"I don't believe in creative block. I feel like it's a crutch and something that completely doesn't exist. You can remove that completely from your vocabulary."

Elana Rudick, founder of Design is Yummy in Montreal, discusses her journey from a shy, introverted designer to a confident business owner and creative director. She shares insights on running a graphic design studio, balancing work and personal life, and the importance of authenticity in client relationships. Elana emphasizes the value of continuous learning, team building, and embracing new technologies while staying true to one's strengths. She also touches on the unique aspects of Montreal's design scene and her upcoming talk on defining an authentic work persona.~

Key Takeaways:

• Authenticity and honesty are crucial in client relationships from day one.
• Continuous learning and team building activities help keep creativity fresh.
• Embracing new technologies while focusing on core strengths is important for design studios.
• Networking and public speaking skills improve with practice and strategic preparation.
• Balancing different aspects of life (business, creativity, family) requires defining specific personas for each role.
• The design industry in Montreal has unique influences from both Anglophone and Francophone cultures.
• Creative block is a mindset that can be overcome through various strategies and collaboration.
• Giving back to the design community through talks and mentorship is valuable for both established and emerging designers.

Creativity For Sale: How to start and grow a life-changing creative career and business by Radim Malinic - Out now.

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Radim: Hi Alana, it's nice to have you on the show. How are you doing today?

Elana Rudick: I'm super excited to be here.

Radim: You're my, first guest from Quebec, from Montreal, 

Radim Malinic: Montreal's got very, very strong sort of place in my heart. I love the place. I think maybe for the, part European architecture, part for the reason that you guys got poutine and McDonald's, you know, I mean, it's,all the right and wrong reasons that, I love, but for those who have never had of your studio or yourself, can you just introduce yourself really briefly for me,

Elana Rudick: For sure. So my name is Alana Reddick, and as you mentioned, I'm in Quebec. I'm in Montreal. I have a graphic design studio here, which is called Design is Yummy. We are a branding agency and, we are women led, [00:03:00] we're award winning, and we collaborate with brands that bring people together and make an impact at a community level.

So we like to create thoughtful design for brands with heart.

Radim: I like the word thoughtful. It's already separates you from many others. the premise of this podcast and premise of the book, Creativity for Sale, is the fact that creativity can change your life. What was your first point of entry with creativity? What's your sort of background between the beginnings and Design is Yummy?

Elana Rudick: Oh, wow. Oh, well, we're going way back. I think, I've always enjoyed being creative, even as a kid. And, I remember very vividly when the internet came out and my world exploded and I started doing web design at first in high school, and that kind of got me excited about. working with computers.

I was also a bit of a geek as a kid and I did, programming and I think that's like my, as far as I got in programming, like the best I ever did was when I was in grade [00:04:00] five and, placed five, fifth in Quebec in a logo writer contest. makes me old, So I always enjoyed working creatively and also working with tech and computers specifically.

So graphic design made sense to me, but it took a while to get there.

Radim: Would you say in any way your surroundings inspired you? Or was it just a sort of natural curiosity? Because I'm trying to think Every time I've been to Quebec and obviously I know of some other creatives from Montreal and from around there, there's a strong visual aesthetic, 

Elana Rudick: There, is a strong visual aesthetic and there's actually two strong visual aesthetics because there is quite a different style between the francophone style and the anglophone style. so yeah. even we work a lot with the theater here. We work with an English theater and the style that we do for them is really different.

It's much more. I would say editorial on the French side. And yeah, growing up, there's definitely visual influences that take place. But I think for me, a lot of that creative backstory came [00:05:00] from, being within the theater environment. Actually, my family, my parents were in. community theatre and I was backstage a lot and that was really inspiring to me.

So,theatre has been like a close to my heart for a long time but, I enjoyed being on stage but off stage even more with set design and that kind of thing.

Radim: So what did you do? Was it,musical? Was

it, plays? 

Elana Rudick: Yeah, I did a lot of musical theatre growing up, which is surprising because I think often people would have described me as shy growing up, but then, put me on a stage with full of lights and I'm all about it. that was a bit of, I think a surprise to maybe my parents as well, but, I always really enjoyed being on stage and kind of portraying somebody else and that sort of thing.

And then when I discovered more of the back end of how a theatre runs and, all the pieces that go into place, that became even more exciting to me than being front 

stage. 

Radim: that you mentioned like being somebody else on stage. Because would you say as creators? When you're working for a client, you [00:06:00] actually have to be somebody else. you actually almost have to portray yourself as a part of someone else's team, or like you have to think differently for a while.

And that's interesting when you mentioned, that connection. So you were on stage, you actually like the backstage a bit more. And would you say there's a sort of natural business curiosity? was that more natural to you?

Elana Rudick: Yeah, I think I've always been entrepreneurial and I come from a family that's quite entrepreneurial as well. My dad's a dentist. dental practice where he ran his own business. My grandmother was a pharmacist. My grandfather had a construction company. My other grandfather had a pest control business.

So kind of, I was surrounded by people that were self starters. but even despite that, they actually didn't want me to run my own business, which was quite interesting. I think it was a bit natural seeing those things and. wanting to eventually do something on my own. Even I remember I had a mentor at university and when we were [00:07:00] talking about, next steps after graduation and she looked at me, she's you just got to do your own thing.

You just have to run your own business. And I looked at her and thought you're crazy. Like I'm not doing that. And it took a few years for me to agree that was the right decision. 

