I've followed Swiss Miss's blog for what feels like a long time now. It's one of my very favorites for its mixture of all things good design, across the discplines. When we found out that Tina, the woman behind it all, also has her own design studio and it's located in DUMBO, we headed on over to find out how she makes it all happen.

Studio: swissmissstudio.com
Blog: swiss-miss.com



Tell me a bit about your background. You trained in graphic design - how did you move from that to new media?

Well, I trained in graphic design, we call it communication design. I studied one year in Geneva, Switzerland, and four years in Munich, Germany. The reason I got interested in web design was because I did an internship, a year before I graduated, at a web company in San Francisco. This was pretty early, in like '98, and the web was much further ahead here then in Europe. When I went back to Munich, I just told my professor - I'm going to do a project on web now, and he said ok. I basically did a web project with a complete analog professor.

I was lucky when I came here. I very naively thought I would find an internship just by walking into a company... But I found a web design job with the first boss I had - I became the web girl.



And when did you start your own design consultancy?

I always knew I wanted to be on my own eventually, but when I came here ten years ago I was dependent on a Visa - once I got my Green Card I came a little closer. I was working full time as a design director at Think Map - its a software company that did the Visual Thesaurus. When I got an email from MoMa saying, "We want you to do our intranet." I thought I'd better reply to that one!

I met up with them and they wanted me three days a week, so I said, OK, well you can have two days. They were my first official client. I was pretty lucky, it literally fell into my lap. So I went back to my job, and I told them about this amazing oppurtunity and they agreed on cutting down my days to 3 a week. I really lucked out. This was leading up to having my daughter, I did both of those things. I knew once I had her, I was going to go off on my own completely, and now it's been two and a half years.

How did MoMa find you as your first client?

Allegra Burnette - she's the creative director of interactive design at MoMA. I think she just keeps folders of people's portfolios she sees, and when the project came along, she thought I might be a good fit.



And after that how did you seek out clients? Or did they come to you?

So far I'm really lucky; it's just been word of mouth.

When did you start your blog, and have the blog and consultancy fed each other?

March, three years ago. Starting my blog was the best thing I've ever done from a marketing perspective, and I had no idea. The reason I started my blog was because I was always obsessed with surfing and finding stuff, and I had all these bookmarked folders - I tried to be very Swiss and organized. My problem, though, was when I would try to remember what all the links were to. I would look at all these bookmarks and names, and have no idea. I needed a visual archive, so I started a blog. Then, after a few months, my friend asked if I checked my stats. When I did I realized "oooh" other people like what I'm finding. I really had no idea.

I invest a lot of time in blogging, but I get a lot out of it in terms of connections for potential clients. I'm meeting so many interesting people from all around the world; I'm being invited to conferences with press passes. Now I'm in my next step of merging my studio into my blog. I think once I do that people will be able to make the connection easier. I've been talking to a few of my clients, and asked them why they've emailed me, and they point to the blog. Its kind of this instant credibility.

How did you manage to get the traffic up?

I really should make a post about this. It's basically a few components: good content, giving credit, and being consistent.

You have to create really good content that makes people want to come back.

You have to give credit to the source of information. Always linking back to people - I think that's really key. There's no decent blogging etiquette out there. If I find something on someone else's blog, I give them credit. I think that people love to get credit. They send me submissions, and I get really good stuff, and they get a traffic boost. The thing I do as well is check my stats to see where traffic is coming from, and if I see these smaller sites that are feeding to mine, I'll go to their sites and find content and link to them. I try to focus on the smaller blogs and push them. I use my stats as a tool to find them.

And you have be consistent. A lot of people tell me they come back because every day there is something new. You lose the readers quickly if you don't keep the site regularly updated.



Where do you see it all going and growing? What's the future of Swiss Miss?

Well, I'm kind of at the point where I have to decide whether to focus on building the studio or the blog. The blog is really part of my income at this point, in terms of ad revenue, so there is definitely the possibility to build it out more. But I never want to stop designing. Ideally, my dream would be able to live off my blog so I can pick and choose the design projects I want to work on.

How did you get started with advertising revenue?

People emailed me and asked if I did advertising on my blog. So I figured, OK, I could do that, and did the very Swiss thing: I put this nice press kit together, keeping track of my traffic, links and audience. I wrote a very personal email to four companies that I link to a lot. I told them I would give them a great rate and space, and all of them agreed right away.

Then I realized it's a lot of work keeping track of who said how long, and how much, and then I was approached by The Deck. It's a fantastic advertising network founded by Coudal. Now I have this rotating RSS feed on the top of the site, and it changes and updates audience appropriate ads for the site.

What's your advice for someone who wants to start their own studio?

Have a financial cushion. I started out not having one, because I'd used all my savings for my maternity leave. Looking back, if I would do it over, it would be with some savings. Just for ease of mind.

I think what you have to do is be extremely open minded and network a lot. I know it sounds so cheezy, but it's so important. The whole meeting people thing isn't something that you can say, "Hey, that paid off." You never know what's going to come out of it, but something always does.

That's one of the reasons I started CreativeMornings, a monthly gathering of creative people, from 8:30 to 10:00. There's breakfast, coffee, and a ten minute lecture. It's good because if you ask someone for a ten-minute lecture they're not scared. Usually they talk about something they're passionate about, and then there are twenty minutes of questions and answers. The feedback I'm getting on it is just great, people are making connections, networking, and finding jobs.

If you want to start your own studio you have to be very outgoing, or hire someone who is. I sometimes wonder how certain people come to this city and start a business, unless they have a big network already. Doing business is kind of like real life - how you pick your friends. If a project lands in my lap, I look through my roster of people and think who I would want to work with on a project. You better like the people you work with, because they're going to be in your office all day long - thats a lot of time together.

How do you think the internet has changed the way that designers break in?

Business aside - I couldn't live without the internet! I think the possibilities these days, of running a business, and making a living, are unbelievable. You could live in the woods and still create a business as long as you can plug in. It's amazing.