Did you know?

Did you know that women outnumber men at elite colleges, law schools, medical schools and in the overall workforce?

I have been to many design and networking events, and thought…if that is true, why aren’t more women featured? Then I thought, I know a lot of creative business-oriented women, why not feature them here? And that’s how it began. Forget ‘The Boys Club’ here is the kick-start to the ‘Girls Club!’

It is in our nature to multi-task

Wife, mom, sister, boss, employee, lover, listener, and I am leaving out at least 10 other to-do items on my list today. As the primary care-givers, and working 9-5 (that’s a joke, right?) we are strapped for time, space and breathing room needed to focus, inspire and create. My intention is that the Creative Women in Business Series will provide a forum for women to express themselves freely and learn from one another.

Next week we will be kicking off with insights from a photographer, a nonprofit founder, and a charming architect turned boutique owner. And that’s just the start.

Here are some fabulous resources I found while researching the idea of a ‘Girls Club’. I am sure there are tons of great resources online, please share with us!!

• Illuminate Ventures invests in women lead start-ups
• The Crave Company
• Mompreneurs
• National Center for Women and Information Technology
• Astia and Springboard Enterprises are raising awareness and mentoring entrepreneurial women
• Lisa is a member of Chicago’s Webgrrls
• For you east and west coast girls there is Girls in Tech
• Forum for Women Entrepreneurs and Executives

Launching a new website isn’t easy, but with the help of Step Brightly we accomplished a stylish website that is easy to navigate so you can find your favorite Chicago designer, boutique or product information.  We love supporting local talent and hope you will too!

Nicole Brashear, Proprietor of Fashionista Chicago

Design Services Provided:

Custom web design and development for fashion blog

Nicki Brashear is an authority on e-commerce, web-design and all things fashion. Living in Chicago Nicki has become an integral part in the growing awareness of Chicago boutiques and designers.  Her fashion blog, Fashionista Chicago was named one of the top style blogs in Chicago by Refinery29, is the authority on local designers, boutiques and businesses to alert style-savvy shoppers to the many great options the city offers.

Nicki approached Step Brightly to help move her blogger fashion website into a wordpress content management system and refresh the look and feel of her brand voice. The most important aspect of this was to give Nicki a platform to showcase Chicago fashion designers and boutiques. The black and white space warrants a freshness that is seen in many fashion blogs and hi-end brands.

The revamped site features neighborhood shopping maps for Lincoln Park, Roscoe Village and Wicker Park, more than 25 interviews with local and national designers including Peach Carr, Ed Hardy and Edgardo Osorio. Collaborations with businesses such as Leah Chavie Skin Care, Timberland, Borris Powell and Mark Shale provide readers with exclusive deals and giveaways.

We love this book. We really do. We highly suggest it to any momtrepreneurs or wanna-be momtrepreneurs. It is a step-by-step guide on how to start a mom-owned business and be a good mother, both of which are at the top of our list of things to do.

Design Services Provided:

Book Layout
Print Management
Posters
Customized Shipping Labels

Jill Salzman, author and the Original Founding Mom, started The Founding Moms in Oak Park Illinois, and it is now, the world’s first and only kid-friendly collective of monthly meetups for mom entrepreneurs.  Jill’s TED talk, Why Moms Make The Best Entrepreneurs, has received rave reviews and she was recently named one of the Top 50 Women To Watch In Tech.

Step Brightly’s Creative Director, Lisa was thrilled when Jill asked Step Brightly to design her first book, Found It: A Field Guide for Mom Entrepreneurs, published by Piggott Press. It was particularly exciting to dive into a large print project after completing the website for Fashionista Chicago. It is not often that a graphic design studio does both print and web work, and does it well! We were blessed to be given the opportunity.

The Founding Moms is a local monthly meeting where mom entrepreneurs can connect and learn from one another. Mom’s swap start-up stories, interact with renowned business experts, and build personal and professional connections within the ever-growing network of mom-owned businesses. The meetings were a life-line for Lisa when she first had Julien, and Found It provided spot-on insights on how to balance motherhood and business.

