The Art of the Side Hustle with Two Adobe Designers: Kassie Scribner
Art
Salt Lake City is quickly becoming a destination for the tech industry and graphic design. With companies like Adobe setting up shop in Utah, the creativity around Salt Lake City has been elevated. Here, two notable SLC creatives, Adobe Senior Graphic Designer Alan Peck and Adobe Senior Art Designer and AIGA SLC President Kassie Scribner discuss their lives in the design world and the intricacies of their respective hobbies: woodworking and embroidery.
Adobe Senior Art Designer and AIGA SLC President Kassie Scribner // Embroidery | @lady_scrib • ladyscrib.com
As a child, Kassie Scribner learned embroidery from her grandmother, a hobby she eventually returned to as an adult. “I loved the time I got to spend learning from [my grandmother], and when I found that embroidery allowed me to blend lettering and illustration … I was hooked,” she says. For Scribner, her work at Adobe is a striking contrast from the simplicity of embroidery, but it’s a difference she embraces. “I get to work at the company that created the software I’ve used since I was 13 years old, building web pages and marketing content, [working] with some of the most brilliant and hardworking people. My embroidery is so lo-fi that I get to nearly never look at a computer screen, and I am able to do something that is basically for me,” she says.
Scribner has an eye for unique and engaging designs, which is apparent via her website, where she combines her design portfolio with a shop through which she sells her embroidery. The embroidery hoops ready for purchase are attention-grabbing with strikingly colorful floral patterns and loopy text with phrases such as “Rosé All Day” and “Stay Cool,” and have a trend-setting appeal that puts her craft on high demand at events like Craft Lake City’s DIY Festival. “For embroidery, if i get to mix lettering and florals, it’s always a win,” says Scribner. “When a hoop goes to someone’s home and they send me a photo of where they placed it, it absolutely makes my day … Each hoop is designed start to finish by me.”
Scribner’s embroidery evokes a clean, appealing aesthetic, something that Scribner attributes to her love for design, which has always been the driving force behind her embroidery. “When I learned embroidery as a kid, it was a hobby,” she says. “I’ve always had a creative spirit … but design came first, for sure. I wanted to be able to find a niche that brought something unique to my design, which is where embroidery came into play as an adult.” For Scribner, finding the balance between Adobe, embroidery and AIGA SLC (which coordinated Design Week, an event that runs Oct. 1–5) is a challenge, but one that ultimately fulfills Scribner’s passion for design and creativity. “I love burning the midnight oil, so I do that frequently,” she says. “I don’t mind working late because I’m doing what I love. I love being a leader in my community, and I enjoy my side gig of embroidery, and I am so happy to be able to work for such a fantastic company.”