We catch up with Laura Lane of My Icon Story, the innovative company creating personalised prints that tell stories through icons…
It’s a cold January afternoon as I meet up with Laura Lane, founder of My Icon Story – a company selling unique, personalised prints that tell stories through icons. Laura began the company fairly recently in 2017, yet it’s already fast becoming a contender for the big names in the business. It’s her innovative and personal approach to design that really shines through and her passion for her business is clear right from the off. I delve into the life of Laura and quiz her on everything from her initial inspiration for the company, to her proudest moments, challenges she faces and her favourite spots in London…
Where did the idea for My Icon Story come from?
After returning from a sabbatical, I was looking for something I could put on my wall as a reminder of my experience and all the places I visited. I couldn’t find anything that replicated my travel itinerary or anything suitable that could be personalised for tailor-made travel trips. I never studied graphic design but have always been artistic so I self-taught myself the adobe software programmes and created my own personalised print. I designed a minimalist icon to represent each of my sabbatical destinations and memories, ending with the first-ever My Icon Story. Sharing my print on social and through word of mouth, I began to receive bespoke order requests from people who wanted a print of their own travels or life memories. I knew I had stumbled upon a great business idea and a huge gap in the personalised gift market. My Icon Story was born and I spent a year designing and developing our website myiconstory.com so that customers around the world could easily create their very own My Icon Story print.
Describe a typical day for you
It sounds like such a cliche but every day is so different and depends on what I’m working on or have coming up. I tend to spend a lot of time designing. Whether that be creating prints for customer orders, responding to new icon requests, designing bespoke commissions, developing new product ideas (like our first greeting cards range) or producing content for our social media channels. When I’m not designing I’m working on the development and growth of the business. From putting together partnership proposals or meeting with potential partners to explore how we could work together. I’m a huge believer in collaborations and love finding fun and innovative ways of putting our icons to new and interesting uses.
If you could give one piece of advice to your past self when you started the business, what would it be?
Don’t rush and don’t compare your journey to others. Every business or start-up is on their own journey and it doesn’t matter if yours isn’t growing as fast as someone else’s. At the start of My Icon Story I was really eager to do as much as I could as fast as I could to show my peers that I was making progress. I ended up making a HUGE mistake that came back to bite me on the ass. It caused me a lot of stress and a massive hole in my pocket but mistakes are to be expected and you’ll never make the same mistake twice!
What has been the biggest challenge in your My Icon Story journey?
Reaching a big enough audience to drive high volumes of sales is our greatest challenge. We need a much bigger presence to be able to compete with other personalised gifts and online marketplaces. I’ve completely self-funded My Icon Story which I’m really proud of, but this also means I don’t have massive budgets for advertising and marketing. PR has proven to massively help our brand awareness but we need a constant stream of PR features to keep My Icon Story on top of people’s mind.
What has been your proudest moment?
Every small win or success is a proud moment and there have been many over these first few years. Getting featured in Metro twice, winning Highly Commended at the Gift of the Year Awards and of course signing licenses with some of the biggest brands including Transport for London and Mr Men! Despite all of these, I still pinch myself every time I watch the video that Olly Murs posted of his My Icon Story print! Check it out here
So nice to get one of these 😚
Big thanks @myiconstory proper thoughtful love it!! I hope to add more icons in the future! Cheers babe 😝😘 pic.twitter.com/3ntASIUD0O— Olly Murs (@ollymurs) December 28, 2017
Do you have days when you feel un-motivated? How do you get through this?
Of course!! In fact I’ve gone through whole weeks of not feeling motivated or have episodes of self-doubt. It’s tough running a business and I think even tougher when you’re a solo founder like I am. You don’t have anyone to share the ups and downs with or someone to reassure you that things will be ok. I get through the down days by accepting that its ok to feel a bit shit now and again and if I want or need something to change, only I can make that change happen. But more often than not, sometimes just by speaking to a friend is all I need to get my mojo back!
What would you say are your three strongest qualities?
- Drive & ambition
- Creative vision
- Forming good relationships
Where do you get the inspiration for your My Icon Story designs from?
The world around me and new people I meet. Inspiration is everywhere but some of the best ideas have come from a casual conversation with someone. You can really find inspiration in everything (in fact, there is even a fantastic book with that exact name by designer Paul Smith)
Who would you most like to see with a My Icon Story item on their wall and why?
Wow! Where do I begin. There are so many stories that a My Icon Story print can represent – singers or bands could have a My Icon Story of a world tour, Athletes could have a My Icon Story of where they’ve competed, celeb couples could have one of their relationship the list could go on. But I’m going to say a fictional character – I’m a huge Sex in the City fan so how fab would it be if Carrie Bradshaw had a My Icon Story print! It could feature her favourite Manolo’s or Jimmy Choo’s, Mr Big, her favourite New York hangouts, a Cosmopolitan Cocktail and of course a yellow NYC Taxi. I totally got carried away and created a design (below!)
Where is your favourite place to go in London and why?
I have favourite places for different times of the year. I love cocktails and I love a roof bar or bar with a view. There’s something special about being high up, sipping on cocktails and soaking up the view of London’s skyline. Some of my favourite bars are 12th Knot at Sea Containers, Aviary in Moorgate, Dalston Roof Park and Queen of Hoxton.
Find out more about Laura Lane and get your own My Icon Story print here…
