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Meet Nadine Messier of NGM Design in Long Beach

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Today we’d like to introduce you to Nadine Messier.

Nadine, can you briefly walk us through your story – how you started and how you got to where you are today.
I started my professional Graphic Design career in the magazine publishing industry in NYC in 1990, where I lived and worked for 10 years. I ran around to all of the funky shops in East Village, went out clubbing at the Palladium, Limelight, the Roxy, and Webster Hall ’til 2AM. I explored all of the amazing museums like the Cooper Hewitt, the Whitney, and the Brooklyn Botanical Gardens. I experienced Indian, Thai, Burmese, Ethiopian, Russian, and Japanese food for the first time. I took the N train out to Coney Island all summer long to grab a Nathan’s hot dog, watch the freak show, and hang out on the beach.

Then after 10 years of fun, I got laid off.

Done with New York, I headed out west to pursue my dream of working for the music industry designing CD covers. With the help of the internet, I moved across the country with just my ambition and the beach to guide me. I bought my car online, secured a spot in a motel, called a moving company, packed up all of my stuff, and flew out to LA on July 4, 2000.

I picked up my car, got an apartment, unpacked my stuff, and started to hit the streets for work. Portfolio in hand, I drove all over town, had interviews at several big labels, but was repeatedly told that I didn’t have enough years of experience in the “biz.” Whatevs.

Next! Having no clue that LA was the land of manufacturing, I landed a series of “real” jobs in the fashion, software, and toy design industries as a packaging designer. I found myself retouching men’s’ underwear photos, and creating kids’ pajama packaging at an LA sweatshop, designing pink and purple packaging for dancing flower pot speakers, karaoke microphones, and talking teen journals, for the Bratz doll brand, designing both the wrap around labels and the embroidered designs for socks at another LA sweatshop, then a brief stint at another toy company designing “houses” for stuffed animals. It was fun, but they were clueless, so I moved on.

Between these “real jobs”, I fell into freelancing for major nonprofits, creating marketing collateral and promotional material for their various events. I designed logos, invitations, flyers, signs, posters, banners, annual reports, media kits, dinner programs — basically anything and everything printed. I had to find the right printer for each job and crank it out fast, accurately, and under budget — the story of my life!

Throughout my nonprofit gigs, I decided to give myself a design boost, and went back to college to study architecture in a 2 year program. With classmates that were 2.5 times younger than me, I didn’t feel intimidated, awkward, or out of place, since I had a lifetime of experience, and worked twice as hard as they did. At the time, I didn’t realize how well graphic design prepared me for architectural school. I thrived in the “old school” classroom environment, where we sketched by hand, did a lot of research, and were forced to take the time to fully evolve our design process by constantly developing our concepts, and producing several iterations before coming to our final design. It was a refreshing change from the fast-paced, I-need-it-yesterday mentality of most of my graphic design jobs.

After completing the program, I tried to get my foot in the door at several architecture firms as a hybrid Graphic Designer/Architectural Designer, but found it frustrating since most firms wanted applicants to have all my skills plus skills in all of their industry software, yet pay you under minimum wage. Uh, no thanks.

From all of our drawing and sketching exercises in school, I rekindled my love of drawing and explored digital illustration which I had never experimented with much before. Diving into that, I created a website and portfolio within a week, and dove into a yearlong series of online textile & surface pattern design classes. I entered online competitions, received recognition in a few, was in a gallery show in Joshua Tree, and got a licensing agent! YAY! But of course, this is LA and she then promptly flaked and went out of business without notice.

After that disappointment, I decided to just create my own products with my original patterns and illustrations on them instead. So, with that, in addition to my graphic design business, I now have a budding side gig as an illustrator and product line developer of small home décor items.

Overall, has it been relatively smooth? If not, what were some of the struggles along the way?
Looking back on all of my experiences in LA, I can honestly say that I have definitely had a wider range of opportunities, and a broader scope of clientele than I had imagined when I hopped on a plane and left NYC behind.

Did I land my dream job working at a record company? No. Do I care now? No. Did I work in toy companies instead and have a pretty cool experience there? Yes. Would I do it again? No.

