With our first semester well underway and second semester waiting in the wings, we at the DHPS team are excited to announce the launch of our Design House Prep School Scholarship Program! We believe that part of our responsibility as a school is to give back to our community. Since our community is defined as creatives, we feel that creating a scholarship opportunity for deserving candidates is a way to enrich the community as a whole.
Although classes were priced to reflect the value in the lessons while remaining a reasonable investment, we understand that there can still be many circumstances under which the investment is just a bit too much for the time being. Whether you're a student who wants to move their business forward but just can't swing paying for classes, someone who has recently faced significant hardship in their business or personal life, or someone just starting out in the industry, we want to remove the price barrier to entry for two of you. The two individuals could be current students who moved mountains to pay for their course(s) or someone not yet a member of our community.
SCHOLARSHIP ONE
Full class passes to both semester I and semester II of Prep School as well as access to our community and additional bonus materials.
SCHOLARSHIP TWO
Full class pass to semester II of Prep School as well as access to our community and additional bonus materials.
REQUIREMENTS: MUST BE 20 YEARS OLD OR OLDER TO APPLY FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP AND YOU MUST BE ABLE TO SHOW YOUR WORK - MEANING YOU HAVE ENOUGH EXPERIENCE IN YOUR FIELD TO SHOW US SOMETHING TO REFLECT YOUR STYLE; IT DOESN'T NEED TO BE PERFECT OR IDEAL AND TOTAL BEGINNERS ARE MORE THAN WELCOME. PLEASE FILL OUT THE APPLICATION BELOW AND TELL US MORE ABOUT YOUR TYPE OF BUSINESS, BUSINESS FOCUS, AND WHY YOU FEEL THAT YOU (OR SOMEONE YOU'RE SUBMITTING FOR THE SCHOLARSHIP) IS DESERVING OF THE GRANT.
Quite often, the individuals that most deserve a grant like this are the last ones to speak up and ask for help. Please feel free to submit someone you're close to who you know would be a great fit and tell us about their story. Note in your application that you're writing it for a friend/relative/loved one, and introduce yourself as well.
If you don't have a website or instagram, please let us know how we can see your work.
Applications will be reviewed by Jestoria and Karen and the final scholarship award announcement will be made on January 13th, 2017.
Starting with our Pricing I course last semester, we offer a multi-part series on how to price your work in a creative business. Semester II brings the Pricing for Creative Businesses II.
This second semester pricing course will dig a bit deeper into the world of pricing. We'll look at specific pricing examples in two industry categories: custom calligraphy projects, and building a pricing sheet as a paper pusher (i.e. stationer).
When we talk about pricing for custom calligraphy projects, this includes oddball projects such as large scale quotes, wedding vows, family crests, large menus, large seating charts, etc. We'll talk about how to price your time as well as the cost of product for these situations. In addition, we'll talk about building your pricing as a calligrapher and the different pricing structures that are available.
The second example we'll get into is pricing paper, printing, assembly details, and your time as a stationer. Having estimates of these costs will help to dramatically cut down the time it takes to return quotes to clients while ensuring accuracy in your pricing.
As with all the other Semester II courses, registration will open on December 12, with class materials becoming available on January 13th!
We love to include interesting creative techniques in our course offerings. As creatives, it's so important to continue to explore new techniques and expand our horizons when it comes to our craft. For Semester II, we are offering Cyanotype Printing.
Cyanotype printing was a method of printing invented in 1842. With its origins in reproductions, specifically blueprints (hence the name), it uses the photographic printing and development process to create gorgeous cyan or prussian blue prints.
Aside from using cyanotype printing on paper products, I have successfully used it to create lovely unique prints on fabrics, most recently a silk scarf. While it is a process that requires patience and time (and a dark space with no light!), the results are phenomenal. In this course, we will be learning the ins and outs of the process and create some botanical prints!
Registration for Semester II courses will open on December 12, so mark your calendars! Classes will become available on January 13, 2017.
Our next course for Semester II is all about Branding!
In a creative market, branding is king (or queen, but she's a hereditary queen, so the king doesn't outrank her. There's a little monarchy humor for you!). How you brand yourself affects how potential clients view you before they've ever even made contact.
