Booking window
Studio diary opens again mid-November — two Identity Sprint slots left before the winter seed catalogue season.
Brand & editorial design · Working solo
I am Hazel — a freelance designer and editorial writer for nurseries, seed growers, plant shops and small food gardens. One project at a time, a fixed quote before we begin, and print files you can hand to any printer.
Before you write to me
Most enquiries come from growers who have outgrown a handwritten sign and a phone camera. I am useful at exactly that moment: turning what you already know about your plants into a brand, a catalogue and labels that hold up in a greenhouse.
Fixed quotes. No retainers under three months. Everything is written and designed by me — nothing is subcontracted without telling you first.
Engagements & rates
Quoted in full before any work starts. Longer or unusual scopes are priced from the same four shapes rather than invented from scratch.
For a new nursery, or a rename.
Three weeks of focused work: naming support if you need it, a wordmark drawn for small sizes, a plant-safe colour set, a type pairing and a one-page usage note your sign-writer can follow.
For a seasonal catalogue or growing guide.
A repeatable layout system plus the words to fill it: grid, entry templates, plant description structure, index and captions. Built so your team can add next season's varieties without redesigning anything.
For seed packets, labels and swing tags.
Artwork prepared per range, with the unglamorous parts handled: die-line checks, bleed, minimum legal text placement, barcode zones and a proofing pass with your printer before the run.
For small jobs and busy seasons.
Booked in blocks of two days for amendments, market signage, a price list refresh or an event poster. You set the priority list in the morning; I send everything packaged at the end of the second day.
Illustration, photography and printing are quoted separately and passed through at cost. If your project sits between two lanes, describe it in the brief and I will tell you which one it belongs in — or that it is not mine to take.
How a project runs
Nothing moves forward until the previous stage is signed off in writing. It keeps the quote honest and the diary predictable.
We talk through the range, the deadline and where the work will be printed or displayed. You get a written scope, a fixed price and a start date.
You send: product or variety list, any existing artwork, hard deadlines.
Two routes, presented flat and unglossed — no mockups on shop fronts. You pick one and we agree what changes before build begins.
You send: one consolidated response within five working days.
The chosen route is drawn out across every piece in scope, with the copy written alongside it. Short written check-in every Friday.
You send: corrections in one list per round. Two rounds included.
Editable source files, print-ready PDFs, exports sized for screens and a plain-language note on fonts, colours and licences.
You get: a 30-day window for questions at no extra cost.
Selected work
Both are shown as the deliverable rather than the pitch: what was asked for, what constrained it, and what was handed over.
Editorial System
A 68-page catalogue that had grown by accretion for years, with three different description formats and no index. I rebuilt it as one grid with four entry templates, rewrote every plant description to a fixed structure — sowing window, habit, height, use — and added a cross-referenced index at the back.
Identity Sprint + Print
A market garden opening two acres to visitors needed a mark that worked routed into oak, printed one-colour on recycled card, and stamped into beds at 20mm. I drew the wordmark at the smallest size first, then scaled up, and wrote a short pocket guide for the growing beds along the route.
Availability & working rhythm
Growers work to seasons, so the studio does too. Catalogue work is quoted in autumn for winter printing; packaging runs are best started three months before you need stock on a shelf.
Questions I am asked most
Occasionally, if it is genuinely small — a market sign, a price list, a single label amendment. Anything involving direction rounds needs the full timeline, because a rushed identity costs more to repair than to do slowly. If the date is fixed and close, say so in the first line of your brief.
Yes, and I prefer to. Plant descriptions, catalogue introductions, label text and signage wording are part of every quote above. What I do not write is long-form marketing content, newsletters or social captions on an ongoing basis.
For packaging and catalogue work, yes — it is included. I request die-lines, check bleed and ink limits, review the proof and sign off alongside you. You keep the commercial relationship and pay the printer directly; I never mark up print costs.
Often, yes. If the existing mark is usable I will build around it and say so plainly. If it will not hold up at label size or in one colour, I will show you why before suggesting anything be redrawn — and redrawing is always a separate, quoted decision.
Then take two studio days rather than a partial project. A two-day block can produce a clean price list, tidy an existing catalogue section or prepare one label range. It is a better use of a small budget than a thinned-out identity sprint.
You own the finished artwork outright once the final invoice is settled, including editable source files. Fonts are licensed separately in your own name — I will tell you exactly which licence you need and what it costs before I use anything commercial, and I will happily choose a freely licensed face instead.
Start a brief
A few lines is enough to start. I reply within two working days with either a scope and a fixed price, one or two questions, or an honest no with a suggestion of who else might suit.
Nothing here is a commitment. The quote that follows is fixed, dated and itemised before any work begins.