Meet Elise Dransfield | Graphic Designer & Lettering Artist

We had the good fortune of connecting with Elise Dransfield and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Elise, what do you attribute your success to?
Support. I have been really lucky to have a lot of support from friends and family throughout my life who encouraged my artistic ways and helped push me to go after what I wanted. I overthink and second-guess things a lot. The encouragement and support helped me be able to fully sink into who I was and figure out what I wanted. Without the support I have been given, I think I would have discouraged myself from a lot of things throughout my life that have been impactful to who I am, and who my brand is today.

Let’s talk shop? Tell us more about your career, what can you share with our community?
I do a wide range of graphic design work, but my passion lies in hand lettering. I have found a bit of a niche doing hand-lettered branding. I always enjoyed doing branding work and as my love for lettering grew, I found myself taking all my branding projects in the direction of being hand-drawn type. I like having full control of the way the letters look and what they are expressing or saying to the viewer. I am excited to continue to hone my skills with lettering and I want to learn more about creating fonts. Fonts are a necessary part of a brand package, and I would love to be creating those for brands as well.

The journey to get me to where I am today was definitely not linear. I have had a bit of a zig-zagging path but all of my experiences have helped shape me into where I am as a designer today. It has not been easy, but I don’t think getting anything you want normally is. As I mentioned earlier, I am a pretty anxious person so I can easily get in my own head and convince myself that what I am doing is not the right thing for me to be doing. Thought work, my mentors, and my creative community have been imperative to my success. I have learned the best thing you can do is sink into who you are. Reflection and time spent thinking about your goals and what you really want out of life will help you move forward in the most intentional way. I often get caught up in the “going, going, going” when what I need the most is to lift my head up and look within to even figure out where I even want to go.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Richmond has so much to offer for a small city! We are lucky to have a river that runs through the city with trails all around it. When people come to visit, I always take them on a walk with my dog by the James River. The VMFA is a huge art museum that has free entry. There is also a lot of great green space outside so when the weather is good people are always hanging in the grass enjoying drinks with their friends. Blue Bones Vintage is a necessary stop and Rumors, another great vintage shop, is right around the corner. A very short drive or a twenty or so minute walk and you are at the shops on Broad Street. Saison Market is a great place to stop for a cocktail and a snack before you walk over to 68 Home to find one-of-a-kind vintage furniture and home goods. We also have a lot of great restaurants – Brenner Pass, Stellas, Edo’s Squid, Blue Atlas, and L’Opossum if you are feeling fancy and if you like wine, you must go to Celladora. They are also a bottle shop so you can stop by and stock up on their great selection of organic wines. Joe’s Inn, Cobra Burger, Lemon, Goatocado, Perly’s, Garnetts, Lamplighter Coffee, Kuba Kuba, ZZQ, and Sabai are some of my more frequented restaurants although the list really goes on and on… For bars, check out Bamboo, The Jasper, Cobra Cabana, Lakeside Tavern, GWARBar, Fuzzy Cactus, Babes, Helens, and Black Lodge. Lastly, go visit Ruby Scoops and get yourself an ice cream flight. Yes, you heard that correctly, I said ice cream flight…

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Oh my gosh… so many people have given me support, encouragement, and mentorship through the years. Truly, I could never have started my own business without the support of many. I would start out by recognizing my parents and how they encouraged creativity for as long as I can remember. They always made me feel encouraged to express that side of myself.

When I was in middle school, my cousin, Craig Dransfield, a designer, artist, and muralist, introduced me to the concept of graphic design. He has taught me so much about art and design over the years and introduced me to artists and inspirations that have been influential to my style. I have also been lucky enough to have many mentors over the years. When I was first starting out freelancing, I had no clue what I was doing, and Beaux Latham and Jonathan Richter really took me under their wing and taught me the ways of the freelance world. I will be eternally grateful for them taking a chance on me and for all their patience and guidance during this very transitional period in my life. I also want to give a shout-out to CreativeMornings. If you have never been to one of their events before, check out one in your city. It is a global monthly lecture series for the creative community equipped with good coffee, donuts, and mingling with all sorts of creatives that live in your city. When I met Beaux he told me about it and soon after I went to my first event on the rooftop of the Thompson hotel. I was so inspired, got cool-designed swag for free, and met a lot of people across a plethora of creative industries. I started volunteering with them after that event and it was one of the best decisions I ever made. The other volunteers were one-of-a-kind humans, and I quickly grew an incredible creative community in Nashville.

Website: www.elisedransfield.com

Instagram: elisedransfield

Image Credits
Megan Palmer photo – Stacie Huckeba