I don’t think I’ve sent an email out since like last February?! Whoooops.

Please note that I’ve moved this email list to Substack. If you don’t want to hear from me, please feel free to unsubscribe. I take no offense 😊

Since it’s been so long you might be like who is this chick?! I’m Kelsey — the creative behind OneTen The Studio®, you’re getting this because at one point you’ve signed up for my list and I’m hoping — with hoping being the key word here — to be more consistent moving forward.

To tell you the truth, I am tired of the rat race that is social media and creating content to appease a mysterious algorithm instead of doing it because it’s fun and brings me joy. You’re going to hear me talk about that a bunch in the future, doing things because they bring me joy and creativity instead of “because I’m supposed to” — seriously, fuck that.

“Don’t think about making art, just get it done. Let everyone else decide if it’s good or bad, whether they love it or hate it. While they are deciding, make even more art.” — Andy Warhol

I just wanna make stuff. I just wanna make art, if I am being specific.

You might be sitting there while reading this about to roll your eyes at me from behind your cup of coffee thinking, “Kelsey, you do make stuff. You’re a designer?!”

I mean, yes, technically you’re right. But let me elaborate.

The thing is — I want to make stuff for me.

I don’t want to make stuff because I have to, aka client work, because that is what pays bills (don’t misinterpret me here though - I genuinely love my clients), I want to make art because I’m creative and because it brings me joy and I feel like I have lost that over the past few years and recently, I’ve been feeling this desire to make again.

I think it has a lot to do with picturing what I want my life to look like. As my husband and I want to start a family I’m brainstorming things like, “how many hours do I want to work once we have a baby?”, “am I going to share anything about them online?”, “what do I want them to learn from watching Sam and I?”

A big part of this started over a year ago when I decided that I was scrolling my phone too much and consuming too much and not creating enough. I want to be in a place where I make, more than I consume. And part of that was starting with a no email on my phone challenge. What started with me completely deleting the email apps off my phone and then quickly realizing at a concert where I had to download the tickets I needed that I had to make a couple of modifications. So I added gmail back to my phone so I could access things like concert tickets, but what I did was turning off notifications for everything. Emails (personal & work), Slack, Instagram, Pinterest Etc. every app I switched to being in scheduled notifications, twice a day. In the AM around 9:30 and in the evening around 7pm and WOW has this made a huge difference for me.

I’m also actively trying to not scroll social media and when I am logged on Instagram it’s purposeful and intentional because I’m posting or looking for specific inspirations. I’m also constantly reminding myself (with lots of help from my therapist), that social media is a highlight reel and I shouldn’t be comparing myself to what I am seeing others posting about. We all want to be perceived a certain way, so I think that is part of it but how much of it is actually real? I hesitate to share things because my office isn’t clean or whatever but I’ve noticed a surge of people desperately wanting real, not highlight reel, myself included.

While I’m tired of being sold to from influencers and random course creators via targeted Ads saying that this XYZ product will change my life and business, I also have to market my business online — so it’s a weird balance and line that I’m trying to navigate in an authentic way.

Part of this desire to make art is because I’m finally committing to a bit of a pivot. I haven’t spoken about this publicly yet besides to people in my circle, but all of this comes together because I’ve been going back and forth on this for around 2.5 years now. Yep, that long. Ever since I started taking my type design study seriously, investing in courses, online resources, mentorships and books, I’ve been wanting to lean more and more into that because it genuinely brings me joy and happiness in a way that lights me up every time I talk about it with my closest friends. With that being said, I’m finally making the change, and pivoting OneTen The Studio® to be more focused on type.

Now, this does not mean that branding is going away by any means. I love branding, especially creating custom type for projects, but right now my heart is in type and I want more of it. I want to share about being a type designer, get better and better at my craft, and release type that I would want to use for branding projects.

It feels scary, sharing that decision publicly, but I also think that this is the right more for me right now especially with leaning into wanting to make art. I have soo many fun ideas in the works for sharing about type in a more physical way and getting off the screen a little more. Moving forward you’ll see me share more about type and using my typefaces in projects for showcases, working on new releases (I have like 6 different typefaces currently in the works 👀), and so much more.

Am I the best type designer in the world? Oh, hell no! 😂 I’ve got SOOO much to learn, but making more and more type despite that fact is what is going to help me get closer to getting better. I hope you’ll stick around to see what I am working on.

For the love of letterforms,

Kels.

Bits & Bobs:

A Book I am currently reading: Stolen Focus by Johann Hari

Album I’ve got on repeat: Six Evolutions - Bach: Cello Suites Yo-Yo Ma

Current Fountain Pen: Pilot Vanishing Point (Decimo) <EF> with black pilot ink

Current Binge Show: Ascendence of a Bookworm (Anime on Crunchyroll)

Current Guilty Pleasure: Hogwarts Legacy Walking videos on YouTube while I work. It’s just a little bit of pleasant background noise without distracting me.

Obsessing over: I started leather crafting in August and it has just become a joy for me. Plus, I’m making some cute stuff!

YouTube Channel I love right now: Paola Kassa

If you don’t want to hear from me, please feel free to unsubscribe. I take no offense 😊