The Tribune

By ALESHA CADET

Tribune Features Reporter

acadet@tribunemedia.net

IN every generation there are persons who seek to redefine the status quo and defy conventionality. Kai Sweeting is aiming to do just that in the Bahamas with her company, Amar Kai Designs.

From early childhood she has been influenced by the artists around her, including her aunt, who always has a camera or paintbrush in her hand.

For the past eight years, Kai has been working as a self-taught graphic designer. However, before falling in love with design, she was photographer at a local studio. It wasn’t until she came across a Photoshop “how-to” book that the Grand Bahama native became enthused about graphic design.

“The requests for flyers, invitations, business cards, T-shirt designs, and so much more, became a regular request at the photo studio,” she said.

“I’ve worked as a designer for Freeport-based companies like Office Plus and Barefoot Marketing. At Barefoot Marketing I learned a lot more than I expected. They introduced me to the business aspect of design and marketing. To be honest, I fell madly in love with (graphic design) because it gives me the freedom to be creative. For as long as I’ve known myself I never wanted a career/profession that didn’t allow me to be creative,” she said.

Kai enjoys the trust aspect of her profession which requires people to go out on a limb and entrust her with bringing their ideas to life.

She said it’s not an easy job to really understand what a client wants, especially if they don’t know how to describe it.

With Amar Kai Designs, Kai has created a business model that will allow her company to remain profitable as well as relevant by not only attracting fulfilling a business’ graphic design needs, but also offer branding, marketing and public relation services as well.

She expects to officially open the doors of Amar Kai Studios later this year, and hopes to thereby usher in a new era of media in the Bahamas.

“My network has grown.

“When I first branched off into the freelance world I was lucky if I got one client a week or even a month. It was depressing at times and often made me question if my work was even good,” she said. “I developed confidence in my work and a personal style. In regards to starting the company, there was a time when I wasn’t working, and well, the hustler in me said ‘Kai, you have to do something’. The real motivation to start was to get out the broke slump I was in. At first I struggled with names that I thought I liked, but they all failed. Amar Kai Designs is a combination of my first son’s name and mine. I thought to keep it simple.”

Kai shared a number of Amar Kai Designs client reviews with Tribune Woman. In a review by staff at Mojo’s Restaurant and Bar, for example, they said that they can always rely on a very particular and consistent aesthetic to convey that they are a youthful, unique and innovative restaurant and bar, and from the very beginning Amar Kai has been essential to creating this public perception.

In moving forward, Kai hopes to better brand her company, invest a lot more into it and bring new projects to life.

For more information on Amar Kai Designs, readers can contact Kai via e-mail at kaisweeting@gmailcom and amarkaidesigns@gmail.com.