Ernesta Smilgeviciute | Brand Designer & Creator

part 2 because people needed to hear it twice 🫠 ai can generate what’s in your head — sure. but it can’t decide what goes next to it, what font sits right, what colour makes it hit different, or why this layout works and that one doesn’t. that’s not a prompt that’s years of looking at things and knowing 🫠 the tool doesn’t make the brand the brain behind it does 💪🏽✨ #midjourney

the bagel shack 🥯 passion project. zero brief. full creative freedom. explored wordmarks, badges, a mascot, green + warm tones basically built the whole brand world just to see where it’d go. food brands are genuinely some of my favourite projects. there’s so much room for personality and character in this space. if you’re a food or hospitality brand that wants bold, character-led identity work, my dms are open 👇

if I started my creative journey today, here’s what I’d do differently 🙂‍↔️ spoiler: it’s not as much as you’d think. but the things I would change? I would have done them so much sooner. starting before I felt ready. finding my voice instead of borrowing someone else’s. committing to video instead of dabbling. swipe to see the full list and the honest ending 🖤 what would YOU do differently if you started today? :) #branddesigner #creativebusiness #designerlife

can we talk about mascots for a second 👀 i didn’t plan to specialise in this. it started with a passion project i just wanted to try it and see if i’d love it. safe to say i never looked back 😭 and honestly? it’s my favourite thing to design. there’s something about creating a character from scratch and watching it become the face of an entire brand. a mascot gives a brand personality, warmth, something people actually connect with. a logo can’t do that the way a character can. brands with mascots aren’t just recognised — they’re remembered. and that’s the whole point isn’t it. swipe through to see some of the brand boards i’ve been working on 🫶 📩 want a mascot for your brand? enquiry form is in my bio. #madewithcc

Four years of building in public..🫠 💭The silence of year 1 💭The posts I wasn’t sure about 💭The growth that stalled without warning 💭The months where I genuinely questioned whether any of it was going anywhere. Building in public isn’t a content plan. It’s a commitment to showing up before you feel ready, sharing before you’re certain, and trusting the process on the days it gives you nothing back 🫠 That’s the part nobody posts about ✨

velvet slices wasn’t a client brief. no deadline, no feedback rounds, no ‘can we make the logo bigger’ 🫱🏾‍🫲🏼 just me, a concept, and a question — what would a pizza brand look like if it actually had personality? most pizza brands look the same, red, bold, loud, safe. velvet slices goes the other way.. dark, moody, almost luxurious. because why can’t a slice of pizza feel like an experience? that’s the whole point of passion projects. you get to ask questions the industry isn’t asking yet. what industry do you think is overdue a brand shake-up? drop it below 🙂‍↔️

The design industry gave me a lot of advice over the years.. This carousel is my response to all of it. 🖤 Let me know what you think 💭 #madewithcc

Burnt out from client work but made this anyway 🤭 Velvet Slices is a pizza brand that has absolutely no interest in being for everyone 😛 Here’s what I was thinking with every decision.. The name: Velvet feels luxurious and slightly wrong for pizza. That friction is intentional. You remember wrong before you remember safe. The tagline — Pizza, Booze & Bad Times: Three words that immediately tell you exactly who this brand is for and exactly who it isn’t. That’s the whole strategy. The mascot: Retro, slightly unhinged, very confident. Built to carry the brand’s personality before a single word is read. A mascot should be able to walk into a room and you know what the brand sounds like. The colour story: Chocolate brown and bubblegum pink. Neither colour is doing what you’d expect it to do in this category and that’s exactly why it works. Unexpected colour combinations are how brands become recognisable. The copy ‘Oven Fresh & Filthy’: This is the brand’s voice in four words. Every touchpoint should sound like this. This is a passion project. But the thinking behind it is the same thinking I bring to every client brief. Save this if you’re building a brand that refuses to be forgettable 🍕🖤 #madewithcc

here’s exactly what it looks like to work with me 👀 from your very first questionnaire all the way to launching a brand you’re genuinely proud of this is my full process, start to finish. no guesswork. no generic templates. just a brand built around you, your vision, and where you’re going 🖤 swipe to see every stage → enquiries are open if you’re ready to start — link in bio 🔗 #madewithcc #branddesignagency

anyone can generate but not everyone can make it look like this 🫠 ai images are a tool — but without design thinking behind them, they’re just pretty pictures with no purpose. here’s what i actually do when i take an ai image and turn it into something that feels like a brand: 💌 i look for the feeling first, what should this make you feel in 2 seconds? 💌 i build a colour story around it — not just what looks nice, but what communicates 💌 typography does the heavy lifting, the right type makes it campaign-ready 💌 composition gets tightened, every element has a reason to be there ai didn’t make this a brand design did 🙂‍↔️ save this if you want to understand the difference between generated and designed 🫱🏾‍🫲🏼✨ #madewithcc #midjourneycommunity

i didn’t want to make something pretty 🫠 i wanted to make something that felt like a memory 🙂‍↔️ nostalgia furniture store is a passion project i built around one idea — what if a furniture brand actually looked like the era it was inspired by? primary colours. bold geometric shapes. that grainy retro texture. typography that feels like it was pulled straight from a 1970s catalogue. 😛 every element was intentional: 🛋️ the shape library gives the brand a visual language it can own 🛋️ the colour palette is loud on purpose — furniture brands are usually so safe 🛋️ the wordmark has that handwritten imperfection that makes it feel human 🛋️ mockups were chosen to show the brand living in real spaces, not just on screens this is what i do when no client brief is holding me back passion projects are where the real growth happens 🫱🏾‍🫲🏼

your brand might look fine, but fine doesn’t convert 👀 there’s a big difference between a brand you love and a brand that actually works for your business — and most founders don’t realise it until they’re wondering why nobody’s buying. i build brands that do both. bold enough to stop the scroll, strategic enough to make people trust you before they’ve even spoken to you. enquiries open → link in bio 🔗 #madewithcc