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Local graphic designer Jenna Fava started designing as a member of her high school's yearbook staff. Now she's creating the image for entire companies.
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Remember those kids in high school who spent countless hours stressing over page layout, font size and whether Amy received more votes than Courtney for the title of "Class Flirt?"
Local graphic designer Jenna Fava, 30, certainly does. She was at the forefront of her yearbook staff more than a decade ago.
"High-school yearbook was really my first design piece that I did," she says. "I just fell in love with it. I don't know why I got so into it, but I did."
Fava ("like the beans," as she puts it) admits that she's become so focused on graphic design that it's hard to enjoy creating something as simple as a scrapbook.
"I get stressed out when I do them," she says, looking a little embarrassed. "For friends of mine it's an outlet because they work normal 9-to-5 jobs. For me, I get this pressure on me to make sure it's designed perfect."
Fava's serious outlook on design took from her hometown of Baltimore to college at The Art Institute of Fort Lauderdale in Florida. After graduating in 2000, she took a job at an advertising agency in Fort Lauderdale. After a few years of a monotonous daily routine, Fava decided to start her own creative design company, Jenna Fava Design, in 2003.
"I had one client on a retainer at the time," she says. "That was really no reason to start my own business, but I just made it one anyway (laughs)."
Jenna Fava Design creates a corporate identity for businesses, providing them with a Web site, stationery, business cards, brochures, copy writing and more.
In October 2004, Fava relocated to Rochester after meeting her fiancé, a Rochester native, through friends. Since moving, she's added organizations such as Geva Theatre and the Arts & Cultural Council of Rochester to her client list.
On top of the 15 to 20 clients she has at a given time, Fava also is working on one of her biggest projects yet — her wedding.
"I've had to create an image for my wedding," she says. "I've had to use a lot of my creativity in what I'm doing. My fiancé keeps saying, 'Remember you're not getting paid for this.' But the rewards are still there."
