Within 18 months of graduating with a Diploma of Graphic Design at Yoobee, Leah Sullivan had the world quite literally at her feet. An epiphany while living in the French ski town of Chamonix inspired Leah to launch her own branding and design business. Now the self-confessed travel addict roams the globe creating incredible work for astonishing clients through her business Leah Sylvia Creative.

“It’s definitely a dream situation. Living this nomadic lifestyle and being able to support myself and work from anywhere with a good Wi-Fi connection is honestly epic,” says Leah.

Leah headed to Europe in 2016, just one year after starting her first role as a graphic designer for an Auckland-based print, design and signage company. Although the design world didn’t feature much during her first six months abroad, a branding job for a new family business (and the need to fund further travels) reignited her enthusiasm. She put together a portfolio, added it to FREE & ADDICTED (the travel blog she and her partner were already writing), and slowly but surely the jobs started rolling in.

“I’ve ended up working with clients from New Zealand, Mauritius, Sweden, Australia, America and more. One of my current projects is the branding of a new virtual reality hub in Brisbane, which is being funded by the Queensland Government. My biggest win I would say!”

Travelling has opened up a host of new networks, enabling Leah to build relationships with people from all around the world. FREE & ADDICTED, Pinterest and Facebook have also been pivotal in developing her client base.

“I love being able to take an idea, a concept or a vision and bring it to life. It can be hard for clients to imagine the way their brand might look, and it’s our jobs as designers to guide them through that process. We need to be able to effectively strategize, research, conceptualise, refine, explain and craft each element, so that clients can envision and follow our creative direction. Do this right and you’ll feel a great sense of self-worth in the work you produce, and the clients will stick by you because of it.”

A three month stint in Bali took this already awesome job satisfaction to a whole new level.

“Each day started with a surf, followed by five or six hours sitting at a café, drinking coffee and smoothies, eating vegetarian food and working on my laptop…”

It hasn’t all been surfing and smoothies though. On top of not knowing anything about running a business, Leah also had to navigate the complexities of working across different time zones and creating work for clients who didn’t know what they wanted.

“I’ve learnt to ensure I have a clear brief before I start any actual design work and I’ve gained the confidence to let clients know if the direction of the project varies, it will be subject to a price amendment!”

Leah describes the last two years as a “massive learning curve”, and attributes her success, in part, to her commitment to following the design process, a process which she was taught in thorough detail at Yoobee.

“The ability to follow the design process and not skip out on any of the stages is really important – as is being able to effectively communicate your ideas to your client and audience. You can be an incredibly talented designer but if you can’t express your ideas to a client, guide them through your processes and show them the value in working with you, then it will be harder to win contracts and land bigger clients…It’s also important not to fall into the trap of designing something YOU think looks cool. Being a successful graphic designer is about effectively creating a project or brand that speaks directly to the ideal customer.”