Today we’d like to introduce you to Chalsey Falk.
Hi Chalsey, so excited to have you with us today. What can you tell us about your story?
I am originally from Fargo/Moorhead and received a BFA from the University of Wisconsin-Stout in Graphic Design and Interactive Media with a Minor in Spanish. I have volunteered for 8 years on AIGA boards (Association of Professional Designers) in Minnesota, Wisconsin, and San Diego.
I now live in Barrett, MN, and work as a creative business owner of Full Mood Studio. I am also the Project Director for the Arts Collaborative and Marketing Manager for the Alexandria Art Guild. I love getting involved with community arts and healing-related initiatives in the area.
After the COVID-19 pandemic, I decided to go back to my Minnesota roots. I enjoy living on a lake with views of the river with mainly birds as neighbors. I am passionate about lifting up artists and entrepreneurs. Creating a safe space for creative cultivation, confidence boosting, and business advice. I divided my time between murals, branding, illustration, networking, hiking, camping, traveling, and getting involved in local and virtual communities.
I started my business, Full Mood Studio, to serve business owners, creative agencies, and non-profit organizations. I offer graphic design services in the form of websites, marketing, and murals.
Can you talk to us about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way? Looking back, would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Since starting my business in 2021, I have had ups and downs. I have had times where I have too much work and times with not enough work. I have learned a lot through different forms of continued education, courses, business coaching, and community resources. I would not be where I am without the support of my many mentors who have helped me along the way.
My biggest challenge is finding alignment and balance in what I do. Through observations of how I feel and being in tune with signs from the universe, I can learn what is working for me and what is not. Over time, I have learned that saying both yes and no to things has a large impact on what is next for my business.
I have learned that it is important to set my business up for the future as well as what is happening in the current week. On-going relationship building is helpful to invite new clients into my life as well as keep my network up to date on my service offerings.
Alright, so let’s switch gears a bit and talk business. What should we know?
Full Mood Studio exists to serve business owners, creative agencies, and non-profit organizations. I love working with soul-led community leaders and providing a form of business therapy to them to get more connected to their impact and the ripples they are creating through their offerings.
I work with clients across the USA and also subcontract help from designers, copywriters, and developers as needed. My week consists of varied forms of creative work and meetings.
Every project that I work on involves a bit of research. I work with the client to form the initial idea and vision. After that, I take some time to learn how their competitors are showing up in a similar space. There is usually a moodboard involved to help pave the direction of our vision. From there we decide what is working and what isn’t. Then the creative process starts to identify what the solution to the creative request can look like. From there we make tweaks to the work and send it out into the world.
I am known for being calm, collected, and very detail-oriented. I like making sure that people around me feel supported and cared for through the process. We must develop a friendly relationship where we can support each other during the project and for years to come.
I am different than other graphic design services because I have a detail-oriented eye that can notice small details as well as the big picture. I like to look at the creative challenge from the lens of someone who may know nothing about the subject. How can we ensure they are getting the message we are putting into the world?
My inspiration comes from contemporary resources, brand modernization is important to me.
I am proud of creating impactful and soul-led connections with the people that I work with. Taking the client’s vision and applying my design brain to their goals can be incredibly powerful.
My first goal of design isn’t meant to “make something pretty,” the first goal is understandability. The customer needs to be able to read the copywriting and understand the hierarchy of the information instantly. This is a crucial step. This means avoiding a script font on top of an image or adding margins of white space. From there the next step is to make sure the aesthetic of the work is appropriate for the message we are trying to convey. Together the work should be understandable and appropriate for the audience.
My newest service is murals! Since I already create illustrations, painting murals is my way of taking the small illustrations from the digital screen into the large-scale real world. This work is rewarding because I work with communities to see the vision come to life. The artwork creates a sense of pride within the community and provides a space for delight and excitement.
We love surprises, fun facts, and unexpected stories. Is there something you can share that might surprise us?
The drive behind my artistic illustrations and murals comes from a deep desire to learn about the world around us.
As a human who is forever growing and learning, I am fascinated by what we can learn from nature and cultural traditions. Using this as fuel for my creativity, I enjoy making botanical illustrations with a little bit of oddities sprinkled throughout.
Pricing:
- Murals – Starting at $2,000
- Graphic Design – Hourly basis, reach out for more info
- Websites – Starting at $3,000
- Social Media – Monthly retainer
Contact Info:
- Website: https://www.fullmood.
co - Instagram: https://www.
instagram.com/fullmoodco/?hl= en - Facebook: https://www.
facebook.com/fullmoodco/ - Linkedin: https://www.
linkedin.com/company/fullmood/
- Yelp: Full Mood Studio – https://www.yelp.com/biz/
full-mood-studio-barrett?osq= Full+Mood+Studio
Image Credits
Kristen Perala https://www.instagram.com/kristenperala.creative/