Radim: I think, I think it's quite scary because I think we all kind of dream about the freedom and being in charge and doing that, but I think it's the first step into the unknown. It's like,really? Me? Really? Do I have to? That kind of stuff. And it's interesting because on the show, I've recently started the show to decode and decipher for many people on the outside.

Not even on the outside, on the inside, but not necessarily as far as on their journey. To actually see like how people do go from their humble beginnings into their successes. Because you can see what did you do? Oh, I graduated and I did a couple of pieces. And then I got hired by. Damien Hirst does his in graphic and it's no one said that, by the way, I'm just making it out, but, sometimes it just feels like,what happened?

what did you, what button did you press? What number

Elana Rudick: What was that step? [00:08:00] What was that step? that takes you from A to B?

Radim: Yeah. And it's just almost like, how'd you graduate from A to double A, you know, it's just what did you do? I'm being very conscious of like, how I can get this story out of everyone to actually empower people and show them that, this stuff happens because as you said, people told you to run your own show and your parents and your surroundings said no, because I found through the show again, that there's lots of people in our families, in our immediate circles, they don't want us to fail.

That's their way to try to protect you, 

Elana Rudick: I'm not even sure if it was trying to protect me as much as, knowing that it's hard. I think there's a glamorous outside perspective to running your own business and people think, Oh, wow, it looks so cool. And yes, it is for sure. And there is freedom, but there's also a lot more constraints and responsibility and ties that come with it.

as well from running all your own shops that, there is freedom, but. There's a lot on your shoulders. So I think also maybe they didn't want me to,have all that burden [00:09:00] sometimes.

Radim: yeah, is it interesting that I think this is still not someone trying to protect you, but I feel it might be hard, but then I think that was the, CEO of Nvidia who said the other day, I just watched his interview and he said, I've got very low expectations.what is he going to say next?

And I got very like a lot of expectations, but I got very high resilience because you get people coming out of Stanford and they got very high expectations and very little resilience, like you really want to succeed. But it doesn't happen and you are absolutely heartbroken. Whereas if you hope that no one in one is actually two at the end of the day, that's a lot of expectation, okay, just a couple of dots needs to join and we'll be fine. And, it just made me think sometimes we really put ourselves into this sort of ambitious anxiety of really wanting to be something really quickly. and we don't have that life experience, especially if we start our little businesses. And, it must be quite hard for people now starting their businesses because. Everyone looks, everyone seems to be accomplished. [00:10:00] Everyone's on the internet. Everyone's making, I'm not supposing, a lot of money and everyone's doing this sort of thing. You're like, how do I do this? And it reminds me of an anecdote of John Mayer, which is my favorite, like my favorite talk on creativity is by John Mayer, he was doing a clinic for Berkeley College of Music, and he said, there's one thing that everyone needs to do and that's define their expectations. And it's I'm like, what are you talking about? It's define who you want to be. If you're going to be a pop artist, your song needs to be, you know, you've got four minutes, not even four minutes, you've got three minutes and you have to tell your whole story and, get everything in there and how many records you're going to sell and how many things.

And I'm like, We don't define anything. Like we are so blindly going forward and we go I'm gonna fill in the blanks as I go, as I go along. So from your humble beginnings, you're being inspired by the behind the scenes in the theater. When do we go into, defining expectations as a creative?

Elana Rudick: Yeah, I think my expectations [00:11:00] as a creative or just as a human are extremely high. I'm a bit of a perfectionist and, I like things to be a certain way and you know, I have high expectations of everyone, but I Most of myself, which is sometimes to my own detriment, you can't be perfect and everything.

And I think sometimes that, that has held me back, by trying, sometimes you get that, paralysis, right? When you're trying to make everything so perfect that you end up releasing nothing. so I've definitely had that happen to me before. And, that's something that in the last couple of years, I've really been trying to, let go of a bit, not to let go of expectations or trying to make things as great as I can, but taking some of that pressure off myself of saying, you don't have to be the best at this.

You just need to try. I've always had a growth mindset, but taking that pressure off a little bit, has, been something that's freeing creatively and allowed me to experiment. who says you have to stay in one medium? Who says you have to be this type of creative or that? you can try other [00:12:00] things.

and for me, I stopped doing that when I thought I had to be perfect at them to start. So I think that's something maybe hopefully your listeners can connect with is, thinking about, letting go a little bit and just trying 

things and 

Radim: I think what you're describing means aging, growing, a bit more mature, because the old, sorry, it's not aging, it's a sign of, I don't know how to say it, if I had signed it, and maybe inappropriate. No, I'm like, the older I got, the better creative I became without even trying to be better creative because you open yourself to other horizons, other opinions, because we jump into creative world with very much blinkered view because after all, it's, our industry is driven by Ego, ambition, anxiety, and insecurity in equal measure.

Like we want to do this. We leave companies because we don't get enough credit for the work that we just about did, you know, and we feel like, I need to be appreciated. I need to be doing this because like we [00:13:00] feel we are the center of the orbit. Whereas when you realize I'm part of the collective orbit, and we do this together, and I can influence it, I can make it better, without necessarily losing friends, or hair, or growing wrinkles, So, perfectionism is interesting, and you said that, like you hard on yourself, and you go high expectations, because I think I've gone back to, from really high expectation, like yourself, to anything goes, we'll see where it takes us, because I think that's A nice surprise with compromise when you think about the world, everything's compromised, where it takes you.

So what is the mindset shift that, you let in yourself to accept things that they could be something even different.

