Eleanor Philips
Q What do you do?
“I’m the founder of Good Foundations Studio (formerly ECP Designs) where I design and build strategic websites, graphics, and workflows.”
I’m also an actor / performer and I use my understanding of storytelling to make web experiences clear and give clients a unique and authentic brand identity.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
I always loved art — both performing and visual. I did community theater and I took as many classes / tried as many different mediums as I could get my hands on growing up. (Kid Pix very much included.) I first waded into coding trying to customize pages on MySpace and LiveJournal. In college, I taught myself Photoshop and worked my way into a job designing posters for theater and dance performances on campus. That turned into a job where I waded into code and CMS. I fell in love with web design and dev. I’m an actor so, naturally, I had to do other jobs for money. Whatever survival job I was working at the time — PR, waitress, bartender, a receptionist at an indoor playground — I would always take on the graphic and web design projects to keep honing my skills, building my portfolio, and sometimes (eventually) even for money. I started building on Squarespace back in 2015. Over the past few years, I’ve been working towards my design work being my main gig instead of a side hustle so it’s been a lot of learning from fellow freelancers and building systems for myself!
Q How do you stand out in your field?
I’m a jack of all trades. I take a holistic approach to my projects, pulling from different skill sets and mediums. My graphic design background influences my web design — photography knowledge helps me choose stock or know what to ask for, etc. Especially when working with fellow creatives — I’ve worked in PR, as a designer, on production teams, and as a performer — I bring an understanding of the industry from all angles to my projects.
Q What are you working on right now?
I just launched my rebrand (from ECP Designs to Good Foundations Studio) so I'm finishing up some final details incorporating the new branding throughout my workflow. Next up I'll be working on a new website build for an art gallery and a brand identity and website for an investment fund focused on sustainable futures.
I'm also currently in a love affair with Tally so I'm working on integrating all of my new forms into my Notion. (I'm a workflow nerd.)
Q What’s your style?
I love 70s color palettes and unexpected moments of maximalism. That said, I'm a design chameleon and some of my favorite projects have been far from my personal style.
For me, ease of use and functionality are the priority, so I always design within those parameters. A website can be beautiful, but if it’s hard to find what you’re looking for, that doesn’t mean much.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
I definitely miss performing in person. I recently did some sculpture work and remembered how much I love working with clay.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
Besides the state of the world? I keep procrastinating on doing my taxes.
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Help me with record-keeping or checking / correcting auto-generated captions on videos!
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
Say “no” more. Truly, I could have stood to hear this in high school but I definitely would want to visit me a few years out of college with this message. Just one example: I used to agree to social media marketing work even though I hate it — I respect the hell out of everyone who loves it but that is not me! I was so panicked about having work (and, let’s be honest, because I needed the $$) that I didn’t trust that I could say no, and invest that time into finding clients to hire me for work I did want to do.
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
Accessibility in design!
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
New website builds are always exciting — not just building the website for now, but designing it to be able to adapt to future growth and changes. I’ve been helping a lot of people move from Squarespace 7.0 to 7.1 — and using that as a chance to reassess content and refresh design. I'm really thrilled with the level of accessibility control Webflow offers, so I'm also looking for more website redesigns that involve moving over to Webflow.
There's a daydream world in which I work as a florist so florists / plant shops / gardens are always welcome. Along those lines, I’d love to work on more projects in the cannabis industry.
Last, while I love the design process, I'm equally obsessed with the dev process — so I'm always excited to book Dev for Designers projects, and to build out other pro's designs on Squarespace or Webflow.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
I love solving a puzzle for a client. I love having the flexibility to design freely for someone with a clear direction, even if that's just a vibe.
Q: What is your rate?
Good Foundations offers tiered pricing based on business-size. Hourly work starts at $80/hour. New website builds start at $3600 and intensives start at $1800. I built an estimate calculator to help provide a more accurate instant quote.
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
I've built out a whole inquiry form that allows me to go into our free discovery call with plenty of context or to craft a proposal to review first. Or shoot me an email at ecp@goodfoundationsstudio.com
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Two photographers I love are Emma Mead and Austin Ruffer — The Emma Experience & AustinYourFace Photography.
Design to Divest is full of incredible designers.
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Trees. Garbage TV to turn my brain off.
This member profile was originally published in March 2022.