We had the good fortune of connecting with Larry Nguyen and Wendy Tuan and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Larry and Wendy, we’d love to hear more about how you thought about starting your own business?
When we first started Outfit, we had just gotten married and we had both worked in senior positions for many years. Our thinking was that before we settle down and have kids, we should probably pursue our dreams and goals and an important one was starting a successful branding studio. At the time, we were also living through the years following the global recession, and it dawned on us that although full-time work has it’s own kind of stability, ultimately our job security, salary and career trajectories were entirely up to another person (usually upper management). With our own studio, we were always in control of our fate, good or bad.

Since then, it’s been ups and down, challenges and triumphs, but throughout it all, we learned a great deal about design, business and ourselves. It’s been truly a meaningful experience and we are grateful to have the privilege to run our own business.

Alright, so for those in our community who might not be familiar with your business, can you tell us more?
Outfit Branding & Design is a Los Angeles-based husband-and-wife studio with a combined over 30 years of design experience.

We specialize in helping companies find their voice and stand out from the crowd through bold and compelling storytelling. This includes brand strategy, logo design, visual identity, naming and verbal identity, and implementation across print and digital.
What sets us apart is our approach: a potent mix of contemporary visual appeal and detailed, effective strategy supported by efficient, personalized service.
We’ve been featured in Print Magazine, The Dieline, Brand New, Adobe and Behance, and have been published in books by Gestalten Verlag and Hoaki Books/Promopress.

Our mission is to spread good design to make the world not only more beautiful but more thoughtful, communicative, and authentic.

In terms of our business journey, was not an easy road in the sense that there is so much to learn and that work is not always guaranteed.

It took us a very long time to understand our true value and how to better pitch and communicate that to clients. We overcame many of these challenges just through sheer experience and learning from mistakes, but also leveling up our knowledge through reading great books and watching online educational content about running a design business. You really have to self-initiate your growth as a creative and entrepreneur. As the old adage says “nothing changes, if nothing changes.”

It’s also extremely important to believe in yourself and capabilities. We know it sounds cliché, but in our industry, it’s very easy to fall into “imposter syndrome” and this kind of thinking undermines your abilities and vision, and makes the journey so much harder. That may also sound like you should just blindly believe in your talent — we’re actually saying the opposite. Believe in your ability to grow, learn and improve. If you constantly seek out solutions, every challenge is just a matter of figuring out the things that need to happen in order to overcome them.

The last lesson we’ll mention is to constantly connect with people without any kind of agenda. Meeting people and creating meaningful relationships have always been not only key to building a good business, but also just living a better quality of life. Friendships carbonate life, and we think it’s (culturally) actually a very “LA thing” to seek out interesting and fun people.

Any places to eat or things to do that you can share with our readers? If they have a friend visiting town, what are some spots they could take them to?
Hmm, what can we say about this diverse, beautiful sprawl of a city? In terms of food, we would definitely hit up Bavel (from Ori Menashe of our other fav Bestia) and please, please order the Baba Ghanoush and fire-roasted mushrooms. Go to Village Pizzeria in Larchmont and order them garlic knots. Openaire at the Line Hotel is a green paradise on a rooftop. Manuela in DTLA is also a top brunch place! For drinks, go to Death & Co on an off-night — the drinks are incredible.

For places to hang out, we would of course mention the Griffith Observatory again (where we got engaged), Wi Spa for a relaxing evening of decompression, and also check out Smorgasburg and Row DTLA on Sundays.

Lastly, while you’re at Row DTLA, check out our favorite sneaker shop, Bodega, hidden in what seems to be a wholesale grocery warehouse.

Who else deserves some credit and recognition?
So many people have supported us throughout our careers, but it’s mostly our families who have always fostered our creativity. Without their unwavering faith and support, we wouldn’t be able to achieve the success we have today.

Website: weareoutfit.com

Instagram: instagram.com/outfit_branding

Twitter: twitter.com/outfitbranding

Facebook: fb.com/outfitbranding

Other: behance.net/outfitbranding

Image Credits
“Just Act Normal.” photo by Daniel Mingook Kim.

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