Hello Lovely Design and Co

24/09/2025

Happy Dog Person Day!

Are you a dog person? I’ve been a dog person all my life. My grandparents has 18 dogs over the years since I was born, all rescues, or ‘my favourite breed’ so it’s no surprise that Molly is a rescue. I waited years to have my own dog as I know the care they require and it was worth every second. In the meantime we had a cat and I walked dogs for The Cinnamon Trust, a charity who helps people who are seriously ill or ageing to keep their pets with them.

I’m the person, at the party, who loves it when the dog sits with me and always happy to walk a dog. I can’t imagine a life without a dog.

If you follow We Rate Dogs, which raises awareness of rescue dogs in the USA and fundraises for emergency vet care, then you’ll know about this day. I love their ‘tell your dog I said hi’ merch!

02/07/2025

Tell me: what would you like to know about design?

Are you figuring out fonts, gridlocked by grids, uncertain about what good design is and long to escape from templates. Learning the fundamentals about design can help you feel confident.

I'd love to know what you'd like to learn. Drop a comment or pop me a DM!

30/06/2025

It's 33 degrees, so I'm doing this slowly so I don't forget the happiness of paddling in the sea last week. The sea was delightfully freezing.

- I'm tackling my inbox
- Answering questions on when to send text to a designer (when it's complete!)
- Checking in my diary.

How is your week looking?

Image of a black dog looking at the camera next to a person wearing a black skirt and red shoes, standing on a sandy beach

***

“You understood the concept from the off. All the design decisions from that point always fitted with the overarching theme.” R.N.

Design is more than aesthetics; it's how we communicate. Let's talk about font-led, accessible website, branding and print for your business.

17/06/2025

The power of testimonials

Asking for a testimonial often falls off the to-do list as we move on to the next thing. If you do make time for them, what happens next?

They can transform into powerful case studies on your website, showcasing your skills and building trust.

That's great for clients, but what about you? How often do you look at them yourself? One way might be to have a pinboard by your desk with copies of the words to remind you what you've created and how far you've come.

30/05/2025

Design doesn't have to be difficult. My values are collaboration and creativity so you can learn as much as you wish. I am very proud and pleased to share advice. You can find lots on the Hello Lovely website. Each month I curate Gorgeous, a newsletter which explains design in an easy-to-understand way. It's been called glorious and informative! Sign up and grab a newly updated Design Tips for Small Businesses

Video shows colourful alphabet letters falling from the top of the page. The text reads Curious? Fun? Problem solving? Design can be fun. The Hello Lovely logo spins in half way through in a purple colourway. The closing text reads Bespoke print, branding websites and logo design, tuition and templates.

29/04/2025

Design shouldn't be difficult but sometimes it can feel overwhelming. Melanie had a deadline for an event and an old print booklet that needed to be brought up to date and integrated into a website. It was a pleasure to create new from old so that the work reached a wider audience.

If you'd like to detangle design with me, my diary reopens in August. Get in touch via the website to secure your spot.

Text reads: I didn't want to log off today without saying a huge thank you, you've gone above and beyond my requests, I'm in awe. Thank you. Melanie AJR

It is white text on a purple background and pale gold text below reads let's detangle design, hello lovely dot design.

27/01/2025

I’m pleased to share a new look and services for Hello Lovely Design and Co which has a new name, new address and a new website. You’ll find a fledgling recording for a new podcast, the Top Tips are back and there’s a new Creative Journal. And a lead magnet for Gorgeous, the newsletter.

It was long overdue an update as I’ve learned a lot about accessibility this past year. The old logo, branding amd website was excluding people with sight difficulties, including the site owner, me!

It’s 90% there. It’s an absolute myth if anyone says that websites must be 100% perfect. This won’t be so I’ll be checking the site map, links and other small details over the next few days as the site updates in Google etc. I’ve also asked for an independent accessibility report as I’m now too close to it.

What is absolutely true is designers are our worst clients!

www.hellolovely.design

02/01/2025

It feels like a good time of the year to share this tip about Website Copyright Lines. What do they mean? Do you need one, and what should it say?

It’s that time of the year when social media reminds us that we must change our copyright lines on our website. Do you need to do it, and if so should be the current year?

13/12/2024

"Thank you for your help and patience over the past year, I appreciate it."

Empathy is a much underrated but terribly important skill to have in content creation and design. Great designers, I find, tend to keep their clients because they show empathy naturally.

Empathy helps me to understand where our client's clients are coming from. I think about much more than fonts, for example ...
- cultural sensitivities
- inclusiveness in illustrations
- navigation
- accessibility

I'm also thinking about my client. They may have been ...
- let down by other supplier
- not understand a process
- struggle with tech
- have trouble with their intentions and aims, and selecting the best route
- trusting and delegating.

A great example of this was marking up on a PDF. Do you know how to do that? I do, but I had forgotten to put myself in my clients shoes. I solved it by creating a blog post and video. It's been very helpful.

The quote above comes from a client who has worked with me this year and got overwhelmed with what happens and in which order. I went through their questions and we shared our knowledge so they felt supported but at all times with compassion.

I'm just about to start working on the third book with them. But, I still have space and opening up my diary for February if you'd like to take advantage and book in early.

Drop me a DM or comment below and I'll pop a link to my diary.

09/12/2024

Gorgeous is the Hello Lovely newsletter. Read for easy wins to help you design your work. Read about 2025 European laws for accessibility and how it may affect you, my month in fonts and an offer on a free ebook on email marketing!

https://view.flodesk.com/emails/67506afb1b2ba1be1699904c

06/12/2024

Typically me, getting a photo of a Cambridge tradition and signage! I do love a well painted sign plus cake. I cycled down today and met up with dear Sarah whom I’ve known for a long time online but we’ve only briefly met in person once from afar. Came away feeling very fortunate to have such dear friends.

02/12/2024

Good morning, how was your weekend? Each Monday I ask about intentions and share mine, and invite you to join in. Why?

Partly it's accountability. I'm a designer and creative, thus I'm 'person most likely to be distracted by an ampersand, rescue greyhounds on BlueSky, Dr Martens or new gizmo'. Or a podcast which is meant to be a side-hustle but can take over!

Having a list of weekly intentions keeps me on track and away from the shiny things which can go on a list and get scheduled in, if relevant. (Dogs are always relevant and ampersands make me smile).

It's also a bit of 'behind the scenes' and shows what I do. No week or day is the same with my work which I love and a list is useful. And I do return to LinkedIn to check in! It's a real list of real things.

I also like to share what I do for the planet as that's a value for me. I believe it's an action we can share and it might inspire someone else.

So.... this week..

This week for my business I am
- Monday afternoon is my hour of working on my business so I'm writing up the last pieces of the Hello Lovely newsletter.
- sending out a new proposal

For my clients
- sending a second edition book to press today
- I have a call with a client this week to set website milestones

For the planet
- I'm going to Cambridge's Mill Road Winter Fair on Saturday, up the road, to support local businesses.

For myself
- I'm heading up the road to Trinity Street in Cambridge in search of cards and a fringe trim so I'm more Claudia and less Cousin It.

So what about you? What's happening over there?

hashtag
hashtag
hashtag
hashtag