In this course, we'll look at how to go about branding your company, how to define your brand style, define your market and how to brand for it, and how to design for yourself (we're our hardest clients!).
We'll utilize design boards and sketching, working through our own creative processes, so if you're signed up for class passes of all the Semester I and II courses, definitely consider taking the other ones first!
Registration for Semester II courses opens again on December 12th. Classes will become available beginning January 13 until the end of the semester in June 2017.
Next up in our courses for Semester II, Design Boards for Creatives!
This course focuses on design boards and how to utilize them in your own creative process to hone in on and communicate design scopes to clients. It works great as a follow up to the Sketching for Creatives and Establishing Your Creative Process courses from Semester I. In fact, we would highly suggest taking at least the Creative Process course before this one, so that you can best put your design boards to work within your creative process.
Further narrowing your creative process allows for less time doing the back and forth with clients as well as reducing the amount of time spent with too many ideas flying around. Design boards help both you as the creative, as well as your client, keep the end design goals in mind, stay focused, and work more efficiently. In this course we will discuss what design boards are and their purpose within your creative process and go through how to create one effectively.
Registration for Semester II courses begins December 12th and classes will be available on January 13th, 2017. Can't wait to see you there!
gorgeous wreaths by Wildfire Paper Co.
I had the privilege of teaching flourishing in the Modern Calligraphy Summit 1.0 (under my stage name, Victoria Rothwell). If you're in the very beginning stages of learning lettering or calligraphy, the Modern Calligraphy Summit would be a great fit for you!
If you missed our awesome free video series for the Modern Calligraphy Summit last year, you're in for a treat! We're relaunching the series for your viewing pleasure! Follow the link below and enroll with your email for the free video series!
December 1st: Hand lettering for holiday cards with Drew Europeo
December 2nd: Mixing metallic inks with ME!! (as my covert ops name, Victoria Rothwell)
December 3rd: Creating gorgeous holiday watercolor wreaths with Annie from
You can also enroll for the upcoming Modern Calligraphy Summit 2.0 from December 6-9th!
Next up for our Semester II courses, we have Time Management!
Whether you run your own business from a studio, balance a full time job with a side hustle and family, or anything in between, knowing how to prioritize your time is integral to running your business effectively and getting things done.
Learning how to prioritize, eliminate, stay on task and delegate is life changing - it certainly was for me! Going from working 80+ hours a week to working 36 or less and taking the month of December off gave me the energy and drive I needed to build my business and stay sane.
I've gotten a lot of questions and feedback from students about the difficulty they face in finding enough time in the day to do all the things they need to do. In this course, we'll get into the nitty gritty of necessity, learn how to prioritize our time and tasks, and get more done in a shorter period of time.
As with all the other Semester II courses, registration will open on December 12, with class materials becoming available on January 13th!
"I've just watched the "no such thing as a bad client" bonus video and, despite my initial skepticism on the subject it's really made me rethink...
I had a client early this year who I deemed a nightmare - I told anyone and everyone about this client and how terrible the process was from start to finish. It really knocked my confidence.
Now, with the benefit of hindsight, this wonderful bonus video, and some fabulous clients, I've been able to take a step back and reconsider... What could I have done better? Was I simply passing the blame to the client when I could have managed the process better? What steps have I take with the clients I have enjoyed working with and how do I implement that with new clients? All tricky and thought provoking questions!
Thank you for challenging how we think as creatives, it's so refreshing being pushed to think more closely about business, client handling, and the design process."
- Katie
We'll be walking through our semester II course lineup over the next few days! First up, one of our creative courses for semester II is Watercolor II
Watercolor II
Our first watercolor course (aptly named Watercolor I from Semester I) focused on color theory and understanding the colors and paints you're working with. With this second step in Watercolor II, we will be building on our previous knowledge, moving on to more color mixing as well as understanding how different base shades mix together.
We'll be mixing custom colors to match Pantone or printed shades, perfect if you're a calligrapher mixing ink to match a clients invitation. We'll also look at how to mix custom ink for dip pens.
As with all the other Semester II courses, registration will open on December 12, with class materials becoming available on January 13th!
If you haven't already taken the first Watercolor I course, but think you might want an introduction or refresher in color theory, registration is still available for Semester I courses through till June 2017!