Elana Rudick: I think part of that is honestly being a parent and having kids and, saying to my kids, I love, making art with my kids and allowing them to express their creativity and seeing what they come up with. I find their art is very inspiring to me. And I hear myself saying to them, it doesn't have [00:14:00] to be perfect.

I love what you've done here or like, oh, they tried something new and I'm really intrigued by it. And then, hearing myself say that so many times too. Other people, made me turn that inward and say, well, if I'm able to do this for somebody else. Why can't I do it for myself too?

How come I don't expect them to be perfect and I allow them the freedom of creativity and play, but I don't allow myself. So, when you're in the studio scene day by day and you're running a business, it's very easy to focus all your energy on that. And I love the entrepreneurial side of things.

Like I love client relations. I love putting out fires. I love dealing with those crazy emails. Like I love the deadlines, all of it. But, I wasn't allowing myself enough space for play, which I think is so important as a creative to keep yourself energized and not burn out.

Radim: I like that you say it's because of having kids. I love that.

Elana Rudick: Yeah. They've taught me a lot.

Radim: I would agree. I think, I love the fact when, I'm sure your kids do the same. You're like, what are you drawing? Zebra. I'm thinking, why'd you even begin [00:15:00] to draw a zebra or giraffe? And

like few brush strokes. Here it is. what's the question?

 what do you mean? Of course, this is the stuff, and it's just that beautiful unfiltered energy, because they haven't been, they haven't realized they need to think in a certain way, just to build, not to try to be accepted or belong somewhere, it's that unfiltered energy, which is, I think is, if you're about to retain it, We might not get much as a collective human race because, like we need to compromise, we need to find a common ground because, when you've got two young kids or three young kids, like sometimes to find a common ground is impossible because they all believe they are right, so like, how do you tap into the right stuff in the right mixture?

 are you with your kids are you one of those parents that corrects their work or do you just let them do it 

Elana Rudick: I let them do their thing. and I really enjoy sitting back and seeing what they create on their own, because as a creative, I think it's so important to design with context and, educate yourself on what's going on around you and be [00:16:00] aware.

But there's also something really beautiful in just watching that self expression come from within and without outside influence, they're not. comparing like their zebra that they made on Instagram next to 5, 000 other zebras. So they can put it out there and say, of course, this is a zebra with confidence and feel really proud.

And I think that's something that we could all learn from of yes, it's fun to sometimes go down that rabbit hole of, what's out there online. But then at a certain point, you have to shut it down and just go, inward. And I've really been, enjoying kind of rediscovering creativity that comes from within and making art for me.

You know, I stopped doing that for many years and was only doing commercial work and work that was paying the bills. And I think, part of that is saying, at what point is enough for me from a business side, like at what point do I give back to myself too? that's really been helping me 

just get back into it. 

Radim: That's interesting. I had this dangerous thought mind the other day, and it was that if you need a side project [00:17:00] to satisfy a creative calling, then you're in the wrong job. it was just like, it was a little bit too cutthroat. if you really need to do something outside work, are you in the right place?

Because I think it is current day and age.you can be doing anything, there's so many bizarrely creative, but like outrageously creative studios that you can do anything. So you're like, why would people do that? But thenas a business owner,you've got tiny windows to be creative.

And I think. I'm curious how much time you spend about that hour, 20 minutes, if you got creative time in that short window, how much time do you spend actually thinking about this stuff?

Elana Rudick: I have a billion and one ideas of things that I would like to do. And I know, life is short and you don't get to all of them. And I'm trying to also filter of what makes the most sense. And sometimes in my mind, like I'm, I would say I have strong confidence in my abilities in my head and I'll say, oh, look at that.

I can totally do that. Then I'll try it and say, oh, my God, actually, I [00:18:00] hate doing this, or this isn't fun for me, but giving myself the space to try those things, has been exciting. But I think about all kinds of different projects. All the time, even, dropping my kids off at school. As a designer, you're always looking for those kind of pain points and how you can make an experience better on, on anything you touch, packaging in the grocery store, whatever you're touching, you always want to try and improve or solve a problem.

my brain is running creatively 24 seven. It's just about finding the time and deciding what's actually worthwhile to pursue, or what's maybe just in my head, a good 

Radim: I think, I think what we tell ourselves when we're younger, that when you have an idea, you have to jump on the idea. I'm going to make it. I'm going to go, I'm going to spend as many hours as you can to make the work happen, creative and polished and perfect, perfected after all. But there's this beautiful cognitive dissonance that sometimes we wish didn't exist, is that You're like, I've got an idea. I've got 20 minutes. [00:19:00] It's six o'clock this evening. I'm going to give it a shot then. And by the time you get to that six o'clock, when it's 20 minutes, the idea is completely different.

He's already involved. You're going to try for a little bit. Okay, I better jump. I better need to do something else. And obviously, normally, like 20years ago, I'd be kicking and screaming The life is unfair. Whereas you find yourself with those 20 minutes each and every other day, making the idea so much better, because you've got that period of reflection, I'm not sure how to do this particular bit, so I'm going to work it out, I'm going to think about this, I'm going to look up a YouTube tutorial, and I find it beautifully rewarding that stuff that could have been a creative block,like you don't have a plan, you don't define, you don't define your expectations. You're just thinking, I've got this idea. It's definitely like brilliant in my head.do you find your process similar? do you feel that, you overthink it, chisel it better?

