Entrepreneurship was once almost exclusively reserved for either men or those with years of business experience under their belt seeking to revolutionise their industries. In recent years, however, this is certainly not the case. More and more women are using their skills to leave the traditional 9-5 behind, with many school-leavers also choosing to follow this path, some even before finishing their degrees. One person falling into both of these categories is designer Katie Proctor.
At the age of 19, brand designer Katie Proctor sought a way to express her creativity outside of her university design degree, resulting in the creation of Wildflower Design Co. As the name suggests, Wildflower has quickly grown into one of the most successful newly established international design studios.
Wildflower Design Co. operates as a female-lead design studio, focused upon creating heart-led brand stories for wildly ambitious lifestyle businesses. Specialising in strategy, branding, packaging, web design and social media, Wildflower packs a punch as it strives to become one of the most influential female-oriented design agencies worldwide. Utilising expert strategy and design, Wildflower commits itself to providing high-quality services that prioritise client experience.
“Branding is so much more than aesthetics,” says Katie, “Which is why we pride ourselves on being expert brand strategists that are able to carry out workshops for our clients so that they can better understand their brand personality, target audience and industry in order to produce design that is purposeful and encourages growth.”
Working with brands that aspire to dominate the millennial market and social space, Wildflower also encourages and empowers other female-founded businesses. To date they have worked with over 50 clients from around the world, ranging from ‘girly’ London bakeries to wellness candle companies in America. “I think a large part of Wildflower’s success is because we are community oriented and strive to connect with both their clients and other designers on a deeper level,” states Katie.
Aspiring to disrupt the masculine dominated industry and break through the barriers and stereotypes of design agencies in the UK, Wildflower’s mantra is that no dream is too big. Encouraging each of our clients to create goals beyond their wildest dreams, Katie and her team use these as a focus point to create a design solution that gives them the stepping stones they need to grow and thrive.
Putting heart, passion and ambition into everything they do, Wildflower works with millennial lifestyle and beauty brands who aspire to grow, find their voice and create a community. “Every brand that Wildflower Design works with has a deeper purpose than to just ‘sell products’,” says Katie. “For example, a people of colour inclusive skincare brand who aims to break the barriers on colour stereotypes, or a maternity clothing brand who wants to start a bigger conversation about public accessible breast-feeding areas, these are the kind of brands we want to help create lasting impact.”
Now aged 21, Katie has built a social media empire of like minded designers who she aspires to educate about the reality of being a creative business owner. This young entrepreneur is not only living out her ‘crazy’ dreams, but inspiring and helping others to do the same.
To check out Katie’s value-packed design content click here, or to work with Wildflower Design Co. click here.