About
Hello! My name is Ivana. Welcome to Love Ardently and thank you for coming in. It’s nice to meet you!
My journey in graphic design started when I was very little. My mom hired a drawing teacher for me and my younger brother. That was when I was about 7 years old. I didn’t love drawing that much back then, (and so did my brother). We preferred to watch Kamen Rider rather than spending time to draw every Thursday at 4pm (when our teacher came to our house). However, with her wonderful motherly instinct, she pushed me and also continuously brought me to compete on a few of local drawing contests.
I am now so thankful. Because of that, I found my passion in life. Graduated from High School, I was on the edge of majoring in Japanese Literature (for real) or Graphic Design. I ended up picking Graphic Design (don’t ask), and the rest is history. Through sweating blood, tears, and countless sleepless nights, I graduated as a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Graphic Design in 2007. I worked as a Graphic Designer at an awesome ad agency in Tulsa for a while, until I decided to marry the love of my life and moved to Dallas. As a designer and a bride back then, I channeled my creativity and ideas to that day that we call “the best day of our lives”. After the wedding, I have a lot of passion around invitation and stationery design and the wedding industry. That’s how Love Ardently started. I know it has a long way to go and I am so excited to be a part of “the best day of your lives”!
I enjoy good typography a lot. I consider Marian Bantjes so awesome, I envy her quite a bit. I love Helvetica Neue, and I might have used it too much. A few of my other favorite fonts: Mrs Eaves by Emigre, Archer by H&F, and Affair by Umbrella. I love the smells of newly printed papers. I collect vinyl toys. I’m secretly a fan of Martha Stewart. Like Martha, I like to make things pretty and create things on my own. That way I can customize it as perfectly as I would like it. I wish I have a bigger space at home to explore all things artsy, or “making a mess”, as my husband would call it. I love to paint. I am now learning to operate sewing machine from my husband (he’s good!). Sometimes, I amazed on how crafty my nerdy accountant husband is.
When I’m not designing, I cook. I love experimenting with different recipes and perfect it to our family’s taste. I love food from the simple sunny side up to the most intricate gourmet dish, and everything else in between. Other than cooking, I also enjoy to read, spending quiet time in bookstores, learning new languages, photography, and spending time with my husband.
{Photo by Seize The Day Photography}