Meet Kirstin Protsman | Brand strategist, designer, + resident weirdo behind Rae Design

We had the good fortune of connecting with Kirstin Protsman and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Kirstin, why did you pursue a creative career?
My creative career started with my Myspace page in middle school. You know, the days where we could customize and update backgrounds as needed, play around with code and including favorite songs on my profil. For me, it was the backgrounds and customizing them. I loved to mess around with the code and didn’t realize that this would be the start of everything.

I don’t code anymore other than some basic HTML but give me an hour in Illustrator and I can make some pretty cool things.

So as for pursuing a creative career? I think it mostly happened because its what I needed. I went to John Wood Community College and graduated with an AAS in Applied Science with a Web Design & Desktop Publishing Certificates. I’ve always wanted to own a business, I didn’t know what that looked like at the time but I did know it didn’t have to feel as boring and dreadful as the office positions I’d held.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
At Rae Design, we (aka I) create brands that embrace my clients weirdness and work as hard as they work. We focus on collaboration, strategy, creative design, and clear implementation to ensure it is easy and effective for our clients to continue implementing when we part ways at the end of the project.

Ultimately, we ensure each clients brand stands out and does the most for them and their goals.

My journey to now through my business has changed a lot over the years. I started as an entrepreneur for pretty much any project I could get. I did a lot of invitation sets and business cards at this point. After this, I transitioned to shirt design and printing, sublimation art (mostly metal sublimated prints), and custom shirts. This point in my business was very overwhelming and as the days went on, I grew more and more unhappy with what I was doing.

I finally realized that I started this business for one reason: to work for myself so I can do what I want. So I started making a change and it was scary as f*ck. I had already invested a lot of money into the supplies for sublimation and shirt printing and was stressing about investing more into something different. But I did it anyway. I invested in an online course that taught brand strategy, how to present to clients, how to onboard clients, and so many other things and started offering brand strategy and logo design exclusively in 2020. Things have been amazing since. I love my work so much more, its satisfying and I actually enjoy working with and collaborating with my clients. Currently we are working on relaunching Rae Design with our new website, messaging and new additional services to support small business owners.

Running a business isn’t easy no matter how big or small it is. One of the most important lessons I’ve learned along the way is to continue learning. Whether its from mistakes, a book, or an online course, working on improving your skills is important for self care and giving clients the best work you can give. Always admit when you’re wrong and learn from it. Some of my most embarrassing screw ups have held great lessons even when it felt hard as hell to admit I was wrong.

I want the world to know that its ok to be you whether that’s weird, edgy, blunt, preppy, mom-life, whatever! Your people are out there, ya just gotta find ’em. And what’s better than finding your people and making money while doing it?

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
I’m in such a small, rural area but there are quite a few gems worth checking out! Here’s what I’d do

Day 1:

Morning yoga with Zen Soul Society, Fort Madison, IA
Breakfast at Swed in Fort Madison, IA
Head back to Keokuk to walk main street to check out all the local small businesses
Stop for a quick lunch at Rascals Pub & Grub
Have a chill afternoon & evening on Pool 20 of the Mighty Mississippi at the sandbar

Day 2:

Start slow and check out the Lost Canvas in Keokuk for breakfast
Check out the Keokuk-Hamilton Dam Museum – this is a MUST, there is some amazing history in Keokuk and the amount of artifacts and information they have about the dam is amazingly mind blowing. It was built in the early 1900’s and was the largest dam in the world at the time.
Go to dinner at GOOD Restaurant in Burlington, IA

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
Colten Protsman – Graphic designer and office manager of Darkside (and my amazingly supportive husband – honestly my biz wouldn’t be where it currently is without his support and encouragement) Sara King – Custom Creations Graphic Design

Josh Barnes – Darkside Tint & Graphics

Website: www.rae.design

Instagram: @raedsgn

Linkedin: linkedin.com/in/raedsgn/

Facebook: facebook.com/raedsgn

Image Credits
Kirsten Johnson – Kirsten with a Camera Grace in Chaos Photo