Award Winning Graphic Design
Kate O’Moore founder of MAKER tells us about how the business has grown from strength to strength since it was established in 2016.
Kate has been awarded
- Entrepreneur of the Year Award 2020
- Rising Star Award in 2019
- IMAGE Business Awards in 2019
Additionally, MAKER was a finalist and shortlisted by the DEASP in the Dublin Region Enterprise Awards 2018.
MAKER has been recognised for its growth mind set and ambitious resilience to keep innovating within the business.
Who are MAKER?
MAKER is a multi-award-winning creative graphic design & branding studio based in Dublin. They create engaging and professional brands to help their clients to succeed and grow their businesses.
The magic that MAKER provides to their clients is the insightful journey that they go through in order to create a brand, which helps their clients to define and communicate their brand effectively. MAKER create all the brand visual tools, like logo design, creative packaging, digital marketing graphics, animation and brochures so that their clients can engage with their customers effectively.
The name ‘MAKER’ describes the craft, precision and passion that MAKER believe is part of the design & branding process. MAKER believe that good design adds value to brands and gives them the visual assets to grow their business, confidently.
To MAKER, branding and graphic design is a process of creativity & precision. A collaboration of ideas & business goals. They look at brands as a whole, so whether businesses are in need of a new logo, brochure, product packaging or overall some brand TLC, MAKER can help.
Through the branding process, MAKER ask clients the right questions in order to gain clarity and therefore build a stronger more certain brand. This helps to be more confident in what they do and in turn, more successful.
With extraordinary ideas, MAKER are specialists in branding and graphic design.
Getting MAKER started – Career crossroads, Encouragement & Self Belief
MAKER was founded by Creative Director, Kate O’Moore in early 2016. After a period of employment, Kate’s future career now had a crossroads in it, look for another job or the scary prospect of starting her own business.
Having previously worked in creative advertising, Kate had commercial experience behind her as well as her degree in Visual Communications from DIT (Now TU Dublin). Her talented skillset in branding and graphic design would become invaluable in her journey ahead with MAKER and was encouraged by a friend to start her own business. This was a pivotal moment as Kate set out into an entrepreneurial journey.
“My experience in Creative Advertising as an Art Director before setting up MAKER is very helpful now. This experience in advertising helped me to look at the business as a whole in order to solve the design problem rather than just isolating the problem itself. I bring this approach to my projects and delivers a more strategic deliverable than just the design itself.
In the beginning I thought it wasn’t possible, I hadn’t a business bone in my body! But slowly I started to believe in myself and how I could help businesses through graphic design services. (All about small steps)
So in April 2016, I set up my own business and called it ‘MAKER’ and within a few months I had some clients who also believed in me. And so it began…”
How MAKER thrived in the face of uncertainty: Diversifying, Marketing through authenticity
When the pandemic hit, Kate knew she wanted to fulfil a long term dream of adding digital services to the business. She had been developing a branding workshop, ‘Defining Your Brand’ and when the pandemic hit it was time to be innovative and develop the programme further.
The need for businesses to stand out online became paramount during this time. “I want to help businesses to be successful online with branding workshops and self-learning courses.”
One of the biggest obstacle I faced during that time was finding new ways to market the business. Kate was used to relying on in-person networking to win new business. She put a brave face on and began to post videos to social media so people could see her familiar face as they would have at events.
The strategy was to ‘show up’ and be present on social media to stay present and focused on keeping the business running (and thriving).
“I think if you are innovative and seize opportunity you can survive as a business”. By not being able to ‘sell’ in person, Kate became more strategic with her marketing by being more present and authentic on social media.
How LEO supports helped MAKER: Training, Networking & Trading Online Voucher
There are many reasons to join the LEO and touch base with them.
It’s so important to keep upskilling in the business and Kate has received great training and upskilling opportunities over years with LEO such as working on every so important elevator speech, in accounting, in confidence building etc to name a few. The LEO training days, courses and webinars have helped us hugely with the day to day running of the business.
LEO’s Women in Business Network with Pauline Logan has been a wonderful support network for Kate from the beginning, to continue and grow the business.
The online workshops and talk series are a great way to keep in touch with the network and still feel very much part of something.
“I am very grateful for their support especially when you need it most and have made some very good friends in the network also.”
The LEO Dublin City also provided MAKER the Trading Online Voucher which gave us the opportunity to build a new website and continue to provide our services online.
“I am delighted with this new website and will allow me to expand my business and help me build the new digital landscape that I want MAKER to step into in 2021.”
The future of MAKER
“The future for MAKER is bright thanks to the support we receive from our clients and friends. It is a privilege to get to work with some of the most amazing brands and individuals through our work.
We want to continue to deliver high quality bespoke branding & design services to our clients to help them thrive & be successful in their own businesses.
Alongside our bespoke services, we are developing the ‘Defining Your Brand” course which will help small businesses to understand how branding can be a strategic tool in their business and how to define who they are a brand and being able to communicate that well.”
Kate O’Moore’s advice to anyone starting a business: "You Make It Happen - Innovate"
“Everything will happen, because you make it happen. Believe in yourself and the journey that will get you there. Everything can be achieved in small steps, don’t believe the ‘overnight successes’ you don’t know how long they were working at that business before it came to fame. Believe in your own product & service. Try not to compare to others, instead, be inspired by others journeys to make your own successful story too.”
"As an entrepreneur, naturally you have to be innovative and constantly assessing and looking. It’s so important to keep looking at what’s working and being honest with yourself when something isn’t. It’s good to remind ourselves keep being innovative and to not get ‘too busy’ in the running of the business."
Contact & Further Details:
Kate O’Moore - sayhello@makerdesign.ie - +353 86 166 1327
https://makerdesign.ie/
Instagram @makerdublin
Twitter @maker_dublin
Promotional video link: https://youtu.be/MRViIONl-xY
