Sweet Notes Studio

Yesterday was my first day back at school, but *in person* this time.

I'm going back to finish my degree in design! 🔥🔥🔥

It's something I've wanted to do for years but I've held back, waiting for the right opportunity.

⌚ Making enough time in my schedule and readjusting my processes so things wouldn't take so long and tire me out.

😒 Waiting till lockdown was done and adjusting to life afterwards.

🌡️ Figuring out how to manage my kid's hayfever, so he wasn't worryingly sick at home for weeks at a time.

🧘🏻‍♀️ Working on my health and energy levels.

👍🏼 Waiting till it was the best option.

👩‍🎓 Doing short courses and tutorials in the meantime, as well as helping clients (I do have a diploma in graphic design, and have been qualified and practicing for years).

And finally it felt just right, and I enrolled 🎉

This is how I'm getting realigned and more efficient at producing the excellence in design that I want for my clients.

My goals are to enjoy the experience, collaborate however I can with other creative departments, get updated on the latest in design standards and practices, and make the most of the next couple of years I'll be attending.

Of course, I do still have my client books open so if you would like to work with me, book in a quick chat at

Janelle Brown Welcome to my scheduler. Please follow the instructions to book a time with me.

Hello! It's been a while since I've done an introduction. My name is Janelle and I'm the designer behind Sweet Notes Studio.

I am a passionate designer who specialises in branding and web design, as you may know. But I also:

💗 Love pink
🎮 Play fantasy RPGs in my spare time (especially the Legend of Zelda series) and love the visuals
👓 Wear glasses most of the time (and have been teary all day wearing contacts!)
🧠 I overthink a lot, but also come up with great ideas
🇵🇭 I'm proud of my Pinoy heritage and love to showcase it with dance and other creative pursuits
📺 Watch a lot of k-dramas, superhero shows, and recently, Free Guy
📚 Read webtoons more than anything else now. Some of my favourites are Eleceed, Like Wind on a Dry Branch and Siren's Lament. Thursday is the best day for new chapters, at the moment.
🎤 Love karaoke, the Spice Girls, Backstreet Boys and Disney songs
🐈 Love my cat and my kids, but not in that order
🏢 Love exploring the city and eating out
😳 I'm a bit of an introvert - talked and introduced myself all day yesterday, and today I'm zonked out but still somehow got out and about
🙋‍♀️ Volunteer and donate blood
👕 Design my own t-shirts and wear them around
👯‍♀️ I'm more of a pilates and dance person than a ball sports fan
🍭 Eat too many sweets (Who can relate?)

I also like to get to know a bit about people and listen to the stories they have to tell.

If you would like to talk, about branding or something else, you can book a quick chat on our website at www.sweetnotesstudio.com and we can get to know each other ☺️

(I love how the internet makes meeting people across the world possible!)

No business card, no problem!

You can hand out flyers if you don't have a business card or your brand figured out. The problem with business cards is that they usually take days to get printed. And if you're like me you might not even remember you need them until the day before the event.

So here's what you can do even without an established brand:

+ Pick a variety of your favourite colour (I've used light pink and orange tones)

+ Choose a link you can share.

+ Imagine that you have just met someone you enjoyed talking to. You're wanting to exchange contact details. What would you say if you are being the coolest version of yourself? Write that down for later.

+ Get into Canva and pop together a quick design like this.

+ Take the PDF version into Officeworks and get a handful of them printed, and you're ready!

If you would like your details on this exact design without the fuss, I can customise the design for you for a small fee, and send it to your email.

P.S. these are printed on A5-sized 170GSM Silk card, so they're not too shiny to scan but still look and feel great.

Imagine you're in some homewares store and you come across this art print series. What do you think the series would be called?

One of the cutest business books I've ever read. Two other cuties I can recommend are Purple Cow by Seth Godin and especially right now, Who Moved My Cheese by Dr Spencer Johnson.

Excited for 2020's illustration trends?

I'm feeling inspired so below, I've done a quick break down of the 10 top trends from Creative Bloq, and you can see what it all looks like in the article. Gorgeous!

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1. Flat colour and limited palette. Key to success: add heavy light and shadows for extra oomph.

2. Atmospheric gradients. Keyword: seductive.

3. Blurring the lines between illustration and animation. Key to success: create hypnotic loops.

4. 3D surrealism. Key to success: texture.

5. Printmaking. No need to explain.

6. Body positivity. Keyword: caricature.

7. Illustrative lettering. Check out Martina Flor on Twitter.

8. Return of detail. Keyword: luxury.

9. Geometric patterns. Keyword: playful.

10. Illustration eclipses photography for big business (we've all been seeing it coming!)

10 top illustration trends for 2020 Industry experts list the biggest trends in illustration right now and make predictions for the coming year.

Is everything $67, Facebook? 😂😂😂

Today I found some fabulous old sketches for marketing a portrait stall. I can’t tell you how many sketches I’ve thrown out but these survived because they were fun (especially this first one here which makes me uncomfortable for several reasons, lol). It just makes me remember that playing with markers is fun. Do you have old pieces of paperwork that remind you of how you rock your work?