Navigating career:

Balancing client and personal work

Personal projects beyond client work provide crucial creative outlets for designers. These stories explore motivations that sparked meaningful side pursuits.

Side projects are crucial for us at Hey—the store, the podcast. They’re not just about design, but are about building community, like spotlighting women in our podcast. The store lets people experience design culture through workshops too. These extensions keep us engaged with thinking beyond pure client work. We make whatever we want organically—no one tells us to create a poster or a podcast. When COVID prevented in-person events, we pivoted our women’s workshop idea into a podcast—again, organic evolution. My team embraced side projects, so managing them doesn’t feel like extra effort.

Verònica Fuerte:

Speaker, Lecturer, and Mentor; Founder & Creative Directress of Hey studio. She views side projects as crucial for sustaining passion beyond client work.