Graphic designers and similar creatives aren’t mind readers, but I think Alexis Rawlins might be. Somehow, she knows exactly what I’m looking for even when I give her very little information.

I hate to say it, but I do that often.

I met Alexis a few years at a job where we both worked; I was an assistant and she was a graphic designer. After talking about any and everything while on the clock—sorry boss—I learned that she also does design and illustration work for people outside of the office. When I heard that, a light bulb immediately turned on in my head! I needed to get some branding materials made for Follow My Gut and had little time or knowledge on how to do it myself. When she told me that she does exactly that and more I wanted to check her out. I visited her website and her Etsy store Tiny Bee Cards and it was clear that she knows what she’s doing. I then saw she hit the big time when her work was picked up by both Buzzfeed and Huffington Post. To see someone I know on those sites for their work was so exciting! Combining that with the fact that she’s funny, smart, patient, and pretty badass I asked her if she could do some design work for me. I’m so glad I did because it was a great start to our creative business relationship. Together, Alexis designed my media kit and creative materials that I use daily and I love them!

When I worked on my parody song, “Started a Cleanse” I wanted a cover art to promote it and Alexis was the only person I thought of to do the job! I reached out to her to let her know about the project and what I needed, and her excitement over it only made me more excited! She then asked me what I was looking for and unfortunately, I wasn’t the best at articulating my ideas. My only thought was that I wanted it to be a cartoon similar to Kehlani’s “CRZY” cover. I let her know that I loved how vivid it looked and that it didn’t feel corny, but that was pretty much it. I didn’t know how to translate what I specifically liked beyond an almost aloof comment of “Yeah, this looks cool”. Thankfully, the years Alexis has had working with people on design gave her the ability to help me explain what I was looking to achieve. With that she let me know that the easiest way to get the cover art done would be for me to take a photo the way I hoped the cover art would come out and that she would sketch it.

Simple enough!

I ended up taking the photo of myself at Helados with a double scoop ice cream cone and a mock cleanse in hand. I then sent that photo to Alexis, and shortly after she started to create the cover.

I found that she diligently sketched the photo from my braids to the ice cream cone with heavy concentration on every aspect of the image. She then imported it to Illustrator and colored it in and added text. She put in such a great amount of work that showed her expertise and passion as a designer. To see her work so hard on project of mine was incredibly heartwarming. She treated the job like it was her own baby and I respected that so much.When she sent me the final cover I absolutely adored it! I loved the detail that was clear from my facial expression to the colors she used. The cover art came out better than I imagined and I was so happy with the finished product that I couldn’t wait to show it off and tell everyone who did it!

Somehow, Alexis was able to read my mind when it came to this project and I’m so glad she did! Doing so allowed her to create an album cover that was exactly what I was looking to have. She’s incredibly intelligent when it comes to graphic design and creative arts and there’s no one else I would rather work with on future projects. She’s such an exceptional graphic designer and I highly recommend her. I’m so happy that I have her to bring my projects to life because she’s the best, period!

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