Passion, creativity and inventiveness.
Mixing these three things is the ideal way to stay active and put your qualities and skills to good use.
And that’s precisely what Chiara did: her job, which involves fashion, images and social media, saw her come up with the idea of creating her own range of printed products.
The weekly planner she designed reflects her skills perfectly: creativity, an eye for beautiful design, a sense of humour and a love of hand-drawn illustration.
It’s always good to be able to leave your mark in whatever it is you do – whether that be your work or the projects you undertake, big or small. But it is even better to come up with an idea and turn it into reality, creating something you can touch (or flick through) with your own hands.
A weekly diary is an excellent way to keep your mind in order, organise your commitments and harness the power of your memory through pen and paper.
And the chance to see a little bit of yourself, your personality and your creativity when filling in and looking at your diary makes it doubly satisfying, reminding you every day that your potential is just waiting to emerge.
In this interview, Chiara describes how she created her weekly planner.
Happy reading!
Who are you? Tell us a bit about yourself and what you do. Dreams, aspirations and talents. A short but faithful portrait!
Fashion is my world, and curiosity is one of my main traits. Every day I am lucky enough to be able to mix these two ingredients at work: I have my dream job. After graduating in fashion design at IUAV in Venice, I focused on marketing, and digital marketing in particular. In my work I create content for various clients to put on social media, but in the evening I let my alter ego Chiary loose on my new passion for illustration. My favourite subjects are Women with a capital W (Girl Power forever!) with copious quantities of mascara, ruby lipstick and painted nails, as well as fashionistas and their cats.
Before telling us about your idea, can you explain to our readers what you produced using our printing technology?
I’ve known about Pixartprinting for a few years, and after doing a few jobs on commission, I finally worked up the courage to create the first prints of my illustrations. I first experimented with postcards, turning them into small greetings cards, then I branched out into bookmarks and finally decided to try making my first weekly planner.
Let’s rewind to the very beginning. Where did the idea for this project come from? Is there a particular story behind it?
I’m an obsessive planner. As my star sign Leo dictates, I like it when things go as planned, so I am a big fan of to-do lists and diaries. Over the years I’ve discovered that weekly planners are the formula that suit me best, because I can have everything I need in front of me without being overawed by the monthly view, which is definitely too large. For years I have bought ready-made weekly planners, and created others that can be downloaded free of charge from my blog Coffeedential.it. Then I thought to myself: why don’t I make one of my own?
Once you had found the right idea, you had to set a goal. What did you want to achieve with your idea? What was your objective?
The main idea was to ensure the planner was not only cute, but also, most importantly, functional and versatile. I intentionally decided to leave the space for the date free, to avoid the wasted paper I have had when using purchased planners.
How did you turn your project into reality? What were the design phases and how many were there? Tell us about the process that brought your idea to life and made it ready for printing.
After some essential preliminary research on the format that best suited my design, I took inspiration from my everyday life and, in addition to a self-portrait, added the hand gestures for which Italians are famous. My hands point to some useful to-do lists, with a healthy dose of tongue-in-cheek humour. Once I had completed the illustrations, I added them to the artwork I had created for the planner, based on the templates available to browse on the Pixartprinting website, and submitted my project.
How did you use print on demand to produce your work? Which materials did you choose and why?
I think it is incredible that you can upload your file and in just a few days see your work in the flesh, delivered conveniently to your home. When I create greetings cards or bookmarks I prefer a thicker, rougher paper like Turner, which is fantastic for making my illustrations stand out. For the planner project, though, I opted for an uncoated paper, which is more practical and suitable for noting down your commitments and deadlines.
The time has come to use the printed products! In your case, the aim was to print a weekly planner. How did it feel to hold it in your hands for the first time?
Those who know me know that I am not good at hiding my emotions. As soon as I had my planner in my hands, a satisfied smile immediately appeared on my face and I started bouncing all over the house, sending photos of my creation to all my friends. I can’t deny that I always feel a certain amount of dread when opening the package, but the pleasant surprise I get on opening it always makes my work feel worthwhile.
This is only the start! What other projects do you have planned for the future? Can you share them with us?
You’re quite right! This all started out as a bit of fun and an experiment to let me see my digital illustrations in print, but over time I have received unexpectedly positive reactions to my work, and have even had some collaboration requests. in the future I would like to expand my horizons and create some notebooks that could also double as sketchbooks for other creatives like me. Keep following me… I’m sure I’ll produce something that catches your eye! 😉