They’re sitting on the couch, a glass of bubblies in hand. You can’t help but notice that they’re really well dressed. “Where did they get that outfit from?” thinking to yourself.
They’re telling a story and it must be good because everyone at the party is hanging on to every word, riding the waves of each paragraph. You can’t quite put your finger on it, but you’re drawn to them.
Introducing Swell Magazine (or its hypothetical persona thanks to its editors Kristy Coady and Rebecca Geraghty)!
In this edition of The Everyday Project this sister duo takes us through the highs and lows of starting a new business venture and how challenging the naysayers has led them towards this beautiful and busy life.
Sister act
We start this story when Kristy moved from the regional town of Gunnedah NSW to Newcastle to work in graphic design.
Younger sister, Bec made the move six years later to coincidently follow in Kristy’s footsteps to study graphic design.
Bec was in kindergarten when Kristy was in year six. As a child that age gap is amplified but “now the age gap isn’t really a thing,” Bec said.
“Kristy has always been the dreamer in situations and I’m the one that’s into the practical side of things.”
In Kristy’s words Bec is someone that goes above and beyond for people.
“She’s the messy one between the two of us but she’s also bright and bubbly and does anything for anyone.”
“Our staff members would say it’s different working with sisters because of the language we use and how we speak to one another.
“Claire, who has been working with us for a couple of years now, is starting to speak our same language,” Kristy laughed.
The sisters went on to talk about how others find the concept of working with their sibling weird but they wouldn’t have it any other way.
“I don’t know any different… Most of my working life has been alongside Bec,” Kristy said.
We’ve got the Design Bug
Kristy and Bec’s graphic Design business, Design Bug, came to fruition in an MRI machine.
“I had a big car accident when I was 22,” Kristy said.
“I had a full-time design job when I had the accident on the way to work. I severely hurt my back resulting in a chronic back injury lasting for around 5 years.”
Kristy was unable to sit a desk for too long and her full-time job fell through. Starting her own freelance design business was her only option to avoid unemployment.
The name for the business pays homage to their mother who had a Volkswagen Beetle growing up. Kristy was thinking about getting a new car during an MRI scan because hers had been written off in the accident.
“I was trying to think of a name for the business and my train of thought was ‘design… design bug… I could go get a Volkswagen Beetle after this!’”
It was only a few weeks later that Kristy landed her first big client for an overseas bank which meant crazy work hours and requiring extra hands on deck.
“I was in the first year of my design degree at the time, and luckily I lived across the road from Kristy, because she’d be calling me at 10pm asking me to come over,” Bec said.
“I’d cross the road in my pyjamas and help set documents and find images with her all night. That accelerated my skills and gave me real world experience that not many first-year students get.”
Ten years on, Design Bug has grown beyond Kristy’s home office to a studio in the heart of Newcastle surrounded by an amazing team of designers.
It was a dream come true, but there was just one piece missing.
Swell
Swell Magazine is a resource designed to make you happy, it’s an escape from the real world allowing you a moment to enjoy the unique stories of Newcastle.
During a business planning/goal setting session for Design Bug, the sisters were asked ‘what would you be doing if money wasn’t a consideration for your business?”
They didn’t even have to think about their answer, “a magazine.”
“In high school I read every Girlfriend and Dolly magazine and as I got older my friends all knew to get me magazine subscriptions for my birthday,” Kristy said.
“Growing up in a country town I had the dream of moving to the city and working for a magazine.”
While Bec recounted her childhood memories of going to the newsagency on family holidays and meticulously picking out the perfect magazine for the trip.
“It’s the nostalgia aspect for me,” Bec said.
The first conversation about Swell happened at the start of the week over a cup of coffee on a chilly June morning. By the end of the week, they had come up with a name, registered the business, created a logo, contacted a writer and a photographer.
Oh, and Kristy was 14 weeks pregnant when they decided on a November 2018 deadline. That’s five months to launch a magazine from scratch.
Many said it was craziness, they thought the same for a while but once you have a greenlight, you go.
“For issue one and two I had my laptop balancing on my big pregnant belly editing and by issue three I was pumping breast milk, holding a baby and editing,” Kristy laughed.
“I don’t think it all would have worked if we weren’t sisters,” Bec replied.
The main difference with Swell Magazine is that it’s print only. Reading Swell is exclusively a tactile and visual experience.
It takes its readers away from their screens, harnessing the power of words on an actual page as a form of escapism. All while being a visual masterpiece designed to be the perfect coffee table or waiting room accessory.
“When you’re on your phone scrolling there’s always something popping up on the screen and you’re doing a bunch of things at once. But when you’re reading a magazine that’s all you’re doing in that moment. It’s peaceful,” Kristy said.
Is print media dying?
Has there been such a significant shift towards online content that we are now craving ink on paper?
“COVID might have something to do with it, but people are realising that they are spending so much time on their screens and are now reliant on digital media that there has been a noticeable change in our consumption behaviours.
“Digital is here to stay and it’s not going anywhere, we aren’t trying to stop digital. It’s about choosing those moments where you can look away,” Bec said.
Kristy and Bec are proving that print is not dead, nor is it dying. It’s merely changing direction through the perseverance of publications like Swell.
“I don’t think magazines will be like they were back in the 80s, but I do think people need to be exposed to it,” Bec said.
The ball was rolling and their teenage dreams of being magazine editors was finally here.
Cue the global pandemic.
“We couldn’t go and take photos of people, our stockists were closed, and people weren’t able to leave the house to buy the next issue,” Bec said.
“We had to ask ourselves whether we were having any more issues,” Kristy replied.
Like every other hurdle that came their way, they figured out a way to jump over it and here we are in April 2021 waiting for their 10th issue!
“It’s been hard, and it’s still hard, but I don’t think we would have changed anything.”
Back yourself
For Kristy and Bec the turning point was realising that their ‘side hustle’ was actually another full-time gig.
“We aren’t making money from Swell; we are covering our costs. It’s like any new business and once we stopped seeing it as a little project, things started falling into place.
“We kept saying ‘why are we spending so much money on a ‘project’?’ But Swell is its own business entity, it has its own ABN. It’s a business and when a business is in its start-up phase, you put money into it.
“Once that shift came into play it made everything seem less crazy,” Kristy said.
Swell played to Kristy and Bec’s strengths as graphic designers and businesswomen. They trusted each other and their abilities to achieve the rest.
“I remember driving away from a meeting from a potential advertiser before the first issue came out thinking ‘what if it’s shit? What if we can’t do it?’
“We laugh about it now but lot of businesses, including ours, think they have these amazing business plans. It’s when you go to action it that you realise that you don’t really know what’s going on and you’re still left to figure it out,” Bec said.
At the end of the day, putting yourself out there comes with its risks and trusting in yourself and your networks to get to the other end of it makes a difference.
“Be prepared to work your ass off and if it gets hard that doesn’t mean you give up.
“You tweak the plan, accept help, talk to other business owners because they are probably going through the same thing as you,” Kristy said.
Now their brother, parents, aunty and uncle, AND cousins have moved to Newcastle because… why wouldn’t they?!
“We have never been worried about filling the pages of Swell. There are so many people and so many places that are doing amazing things and a lot of people taking risks,” said Bec.
“We want to talk to them all!”
Want to learn more about Kristy and Bec? Hit the links below for more information.
Swell Magazine
Website: swellmag.com.au
Instagram: @swell.mag
Design Bug
Website: designbug.com.au
Instagram: @thedesignbugs
the-everyday-project.com 