Elana Rudick: Yeah, I think ideas and creative evolves over time and sometimes it needs [00:20:00] that, that rush to get it out if you have a few minutes or, and then you need to percolate on it a little bit. But, something I don't believe in is creative block. I feel like it's a crutch and something that completely doesn't exist.

and I think part of that is being able to help designers over the years in my studio through their creative blocks and see that it. It really is true. It's not just for me that it, you can remove that completely from your vocabulary. If you just take a little space or do something entirely different or, get somebody else's feedback on it, or there's so many ways to get past it that I also, I really enjoy the process, especially collaborating with other people.

When somebody has an, like, I have a, let's say a visual idea in my head of how I want to attack a brief. And then a client has a completely different idea. And another designer I'm working with has a completely different idea. idea. And it evolves and takes a totally different shape by the end. but I think that's like the magic of creativity.

Where is it going to go? I'm not sure. And the picture we have in our head as visual artists [00:21:00] may look amazing in our minds. And we put it on paper and go, Oh my God, this is not the solution. So I think that's more fun when it 

evolves. 

Radim: So that's something that we just mentioned that three people might have three different visions. And I think, I used to have many of those, but I somehow divorced myself from the idea that it needs to be said in a certain way. Because I'm sure we are all guilty of accepting words like, this is going to look great in my portfolio.

 And what happens? It fucking doesn't. because it just never really happens to be the thing that somebody sees that we see people who are almost. Uneducated in creative process with creative ideas going, I really like that piece of work that you've got there.

I want something similar. Of course it ends up being totally wildly different and you're like, okay, so I've taken a project because it meant to look good in my portfolio. Who cares about your portfolio? Like literally it's just, it never works out. just doesn't promise anything because you got open mind.

You're happy to [00:22:00] compromise. It turns out to be portfolio project. And I think it's just that like thing. You allow yourself to be wrong about your opinions. You allow yourself to be open minded about what the outcome could be because If you don't know what you're looking for, that makes it more exciting because if you're looking for a particular outcome, you really have to line up all your ducks to do that. So how often do you accept projects for your portfolio and how often does it, does it not work out?

Elana Rudick: I think, I would say that we're lucky, half luck, half, hard work, nothing I think is truly by luck, but, we have a lot of client work, thankfully. And, so at the end of the day, we always have stuff for our portfolio. We have too much for our portfolio so we can choose. And sometimes you think a project's going to work out really well and it doesn't and that's okay.

but I think going back to what you said earlier about, allowing the work to become. what it's going to be. I think that goes back to ego andas a young designer coming in, I think a lot of designers think, I got this, I know [00:23:00] everything. And it's so important to, to let that go and make that part of your process to, the client isn't always right, but sometimes they are, sometimes they know their audience better than you do and better than your research.

And you need to allow that space for their feedback too. And sometimes a client says something, I'm like, Oh, that's going to look terrible. I don't want to do that. And then we kind of appease them and. try it out anyways. And I think, okay, we'll try their solution. We'll try, a medium solution.

Then we'll try what we think they should be doing and then see where, see what we end up presenting. And sometimes their ideas are better than you think, or it pushes you creatively in a different direction that you might otherwise go. I don't know, I think it's important to be open to everybody's ideas and just letting go a little and then trusting your gut of what actually works.

Radim: You mentioned young designers. We've all been young designers and it's funny to, to be

lecturing at universities and they're like, I'm already freelancing and this client wants me to make it this color. I'm like, And you make it that colour. you don't know their back catalogue, you don't know what else they've got, If you think it [00:24:00] needs to be blue, you keep it blue for yourself, but you just don't know what you don't know. And I think, we need that blind, strong fuel to go I think I know, I've got all the answers, I'm here, I've got a gear, I'm eager, but it's almost like, how do we find that sort of, that happy medium, that compromise of ego and ambition and insecurity and anxiety?

Like, how do we get it right there? It's sometimes we understand it quicker, we absorb and digest it quicker because It takes few years before you say, that was a bit of a silly time, wasn't it? I didn't really have to make all those fires and you didn't have to, have battles over it and jousting with people because, it's that sort of development is that way of working on ourselves and working with others and understanding the process and somehow I wish there was a way of improving that understanding of how things work because unless you have a good strong mentor or a strong leader, I think it's quite hard.

Elana Rudick: It is hard. Yeah. I think it takes time [00:25:00] to develop your gut and then start to trust. that gut and also getting clients to trust you. when you're freelancing and you're just starting, a client is going to be much more reticent or push back a lot more than when you have a big portfolio behind you and lots of clients that, are saying nice things about you and, oh, you should really just trust them.

So over the years, it does get easier. if there are times that we want to push back and say, I really think we, We have a, stronger idea this time. clients will listen more now than they would, let's say 15 years ago when I first started the studio. It's a totally different game. So I get that it takes time, but I remember, going back to what you're saying of like, why not just try the color of the client is asking instead of just, pushing back right away.

One of the first freelance gigs that I got was because, an internal team refused to make, it was a holiday campaign and they refused to make it any other color than red because, red is for holidays. And I was like, and you can do another color for holidays. So I came in, they're like, yeah, our team really doesn't want to change the color.

And we're struggling with it. I said, I'll try any color you [00:26:00] want. let's make something that makes sense for you. And that ended up being like a great idea. long term project where, I got to see my work in stores across the country. And I was like, all right, we're getting somewhere here.

you never know just testing something out and listening to another person where it 

Radim: I,

I remember doing work for some college in Ontario in my illustration days. I used to have an illustration agent in Montreal called Anna Goodson for quite a while. And, I remember they gave us a colors for Some illustrations, and it's just some color just doesn't inspire you. It was like green or green, yellow, red, and blue.

