Live Leaks: Day 218 [Drew Melton Edition]

Yesterday I had the privilege to meet freelance graphic designer Drew Melton.

Melton, 23 years old  from Grand Rapids, MI, is most famous for his work in typography. He came to my class yesterday (Central Michigan University) to do a short workshop and then did a visiting artist speech at night.

Melton began experimenting with graphic design at the age of 16 during home school. He admitted he had no idea what he was doing, but it interested him. At 18, he decided to go to Kendall College where he would study graphic design. During his college years, Drew was hired for an internship with XXXChurch.com (a website dedicated to help people with porn addiction). They gave him a lot of freedom and allowed him to experiment even more. Melton said XXXChurch was critical to his career because it gave him a lot of networking experience and he met many loyal clients that he still works with today.

3 years later, Melton decided to drop out of Kendall College and pursue a design career in a studio of his own. Although he had accumulated college and credit card debt, Drew Melton somehow opened Justlucky design studio. Justlucky was a design studio with only 3 employees; an illustrator, a photographer, and himself. They did a lot of tee-shirt designs for bands, logos and branding for clients, and other common design jobs.

2 years later Melton closed the doors of Justlucky because he felt "burned out" and "unsatisfied" with the mundane work. Jobless, Melton decided to experiment with work that satisfied his creativity. He put his computer away and began to draw all day, everyday. It was work that "excited" him.

In 2011, The Phraseology Project was born. The Phraseology Project is an online "community event" website that allows people to submit a word or phrase. Then, Melton picks from the phrases and makes a poster using his unique typographic style. What started as an experiment/practice blew Melton up. 6 months into the project big clients such as Toyota contacted Melton to do work in his unique style. He explained that the Phraseology Project had unexpectedly allowed him to "pay the bills" and travel because now new clients wanted his services. 1 year later his website had 99,000 visits and over 20,000 submissions!

The thing that excites me is that Drew is a young entrepreneur who parallels what Master G and I are trying to do. It shows that you don't need a lot of resources to strike big (Melton's office is in his bedroom with only a laptop and scanner) and you can make it with what you have. Additionally, It shows that hard, consistent work really pays off. TheMasterG blog has seen a steady increase in views and support and like Drew said, "People get excited with you if you do cool stuff. Rather than looking at life as a cycle, think of it as a rhythm." Hopefully if you are reading this you will agree. Which brings me to my next point: If you ever want to submit, comment, or help us improve what we do, please don't hesitate to contact us: TheMasterG@YMail.com

For more info/work check out Drew Melton's personal website HERE or the Phraseology Project HERE.

"Drew Melton"