My name is Cristi Spring and I'm the Creative Director and Owner of The Spring Creative Studio. I come from a long line of entrepreneurs with my uncle David Spring being at the center of alot of my families business ventures. David was always an amazing salesperson and he came to rely on my mom to be the “organizer”. They made a great team through various businesses; a body shop, a trampoline business, the Town Crier which turned into Thrifty Nickel, the Panhandler phone book and finally the Ad Beat classified paper in Dallas.
My mom had moved us to Dallas to help David start the Ad Beat classified paper. After a few years she decided she wanted to come back to Amarillo to raise my brother and sister. I had just graduated from high school and she wanted to train me to do her job as the typesetter (what we now call a graphic designer) at Ad Beat, a classified paper located in Dallas.
I spent the next few weeks learning everything my mom had taught herself about typesetting and putting the paper together on a Macintosh SE. It was funny learning to design a full page ad on it’s tiny little screen. Typesetting came easy to me, it made sense, it was a perfect balance between spacial rules and creativity. I worked for Ad Beat for a year and moved on to an agency called Visual Impact. They specialized in weekly grocery store ads so I got to learn new programs, attend food photo shoots and help on store ads for Krogers and Albertsons.
I missed my family and I missed Amarillo so I came back home. My family still owned Thrifty Nickel and my mom was doing the typesetting while my grandmother ran it. When my grandmother passed away, my mom took over as the owner and I stepped in to take over the graphics and putting the paper together along side my mom.
Through the years at Thrifty Nickel (American Classifieds) my mom gave me total creative freedom. I trained designers under me, took the paper from paste up to being computerized, created a customized computer program for pagination and uploading our ads online, created our first website from scratch, designed monthly magazines, organized promotions, created new departments for printing and promotional items for our customers and so much more!
My mom and I worked side by side for 22 years. She set my foundation and then gave me the freedom to learn and grow throughout the years. She was the perfect example of hard work, dedication and passion. She was the most amazing boss and best friend and I am who I am today because of her.
Figuring out the needs of my clients and turning their ideas into reality is what I am passionate about. I have 32 years experience in graphic design, marketing and small business promotions. I can help your business with everything from logo design, in house forms, website design, social media management, promotional products and printing of all kinds. I would love to use my expertise to help make your business look sleek and professional, while giving the exact message you would like to portray!