Meet The Designers - Lucy Maggie Designs

Believe it or not, International Women’s Day has been around for 108 years, uniting millions of people across the world to celebrate women’s social, economic and cultural achievements. In honour of International Women’s Day, we, at Scribbler, have decided to kick start our meet our designers’ campaign with several women tenaciously challenging the world of design.

First up is Lucy, of Lucy Maggie Designs. If you like relatable, playful humour with a hit of pop culture then look no further! Lucy has been designing cards for five years and following success selling her cards online, she’s now retailing with Scribbler.

We love your designs, they're so relatable. I really can’t keep my plants alive let alone be an actual adult! Where do you get your inspiration for your cards?

I am inspired by many things – most of my ideas actually come to me when in the car on the way to my day job. It’s a 40 minute each-way drive and leaves me plenty of time to think of new ideas. I am also inspired by current trends and popular culture – some of my best-selling cards relate to TV shows, such as Peaky Blinders and Stranger Things. I think staying informed about what is going on in the world is a great way to create responsive designs that people really get on board with.

Your style is quite unique and is a lovely range of ideas; do you have a favourite style of card?

I have worked to refine my style so that all my cards are on-brand. Sometimes this means disregarding ideas that don’t really fit with the brand, but I think it’s important to stay true to your style.

Do you have to do anything special to get your creative juices going?

Because I work full time, finding the energy to design cards after a long day is challenging. I like to take the weekend to have some well-deserved design time where I can really enjoy doing what I love. I also have to make sure that my iPad is fully charged! I’m a morning person, and so prefer to work then.

What is your process of creating an illustration? Do you draw a quick sketch and then the main image, or draw everything in one sitting?

I do all of my work on my iPad pro, in an app called procreate. It’s really great, it’s just like photoshop which means you can play with colours and layering and can always ‘undo’ when things aren’t quite right. It also means you can be very experimental without having to get out lots of different materials. I’ve got an extensive range of brushes installed, but I generally tend to stick to two or three of my favourite’s ones – they’re tried and tested!

That’s always a good ethic, to be fair! Many people would be looking for advice on how to break the card industry, what paths did you take to become a card designer?

I have always loved drawing and studied art and design at Leeds College of Art before moving to Kingston to study Illustration and Animation. However, I had a change of heart and decided to move to Manchester after a year to study English instead! After graduating, I got a job, but didn’t like it and decided to go travelling around the states with a friend. When I got back, I started to job hunt, but also had a lot of free time, and so got back into drawing then. I started out with watercolours of countryside scenes – completely different to what I draw now. I was living with my parents and the market there (North Yorkshire countryside) was quite conservative! When I finally got another job and moved to Liverpool (where I am now), I started to experiment more with my style and continued selling cards alongside my full-time job in Marketing. I now juggle both card designing and marketing, but hope to go full time cards one day!

Because we’re celebrating International Women’s Day, are there any women who have inspired you in your work?

I’ve met so many talented female designers in the industry, Rumble Cards, The Card ComPONY, Veronica Dearly, Foggish… I am lucky to be surrounded by a strong network of successful women. I recently supported Jess (from Rumble Cards) as she opened a pop-up shop – Tits London – a initiative to support women artists through selling their art, and also raising money for the breast Cancer charity Coppafeel. Jess did amazingly well in setting up what was a very successful venture and I look forward to being part of the next one!

What piece of advice would you give to other women who want to become a designer?

Just do it. It’s hard work and there will be knock backs, and you’ll doubt yourself all the time, but the reward from having people invest in your work is totally worth it. You might not get it right first time, but you learn all the time. Having your passion as your job is the most amazing feeling. 

We’ve got a few quick-fire questions lined up for you, what is your favourite animal?

Cats!

Favourite TV show?

Game of Thrones, like the rest of the world...

What’s your favourite creative medium?

iPad pro and procreate.

Favourite type of music?

90s pop – mainly Britney Spears. Anything I can sing along to. Nothing in today’s charts. I’m a retro kid.

What’s your favourite card from your Scribbler range?

Shake your Tits, it’s your Birthday.

You can take a look at Lucy Maggie Designs on our website right here! Go on, what’s stopping you?