE SKILLS, WHICH ONE DO YOU WISH YOU COULD DO MORE OFTEN?
I would love to take on more projects that allowed me to do the kind of digital illustration and animation that I do for Altitude Underscore. I really appreciate any chance I get to do simple image-making… creating something someone might look at in isolation and appreciate solely aesthetically / want to put on their wall. I love branding, because of the mental exercise of using strategy to create something that really WORKS for a business, but it’s also really fun to just make beautiful visuals sometimes.
WHAT IS FRUSTRATING YOU RIGHT NOW?
The most frustrating thing being freelance is always the ebb and flow of work… a few empty weeks, and then suddenly 5 potential projects at once! I tend to say yes to everything that I really want to do, because it always works out in the end. It can be tricky though, and I wish I was better at taking advantage of my downtime.
IF YOU COULD HIRE SOMEONE FOR $20/HR, WHAT WOULD YOU HAVE THEM DO TO MAKE YOUR DAY EASIER?
Probably to help my find new business?! That’s the biggest challenge… and that’s why I’m here!
LET'S BRING OUT THE TIME MACHINE. WHAT DO YOU WISH YOU COULD HAVE TOLD YOURSELF, WHEN, AND WHY?
I wish I had known when I first went freelance how important salesmanship and self confidence are! I used to hold the idealistic notion that creative work spoke for itself, but of course – especially during early design stages – you can’t always expect clients to see the same future potential in a sketched out idea. The most important part of creating the work you want, is to sell the motivation and concept behind the visual from the beginning.
IF YOU COULD TALK TO AN EXPERT TO GAIN MORE INSIGHT ON SOMETHING, WHAT WOULD IT BE ABOUT?
See above – probably how to sell ideas!
WHAT KIND OF OPPORTUNITIES/PROJECTS ARE YOU LOOKING FOR?
Anything fun and creative! I always love working for food businesses, firstly because, who doesn’t love talking/thinking about food?? And also because I feel I have a certain expertise in this field now.
I’m also looking for more chances to do editorial work, and illustration.
DESCRIBE YOUR IDEAL JOB/CLIENT/COLLABORATION.
My favourite jobs are always those where the client seeks me out specifically because they like my work, and therefore they place a lot of trust in my creative opinion. This makes all the difference in making me feel like I’m using my hard earned knowledge and creativity to bring value to the business, rather than just using the software I own to draw what the client already has in their head. I’d also love to do more editorial work with other creatives, designing art books or zines.
WHAT IS YOUR HOURLY RATE, RETAINER, OR SALARY RANGE?
My day rate is $400, but I find that for branding projects clients tend to want a flat rate. In this case, it will depend on how developed their brand strategy already is, what the deliverables are, what their timeline is etc… To give a (very loose!) ballpark, I would usually charge about $5k for a restaurant brand, including guidelines, print-ready artwork for menus & stationery, a simple Squarespace website and usable designs for signage, menu boards etc.
HOW SHOULD SOMEONE APPROACH YOU ABOUT WORKING TOGETHER?
Just send an email to hello@lizziefrost.com, ideally with an outline of the project and budget.
HOW DO YOU STAY CREATIVE?
I work in a great shared studio space that hosts regular events and talks by other creatives that I find super inspiring. I try to avoid falling into the trap of looking at too much online inspiration… the sheer quantity of content is so overwhelming and often so samey. I prefer to buy a few books at the start of a project and seek inspiration from a slightly more oblique or specific angle. I recently bought a book on North Korean printed ephemera which is a treasure trove of new ideas!
This member profile was originally published in March 2020.