And I'm like, I don't like those colors. Like they don't inspire me. They're just quite safe, corporate sort of college colors. I just tweaked them. I just tweaked the red to be more exciting red and blue to be more exciting blue. And then I, it followed the theme. So I think there's always a way that you can actually help yourself and tweak stuff. So yeah, I'm glad that you managed to do your holiday campaign in the way you could. I want to [00:27:00] ask you a question. You mentioned at the beginning of our conversation that you've got graphic design studio, which environment

was in my. In my view and observation and current experience, it's almost like a rare breed to say I've just got Graphic Design Studio, because everyone of late is either subscription, full stack. it's a bit like in a Starbucks menu, right? Ginger Latte, Spiced Cinnamon, Skinny, whatever, like we just have all of these so many things that are stacked up to our name. defining your expectations with Graphic Design Studio, is there a long run way? graphic design, how, where do you see the future of graphic design? 

Elana Rudick: Oh, that's a big question. I think The beginning where, yeah, I would say we're still at the beginning of a big change in design industry in general, AI, every tool is changing constantly every week new tutorials and new ways of doing things. I think there's.

I can't predict exactly how that's going to roll out in the [00:28:00] future, but I think, AI is, it's something to embrace and to become part of, the process. And I am traditionally a print designer, but we do a lot of digital work as well. and I enjoy it too, but, I know there are studios that list a long.

services list of all the billions of things that they do. but that's not us. And I'd rather be honest about what we're good at and focus on, what we're really good at. And yes, we educate ourselves and look to the future and look at how we can continue to grow our skills. I think that's important to, to keep learning.

but it's also important to be honest about, okay. here's where I can push myself, but. I'm not this. That's okay to define yourself as saying, you can define yourself. it was interesting. Actually, a common friend of ours, David Nuff had said to me at one of the design thinkers conferences that.

he liked to define himself more by what he's not than by what he is.

He goes deep most of the time. Very 

Radim: when you talk about informing yourself about the latest sort of tools and developments, I think that's super [00:29:00] important because you can actually see what you can cherry pick and what you can use. But Obviously our work is driven by the client requirements, like you can be excited, you can be curious, you can be like the mindset of an advertising agency who just tries to latch on the latest tech so they can win an award on being like the most innovative campaign, which to most people out there means absolutely poor goal, Yeah, okay. Nice tech stuff, whatever. but it's, as I, and it's driven by client requirements. So with the work that you guys do, as you said, there's digital work and there's, print designers. How is it in proportion, like the print versus digital? is it still quite high proportion of?

analog word, it's not analog, but 

Elana Rudick: yeah, I would say so, compared to some other studios I've spoken with. we're still about 50 percent print, which is I think a bit more rare these days. but yeah, we still thankfully get a lot of, print projects and right now I don't see them disappearing. I mean, I think they'll slowly evolve to maybe be.

more in a digital format when we're doing a [00:30:00] lot of annual report books or documents or brochures and things. Yes, they're going to be more digital. People are printing fewer runs these days and they're printing things that are a bit more high end and I would say precious, versus before where it was, huge quantities.

So now it's a bit more specialized, but that also gives us room to get creative, with our work. Print projects,

clients, you mentioned two influences, Anglophone and Francophone. So anglophone means that you're native English speaking and francophone 

native French speaking. So do you have clients on both sides?

we do. And we have clients outside of Quebec as well. I would say though, the majority of our clients are English speaking, probably just because those are the spaces I network in a bit more. Are they, cause that's, I am English speaking to start, but, a lot of our work is bilingual, trilingual, and beyond we've have even a pharmaceutical client where we've translated, packaging into 11 different languages.

but being bilingual designers, does certainly help in [00:31:00] spaces where, if we are working in the States, for example, we're very well versed at English Spanish packaging and things like that. So we know how to tackle, multiple language 

we actually do a lot of work, for the Cree nation. So it ends up being English, French, and Cree 

Radim: So it's an Indigenous 

Elana Rudick: population

that's beautiful to know. wow. That's fascinating because I was always fascinated with, obviously with Montreal being bilingual and having strong identities about English first and French first, and you talk about the fact that francophones are more editorial, How do you think is that there's a lot, like the more I speak to Canadian designers, like the editorial, like as is a strong feeling, and,people make zines and people make magazines and that kind of stuff. Do you know the answer? What? Why?I don't know if I know the answer. I think, maybe it's just being a bit more experimental, on the French side. I think there is a, there's definitely a cultural [00:32:00] difference between English and French here. although, we all get along, there is definitely a,Something that I love about the French community is that real joie de vivre, like that zest for life, that love of life.

And I think maybe that lends to being a bit more experimental in the arts. yeah, and there's a strong scene here of, all the tech companies

 A lot of my friends that work in, Ubisoft and Warner Brothers and all that stuff. they are local, I don't know if it's an outside influence, but I know people here love to travel and love to experience new cultures. And I think because we have multi, we're quite a multicultural city, we're used to looking to outside influences and trying new things.

So maybe that's more of what it is than 

other people working here. 

Radim: Got it. Okay. So talking about influences, what does inspire you in the current scene? 

Elana Rudick: there's probably two types of work that I would love to do, which is probably a lot of designers would answer this though. book covers [00:33:00] and spirits labels. That's two projects that I would love to add to the roster for 

sure. 

Radim: spirit labels? I always get a bit intimidated by those because I know some people who do them so extremely well. 

