Seven years, then burnout: why Nika Belskaya has quit branding — The Brand Identity – Home of the Greatest in Graphic & Brand Design
Nika Belskaya has quit designing identities for clients to focus on her work as an artist through Vivid Cereal, her creative practice. Branding was meant to be a temporary financial safety net while she built her art, but seven years went by. The more clients she took on, the less time was left for anything else. In January 2026, she planned a slow shift away from client work, but financial fears had her saying yes to every commercial offer. By October, she was burned out. She announced her exit in her Substack piece ‘I’m Quitting Branding.’ She is also moving from Tbilisi to Berlin, where she sees more opportunities as an artist. In this interview, the designer behind Vivid Cereal talks about why she went public before landing anywhere safe and what she would say to designers who feel their vision fading through client work.
TBI Hi Nika! How has autumn been treating you so far?
NB It’s been a ride! Almost everything I’ve known is changing at once. Sold the house I grew up in, I’m moving from Tbilisi to Berlin, I quit branding, I’m launching a company with my friend, and I’ve let go of numerous relationships. It’s a lot to hold at once, but I wouldn’t change any of it.
TBI After seven years as a brand designer, you came to hate your commercial work. Where did that feeling come from?
NB I never meant to be a full-time branding designer. It was supposed to be a temporary financial safety net while I built my art. Then seven years went by. The better it went, the more branding I took on, and the less time was left for everything else. I still managed to launch my creative practice, sell merch and start teaching my art direction course, but I burned out.
So I decided to stop depending on brand identity as my main source of income. I couldn’t express myself through other people’s identities anymore. Building my own through Vivid Cereal became far more interesting.
In branding, every idea goes through a safety filter.
TBI How much of that feeling was down to your clients and how much was down to you?
NB I’m grateful to everyone who has hired me, but I can no longer work for someone rather than with them. What I’m looking for is collaboration between equals. When service work is your main source of income, you prioritise financial safety over creative freedom, and if you see yourself as an artist, the imbalance slowly wears you down.
In branding, every idea goes through a safety filter, because an identity has to last for years. It’s expected to ‘work’ for a wide audience, yet no one defines what that means, so nine times out of ten the safest option wins, and safe usually means generic. For years I told myself I was choosing stability. In reality, I was shrinking. Eventually the frustration became impossible to ignore, and I quit.
That’s my personal experience. For many designers, branding is exactly where they feel comfortable. It just isn’t where I do.
TBI Why step away now?
NB I’m terrible at smooth transitions. In January, my plan was to shift slowly. I built my website, started teaching my art direction course, and planned digital and physical products. Then my financial fears kicked in. I said yes to every commercial offer and overdelivered on every project. By October, I was so burned out that I decided to take the fast exit.
Branding isn’t leaving my life. I just became my own client.
TBI What, if anything, will you miss about branding?
NB I won’t miss being hired for it, but I’ll keep doing it for myself. When I launched Vivid Cereal in 2025, I decided its identity would evolve with me, and it has. The logotypes keep changing, and whatever excites me at the time ends up on my merch. So branding isn’t leaving my life. I just became my own client.
TBI Tell us about your new direction, where you’ll be focusing on content creation, merch, education and personal projects.
NB Education is a big part of it. Right now, my art direction course only reaches a small number of students because I can’t take on large groups. So I’m building a self-paced version into my website. I’ve also been making reels about my research techniques, like how to use archival platforms such as Flickr, which are incredible resources but sometimes awkward to navigate. I want to share more of my research and the making-of behind my projects.
I’ve also started a Substack where I’m brutally honest, and I plan to grow it. On the product side, I’m developing digital and physical goods, including a zine I’ve wanted to make for years about Georgian relief art, my ultimate inspiration for iconography. There’s much more, but the direction is clear – putting my vision out there to find the people who relate to it.
And then there’s Bound 2, a new company I’m starting with my friend Babi Jojua. She’s spent almost eight years in film as an editor and post-production supervisor. After 10 years of friendship, our paths are finally meeting where design and film intersect. I don’t want to give too much away yet, but you’ll be hearing from us soon.
TBI How does Vivid Cereal, your creative practice, change with the new direction?
NB It grows faster because it’s finally my main focus instead of something I fit around client projects. The work I’ve made for Vivid Cereal has always been my best, so now it gets the space it deserves. A new website, expanded merch, planned exhibitions, more personal projects, and more of real me in all of it. The most personal is the most creative, as Martin Scorsese phrases it.
TBI You’ve written openly about your decision on your ‘I’m Quitting Branding’ Substack, which everyone should read! Why put it out there like this?
NB It’s easy to talk about a dramatic shift once you’ve landed somewhere safe. I haven’t. I’m writing from the middle of it. I wanted to say it loudly, because I don’t think you attract what you’re looking for by staying quiet.
Since I posted, I’ve had so much support from other designers, and it’s given me strength. When you realise your experience isn’t unique, that it’s shared, you stop doubting your decision.
TBI You’ve lived in Tbilisi your whole life and are now moving to Berlin. Why?
NB I always tell my students that better ideas come from better research and wider horizons, so I’m taking my own advice. Berlin is a cultural centre, and at this turning point in my career, it offers more opportunities as an artist and a wider audience for my work. And as I move into film, being close to European cinema excites me more than anything.
Georgia isn’t something I’m leaving behind. It will always be in my work, and I’ll keep collaborating with Georgian creatives wherever I am.
TBI Looking back, what do you wish you’d known when you started out as a designer?
NB That hiding behind my work wasn’t protecting me. Coming from a small country, with my own insecurities, I was scared of being cringe. Calling myself an artist felt like an overstatement while I was still battling the corporate world. I wish I’d been unapologetic sooner. That’s exactly what I’m changing right now.
Move toward what you actually care about.
TBI What would you say to a designer whose vision or passion is fading?
NB The Mad Men days are over. You don’t need an agency or a roster of clients to make a living from your talent anymore. There are countless ways to build your platform the way you like it and be the first to benefit from your talent. Move toward what you actually care about. It’s the most rewarding way to live, and today it’s also a viable one.