Q&A with Shauna Mae Hartsook, Co-Founder and Creative Chief at Boldfaced Goods

My first job out of college was with Trigger Communications and this is where I met the most talented and kind-hearted Shauna Mae. My impressions of Shauna back then and through to today are the same, she the coolest, most talented, and creative - I mean killer ideas and concepts - person I know. She has a no-ego approach to her, combining artistic talent with genuine kindness and care. Back when I first met her, she had a custom sneakers side-gig called Slip-Offs that was featured on the Ellen DeGeneres show (which blew my mind). We became fast friends and over the years I’ve valued her mentorship and ability to keep pushing herself through building her own business with co-founder Lauren Stanley at Boldfaced Goods. Her more recent side-gig Alphabet Division is where she displays her custom hand lettering talents! She has been on my list to do a Q&A with for a long time so without further ado, meet Shauna!

Tell me about your background? How did you end up attending the Alberta University of the Arts (Alberta College of Art and Design)?
I was always really into art. Throughout school I developed a strong talent of drawing and painting in high realism. By high school, I was accepted in the International Baccalaureate Art program where I had my own studio space and access to the photography dark room. I knew at this point that I wanted to go to art school, but I was trying to decide between Photography and Graphic Design. After my first year of ACAD, they removed the dark rooms and switched to 100% digital photography and that sort of took the joy out of it for me. So, I made the decision to pursue graphic design with a minor in advertising.

What made you want to work at an advertising agency?
I had so much fun in my advertising classes at ACAD, so I knew an advertising agency was the best place to do both ads and graphic design. I was lucky enough to get offered a job at Trigger Communications as soon as I graduated from ACAD. My six years at Trigger were amazing and I got to work on incredible projects with great people.

How did you end up starting Boldfaced Goods? And how did you meet your partner Lauren? How do you guys work together?
We were originally called Fairgoods, which was a business idea from the Uppercut creative director Xerxes Irani. Xerxes was a favorite teacher of mine at ACAD, so I was thrilled when he asked me to come work as the art director in 2013. Lauren had also worked with Xerxes and the Uppercut team in the past at Veer, so she was a perfect fit for customer service and operating the business end. In the beginning, Fairgoods was a team of 5 people that sold third-party, hand-made goods, and fonts. The first product idea we made of mine was “Jerk Balloons” which featured nasty sayings like “I Hate You” on colorful party balloons. This started the trend towards our tongue-in-cheek/sarcastic products, but it took a few years for that direction to completely take shape. Xerxes moved on to Seattle, some of our initial team moved on to work on other projects, and Lauren and I took over as a new power duo. After six years we made the overdue name change to Boldfaced Goods. Working with Lauren is easy because we share a sense of humor, and our skill sets are effortlessly complimentary. Lauren handles all the boring business stuff which leaves me time to be creative, silkscreen products and design silly stuff.

What does your creative process look like for developing Boldfaced Goods?
Since re-branding from Fairgoods to Boldfaced, Lauren and I have had to build everything from scratch. After years of trial and error, we have eventually figured out our tone of voice as well as a set of guidelines for what products we choose to create. Before an idea gets produced, it must fit our criteria of: Does it ship flat and light? Is it eco-friendly? And most importantly, does it make people laugh? We’ve learned that the best part of our job is making people laugh, but that we also need to be considerate of our planet and what we are putting out there.

What made you want to learn hand lettering and start the insta-channel @AlphabetDivision?
While at art school I became obsessed with typography and then at Trigger I got to work with lettering artist Jessica Hische on a project which only deepened my interest in lettering. A big reason why I made the move to Fairgoods was their deep love of typefaces and the people who make them. I got to work with so many wonderful typographers and became involved in promoting and using their typefaces on our products. I attended and organized several lettering workshops with people like Neil Summerour, Ale Paul, and Laura Worthington. All these classes inspired me to start lettering and I’ve been lettering ever since. In 2016, I was accepted into the most exclusive type design programme – Type Paris, where I spent my summer with a small group in Paris designing my own typeface Sans Français. It was an unforgettable experience which has inspired me to create more fonts. I am currently working on a new font which I started at the beginning of this spring.

Do you still do work for clients and agencies? How can people work with you?
I’m always eager for client work as it gives me the opportunity to work with new people and it keeps my design skills sharp. I am happily accepting projects that are both a good fit for me and the client. You can check out my portfolio at: www.shaunamae.ca and my contact information is there.

What are your favourite kind of projects to work on with clients?
I try not to limit myself on what projects to take on, but my favourite would definitely be branding projects. I love to take a concept and design every detail from the billboard to the business card. I love to hand-letter wordmarks, design logos and create packaging for new products. I feel like even the most mundane project can be become a big idea with a little creative thinking.

Tell me about your office space and how that works?
We started in the Uppercut office building; we were literally silk-screening in the shared kitchen space. We out grew that office pretty quickly and spent the next three years working inside of Burnt Toast Studio. We eventually out grew Burnt Toast too and we finally got our own space exactly one year ago. We were featured on Good Morning America last May and needed more space to be able to store, package, and fulfill the thousands the orders. We painted our space black & white, bought a pink couch, and our colorful products are displayed everywhere. It feels like home because we made it our own and it feels well-earned after seven years. It is conveniently located next door to Burnt Toast Studios, so we continue to use their facilities for silk-screening. The best part is that my office is only a 10-minute walk from my house!

You’ve won a lot of awards and seen a lot of success through your various agency roles and businesses, what makes you the proudest?
Awards are fun but I’ve always tried not to get caught up with them. I guess I am the proudest about winning the Cannes Lions Award and The One Show Pencil because they were both awarded for projects that were highly environmental and innovative. I am thankful for all the recognition and I will never forget how much fun I’ve had in the past at our local Ad Rodeos.

What is the memorable project you’ve worked on?
Definitely both of the Calgary Zoo Annual Reports I worked on. If you’re a designer, I don’t need to tell you how wasteful most annual reports are. Since the Zoo is known for being sustainable, I wanted to do better, so we created the entire annual on a single sheet of newsprint, with one color ink. The second year we took it a step further and moved the whole annual on to Instagram. Zero paper. It was the world’s first annual report on Instagram and won a Cannes Bronze Lion!

What qualities do you value most in your clients/vendors/partners?
I appreciate when clients trust me as a professional and allow me to take their project and run with it. I love design because I get to problem-solve and it feels so good to see the client’s vision come to life. I am very-easy going person and what’s most important to me that the client is extremely happy with the outcome.

What do you do for fun?
My husband Darrell and I spend a lot of time outside going for walks or bike rides. It’s become very important for my well-being to be in nature and allow myself to slow down and breathe. We love to go out to see local live music and we spend our summers hiking and exploring Canada. I’m very much a homebody and enjoy Just for Laughs Gags, cooking healthy meals, hanging out with my cat and lettering every spare minute.

What does the future hold for Boldfaced and Shauna Mae?
I would love for Boldfaced to continue to grow so much that we can hire employees so that we can focus on coming up with more silly ideas, and get our products into even more stores. I want to produce products that encourage people to waste less and laugh more. I really want to paint murals, teach lettering classes, and work on big ideas with good people. As for my future, it’s hard to say. I know I’ll be creating fun stuff and laughing at whatever I’m doing.

Check out more of Shauna’s work at www.shaunamae.ca.

qaTori EnglishMay 21, 2020Comment