I ALMOST BEAT UP MY CLIENT!

Let me tell you a story, a story of the time I almost beat up one of my clients (okay, so the title may end up being a bit click-baity, but it's a pretty ridiculous story anyways).
And if you want the "cliff notes" version, the moral of the story is this: never write people off, because they can change.

Let's take it back to the year 2007 (give or take a year). I was amidst my teenage angst years, fueled by over-competitiveness, insecurity, and hormones. I was deeply involved in my first relationship and was informed of a guy who had been hitting on my girlfriend, and all that inner turmoil manifested itself as anger at that one individual. You might think this is where something happens, but it doesn't. The insecure teenager I was resorted to what so many do: Facebook. After all, if I wanted to threaten someone, better it be online than in person, so as to avoid, you know, a fight.
So here I was, typing away a rage-filled message to a guy I've never met in the name of "love"! Although the details of that message have been long lost, it went vaguely along the lines of, "Don't talk to her again, or else I will hurt you."
Now that we have somewhat of a backstory, lets fast-forward to the year 2014. That angsty, insecure teenager driven by righteous passion (aka hormones), has been replaced with a guy who prioritizes trying new things and gaining new experiences. You could say I tried to be completely open-minded. And one of those new things I was trying was rock climbing, quickly falling in love with it and all the amazing people in the community.
Come to find out, one of those really cool guys was none other than the one I had threatened to beat up over a girlfriend years ago. And ya know what, we laughed about it so hard.
And here I am today, putting that same guy's logo on my website, because he was so cool, he hired me to create part of his brand identity.
So remember, people change, including you, and that's alright, necessary even. Allow that change. Because you never know who you might run into down the road, and they may even become your client.

Merle Van Dee Logo

If you want to check out some of the process notes and thought behind this logo, it's now posted on our "WORK" page!