One of our favorite business/motherhood tips we learned from Found It is to make dinner in the morning. You no longer have the 5pm shout down the stairs, “What’s for dinner Mom?!” Who knew that a Crockpot was only $35? Lifesaver! Our second favorite tip is on page 55: Pay Now or Pay Later. Jill tells us:

Go ahead. Google “cheap logo design services.” Seriously do it. You’ll find hundreds of opportunities to have a lousy logo designed just for you. Seek out the most inexpensive web designer and you’ll get a top-of-the-line inexpensive looking website.

We also adore Jill’s tips on how to find the perfect graphic designer or web designer:

• Curate a list of potential web design and graphic design providers from friends and colleagues
• Don’t assume that high prices always mean high quality or that low prices mean you are getting a deal
• Take time to review advice from different sources
• You should squeal with delight when you look at their portfolio
• Be fair because designers form your identity in the marketplace, don’t lowball them
• You pay for what you get

Jill, Thank you for the opportunity to work with you on this awesome must-have book and we wish you all the success in the mommy-business world!

You can purchase the only book you will ever need to keep your sanity as a mom and a business woman here. Or go digital and purchase your kindle version here.

Did you know that Lisa, Step Brightly’s Creative Director, was originally a Fashion Design major at The Academy of Art University in San Francisco? That was until she realized she didn’t have a clue how to sew.

Switching majors to Graphic Design, Lisa found her calling. And as fate would have it years later, she was blessed with the opportunity to work with Nicki Brasher, the Proprietor of Fashionista Chicago, Your Go To Source For Style on her custom WordPress website.

Inspiration board for hi-end fashion brands from Kate Spade, Diesel and Harpers Bazar

Lisa met Nicki Brasher while they were both working at Paper Source in July of 2008. In 2009 Nicki started Fashionista Chicago, a Chicago resource for fashion and style. In 2011, Nicki asked Step Brightly to take her Blogger website, help refresh the brand’s look and feel and move it into WordPress. Step Brightly helps many clients with custom WordPress website design, installation and updates, and so we were eager to help!

Following our 4-step creative process we researched the essence of a hi-end fashion brands, and how to best showcase hi-end fashion designers within the Fashionista Chicago website.

Inspiration board for hi-end fashion brands from Chanel and Kate Spade

Fashion is more than just a brand name.  It’s driven by inspiration, confidence, and the way one lives.  As in viewing a painting, style is our own interpretation. Chicago is a beautiful city inspiring many designers, business owners and Fashionista’s.

Said Nicole Brashear describing her website

Website inspiration  for hi-end fashion brands

After our exploration, design and discovery phases we landed on a minimal site that is consistently fresh and classic at the same time. The subtle use of black, white and gray allows Chicago Fashion Designers seasonal looks to take center stage, as Nicki intended it.

We started with a WordPress template and customized it with Fashionista’s brand voice. The addition of curvy yet minimal typography, custom WordPress widgets, plugins and unique customization of Fashionista’s social media icons, we refreshed the brand voice of Fashionista Chicago.

Learn more about our Custom WordPress Website Design, and additional website services.
Learn more and read more about Nicki’s Fashionista website exploration with Step Brightly soon.

We are head over heels to have been one of 122 businesses selected to the 2nd Edition of The Urban Girl’s Manifesto, CRAVE Chicago’s ultimate guide to women-owned businesses in the Chicago Metropolitan Area! In addition to our editorial and photography shot by the awesome Adam Daniels, some of our favorite clients and friends are in it too: Le Papier Studio, BabyDolls Boutique, The Founding Moms and Lightspan Digital. Here are the rest of the interview questions and a few pictures from the Book Launch party held at Open Books in Chicago in late December.

