Sponsor Spotlight: Get to know The Label Collective

Founded by Erin Pitts and Kristin Waddington, The Label Collective is a creative partnership that specializes in branding, design, strategy, and marketing. Their mission is to provide best-in-class creative services to clients of multiple sizes, while also prioritizing collaboration, problem-solving, and thoughtful partnerships with those they work with.

TLC has been an integral part of Austin Design Week since the beginning. As ADW's Creative Sponsor, the studio has created all of our event branding and continues to play a supportive role not just with us, but in the design community.

Get to know more about the creative studio in our Q&A with them, below.

As a creative studio, how does TLC approach design?

Our approach to design is multi-dimensional. It should solve a problem, tell a brand’s story, and also be visually appealing. It’s a form of non-verbal communication and a harmonious result of research, information, and collaboration between everyone on a team.

It should also be intentional, purposeful, and authentic, giving meaning to what it represents. The best designs blend in with their surroundings and often create impact without effort. Not being true to this approach means we haven’t provided the best response.

What do you look for in a brand partnership or client?

We look for clients who embrace the meaning of their brand and not the pitch; those who appreciate the value of design and creative strategy to support their mission; those who consider us part of their team, and those who strive to innovate and hear solutions that are out-of-the-box.

What role does TLC hope to play in Austin’s design community?

We hope to serve our community as a studio that helps businesses move towards their “next normal.” We have clients who are rebranding and are seeing the pandemic as a metamorphosis for them, with the intention to come back better—and sometimes different—than before. Other clients are maintaining what they were doing before the pandemic, and continuing to rely on us as a trusted partner that’s there for them when they need us. New clients are coming to us with many different needs, including virtual event websites, digital campaigns, microsite experiences, and brand refreshes. There are so many opportunities to shape the design we do to support a greater need.

What drew you to Austin Design Week, and why has TLC continued to support ADW for the past five years?

A design week in Austin had been on our radar since 2011, when Erin was ending her term as the President of the AIGA Austin Chapter. Holding an event like this had been discussed for a number of years but had never come to fruition.

Beyond her presidency, Erin continued to stay involved in the design industry, including an AIGA National Chapter Advisory Council role for 2 years. However, she also wanted to find ways to contribute in a more philanthropic way to the local design community.

When the Austin Design Week founding members opened a call for entries to produce the event branding in 2016, Erin saw this as the perfect opportunity to accomplish that, all while allowing others at The Label Collective to collectively (pun intended) contribute.

One of the biggest reasons TLC continues to support Austin Design Week is because of the sense of community and inclusivity of all types of design. ADW brings the best and most design-focused individuals from many different disciplines into a single forum, inspiring them by the skills and knowledge accessible to everyone who attends.

What have you embraced from 2020?

A number of things. As the co-founders are both parents -- one with two daughters under 7, the other with a daughter in high school -- we are embracing flexibility and a work/life balance model, all while keeping ourselves, our families, and our business running.

We are also embracing the unknown as many of our clients are pushing forward in 2021.

Lastly, we are embracing possibility. Prior to COVID, our team was growing and adding new hires, but things came to a halt. We hope that as vaccines are more readily available and conditions start to improve, we can take this opportunity to reinvent ourselves, achieve some of the things that we wanted to accomplish pre-pandemic, and come out stronger than ever.