Today we’d like to introduce you to Clair Schwem.
Alright, so thank you so much for sharing your story and insight with our readers. To kick things off, can you tell us a bit about how you got started?
I started this business by accident. I was unemployed, my friend reached out about a project, and I jumped at the opportunity. At the time it felt like a fun sidequest but looking back it was the best thing that could have happened to me.
Growing up I always wanted to be an artist. My parents had other ideas, specifically, they didn’t want me living in their basement forever. So I compromised and as a young teenager decided I would go into graphic design, which eventually led me into marketing in college, which eventually led me back to design in 2019. Full circle and happy to report, I didn’t have to stay in my parents basement.
Six years ago I launched Clair Monet Creative as a brand and website design studio. What started as a one-woman operation taking on whoever would hire me has grown into a boutique design agency working with established founders who’ve outgrown their brand and know it. The work has evolved too, from logos and pretty websites to full brand worlds. Strategy, identity, web design, packaging, campaign direction, creative partnership. The kind of work where everything is built to work together, not just look good individually.
Earlier this year I had my first baby, which did what having a baby tends to do, made me look at everything differently. Including the brand I’d built. I realized I’d been operating inside a version of myself that didn’t quite fit anymore, and that the business had grown past the identity I’d built for it back in 2019. So I’m in the middle of a full rebrand right now, which is simultaneously the most exciting and most humbling thing I’ve done professionally. Turns out rebranding yourself is harder than rebranding anyone else. Who knew.
The thing I keep coming back to is this: most founders don’t have a bad brand. They have a brand that no longer fits who they are or where they’re going. That gap, between the quality of the work and the way the business shows up, is exactly what I spend my days trying to close for people. It’s the problem I started obsessing over six years ago and I’m still not tired of it.
Can you talk to us a bit about the challenges and lessons you’ve learned along the way. Looking back would you say it’s been easy or smooth in retrospect?
Definitely not a smooth road. I started the business from a place of desperation, not inspiration. After months of job hunting I finally thought, what the hell, what do I have to lose, and launched what was originally a social media marketing studio.
Then 2020 happened. My clients cut budgets, the social media work dried up almost overnight, and I was back to square one. Except this time I had enough experience to pivot into what I actually wanted to be doing, which is brand and website design. So in a strange way, thank goodness for losing those clients, because it lead me here.
The early years were hard in every way a business can be hard. There was a client in my first year who stopped paying mid-project. I spent a significant chunk of what I’d made that year trying to fight it legally. I was able to recoup some cost but ultimately, it didn’t go anywhere and I had to absorb the loss and keep moving. That was a hard lesson in contracts, boundaries, and the reality that running a business means sometimes things go wrong and there’s no one to call but yourself.
Beyond the specific incidents it was everything else, the financial uncertainty that never fully goes away, the loneliness of building something alone, the constant questioning of whether any of it was working, and figuring out who you actually are when you’re the one making all the decisions. You learn a lot about yourself running a business. Some of it is great. Some of it is uncomfortable.
Five years in I’m still learning and honestly, I think that’s probably the point.
As you know, we’re big fans of you and your work. For our readers who might not be as familiar what can you tell them about what you do?
Clair Monet Creative is a boutique design studio specializing in brand strategy, visual identity, and website design for founders who’ve outgrown their brand and know it. The clients I work with are typically established businesses doing great work. They just need a brand that finally reflects that.
What I actually do is build brand worlds. Not just a logo and a website that look good individually, but a cohesive visual universe where every element, the strategy, the identity, the website, the details, is built to work together because no one experiences a brand in pieces, they see it as an ecosystem. The goal is always the same: make it easier for the right people to choose you without needing to be convinced.
I specialize in website design, brand identity, and creative direction. Increasingly I work with clients on an ongoing basis as a creative partner, handling social templates, packaging, campaign direction, and whatever their brand needs to keep showing up well. I also have a template shop for founders who are earlier in their journey and want a high-end starting point they can make their own.
What I’m most proud of is the work that actually changed something for a client. The woman who told me she finally shared her website because she was proud of it for the first time. The artist who sold a painting 24 hours after her site launched. The founders who say they finally feel like their brand matches the business they’ve built. That’s what keeps me going.
What sets me apart is the combination of genuine creative vision and the ability to really hear what a client wants, even when they can’t fully articulate it yet. I read between the lines. I understand what a business needs not just visually but strategically. And I care about the details in a way that shows up in the final product.
I’ve also been told I make the process feel easy, which sounds simple but is actually one of the things I work hardest at. A rebrand or a new website is a big investment, emotionally and financially. Making that experience feel collaborative, clear, and even enjoyable is something I take seriously.
What has been the most important lesson you’ve learned along your journey?
The most important lesson is probably that you are never a finished product. Every stage of running a business introduces you to a new version of yourself, and that process is equal parts exciting and disorienting. Just when you think you have it figured out, you grow into something new and have to figure it out all over again but now with experience under your belt. I’ve stopped expecting that feeling to go away and started treating it as a sign that something good is happening.
The other thing I keep coming back to is: confidence is not something you earn by waiting until you’re ready. I spent years watching people who were objectively less skilled get further simply because they showed up like they belonged there. They put themselves out there, they did it messy, they did it uncertain, and they learned by doing. Meanwhile I was holding back, waiting to feel ready, waiting to be sure, trying to make it perfect. That is the biggest disservice you can do to yourself.
You know your stuff, show up like it!! Do it before you feel ready because ready is a myth and the doing is the only way you actually get there.
A mentor of mine, shout out Ashli Pollard, says: “it’s not hard, it’s new.” That line changed so much for me. Most of the things that feel hard are just unfamiliar. Once you do them a few times they become normal. The only way to get there is through!
Pricing:
- Custom brand identity projects start at $6,000
- Custom website design projects start at $7,500
- Semi-custom website design starts at $3,500
- Showit website templates available in the shop starting at $697
- So much of my work is custom quoted to the businesses themselves based on their specific needs so if this is something you need please reach out, we work is a wide range of budgets
Contact Info:
- Website: https://clairmonet.com
- Instagram: https://instagram.com/clairmonet.creative
- LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/clairschwem/
