Jasmine Dowling is equal parts talent, creativity and savvy business lady. Whether you’ve seen her work with the likes of Too Faced Cosmetics, Sportsgirl and Hallmark, on the cover of Marie Claire or as newly crowned Cosmo Creative of the Year (congrats, lady!), loving Jaz comes easily.
Little did Brisbane local Jasmine Dowling know that her fluttering heart for typography would evolve into a thriving online store, a career in graphic design and working with some of the world’s biggest brands.
Here we chat about her creative processes and insider tips on how smaller businesses can go about working with larger companies.
I think we speak for everyone on the internet when we say your work makes us MELT. Has being creative always come naturally to you?
“I think the desire to create has always come naturally to me. Whether it was making clothes for dolls. Or creating little books in Primary School filled with all my different handwriting styles. Then it progressed in High School to designing everyone’s Myspace Page… Now I’m showing my age!” (laughs)
Do you use special equipment for your lettering or is it a write and scan type of dealio?
“Not really, I pick up brushes or pens whenever I am in a store that sells them. And then I experiment with different styles on basic printer paper – because it doesn’t bleed ink. And then I scan it through. I have an iPad Pro & Pencil but I will only use that for drafts or quick personal work.”
What’s been a highlight in your career?
“For hand lettering, definitely landing the David Jones work back in 2015 and consistently creating for them ever since. More recently though my latest creative collaboration with Love Stories Australia. They are one of my favourite brands so to not only create lettering for their store windows but also handle the creative direction & photography for two Australian stores was so much fun.”
Do you have the secret to powering through creative blocks?
“Unfortunately, I don’t have any secrets for you. I just stop whatever I am trying to force at the time, step away and focus on something else. If it is photography concepts I am struggling with, I go to some branding work or vice versa. If it is a complete fail I will just catch up on my taxes and call it a day.”
You’ve collaborated with some huge brands (Nike, Nespresso, David Jones). What would your advice be to other business owners wanting to work with larger businesses?
“If you want to attract a certain client you have to look at marketing your work to that client. You can do so by making sure your current work reflects what you could do for them and make sure it is work that could fit their current model. Then you might want to consider how it is that you can try to engage with that brand. It could be directly through email or in person, even engaging through social media could be enough to get their eyes on your work.”
Love Jasmine Dowling’s work as much as us? Scroll her online store for hours, get in touch to dish out some gushing compliments and keep up with what Jasmine’s up to by following her on Instagram.
Want more inspo from other business superstars? Check out our interview with surfboard Artist Jess Lambert, The Urban List Editor Brooke Darling or Emmylou Maccarthy of Emmylou Loves.
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