Pulley Blog

We had a chance recently to sit down with the wildly talented and extremely gracious Christine Tafoya, the brains behind Dear Miss Modern.

Check out the store here: dearmissmodern.com

Rumor has it you’re a self-taught designer. How did you get involved in this level of design?

The rumors are true. I was seriously born a hyper-active design fanatic.

I designed a birthday invitation (on a teeny tiny little mac) when I was about 20, with absolutely no computer skills at all. I did it in Microsoft Publisher, printed it out, and glued little confetti hearts to it. I made a bunch of copies and everyone loved them. That was kind of a turning point; I was hooked. After that, I would design anything I could get my hands on, and kept creating new little “businesses” so that I could design the branding for them. Finally someone (ok, my mom) said, “you know, you could make a business out of doing that for other people.” And here we are.

Where did your inspiration come from for not only your design-style, but also the business in general?

I create what I like to look at. I don’t really know where the design-style itself came from, but like any designer will tell you, I’m influenced by everything. The little Asian market on the corner has the best packaging. I’m a foreign film and magazine junkie, and simplicity always wins.

Just paying attention is the best influence. Every day I’m amazed by my business; how much I love it, how well it’s doing. That’s inspiring.

How did the notion of selling pre-made logos and design templates come about?

I was actually really against selling anything pre-made for a long time. People would ask me if I had pre-made logos and I would cringe. I truly do feel that design should be specific to the client, the personality, and the feeling of the business, but after so much interest in the templates, combined with the wait list for custom work (and the instant nature of technology), I couldn’t say no anymore.

I’ve had the Dear Miss Modern shop for a little over a year, and I couldn’t be happier with it. It’s a creative outlet for my creative outlet, and it’s fun, pretty, instant gratification for my clients. It’s really satisfying to come up with an idea, run it by the facebook crowd, and put it in the shop the next day with smashing results. That’s instant gratification for me.

In addition to your pre-made templates, you also offer customized services—what are some of your favorite custom jobs you’ve worked on?

I love custom work, and it’s the main part of the business. My husband and I opened a restaurant in Northern California, and I have to say it was my hands-down favorite design project. Because it wasn’t just design. It was the whole nine. Company name, (complete with fun story behind it) logo, menus, tag line, website, events, decor, marketing, facebook—all of it. It all has to work together, all the time, and it all has to come from the same voice. No excuses.

What has been the biggest hurdle for you to overcome in selling digital design files?

Honestly, time. I can design things all day long, but when it comes to getting the files ready for the shop, which means setting them up in a way that my clients can edit them and use them, it takes me forever.

I have the most awesome help now though, so problem solved. (Say hi to Michele everyone).

The items you sell on your site are digital files. Can you talk about how Big Cartel and Pulley work for you to make your online shop a legit working download store?

I cannot say enough good things about Big Cartel and Pulley. I mean it. I LOVE what your service has enabled me to do with my business, and the way it’s set up is so clean, seamless, and easy. I was a little afraid of having the shop and dealing with technical difficulty, but there’s been none.

I will tell anyone who will listen how fabulous you are, and I can’t imagine ever using anything else. Keep up the good work you guys- it’s seriously brilliant.