Designer Showcase: Meet Laura Spaeth, Owner and Designer Behind Tell Designs

Name: Laura Spaeth
Specialty: Print & packaging design
Location: Wausau, Wisconsin
Favorite Color: White
Favorite Design: High Life Farms

From coffee bags to cannabis pouches, Laura Spaeth can do it all. The one woman show behind Tell Designs has decades of industry knowledge and a unique upper hand when it comes to designing the Roastar bag; Laura actually worked in the Roastar pre-press department for years. Our love for Laura runs deep, but her creativity is the reason we’re sharing more about her design aesthetic. So, let’s jump in and get to know Laura, her creative process, her advice when it comes to creating a beautiful bag, and how you can get in touch with her for your next project.

Laura’s Background

Born and raised in Minnesota, Laura moved to Wisconsin as a child and eventually began her early career working in advertising sales and pre-press for a Wisconsin-based magazine. As her career progressed, she found herself alternating between logistics and creative roles in pre-press and graphic design for local retailers. After landing a pre-press job with Roastar in 2013, Laura knew packaging was her calling. Having created designs for all of the materials in the Roastar offering and even creating some of our current artwork templates, Laura has a deep understanding for how the Roastar process works. In 2018, Laura started her own design business, Tell Designs, creating bag artwork full-time. Her experience with pre-press and graphic design, along with her first-hand knowledge of the Roastar process makes her extremely skilled at crafting the perfect bag design for customers across the world.

Working with Laura.

Laura has worked on a variety of projects across bag types and industries. Roastar Customer Service will contact her when a company needs a designer, or needs an adjustment made to the artwork they submitted. She’ll get in touch with her contacts via email so she can get everything on paper (or screen) and doesn’t miss a thing. Since she’s the Owner and Designer at Tell Designs, she can better prioritize projects when everything’s right in her inbox and easy to see.

When meeting with a first-time customer, Laura likes to create a transparent, seamless experience for working together. Rates and timelines will be addressed up-front so there’s no confusion or miscommunication about when a project needs to be completed. She’ll also ask you about your vision for your brand and for you to supply a mood board from Pinterest so she can get your design right from the start, because let’s face it, sleek and modern can mean something different to everyone. From there she’ll hit the ground running, sending you previews of work. Once approved and ready for press, Laura has often helped in the proofing stage for many clients since she’s so close to Roastar. If you need a keen eye to make sure everything’s looking good, she’s got you covered.

Laura’s Bag Artwork Tips.

When it comes to bag artwork, there are definitely a few misconceptions that Laura often hears.

1. Customers often think their artwork is being printed on an actual bag, almost like a label, but that’s not the case with Roastar. Because we print our bags first, then put them together and pack them, Laura can design every inch of the bag and use it to showcase your brand to the fullest extent. 
   • Laura’s Tip: Understand the product before we get into design. Knowing how the process works will help clarify the design.
2. She also gets customers who have used a graphic designer to create their artwork, but the designer didn’t have packaging experience and now the customer needs the artwork changed to fit the bag they’re using. 
3. Laura’s Tip: Work with a packaging designer from the start. Packaging designers have specific knowledge of how to design for the bag you’re using and can decrease the amount of changes you’ll need because they’re experts in this field.
4. Laura’s favorite advice: do something fun! Matte black bags have become the rage and now they’re everywhere, she wants to help your brand stand out on the shelf and give your customers a great experience when choosing your brand.

Want to hire Laura for your next project? Contact Tell Designs today. Click here to view her designer profile.