Partner Spotlight: Pixel and Ink

Partner Spotlight is a series designed to highlight the vendors that partner with ABA to offer discounted products, services, and business opportunities to ABA members. Each installment, we interview a different partner to learn more about their organization and why indie bookstores matter to them. 

Pixel + Ink Creative creates charming sidelines like enamel pins, bookmarks, stickers, and more, and is based in southwest Louisiana. 

Bookselling This Week spoke with Pixel + Ink’s Daneisha Davis to learn more about the company’s designs and origins. 

Bookselling This Week: Why don't you tell me a little bit about Pixel + Ink? How did this get started? How did we get where we are today?

Daneisha Davis: It's been over 10 years now. I started in 2014.

I had gone to school for graphic art, and after graduation, I did a couple of in-house graphic design jobs. But at some point, I realized that's not what I wanted to do. That wasn't for me.

So, I took what I learned in school and just started drawing things digitally and sharing them on social media. It was the encouragement that I got from the people who saw it that led me down this path.

My favorite thing to say is, “I just design things that I like and I hope that other people like them enough to want to give me money for it.”

Another way to say that is, “I won't pander.”

I could probably make a lot more money if I did what other people want me to do, but my heart won't let me do that. Everything that I make is literally about me, and if other people relate to it, that's great! That's just a bonus.

BTW: 10 years! And now your designs can be found in retailers nationwide?

DD: Yeah. Around 2018, I figured out the wholesale side of my business. My first wholesale store was a place in New Orleans and to this day they still order from me.

At first, it was strictly Louisiana stores, then I was able to branch out through Faire. Now it’s US-based, coast to coast.

BTW: Were any of those original customers bookstores? What made you want to work with bookstores?

DD: The first bookstore that I sold to was in Louisiana, but it's a bookstore/gift shop. She sells mostly regional books, so she was buying my Louisiana work.  I didn't really have a lot of book stuff until 2021.

I love books. My entire life, I’ve been like that. When I was younger, I would just devour books. And I had gotten away from that because I was so busy.

It wasn't until 2020, when COVID hit, that I felt like I had time to read again. And I was like, “I don't have anything else to do. I want to get back into books.” That was when my book designs started to pop off, when I was just devouring books again.

And since then, I haven't stopped.

BTW: I love these designs. They're amazing. And I'm sure that when people read this, they will go and have a look, but how would you describe your vibe or your brand to someone who has never seen your designs?

DD: That's kind of hard. One of the things that stays consistent across my work is that it's very bright and colorful. I try not to take myself too seriously. I try to bring a little levity into everything I do because, I mean, being a human sucks. So, if I can bring a little bit of lightness to that, I will.

I hope that it comes across as fun, because I have fun when I make these. I love doing it.

And authenticity is a big part of it. While I try not to take myself too seriously, I have my bad mental health days, so those kinds of designs are in the shop too.

BTW: Is there anything exciting that you read lately that you loved, or anything you want to recommend?

DD: That is a very timely question because after the election, I got off social media. I just couldn't do it. I was like, “I need to step away.”

I started listening to audiobooks, because I started teaching myself a new medium and I realized I could listen to books while doing this. Up until this point, I had listened to maybe two audiobooks in my entire life.

I found C.J. Archer. She does historical fantasy and historical mystery — really cozy mysteries. So, I started listening to one of her Cleopatra Fox mysteries. A total of 10 books are going to be released, but at the time there were only eight, and I finished the entire series in less than a week.

Basically, I fell in love with her narrator. I tried listening to other authors’ audiobooks and I just can't do it. It's just this one. I can't listen to anybody else. I just want this woman to read me stories all the time.

Anyway, C.J. Archer is where I am in my life right now. I just need cozy, fun things, so that is my latest bookish obsession.

ABA bookstore members will receive free shipping on every Pixel + Ink order, and orders over $200 will receive 10% off. Visit the BookWeb partner page for more details.