July 12, 2021

This paid piece is sponsored by Click Rain.

Depending on the person, textbook, dictionary or website referenced, “design” can have a wide variety of definitions.

Amy Moore, the creative director at Lemonly, has her own way of describing it. “Design is creative problem-solving according to a plan,” she said. “From city planning to the chair you’re sitting in to the process of ordering at a restaurant, design is a specific toolkit that helps us make our environment better. ”

Moore is certainly an authority on the subject, having co-founded a visual content agency at age 24. But even before establishing Lemonly, Moore had been designing as far back as she can remember.

“Growing up, I wanted to be an archaeologist, a chef, an astronaut, a lawyer — I had all kinds of interests,” she said. “I didn’t know about graphic design as a career until later in high school, but I always loved drawing. My dad would bring home extra blueprints from his job as a civil engineer, and I’d draw on top of those.”

Moore went on to double major in graphic design and advertising at South Dakota State University.

“I was drawn to the idea of design. It’s ideation, inspiration and implementation — putting those things together into something truly impactful.”

She explored different areas of design with internships during her college years — one with a university and another at a traditional agency — but found a new niche with a part-time job at 9 Clouds, a Sioux Falls digital marketing startup.

“They were originally only looking for an account coordinator, but I mentioned that I could also design. I ended up doing way more design than account work,” Moore recalled. “It was a different experience than my internships because of the immediacy. Working with social media, our work could make an impact as soon as it was live, and I really liked the challenge that came with that. I had to learn and adapt quickly.”

After graduating, Moore took a full-time position with 9 Clouds, continuing to explore new ways to design and communicate. Infographics became a big part of that, first on the 9 Clouds website and then on “The Post,” a South Dakota blog.

“Something clicked when I started designing infographics,” Moore said. “I love creating things that help me learn, and infographics definitely do that. So many pieces of design theory and strategy go into creating infographic-style content.”

Seeing how well infographics performed, Moore and the team began pitching them to clients. The first infographic 9 Clouds produced for a client was picked up by TechCrunch, a popular technology news site. The team also created one for the Argus Leader as part of an article about food stamps.

Moore sensed an opportunity. She and 9 Clouds co-founder John T. Meyer put their heads together and started Lemonly, a design firm specializing in infographics.

Today, the door of Lemonly’s Main Avenue office proudly proclaims the company is “Home of the World’s Best Infographics.”

“Lemonly is the intersection of information and design. Our work is beautiful, but it doesn’t serve a purpose unless somebody learns something,” Moore said.

“We’ve been rooted in design from day one. We design our teams, our company culture, even experiences like the onboarding experience or the client experience. Our mission statement is ‘We design clarity.’ And I truly believe we embody that.”

Moore is excited to bring Lemonly’s creative process and mentality to the next phase of the company now that it has been acquired by Click Rain.

“It’s an exciting opportunity for both teams. We get to bring our teaching culture to the table, learn from each other and bring more clarity and top-notch design to clients on both sides,” she said.

Dear Amy

Amy Moore’s advice for herself as a fledgling co-founder and creative director:

● Working all-nighters doesn’t make you a hero, it just makes you hangry.
● You don’t need that many vests.
● It’s OK for dreams to change — it doesn’t mean you failed or weren’t good enough to achieve those goals.
● You need to be your own priority.
● Say “NO” to things you don’t have time for — still learning this.
● Don’t use Lobster font for your company logo.