 What is it about spirit labels that makes you feel something. 

Elana Rudick: I think it's just the artistry in them and also, yes, there are some that are series, but I love the idea of also creating a one off, where you can just experiment and try something new and different. And when you're doing corporate work, you don't always have that, you're sticking to depending on the brand, but oftentimes, you're sticking to.

Sticking within certain constraints and, I like the variety and for me, I think that's fun to especially with a book cover or something to, just do something experimental and different. I think that allows for a lot of creative freedom in play. So We get to do a little bit of that, with the theater work that we do when we're creating production posters because it's for a specific production, but it still has to fit within a larger series.

So I think the whole idea of just [00:34:00] getting to create something that's just a one, sounds very 

exciting to me. 

Radim: It reminds me.

when you talk about book covers and spirit covers, spirit labels. It's almost like you go back to really old engraving, you know, Victorian engraving, that kind of stuff. And it almost stems from the same sort of root, from the same source. So when you talk about experimental work, what do you do with your studio to keep things exciting?

Because if you talk about corporate work, you talk about theatre, but you guys go on, team days out and try new things or get dirty with paint and that kind of stuff. How do you keep 

Elana Rudick: Yeah, we absolutely do. 

Radim: creatively? 

Elana Rudick: So we do a lot of Lunch and Learns. As you know, we recently watched your Off Barcelona talk. That was one of our Lunch and Learns, which was fantastic. So we try and keep it interesting where, we're always learning something new, we'll try something, we'll do workshops where we do get our hands dirty.

I think it's important as a creative to do things that are not just digital, but try things with your hands. we definitely go to team [00:35:00] outings and team building, things like that. our. clients when they have launches or, events like we work with, an amazing foundation called Myra's Kids Foundation, who help, children that are experiencing grief and loss of a loved one that's close.

So we do some work with them and they have a fundraiser next week that we're going to go to. So that kind of thing also, helps with team building just to see your work together as a team, out there and how people interact with it. I think is. is a really fun thing to do, but yeah, Lunch and Learns, we've been doing them for many years.

Even during the pandemic, we had lots of, virtual speakers that would come and join us, like Amanda Mochi, she came, Eleni Biviratu, she tested out a few of her talks with us, which was super fun. so we really love that, just connecting with other creatives and, From different industries and professions.

Actually, we had, a dietician that once came to talk to us about, fueling yourself creatively, like literally fueling yourself healthy. so we go in diverse places, but I find [00:36:00] that sparks conversation as a team and gets us to really know each other and learn about each other, versus like the standard like water cooler talk that you get in a day.

Radim: you seem incredibly connected, like defining 

Did you ever find networking or getting out there a bit frightening? Or

Elana Rudick: of course. So as a kid, I mentioned earlier that I would definitely define myself as shy and so would have a lot of other people. But I think. It was a bit of to my own detriment by constantly, late when you label yourself anything, especially when you're younger, it becomes hard to break free of that.

and so I think it's important to be flexible with how you label yourself. you might be shy in a certain situation or, maybe my shyness was just a version of being introverted at times or quiet or, perceptive or taking things in a little bit thoughtful. and it took me a long time to get past that.

but when you're starting a business, as you do need to get yourself out there. nobody's going to know who you [00:37:00] are or what you do or hire you for anything. if they can't find you. I did a lot of networking when I first started my business and it was terrifying and still sometimes feels a little scary depending on, the crowd you're with.

I was often the only creative with very, corporate, and corporate clients, corporate world. I was also very young when I started my business. And being in my twenties and being in rooms with people in their forties, fifties that were, very established and business maker, like decision makers in their business, that was terrifying.

but continuously doing it and practicing, you get better at it and you learn to roll with it a bit more. And that's certainly helped me in my creative career of being able to connect with other people. People, no matter who they are or how established they are at at our core, we're all people that just are looking for connection and realness and real conversation.

that's something that I've learned to really enjoy with clients or with anybody, anything else, like you can learn so much from just talking with somebody [00:38:00] and things that you didn't expect. So I really, 

I love that.

Radim: I think those networking events that you describe, like with people who have no idea what you do 

So you do what and you do that. Oh, okay. What is it? And

sometimes you think It's almost going to networking events. Sometimes when you need some new work, you were like, I hope they love me.

It's like,I hope I pick my partner for life, on, on a blind date, oh, I just, marriage at first sight kind of thing, because we go into these things with expectations, whereas if you don't really give a monkey's torse, yeah, I'm here. I want to see what other people's are in the room and what you can do, because most of networking is done. like finding love on demand and that never works it never really works and you just go into situations where you're just like I'm here by accident in a totally wrong room.

that doesn't always happen. But you mentioned that you felt shy at the beginning, am I an introvert? But again, I think it comes with age. I always believe that [00:39:00] there's a hope for people who are like younger and they're like, everything feels a bit scarier because you haven't done some certain things more than once, it's just Oh. I have a network, I haven't come up to a famous designer more than once, or, if it's been, I think it's good. I say kids, I'm 46, but I think you go to Gen Zers, who've got a lot more of a sort of perceived confidence than we ever used to have, in our early 20s, we would not imagine ourselves running a, YouTube channel, giving tutorials or whatever, like reeling all the time. That shy introvert. And now happy doing this. Is it's basically like defining your experience, right? Because you define, you know yourself more, you don't, you don't necessarily put out by not scoring the next, big piece of work and networking event, because you more or less, we just go there just to have a chat.

