Design competition leads to business

HIAWATHA - An online design competition led one Hiawatha woman to launch her own stationery design business.

A few years ago, Andrea Castek was helping her best friend shop for wedding invitations when she came across Minted.com, an online marketplace that crowdsources art from independent designers around the world through ongoing design challenges.

The winning designs, voted on by the online community, are sold as stationery, holiday décor and wall art.

'I fell in love with the site,” Castek said. 'I signed up and entered a challenge and became addicted to designing stationery.”

That first challenge was to design a newborn announcement. Castek's entries were not among the winners, but she did end up designing the invitations for her friend's wedding. She kept entering Minted design challenges and finally won a holiday card challenge last year.

'I was pretty happy about that,” she said. 'Minted is my fun, creative outlet and, even if I don't win, I'm still getting practice in.”

In the meantime, Castek began designing wedding, bridal shower and other invitations on the side while completing her degree in graphic design at Iowa State University. After graduating in 2013, she began working full time as a graphic designer.

She's gained clients mostly through word-of-mouth.

Last winter, Castek's business, AC Design, was an exhibitor at the Iowa Bridal Expo in Coralville, where Castek made connections with wedding planners and vendors. She also launched an online Etsy shop to make some of her favorite designs available to the public.

Castek describes her design aesthetic as clean and elegant, with a focus on beautiful font, appealing colors and luxurious paper. She said she gets much of her inspiration while running outside and keeps up with trending ideas and color palettes through Pinterest and other social media sites.

Castek's future plans for AC Design include marketing the design business at more bridal shows this winter and leveraging her connections in the wedding industry to grow her business.

Castek said she didn't let her early lack of success in the Minted challenges dissuade her from pursuing her newfound passion for designing stationery.

'You just have to keep trying, and keep doing a lot of creative work in order to get better.”

AT A GLANCE

Owner: Andrea Castek

Business: AC Design

Email: ac.design.custom@gmail.com

Phone: (319) 899-0615

Website: www.etsy.com/shop/ACdesigncustom

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