When you hire Zeal Design Studio, you’re working with me, freelance graphic designer Nicole Holmes, from start to finish.
Entrepreneurship runs in my veins. I grew up working in my family’s book/gift shop and later our medical practice. The family tradition continued when I started a jewelry booth in a local antique shop in my teens. I know first hand the struggles and joys that business owners experience. Even amid the roller coaster ride of entrepreneurship, it is full of joy, freedom and accomplishment.
I graduated from Abilene Christian University with a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree, with an emphasis in Graphic Design. I learned about real-world graphic design during two summer internships, one with a Christian record label in Tennessee and one with a book design firm in Oregon. I have attended several design conferences throughout the years to sharpen my skills.
Zeal Design Studio was born in 2006 during a mother/daughter road trip from Oregon to Texas. We sketched out the initial business plan on a restaurant napkin, and charged forward. Armed with passion, a creative eye and the understanding of small business needs, I began my journey as a freelance graphic designer. Since then I have worked with over 200 clients in eight different states and three countries.
Learning about a variety of clients over the years has been a joy and a challenge. They have included a hospital, a farming co-op, a university, a port-a-potty business, an art studio, and a software company, just to name a few. I am proud to serve the dreamers, the doers, the risk takers, the problem solvers, my fellow entrepreneurs. I enjoy helping them look professional and, most importantly, communicate well.
I live in Bryan, Texas, with my handsome husband, two magical children and a Schnoodle named Doodle. My goal is making God smile in everything I do and treating others as the image bearers of God that they are. I enjoy treasuring the small moments with my young family, volunteering at church, exploring new restaurants, attempting to garden, and discovering hand-painted vintage signs.
Many moons ago I interned at a book design firm. While there, I designed the original book cover for Pluto’s obituary:
The Pluto Files: The Rise and Fall of America’s Favorite Planet by Neil deGrasse Tyson.
It was published in 2009 and has been redesigned several times since then.