But, so how did you see that process of going from shy and introverted into hey, here I am, let's do this.

Elana Rudick: I think it's [00:40:00] practice, really. I think that's really what it comes down to is proving to yourself, if you're scared of something and you've never done it before, the first time you do it, sure, it's scary. But now the second time you've, you go do the same thing, you've already done it once you have that proven track record of, okay, I've already done this.

It's less scary. And the more and more you do things that scare yourself, I think the better. Better you get at it. And what's the worst thing that happens? especially like I'm a very clumsy person. So in networking, like all kinds of things, I've fallen downstairs, I've spilled all over myself.

And if you can get past doing those things, then when it does go well, you're like, Hey, look at that. I'm successful. but I think it's scarier to me now not to put myself out there than it is to put myself out there. because you can lose such huge opportunities. now when I'm networking, I'm much more, strategic about it.

 when I walk into a room, I know exactly who I'm going to speak to. I know exactly what I want to say. and then the rest, I'm excited when unknown [00:41:00] conversations come up and you connect with somebody for real more than you thought you would. But usually I have a plan in mind when I'm doing those things because, after a few years you get better at 

it. 

Radim: I like you, so strategic, 

defining your expectations, define your time, define your experience. I like it a lot. The transition between being shy, introverted, not only us coming up to people and say, Hey, this is what we do.

This is what I do. This is who I am. Given talks, where do you see the role of festivals, talks, keynotes in our collective progress and development?

Elana Rudick: I think it's huge. I think it's huge, especially for young designers and for more senior designers to, to be able to give back and impart some lessons that I, I wish I had learned or somebody had said to me when I was younger, if it helps somebody else, feel less shy or somebody else see maybe I can do this too.

Oh, she got past this. Maybe I can as well. I think we have a responsibility,to help younger designers. And I think the [00:42:00] experience for young designers to be at those events is huge. And as somebody that's more senior as well, it's, it gives you so much joy. there's a reason that people speak at events and continue doing it versus doing it one time and then running away.

it's because you're getting something back too. it's really enjoyable and fun. So I think,It's super important to keep communities connected and especially for the design community to stay connected because, the younger designers that are coming through the ranks now, the tools that they have available that we just didn't have, when we started and what they're doing with it is fascinating.

So I think it's important to, keep those communications open and collaborate with 

each other. 

Radim: Absolutely. When this comes out, you will have already done your design thinkers talk 

in Vancouver. what, 

Elana Rudick: will have 

gone awesome. 

Radim: you're awesome.

So can you, can you share with me what's the topic of your talk? what you're going to share? So I'm 

always curious because 

you

know, like you can, we all know the talks we don't want to do, gender portfolio [00:43:00] ones. what is the topic? What, cause you can't beautifully explain what we need to do with it. So what are you going to share on the stage?

Elana Rudick: Yeah. So I'm going to be talking about, defining your authentic ish persona. So that work persona, that person that you become in these situations to really help yourself and help your career grow, and because that's something that I've been practicing for many years, is learning how to, We always have so many things that we're juggling as people, as humans.

for me, it's being a mom, an entrepreneur, a designer, creative director, managing clients, all the other things going on in my life. and it's bringing your best self and defining first what that is for that specific goal or situation and bringing that person to it's not an inauthentic version of yourself, but it's the part of yourself that you want to reveal in this situation to get the best outcome, for your specific goal.

So that's what I'm going to be trying to help people with in that workshop is trying to define, who that person is for [00:44:00] themselves so that they can reach 

their goals. 

Radim: So do I sense there's a bit of a restraint of like you said a person that you want to bring through the situation so

Elana Rudick: 100%. 100%. The business Alana, the design Alana is not the at home with my kids Alana. It's they're the same person, but very different sides of myself are 

shown. I think that's honestly what helps me be less shy in business situations is because, I'm not putting all of myself out there.

I'm not completely vulnerable and open. It's, the parts of myself that will serve the situation that are open. And then I can really hone in on those parts. And, if I'm going into something and I'm using that strategy hat, okay, I'm going to use it to the best of my ability for that 

situation. 

Radim: that's interesting do you ever find or would you agree what I'm going to say next that whenever you find a new client and you've got a first meeting. It's like basically being on the first date. No one's 

themselves, like the client's got all the money and all the opportunities and all the [00:45:00] willingness, and there's never going to be a compromise.

And the designer goes, of course we love this. And we just got this idea. It's going to look great in my portfolio. And then it's almost like we should just discard that first conversation. And we're like, okay, so now we've met, we like each other and we want to work with you. We want to work for you. Let's, should we start again this conversation? Because your idea is not exactly amazing. like we need to work and the budget exactly the greatest, and sometimes you find yourself like, we are not ourselves at the first encounter, like it's, it takes it almost like a life's journey to actually say, you know what I can see here for the signals.

I can see that, you tried to commission this work before. It didn't work. You spend your money. Now, now we're back paddling, like, how would you do it? As you said, like your family self is different to the business self. And,do you look out for signals with clients?

Like, especially with like new contacts like that. Do you try to be a bit of a sort of therapist and, psychoanalyst and 

Elana Rudick: Well, I thinkI think part of. [00:46:00] Part of being a business owner, you, you do end up becoming part therapist, right? Because you're tending to, the needs and the wants and whatever's going on for your clients, your designers and all that, you do end up becoming somebody that listens. And, I know therapists do a lot more than that.

