A Day in the Life with Mindy Nguyen
Location: Los Angeles, California
Started using Squarespace: 2013
Title: Creative Director, ilovecreatives Studio
For Mindy Nguyen, intentionality is everything. As the Creative Director of the Los Angeles-based design agency, ilovecreatives Studio, her work ranges from bold and expressive to quiet and refined. She leads brand identities, websites, and full 360 campaigns for heavy-hitting clients like Cosmopolitan, DedCool, and Paris Hilton. But her highly informed, vibrant aesthetic doesn’t come from burning the midnight oil. Instead, Mindy protects her creative energy with a fiercely grounded routine. She fuels her mornings with a 15-minute Tai Chi flow and a highly specific drink trio—water, matcha, and a green smoothie.
From tracking tasks in her Hobonichi planner to recording client presentations, she designs workflows that eliminate friction. Whether she’s building out a new Squarespace course or taking a screen-free lunch break in the sun, Mindy proves that running a cool, successful studio leaves plenty of time for 5K runs and a strict 5:30 PM log-off.
Check out a day in Mindy’s life and see her advice for web designers.
Mindy’s schedule
7:00 AM: Wake up and take our dog, Roux, out. We named her after the butter and flour mixture because she has the cutest hints of blonde in her white cockapoo fur. Love the hit of fresh air in the morning.
7:15 AM: 15-minute Tai Chi routine to warm up, get blood circulation going, and set a calm, focused tone for the morning.
7:30 AM: 3–5 mile run. I’m still a baby runner, so I’m slowly working on my pace with a goal of a 30-minute 5K. I started getting into running last year, so this is a big step for a girl who never saw herself as a runner.
8:30 AM: Feed my dog. Shower. It’s very extra, but I have my drink trio–water, matcha, and a green smoothie (prepped earlier in the week).
9:15 AM: Time to clock in. I spend about 15 minutes checking Discord and Notion to align on what to prioritize for the day.
9:30 AM: Write down my tasks in my planner with estimated times for each task. I’ve hopped on the Hobonichi Weeks Planner train, and it’s been helping me feel more clear-headed.
10:00 AM: Review design progress on a Squarespace site for a client that helps founders find C-Suite consultants. I suggest a sticky CTA so that it’s got its best chance at higher conversion rates and reduces friction on the user, trying to locate it on the page.
10:30 AM: Review a different project for an environmental client, and we’re ready to share our next round with them. I screen-record client presentations so they have flexibility and, most importantly, time to process and solidify feedback.
11:00 AM: Potential client call. Great way to align on their goals, scope, timeline, budget, and see if we’re vibing.
11:30 PM: Quick debrief with our Project Manager to align on next steps for the prospective client. This includes sending our capabilities deck or our game plan for a project proposal.
12:00 PM: Publish a new project to our portfolio site. We’re trying to get better about posting our work (the age-old dilemma!), and we’ve been getting support from one of our designers to prepare visuals and easily place them into Squarespace with our templated sections. I do a final review by QA’ing desktop versus mobile, copy, and how it looks in the Projects grid.
1:00 PM: Lunch time! Cooking is my time to be creative without any screens and make something nourishing. We work from home, so my husband and I will usually eat outside so we make sure we’re getting a little dose of Vitamin D.
2:00 PM: Strategize creative direction for a new brand identity project for a clothing brand. I review our client questionnaire and important notes from client calls, and start formulating 2–3 concepts with initial references and directional notes to brief our designer.
3:30 PM: Little admin catch-up. Make sure I’m up to date on emails, Discord messages, etc.
4:00 PM: Review progress on the ilovecreatives Graphic Design Course 2.0 build. Not only have we updated the curriculum, but we’ve moved to Squarespace Courses. This is going to make it super easy for onboarding students, making future updates and maintenance, and streamlining the TA experience.
5:30 PM: Clock out. My dog is wonderful at smelling what time it is. Without fail, every day at the same time, she will sit in front of me and stare at me, signaling that it’s time for our pre-dinner walk.
Mindy's top advice for web designers
Plan time blocks and set a timer. If things are busy and you’re feeling overwhelmed, protect yourself by starting your day by estimating how much time you’ll need for deeper tasks. It’s easy to get lost in finding inspiration or fixating on one website section. This will help prevent tasks from spilling over to the next day or long work days that zap your energy.
Prioritize publishing your work. Sounds obvious, but we’re guilty of getting lost in the sauce! It’s hard to publish the work when you’re busy doing the work. Even if that means hiring a supporting designer to help you do this, we’ve always found that if we don’t have as much future work lined up, it’s time to post a new project.
Async client presentation recordings. Ever since we implemented screen recordings, it’s streamlined the feedback process for us. Your client gets to watch it whenever they’re available, at whatever speed, or re-watch certain parts if there’s any confusion. They also don’t feel the pressure of giving gut feedback on a live call without sitting with the design and allowing time to process it.
Check out Mindy at Circle Day 2025.
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