Did I expect to work for three major nonprofit organizations and find myself rebranding and designing material with a hip, urban vibe that served as an outreach to the greater LA community? No. Did I surprisingly love it? Yes!

Did I think that I would go back to school to study architecture 20 years after my college graduation, having already earned degrees in both Graphic Design and Illustration? No. Was it the best decision I made besides taking a risk and moving to LA from NYC? Yes!

NGM Design – what should we know? What do you guys do best? What sets you apart from the competition?
I am a print Graphic Designer, specializing in rebranding and designing marketing collateral and promotional material for small businesses, start-ups, and nonprofits. I have found my niche in this area because I enjoy working with businesses that are driven, have a purpose, and want to help others.

I learned first-hand that there is a lot of miscommunication, inefficiency, lack of integrity, and complacency in the corporate work environment, having experienced it myself in both NYC and LA. My own frustration of witnessing non-organization and mismanagement encouraged me to strike out on my own and seek out the small business owner who is like me — professional, focused, and passionate about their work. And of course, it helps if they are a nice person, too. : )

I enjoy working directly with my clients one-on-one because I can get a clear, personalized idea of what their business is about, and what I can do to help them.

Together we can collaborate on ideas and create a product that is custom-tailored to their needs and provides a solution to their design problem.

People often don’t know exactly what they need or what design solutions are available to them, They assume that they have to purchase large quantities of business cards, postcards, etc. in order to get a price break. This was true about 20 years ago before the invention of digital short run printing. I educate clients on how the design and printing industries have greatly advanced by digital technology, and how I can help them spend their budget more wisely.

Being a small business owner myself, I know that saving money whenever possible is a main concern. I recommend options for small budgets, source out economical printing, and provide clients with quick turnarounds for their often last minute projects. I am 100% involved in the entire design process from start to finish, and follow-up regularly via email, phone calls, and text to update the client on the status of their job until the final product is delivered and in hand.

It is always satisfying to hear from clients afterwards that was I able to provide them with exactly what they wanted when they wanted it— even if they weren’t sure what it was that they needed themselves.

What is “success” or “successful” for you?
My personal definition of success is being able to earn a living at doing what you love, to live the lifestyle that you choose, and to do it on your own terms. I have always set goals for myself, and then followed my own path in order to achieve them.

Ever since I was young, and growing up in the suburbs of Northern Virginia, I had envisioned myself living in New York City and then Los Angeles. I didn’t know at the time how or when I would accomplish these goals, but I still had them.

Growing up on the East Coast, NYC is the epicenter of all things creative and artistic. I grew up going to all of the incredible museums in Washington, D.C., and was constantly surrounded by history and culture. But for an artist, NYC is the ultimate place where you can learn about yourself, develop as an artist, and find your career path. I enjoyed my life there, I was “successful” in my publishing career, and my personal and professional experiences provided me with the confidence and the tools to move across the country without a guarantee or a safety net.

Los Angeles was this mythical land of sunshine, and surfboards. I grew up watching those old school beach party movies, listening to the Beach Boys (who played in DC every summer on July 4th), and imagined that people danced at luaus all day on the beach. I was 10, but that’s what LA was to me. As I grew older and eventually vacationed out here, I got a more realistic sense of what LA was really like — no endless beach parties or luaus, but it still projected that mythical quality of life by the beach that I had dreamed of as a kid.

So, my second mark of “success” was moving out here on my own, without a job, boyfriend, friends, or family, and figuring out my path — and the freeways — by myself. I took the safe, “corporate” job route as I did in NYC, and I learned quite a bit.

But, whether it’s due to a hyperactive East Coast vibe vs a laid back West Coast one, my constant desire to learn, explore, and develop my skills, or just the simple conclusion that the older I get, the less tolerance for bs I have — whatever the reason, I find that being my own boss, working from my home studio, setting my own hours, and working with clients one-on-one, works best for me.

I’ve done the “big city” thing. I’ve done the “office cube” thing. Now I’m doing the “work from home” thing, and to me, that is my current mark of success.

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