hi I’m Jen Leheny and I freelance under the business name, Red Instead. I’ve been doing graphic and web design for over ten years. I was blogging before the word was even coined and I’ve seen some changes! I have worked in the web and graphic design industry in Sydney previously, but I am now based in Canberra. Up until now, I have been self-taught, though I am about to study for my Bachelor of Graphic Design at Uni to fill in the holes in my knowledge and technique. It’s important to me to get a qualification and to learn everything I can, and the time is right for me now.
I recently decided to return to design as a profession, after spending many years focussed on looking after my young family, as well as running my own indie handcrafted accessories business called RED INSTEAD handmade – sewing and making things and selling them online and at local markets.
During the six years of running that business, I began to realise that one of the things I enjoyed the most was designing the branding, shopping cart site, blog and print elements. Over time, I came to see where my heart really lay. I am passionate about design (in its many forms) and I want to share that enthusiasm with you.
So I am going back to my roots and making graphic design my business now. I first started working in this field in Sydney way back in 1997, working for free alongside a real star, a young designer called Justin Fox. You might know him as the Founder of Australian INfront. He taught me a lot and I went on to work at SPIKE, before the dot com crash came and dumped us all.
At aound the same time as the dot com bubble burst, I had my first child and my priorities changed. Sewing around the kids became a great option, for me and for them, so I set up RED INSTEAD handmade from home. Of course, my new business needed branding, marketing, product photos, a shopping site and a blog and so I was able to keep up with the photography, graphic and web design that I loved so much.
My children are older now and I am ready for a new phase in my life. I still love to sew and really enjoy making things with my hands but I am not going to do it as a business any more. I am ready to make design my focus again, and move the sewing back to personal time.
Designing for web and print is what I love the most and this is the new direction for Red Instead.
