Get to know our SEO Coordinator–Favorite Hobby Friday

Get to know Frame USA Employees–Favorite Hobby Friday

Last week on Favorite Hobby Friday Frame USA’s CEO, Daniel Regenold told everyone about his love for Tennis. This week I thought I would introduce myself and tell everyone about my favorite Hobby.

My name is Brooke Skyllingstad and I’m the voice behind the recent blog, and social media posts for Frame USA. I started this position at the end of October and have loved every second of it. The reason? I get to do my favorite hobby almost every day for my job. I like designing. MY favorite hobby is designing, everything from board games, invitations, flyers and ads, I love it all.

I first started designing sophomore year of high school. Prior to this I had always been interested in art but that was when I really got inspired, and have been doing it ever since. I used photo-editing software to combine images I found on the Internet with song lyrics. There was no end game behind the pieces I was creating then, I just did them to pass the time. When I discovered I could be doing things like that every day as my profession, well I couldn’t pass that up. After four tough years at The University of Dayton I graduated May of 2014 with a Bachelors of Fine art in Graphic Design.

The field of design is a field where you can never become an actual master. The field is too subjective; there are different techniques that emerge in it every single day. I never stop learning things about design, and new techniques that make it more interesting. I would like to think that I have a pretty great talent for digital illustration, most of the designs that I produce have some element of illustration and almost always have typographic elements.

I spend at least 2 plus hours every day designing new pieces, every ad that goes out to our customers for Frame USA or Frame Closeouts is designed by me, every photograph on our Instagram is taken or compiled by me. I have a small freelance business that keeps me busy when I leave work but majority of my design time is spent at Frame USA.

Design has been a huge part of my life for so long that it’s hard to choose just one thing that is my favorite but if I had to choose it would be the exact moment where an idea for a piece enters my brain. From that point on until I hit a road block I am researching experimenting and conveying that idea to the viewers.

My least favorite part of designing coincides with how I go about my work. I’m a perfectionist; I don’t want the world to see something that is less than perfect. For this reason my least favorite part is when an idea in my head doesn’t coincide with the skills I possess, so the final product doesn’t look how I imagined. When I first started college this was a huge factor in my never sleeping, I would spend hours on one tiny part of a piece that wasn’t perfect. However towards the end of college I acquired a new view on how I work. I take the imperfections that only my eyes see and use it as a way to create new ideas that will convey the ultimate goal better.

The memorable experiences that have occurred for me with design all happened during college when I wasn’t considered a ‘professional’. They’re memorable simply because they showed my very loud doubting inner voice that I did in fact have what it took to be successful in design. I remember the exact moment when a book cover I designed became available for purchase on amazon, or when posters that I designed for Frame USA’s Fill The Truck Goes Back-2-School were hanging in store windows around my hometown. The ultimate experience for me though, was having my design chosen by my favorite band, Sick Puppies, to be on their Facebook page. Having millions of people see my work as they went to that page will forever be a highlight of my life.

The biggest thing that I have learned about myself is that the biggest critic of my work is myself. Throughout college I really struggled with doubts no matter how much praise I received for my work. Upon graduating I also learned that no matter how many doubts you have about yourself…. when it has to do with something you love, you will never ever give up.

The one piece of advise that I could give someone if they are interested in picking up a hobby, whether its Graphic Design or bowling is to not give up too soon. You may become frustrated and you may become tired but don’t give up because you never know how much of an impact that hobby can make on your entire life.

I hope this gave you a little bit of an insight into the person behind the blog and the ads of Frame USA. Stay tuned next week for Favorite Hobby Friday!