Today we’d like to introduce you to Hayley Barry.
Hi Hayley, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
It all started when I was 16 years old working in an antique shop. It was a wonderful place called Block 100 Antiques located downtown in Provo. One day my boss said “Hey, can you make a sign for that couch that says 25% off?” and I said of course! I had been drawing my entire life and always knew I wanted to work in art in some capacity, I had family who worked as illustrators and designers so growing up, I had seen the real-life aspect of what it took to be an artist and knew it as something I’d like to do. So, with all that in mind, it just made sense for me to make that 25% sign look as nice as possible and I drew the letters out in a fun, antique style with a good layout. After showing it to my boss he said “I had no idea you did hand lettering!”
At this point, I had no idea what hand lettering was. In my mind, if a person could draw a landscape or a person or whatever, it just made sense that they could also draw letters. I had never considered that being able to draw letters so well was something that not everyone could do. From that point on, my boss at the antique store started to have me make little signs that ended up all over the store and even let me paint some very large signs for the outside of the building and I’ve been drawing letters ever since!
The thing I love the most about hand lettering is how it combines illustration and design. If you’re forming your letters correctly, they should be able to convey emotions regardless of the context of what you’re writing. And even though there are only 26 letters in the alphabet, the number of ways you can draw them are limitless.
I understood pretty early on that if I was going to be an artist professionally, I’d need to be the one to make that happen. So as soon as I was done with high school I started reaching out to potential clients. I would find business cards for businesses that I felt could use some lettering art and I would either show up at the business or would send out emails that basically said something along the lines of “Hey! I’m Hayley, you’ve got a big blank wall in your restaurant, I’d love to paint something on that for you!” 80% of people either said no, or never got back to me, but a couple businesses said yes and that’s all you need to get started! When you work in commercial art, the momentum comes after you start building clients. If you can manage to get one real job, then other people see that and think “oh if that business hired her, then I could hire her.” And little by little you start building that trust and showing people that you’re serious about what you do.
I went to UVU and studied illustration but the entire time I was there I was working as a waitress to pay for school and also trying to do freelance on the side. Eventually, I also landed a design job at an advertising agency while I was in school. It was a wile 4 years, but by the time I was a senior in college, I had been able to quit my other jobs and start working for myself full time as a lettering freelancer. Now I’ve been running my freelance business, Type Affiliated for 5 years and it’s been the best!
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Freelance always comes with its ups and downs, but I’m a big believer that if you’re willing to put yourself out there and be strategic that anyone can make money and a business doing art. A big part of it is learning how to create opportunities for yourself. If you just wait around for work to come to you, you’ll be disappointed and won’t be able to provide for yourself. But if you are actively creating opportunities for yourself but reaching out to people, showing your work, talking about yourself in a professional way, and making a point to get out into the community and form relationships with the people around you then anything is possible!
Another struggle for freelancers that people on the outside often don’t think about is the fact that being a freelance artist means that you also have to be a business owner. I don’t just get to spend all day drawing, I also have to be in charge of client management, communication, marketing, promotion, finance, outreach, invoices, contracts, and more. It’s a lot of work and it can be tough to learn all those things. One lesson I had to learn pretty early on was the importance of having a contract and sticking with it. I was always worried when I started that clients would think that I was mean or that I didn’t trust them if I sent them a contract, but really a contract is one of the best tools you have at your disposal as a freelancer to make sure that both you and your client are on the same page. Learning that lesson made a huge difference in my business (and in my stress level!)
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know about your work?
I’m a professional lettering artist creating custom lettering art for clients across the United States. I get to work on all types of projects, everything from custom logo design to murals for a wide range of clients. Everything I do is created by hand to suit the needs of a particular job, but clients usually hire me for my unique vintage-inspired style and my ability to work with illustrative elements to make a piece really stand out. I also have gained a reputation in the business for being super easy to work with and have developed a clear strategy for client management that keeps my clients highly involved in the design process and ensures that they are thrilled with the finished product.
Do you have any memories from childhood that you can share with us?
My grandpa (we called him Papa) was an illustrator as well and when I was little, we spent tons of time drawing together. We’d play this game where we’d take turns drawing a scribbly line on a piece of paper and then the other person would have to try to make something out of that scribbly line (we’d turn it into a dog, or a house, or a duck carrying an anvil.) We mostly loved drawing silly things together, the crazier the better.
Contact Info:
- Website: www.typeaffiliated.com
- Instagram: @typeaffiliated
Image Credits
The Quinn Peterson
Justin Hackworth
Type Affiliated