Who is your role model or mentor?
Kate Spade, Billie Holiday,  Jackie O, my son Julien, Mary Poppins,  Betty White, J.K. Rowling, Jenna Lyons, my mom, anyone on So You Think You Can Dance

What motivates you on a daily basis?
Positivity, smiles, soulful house music, glitter, cupcakes, friends, gorgeous fonts, bright colors, giggles, wit, and thoughtful conversation.

What is your motto or theme song?
Katrina & the Waves, “Walking on Sunshine.” Come on, is there a happy song? No, the answer is no.  Walking on sunshine rocks.

How do you relax?
I absorb books like water! I am love series books because I fall in love with the characters–books like Game of Thrones, the Sookie Stackhouse series and The Hunger Games.

What place inspires you and why?
California. I use to visit my grandmother in San Diego, and I attended college in San Francisco. I love the smell of salty ocean air, it reminds me of summertime and endless possibilities!

What do you CRAVE?
Diet Coke and wine, but not together.

I am extremely grateful to be selected among the 122 sassiest, gutsiest, most inspiring women-owned businesses for CRAVE Chicago’s city guide this year.

We were asked a series of questions, which I want to share with you. The guide will be out soon and I will be sure to post the photos from our photo shoot which was a blast.

Pick 5 adjectives that describe your business:
Thoughtful
Witty
Sophisticated
Inspirational
Functional

Write your business description in 65 words or less
Our goal is to create deliberate and brilliant design solutions that are meaningful for you. Offering a full palette of graphic design and web design services, we create tangible results that will outshine your expectations.

Lisa started Step Brightly to work directly with clients in the retail, stationery, children’s branding, event planning and design communities. Her intention is to communicate clear messaging that will inspire positive change for her clients.

What are your most popular products or services?
We evaluate our clients needs and create specialized design and marketing solutions to help them reach their business goals from a visual and verbal standpoint. We specialize in custom web design, print and overall branding design.

What tip would you give women who are starting a business?
Write your inspiration on a post-it note and look at it everyday to remind yourself that the day-to-day hubbub is not the goal, it is simply a stepping stone to help you reach it.

What do you like best about owning a business?
I get to design amazing work with fabulous brands and boutiques owned by women who are passionate about what they do. I am constantly inspired by their energy.

Photography and CRAVE logo: ©CRAVE Chicago

Your product page will make your break a sale on your ecommerce site. Seriously. The layout of the product page, hierarchy of information, and functionality, is essential to making a sale. The product, or item page, is where the customer will see multiple images of the product they are about to purchase. Here they will read your specifications and customize the product accordingly.

Because of our extensive background working in the retail and gift industries, we know your customer is choosing more than a size, color and quantity. Often they are adding their child’s name, information about a party, selecting fonts, colors and other elements that will make your product unique to them. If the customer is confused or frustrated, you lose your sale.

Here is the breakdown of information needed on any product page:

• URL that is keyword rich
• Product Title that is bigger and/or bolder than your body copy
• Functioning H1, H2 and H3 headings that are keyword rich
• Brief description of product that is keyword rich, between 160-200 characters
• Bulleted specifications
• Step-by-step instructions starting with any information they need to provide for customization
• Keep font and color choices to a minimum, approximately 5-10 for each
• If possible, avoid drop down menus and pop-ups, unless the customer has the ability to view the customizations live
• Give the option to SAVE TO WISHLIST as well as ADD TO CART
• The ADD TO CART button should be the most prominent button the page

Notice that we haven’t said anything about design yet? And we are a graphic design and web design studio!

Yep, there are two sides to any website: Design and Development. Almost everything that we have listed here is about the back-end, the Development portion of the site. If the site is functioning properly, design is icing on the cake. Here are some awesomely delicious product pages that we have designed.

More on how we helped Le Papier Studio organize their product pages.

More on how we helped lead Treasure Rooms online for the first time, from home page to checkout!

More on how Lisa updated the Paper Source website from home page through product pages and how-tos!