Meet Danielle Harris | Founder & Creative Director/Designer

We had the good fortune of connecting with Danielle Harris and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Danielle, can you walk us through the thought-process of starting your business?
Look Look came to be very organically but if I can pinpoint a time in history when everything changed, it was when I decided to leave a very cool and very fun startup-type job because the ask was just too demanding and I was feeling extremely burned out after three years of traveling for work and running a creative department by myself which at first was what made me so happy about the job. I was quite torn up about it because I loved everyone there so much and the product, but it was the right thing to do. Now I know for sure.

I honestly had no plan and was surprised when the company I left started offering me freelance work. What was even more wild was that it was paying more per hour than I made as an employee. Then it caught on that the girl who worked at X company was now freelancing and a lot of other companies in the Bay Area started to reach out to me for contract and freelance work. Before I knew it I was working full time between three different companies making more money than I ever had while being able to turn off once I got home from work. I had time for hobbies. I traveled. It was pure bliss — high contrast to how I’d felt just months prior. All to say, trust your gut. 🙂

As time went on, more people started coming to me for branding, which is a different model of work because it has a clear start and clear end date. In addition, it was a kind of design work I hadn’t done since school and so honestly, I was pretty bad at it at first, but I became fascinated with the challenge of figuring it out and just went full steam practicing and experimenting. Within a year, a process settled in for me and I was starting to like what I saw on a regular basis. At that point it was clear I needed to make a name for myself so I could join the leagues of the designers I admired like Kati Forner, Staci Janik, Noemie Le Coz and the OG Christie Stevens — who I think I owe a huge amount of my success to. I asked Christie on a blind coffee date so I could learn more about running a studio, which I recommend every person do before they start their own studio, and it was the final push I needed to feel like I could really do it. Now here I am! A studio owner on year 5.

Can you give our readers an introduction to your business? Maybe you can share a bit about what you do and what sets you apart from others?
Today I am the most proud of the types of clients I work with while getting to be my genuine self. The types of clients I get these days have great taste and have a really solid vision for why they’re starting a business. They care not just about money but about culture, quality and other people. They respect the creative process and are excited to see where it takes us.

How I differ from traditional agencies, and why I keep it small, is that I approach the clients I work with as new creative partners vs the hyper professional client/designer relationship. The later brings a certain amount of nervousness and fear into a project and I’m interested in working in safe spaces were we’re able to iterate when it’s practical, learn from each other, tell stories, laugh, and share brutal truths, all for the sake of producing the best possible brand. One that inspires affection and was born from shared brilliance.

Another way in which my studio differs from traditional studios is that it’s scalable model that allows me to create larger or smaller teams depending on the project I take on. At times I have worked with a team as big as 5 to produce a brand while other times it’s been only me. It all depends on how soon a client needs the work, how many phases there are, and what those phases are. For example, for brands that require naming I always bring in a top professional who leads that phase. Or if we need verbal strategy and lot of copy writing, there’s a handful of insanely talented writers I call on for that. This allows me to not to be limited to very large or very small budgets. I get to choose based on the people and the vision while supporting the mega-talented freelancer community I’ve curated over the past 15 years.

Last, biggest advice for those who are considering going freelance: every single person you work in-house with could one day be a client. Every person you meet at a party, a dinner or even a family gathering could also be a client. Don’t be shy about what you do. When people ask about your work, share that you are passionate about what you do and light up. That’s what people remember when they start to think of a designer to hire — who do I want to spend the next 4-8 months with who also is good at what they do. It’s the number one thing people have said to me. “I love how excited you get, it makes it so much fun…oh and we think you are very talented. Glad we met you when we did!”

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
Oh man, this is my favorite question.

Food; we’d need to for sure hit these spots before they leave: Greekman’s, Pine & Crane, Guisados or Playita (owned by Guisados), Sqirl, Lolo Wine Bar (for food and drinks), Bacetti, DeSano Pizza, Taco Zone, Botanica, Gra. The cake from Quarter Sheets Pizza is next level too.

Coffee: Dayglow Coffee, Go Get Em’ Tiger, Woodcat Coffee, Maru

Booze: Semi Tropic, Bar Stella, Prado. Or even better, grab a natural wine from Vinovore or Tilda and head out to a park to watch an LA sunset and gaze at the beautiful flora here.

Events: I’m a big fan of ambient music listening events like Growing, Ambient Church or In Sheep’s Clothing. Those aren’t nearly as common elsewhere so I’d want them to experience one of those. We’d definitely need to check out a day dance party like the ones @earryhall throws. I’d hope we could catch a show at Lodgeroom or Zebulon. Watching movies in LA is a very different experience, so hopefully Los Feliz 3 would be showing something cool and we could get a drink at Pinkies after. We’d check out one of the secret beaches in Malibu and go on a hike near the Hollywood Sign to get a view of the whole city and some quality time with some iconic letters. Last, I still have a soft spot for drinking on the ACE hotel roof and walking around DTLA, so, perhaps that as well.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
Scott Richards – hands down. He may have already done one of these so I will list a couple of others too. https://slightlychoppy.com/

Scott was my first creative director and he moved me to LA when I was 27 to work with him on the Alternative Apparel rebrand. His background was in surfing and sewing and he worked at Quicksilver for a very long time. He’s a true artisan and process was everything to him. He taught me to slow down and enjoy it and never forget that I was trying to tell a story visually.

Petecia Le Fawnhawk, now a famous artist, she was the first art director I worked with. We didn’t work together long but to see a woman so self possessed, with such vivid creative visions, was a huge inspiration to me.
https://www.unummagazine.com/petecia-le-fawnhawk

Website: https://www.looklookstudio.com/

Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/looklookstudio/

Linkedin: https://www.linkedin.com/in/aboutdaniellejharris/

Other: https://www.behance.net/looklookstudio

Image Credits
Amber Canterbury for image of Illustrated card. Portrait: Narae Kim Everything else is a 3D render