I'm not belittling the profession at all, but, You do end up wearing some of that hat, but to be honest, in the first interaction with a client, same as dating, like I'm the same day one as I am day 100. So if I would say something to a client,I'm not crazy about this idea on the fifth phone call, I'm going to say it on the first.

So there, that's why I'm saying it is an authentic version of yourself because I will be myself. in that business scenario on day one, the same day, 300, the same day, 500. It's always going to be me being honest. And I hope that clients are going to want to hire us, because we're honest. And to me, it was the same in dating.

When I met my husband, I was the same blunt person on day one that I am today. I think it's important [00:47:00] to show up as yourself. So they don't feel like there's,a disconnect, like, Oh, you wouldn't be honest like this with us in the beginning. Like I would find that strange. I would rather.

tell a client the way I feel in the beginning?

Radim: Even though it might, might not go the right way, but I know I like it. 

Elana Rudick: there's being delicate, just because you're being honest with somebody doesn't mean you have to say it in a harsh way that, you know, like, Oh, your idea is crap. Like that's really, you're not going to get you very far with a client, but explaining why and giving them some, insight as to why you think it won't work, I think is 

important. 

Radim: Yeah, I absolutely agree. I think it's easier to shoot something that you've just seen into pieces, whereas just, it takes time to be more eloquent and more convincing by why would you know from what you know from your professional experience. So that thing is to sometimes, so you get our young designers who are definitely their authentic selves. She just can't back it up, she's like, why is it wrong? No, why is it wrong idea? because I just [00:48:00] decided to, whereas, when you have, as you said, when you got insights and experience, it makes things a lot different. so if you're running a business and being a parent and all the stuff, what gets you, is there a space for your own, which we talked about, your own ideas and stuff, but is there, Is there a space for writing a book or is there a space for creating the next,next piece?

Elana Rudick: Yeah, you and I have spoken briefly about this before. It's definitely on the horizon. I would love to write a book and I've started, already dabbling here and there. I would love to do more speaking engagements. That's next on the horizon as well. And, yeah, there's always space.

I think when. My mom used to always say, if you want something done, ask a busy person, cause they know how to manage their time and lock things in. So there's always a million things I want to do and hopefully I'll get to more of them.

Radim: is there a thing about a book? what sort of book does the world need that from Alana that only can Alana write?

Elana Rudick: I [00:49:00] think actually a lot of what we're talking about today of, that side of running a creative business. I think there, There's a lot that I wish I had read when I first started. there's always some great books out there,Adrian Shaughnessy's How to Be a Graph Designer Without Losing Your Soul.

That was like my Bible. And when I read it a few years into freelance, I was like, why didn't I see this sooner? And, but I think there's more room in that space, for other 

voices as well. 

Radim: yeah. I think writing your writing books for yourself or your younger self I think is the best sort of. Antidote to that experience, like I wish that thing existed. So you created, you get, you put it out there and then you watch people making their own mistakes anyway, and Can you pick the book up now, because you need it now, because it would have been helpful for you, at that moment, just to save yourself some time, but, no, I'm excited. I think I like that, ask a busy person. I think that's a very clever way of, going around getting information out of people for sure. cool. If I'm in [00:50:00] Montreal next, what should I do and see? Like for those who have 

never been. I'll do that, but what have I missed on my list of things to see?

Elana Rudick: I'm a big foodie. Design is yummy, right? It's the name of the business. So food is always on my mind. so there's lots of places that I can take you to. but if you haven't been to the Orange Julep, it's delicious. Those drinks, they're like a sugary orange.

It's like an orange juice, but it's not, it's full of sugar and kind of frosted. It's very good. And, Montrealers will tell you it's this big, looks, it's, the building is in the shape of a big orange. so if you ever drive onto Carrier the highway, you'll, you'll see it and wonder what it is.

And in the front, there's a restaurant, but there's been so much speculation since I'm a kid of what goes on upstairs. growing up, I heard all kinds of stories about what happened on the second floor of the orange julep. And I have all these crazy ideas of, what. What used to happen there. So 

that's a fun place.

I,I like places that have food and stories.

Radim: you just did exactly that. I'm intrigued. thank you very much. orange julep sounds [00:51:00] fantastic. 

Elana Rudick: and Wednesdays in the summer, they have old car night, vintage car night, and they used to have people serving food on roller skates, which is fun. But maybe there was some kind of, in my mind, I'm making up a story now, but in my mind there was some sort of lawsuit or liability. So the roller skates are 

gone. 

Radim: Wow. Yeah. It only takes one person to not scare properly and then the carnage happens. thank you so much for spending time with me today. I enjoyed finding more about you because obviously we've met a couple of times and we talk and it's nice to go deep and find more about people and especially how they work and what makes them excited. 

Elana Rudick: Thank you so much for having me. This was super fun and always fun to connect with other creatives. And, I love your podcast, so I'm excited to hear from all your next 

guests as well. 

Radim: Amazing. Thanks so much. I'll speak soon.

 Thank you for listening to this episode of Creativity for Sale podcast. The show was produced and presented by me, Radek Malanich. Editing and audio production was masterfully done by 

Neil Mackay from 7 million Bikes [00:52:00] Podcasts.

Theme music was written and produced by Robert Summerfield. If you enjoyed this episode and would like to support the podcast, please subscribe and leave a rating or review.

To get your own action plan on how to start and grow a life changing creative business. You can get a copy of the Creativity for Sale book via the links in show notes. burning, and until next time, I'm Radim Malinich, your guide through this exploration of passion, creativity, innovation, and the boundless potential within us all.

Radim: