Alex Delano
Q What do you do?
“I am a Creative Director and Designer with a specialty in marketing, branding, and illustration.”
I harness my innate organizational and artistic skills to deliver reliable, original, and impactful client work. I also ski, eat sushi, and watch reruns of Sex in the City over and over again.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
After graduating from Boston U with a degree in Graphic Design and a minor in Advertising, I worked as an in-house designer in a variety of industries and departments, while also freelancing part-time. These experiences enabled me to gather a plethora of niche skill sets, such as packaging design, pattern-making, and even set design for top entertainment companies in Los Angeles. After a few years, I shifted my focus towards launching my own design studio! Since then, I’ve collaborated with incredible clients such as Asics, CBS, HGTV, GORE-TEX, Kindbody, and Project Social T, to name a few.
Q How do you stand out in your field?
I harness my innate skills to build a toolbelt that’s completely specific to me, and unique to each client and their needs. I am extremely organized and reliable, while also artistic, and can therefore offer an organic approach to design that many cannot. I’ve also gained design knowledge in both digital and print, and am just as happy doing the dirty work as I am delegating and creating workflows. This combination of skills ensures that the quality of my work is completely original, and also successful!
Q What are you working on right now?
I am currently on contract as a Creative Director for a marketing agency (oakpool) who just got their first article published in Forbes. I have been overseeing all graphic work, designing for GORE-TEX, illustrating for Asics, while also maintaining independent design clients of my own. One of our clients at oakpool is also producing a feature-length documentary, for which I developed all of the branding, website, and marketing materials, and was also made a Producer on.
Q What’s your style?
My design style is a combination of crisp and modern, with a hand-touch element. I love to use my artistic skills in conjunction with my design skills to deliver something totally unique. A great representation of this is my work for CBS and their latest reality game show, Buddy Games. I digitally illustrated a map, with corresponding elements, that are to be used in each episode to demonstrate each challenge: alexdelano.co/cbs
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I would love to focus more on the outdoors/lifestyle segments, specifically footwear, more specifically sustainable footwear. I find that my best work comes from topics that I have personal interest in, and the two biggest things I look for when signing on new clients are 1) Are they working to make the world a better place? And 2) Do I care about the content enough to stay inspired?
Q What is frustrating you right now?
What’s frustrating right now is finding clients that align with my goals and skills – sort of feels like dating! I have a ton of wonderful clients and experiences, but I’m hoping to find a few more that feel *just right*. Additionally, I get extremely frustrated and jealous of my cat, who sleeps all day long.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Probably scheduling – I build strong and reliable connections because I’m so organized and reliable, but because of this I end up spending a lot of time on it. If I had someone who understood my workflow to present me with a list of top priorities every morning/week, that would be awesome!
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
I would have told myself to invest in BitCoin! Haha – all jokes aside, I would have told myself that I am exactly where I need to be, and to continue to trust my intuition. In all honesty, I’ve already surpassed the hopes and dreams that I had for myself as a young girl, and experienced things I didn’t even know were possible. I came from an extremely small, sheltered town in the woods, and now own my own design studio, live in a beautiful apartment in L.A., and have people in my life who I care about. Only up from here.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
Self-promotion and pitching clients. I know my value, skillset, and worth, but sometimes because I have such a wide range of experience it can be difficult for me to pair it down in a way that’s digestible to my potential client.
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
Art direction, branding, creative marketing campaigns, and illustration! Ideally would love to work on retainer or longer contracts
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
My ideal job was my illustration work for Asics. The client provided me with a simple prompt (and ample time to complete it), trusted my skills and abilities, went through a few rounds of revisions, and then paid for not only the working hours, but also the licenses to the final deliverable. I would love to have more projects that are hiring me for ME, and not just hiring to fill the role.
Q What is your rate?
Every client and project is different, depending on the work, the reward, timeline, and my interest level. Here’s some typical starting ranges:
HOURLY: $100
BRAND BOOK: $3k–$5k
ILLUSTRATION: $500 minimum
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
I love a good email, which includes a little bit about the person, a little bit about the project, and any need-to-knows, like timelines. Also, would love to know why this person wants to work with me!
Q Who is a creative you admire?
I would recommend Ryan Haskins! His creative work is full of energy, chaotic, engaging, and just the right amount of messiness. 10/10 love it. @ryandhaskins
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
YOG-ahhhhh. Hot yoga has changed my life, and I leave class every day feeling completely reborn and inspired. Also, FASHION! I love going to flea markets and thrift stores around Los Angeles, and experimenting with my own personal fashion.
This member profile was originally published in October 2023