Veronica Ko
Creative Director / Brand Designer / Co-Founder of The Ordinary Good
Los Angeles, CA
www.theordinarygood.com
instagram @theordinarygood
Q What do you do?
“Hi! I’m Veronica :) I’m a Creative Director and multi-disciplined Designer.”
I have a background in brand building layered with art direction & graphic design in mostly responsible fashion, beauty, wellness and home goods. I’m a co-founder of The Ordinary Good – we’re a mission-led full service branding x marketing creative agency passionate about supporting sustainable and social-impact e-commerce brands.
Q What steps did you take to get to where you are now?
Rewind to the beginning – I started out in the fashion industry as an apparel designer! My brand design journey didn’t begin until I realized how drained and unfulfilled I was working a 9-5 job as an apparel designer at a contemporary womenswear brand with overtime on most days. While I loved and craved the creativity that came with the industry and role, there just wasn’t enough of it. I was having trouble justifying the role and seeing a higher purpose in what I was doing or who/what I was serving. Having seen first-hand, there were aspects of the industry that didn’t feel fair, and eventually inspired me to set out in creating my own role to support mission-led brands who share the same passion I have in sustainability and social impact.
Fast-forward to today – still the same motivated, highly aesthetic-driven and empathetic creative I always have been and will always be. BUT! 7 years later, I’m running a creative agency utilizing my skills to serve like-minded clients, creatives and brands that help serve a larger purpose. It’s been a jump from my first life, but I’m now mostly leading brand design & strategy as well as digital marketing creative within the worlds of fashion, beauty, home goods and wellness, where applying my past life knowledge has been extremely helpful and seeing client success feels so rewarding!
Q How do you stand out in your field?
In past roles, I’ve had to fill many shoes, think quick, learn lots and learn fast. From that, I’ve gained a wealth of skills as a multidisciplinary designer with knowledge in brand building from A to Z, helping a range of clients from brands who are just getting ready to launch, or 7 years into their business. As an empath with a purpose, I put a lot of thought and care into any project. My perspective is to look at brands and help them holistically, rather than just leading a singular channel. Whether it’s setting up brand strategy & guidelines, storytelling, art direction, website & UX design, digital marketing creative, print design, or logo & packaging design, my goal is to offer a premium experience where I guide and support clients and creatives no matter where they are in their brand building journey.
Q What are you working on right now?
At The Ordinary Good, we share the same enthusiasm in supporting like-minded brands as we are in supporting like-minded creatives. That said, we launched a membership platform geared towards helping creatives build their own branding agency or reach their freelance goals by brand building! Our content is basically a summation of everything we wish we knew when we started our boutique agency from scratch – from branding expertise to proposal writing for $10k+ projects. We want to empower creatives to achieve success in what they do using brand building skillsets and help them navigate through how to do it along their journey.
Q What’s your style?
I love a good minimal, clean and sophisticated look introducing a neutral palette paired with architectural shapes and tiny pockets of bold elements here and there to jazz it up. I also appreciate transparency along with storytelling that’s fun, lighthearted, relevant and real. That said, I love blending my personal style with a client’s vision and have admiration for different styles – really anything that looks GOOD! I’m avid in honoring and highlighting each person or brand’s unique style.
Some projects I’ve worked on to showcase this are:
Olive and Elephants, Yem Silk, YSTR Clothing Brand, This Dog’s Life, and Brand DNA Creatives.
Q Out of all your slashies, which one do you wish you could do more often?
At the end of the day, I’m still questioning what I can do or if there is more I could do to serve my community. I’d love to continue working with more devoted brands and partner with organizations with strong initiatives dedicated to advancing sustainability and social impact where we can see actual results. Also, food & beverage! I love cooking (self-proclaimed experimental home chef here) and would love to dive deeper into F&B brands.
Q What is frustrating you right now?
I'm always working on multiple projects so it sometimes can feel like there's too little time and too many projects I want to invest my time in :)
Q If you could hire someone for $20/hour, what would you have them do to make your day easier?
Hands down, project management! At our agency, we love being able to give top-notch project management service to all clients so they don’t have to worry about a thing. We’re detailed and always one step ahead at each stage of our processes, but that means A LOT of client management and project management work. Having someone else dedicated to this would mean a lot!
Q What do you wish you could have told yourself, when, and why?
Make it a requirement for clients to pay a 50% deposit at the top of a project, 50% at the end, no matter who they are – even if it’s someone you’ve worked with for a long time and trust! There could be some exceptions, but try not to make them. You never know what can happen, and as a freelancer x business owner it’s so important to protect yourself and your work. It took being burned to know this now and use that knowledge to create a good balance for managing payments, but it was a good lesson!
Q If you could talk to an expert to gain more insight on something, what would it be about?
Membership and course marketing please :)
Q What kind of opportunities/projects are you looking for?
We love helping mission-led brands who support sustainability or social impact within the worlds of fashion, beauty, wellness and home goods. Our brand building membership for creatives, Brand DNA, is also open for enrollment for anyone looking for the fast track to building a 6+ figure branding agency.
Q Describe your ideal job/client/collaboration.
When we first decided to launch The Ordinary Good, I sat down with my co-founder to ideate on the ‘why?’ and one thing we had said, where to this day we still stand for, is that we want to work with nice people. We want to work with our friends! Or people who could be our friends. And if we’re not friends, there should still be a mutual respect and good rapport. We aim to create a work environment and partnerships that are efficient, but enjoyable – where everybody can be do what they do best, be creative, passionate and love it all at the same time.
Q What is your rate?
Branding Services: starts at $1.5k Full Branding Architecture: starts at $8k Brand Marketing Services: starts at $1.5k Marketing Creative: starts at $1k Brand DNA Membership: start for $117/mo Consultations: $250/hr
Q How should someone approach you about working together?
Just say hi! I’m always open to chatting and meeting new people. You can book a free 20-min. call with me here.
Q Who is a creative you admire?
Tiffany – the sweetest person, also known as my co-founder and expert Brand Director equipped with all the brand strategy and integrated marketing knowledge you need :)
Q Oh! and… how do you stay creative?
Lots of self care <3
This member profile was originally published in February 2024