Cheers to 15 sweet years: Q&A with Lemonly leaders

“Scrappy” is the word co-founder Amy Moore would use to describe Lemonly’s early days. Back in 2011, this company started as a team of two, turning around entire infographics in three days and saying “yes” to projects we didn’t quite know how to execute yet. But that scrappiness turned out to be exactly the kind of energy we needed to build something sweet.

Fifteen years in, and things look just a little different around here. Almost everything about Lemonly has grown — our team, our services, our client list, and even our office space are all bigger and better than we might’ve thought possible back in 2011. What’s stayed the same is our dedication to clarity and our commitment to a killer culture, and that’s exactly how we’ll keep growing for the next 15 years and beyond.

No one can say for certain what the years ahead might look like, but the people who have been around since the beginning probably have some good ideas. We sat down with some long-tenured Lemonheads and team leaders to get their take on the early days, how the work has evolved, and where they think we’re headed.

Take us back 15 years. What were those early days of Lemonly like?

Amy: The early days were incredibly scrappy, exciting, and very focused on infographics. And when I say scrappy, I mean we were sometimes turning around an entire infographic in two or three days. There was a lot of hustle.

Pretty quickly, a few of our projects started taking off online. I remember the Zaarly infographic and our Halloween costumes infographic getting a ton of attention, then the Avengers infographic really blew up. Robert Downey, Jr. tweeted it, which was a pretty fun moment for a tiny design company in Sioux Falls.

We were figuring out what Lemonly was in real time, making things we thought were interesting, putting them out into the world, and watching them travel much farther than we ever expected. We moved fast, learned fast, and probably said yes to a lot of things before we knew exactly how we were going to pull them off. That was part of the adventure.

When did you first feel Lemonly had made it?

Amy: The first time Disney called. Growing up, one of my dream careers was to become a Disney artist, so there was something especially full-circle about that moment for me.

We had already been growing and staying really busy because of the success of some of those early viral infographics. Our Avengers infographic somehow made its way to a team at Disney. Then one day, our CEO and co-founder, John, told us he had gotten a voicemail from Disney after they saw that infographic and wanted to talk to us.

That was a core memory. At the time, Disney felt like this almost impossibly huge brand compared to our little company in South Dakota. The idea that something we made had traveled all the way to them, and that they wanted to work with us because of it, was wild.

We’ve worked with several teams at Disney over the years, but I don’t think anything will quite match the feeling of hearing “Disney just called us” for the first time.

How has your personal approach to design and creative direction changed?

Amy: Early on, I was much more focused on the thing we were making. Is the design cool? Is it clever? Do I have typos in my Photoshop file? (Sure did). I still care deeply about the craft, but now I’m thinking much more broadly about the story, the strategy, and the experience around the work.

A big part of my day-to-day is brainstorming and casting a vision for the ideas that both our clients and our team can get excited about. It’s asking the right questions, helping connect the dots, and making the complex easier to understand so our team can do their best work. I’m always looking for opportunities to add something unexpected, whether that’s in the final creative or simply in how we work with a client. Those moments of surprise and delight are often what turn something from good into something people remember.

Which kind of project were you most excited to add to Lemonly’s portfolio, and what do you hope we add next?

Amy: It's fun to look back and see how our work has evolved, but it's cool to see that even as the mediums have changed, our core approach hasn’t.

We started with infographics, but what we were really doing was visual storytelling. Over time, we’ve applied that same thinking to video, interactives, branding, presentations, event graphics, social media, and so much more.

Our jobs are both challenging and fun because the trends, tools, and technologies around us are constantly changing. There is always a new medium to explore or a new way people are consuming information. Through all of that, our "why" has remained our north star: We design clarity.

That gives us a really strong foundation for whatever comes next. I hope we keep exploring new technologies, more immersive experiences, and ideas we probably don’t even have a name for yet. The medium can keep evolving as long as we stay focused on helping people understand something, feel something, and remember it.

What’s one thing you hope never changes about Lemonly?

Amy: Easy. The people! My favorite thing about Lemonly has always been the people we get to work alongside. They’re creative, dynamic, funny, caring, curious, and genuinely invested in one another. We challenge each other to make the work better, but we’re also each other’s biggest cheerleaders.

Our team has grown and changed a lot over the past 15 years, and it'll continue to do so. But the people who embrace our core values of adventure, collaboration, and integrity are what make Lemonly feel like Lemonly.

I hope we always protect that. The willingness to try something new. The trust to challenge one another. The desire to do great work without taking ourselves too seriously. And the feeling that when one person succeeds, the whole team is there cheering them on.

The work is what people see, but the people are what have made this place truly special.

What type of Lemonly project is most exciting to you right now?

Chris: I'm most excited about projects where clients come to us with a problem, not a deliverable. We have some great partners we've worked with across multiple projects who sometimes don't know what they want, but they know Lemonly can help them find a solution. Those are some of the most fun projects to tackle right alongside the client partners, and often lead to the best outcomes.

How have you seen Lemonly change and grow over the past five years?

Chris: One of the most meaningful changes that I recognize is that the Lemonly of today isn't afraid of anything. Whatever a client's request might be, the Lemonly team can either say "Yes, we got it" or at least "Yes, we know just the folks who can help" (like the team at Click Rain, our sister agency). So there are some incredibly ambitious projects that Lemonly has led over the last five years that just weren't possible before.

What are you most proud of about Lemonly at 15?

Natalie: Having clients return to us time and time again for projects is the biggest compliment we can get, and this happens all the time at Lemonly!

What are you most looking forward to seeing Lemonly take on next?

Natalie: We have outstanding existing and emerging leaders at Lemonly, bringing new ideas and setting direction for what's next. I am eager to see them flourish!

A lot has changed at Lemonly over the last 15 years. But talk to any long-term Lemonhead, and they’ll tell you that the things that haven’t changed are what make us special: the people, values, and commitment to clarity that got us here. That’s what we’re betting on for the next 15 years, too.

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