All Episodes
Episodes
13: How to Sell Brand Strategy to Clients 'Who Already Have It'
Does your client say they “already have brand strategy”? 🤔 Don’t stop there. In this episode, Nika breaks down the big myth that brand strategy = brand positioning—and shows how there’s a whole world 🌍 of strategic...
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12: Stuck in a Niche? How Smart Design Agencies Break Into New Industries
You’ve got a strong portfolio 💼, a clear area of expertise 🎯, and a steady stream of clients 💸. But what if you want out of the category you’re known for?
Maybe you’re the go-to studio for tech brands 💻, but you...
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11: 6 Mistakes That Tell Clients You’re Not a Strategic Designer (Yet)
In this episode, I cover six mistakes I see all the time—in independent studios, freelancers, even junior strategists inside agencies. They’re subtle. But they scream to clients: “This person’s not thinking...
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10: If You’re Scared to Present Strategy as a Designer, You Need to Know These 4 Things
Feeling like an impostor when it comes to presenting brand strategy? You’re not alone. This episode is your pep talk, history lesson, and practical guide all rolled into one.
What you’ll learn:
Why strategy was...
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9: Design Frameworks: Still Telling Clients They Need Brand Purpose? Do This Instead.
🎙️ In this episode of Design Frameworks, I unpack the rise, fall—and unexpected evolution—of brand purpose in modern marketing, brand strategy and design.
If you're building brands from the ground up, leading...
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8: How to Attract Dream Clients: Not the Advice You Expect
In this episode, I offer a surprising reframe on the idea of “dream clients.”🦄 Those beautiful case studies you see on The Dieline, The Brand Identity, or the Pentawards? Most of them didn’t start with a sexy brief....
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7: How to Sell Strategy to Clients Who ‘Just Want Design'
In this episode, we talk about how to position strategy in a way that even clients who don’t know what strategy is are eager to buy it. Based on my Free Guide Stop Giving Away Your Strategy: Write Proposals That Get...
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6: How to Survive the Latest ChatGPT Update as a Designer
In this episode, we dive into the hot topic that’s been shaking up the design industry—last week's release of ChatGPT-4o’s advanced image generation and what it means for designers, copywriters, photographers, and...
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5: The Ethical Blind Spots in Your Design Process
In this episode, we dive into the ethical blind spots in the brand design process (in particular, packaging and visual identity design). While design has the power to shape perceptions and influence consumer...
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4: Design Frameworks: Color Theory Fails
In this episode of Design Frameworks, I’m breaking down why classic Color Theory doesn't help your design thinking. While it tells how colors influence emotions, it ignores cultural and commercial context, ie....
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3: Mastering Brand Strategy: My Wild Ride
If you’ve ever felt like strategy is an intimidating world reserved for 'genius' strategists, this episode will break that myth. I share my personal story of faking it till I made it in the creative industry and...
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2: Design Frameworks: Brand Archetypes
In this episode, we kick off the Design Frameworks series, diving into brand strategy tools and whether they actually work for independent designers and studios. Today’s focus: Brand Archetypes—the classic framework...
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