Finding time for creative design, family, life

Cheri D’Albor is a busy woman.

The active, mother-of-one hit the ground running following her college days by starting Eye Candy Creative, a graphic design company in Thibodaux, and she hasn’t slowed down since. So much so, that even her own website has been put on hold.

“It’s amazing to me that I do this (graphic design) for a living, but my website is currently in the works because I’m so busy doing everybody else’s,” the artist confessed with a laugh.

While attending Nicholls State University on a volleyball scholarship, D’Albor, who grew up just outside of Seattle, was lucky enough to not only meet her husband, but also discover a career path, which would allow her to utilize her talents for creative art and design.

“I’ve always, always loved to draw and I’ve always been creative. I enjoy doodling and it’s just been a part of my life since I was little,” said the designer, who attributed her mother for her passion. “I didn’t always know that graphic design was what I wanted to do, but it kind of fell into place as I was taking classes in college.”

For her senior design project, D’Albor put together an inspired campaign for the Bayou Country Children’s Museum, and with some encouragement from her instructor, Trisha Dubina, she pushed forward with an imaginative illustrative concept.

The non-profit organization chose to use D’Albor’s innovative design, which helped catapult her career, according to the designer.

“That one project … I think we get the most referrals from people who see that than anywhere else,” she said.

Following graduation in 2007, the young artist teamed up with Dubina and they opened the graphic design company with the tantalizing name. The pair worked together at Eye Candy Creative for nearly three years before Dubina left to concentrate on her teaching career at Nicholls, according to D’Albor.

“We just parted ways about a year and a half ago,” she said. “She was focusing on teaching, which is her number one love … and I wanted to continue to do the business.

“We still remain really great friends,” she added.

Inspired by everything from furniture, to signs on the road, to her five-year-old daughter’s toys, D’Albor said she absolutely loves her job.

“I’m glad that I am able to do what I love and make a living out of it,” she announced.

But the designer admits that trying to find time for work, family, friends, hobbies, which include photography and sketching, and herself, is not always easy.

“My goal is to just try to balance life and work. I tend to go a little bit overboard with spoiling my clients,” admitted the business owner, who sometimes works well into the night.

To help ease some of the workload, D’Albor has started to hire on a little extra help from local graphic designer, Rachel LeCompte, and from Nicholls’ interns, as well.

“Rachel is awesome. She does some really great work with me whenever I’m kind of overloaded. She’s considered like a subcontractor, but she’s a pretty regular employee,” said D’Albor. “Then Nicholls sends me some interns from time to time, so I have help when I need it.”

Over the years, Thibodaux-based Eye Candy Creative has produced some impressive designs for local companies such as Acadia Animal Hospital, Hagen Beyer ENT, SOLA Center for the Arts, Duplantis Design Group, Downtown Thibodaux and Thibodaux Main Street Inc., to name a few.

One of D’Albor’s most recent clients was The Center for Pediatric Therapy, which had an immense impact on the graphic artist because it hit so close to home.

“I believe so much in what they (CPT) are doing,” she said. “My daughter has special needs, so to design for the therapy clinic that she actually attended was huge … I can express myself even further and I’m just so much more inspired by it.

“The clients who are out to do something great, it’s really easy to be inspired by those,” she added.

With any client, D’Albor said she works hard to really look into what they are all about, research them and their competition excessively and put a lot of thought into what she creates for them.

“It’s probably 70 percent research and the rest is the actual product,” the young designer said. “I like to pride myself in thoughtful design versus just doing something that looks cool just because it’s fun. I try to have a reason and purpose behind it all and really get more into what the business is about and delve into that and research and find out what they are trying to portray about themselves.”

While some businesses and organizations come to Eye Candy Creative already with an idea or concept in mind, D’Albor said she tries to encourage her clients to consider something that they may not have considered before.

“It’s definitely hard to think out of the box and get people to come along with you,” she expressed. “There is definitely a need for it, though. It is a little bit of a push to get a client to go along with something that might not be what their first thought was, so when they ask for something particular, a lot of times I’ll show them that, but I’ll also show them two other options and usually they end up picking something that they didn’t expect.”

As far as the future is concerned … according to D’Albor, business has not shown signs of slowing down any time soon. And while the wife, mother, artist, business owner, etc. enjoys the flexible hours that her job allows, she realizes that it is better to have set work hours, so she can maintain a schedule and maintain balance in her life.

“I made a pact with myself that at 5 o’clock most people stop working, so I should too,” she said, acknowledging the fact that this doesn’t always happen, but an effort is made.

“I definitely love where I am right now though … so, I’ll just hopefully continue down this path,” she concluded.

Cheri D’Albor, owner of Eye Candy Creative, works hard on a sketch in her Houma office. The Nicholls State graduate said her business is steady as she balances her creativity with family life. ALYSON SHOWALTER