Put On Lipstick and Get It Done: Kick Off
A Tribute to Paula Scher
There’s something about discovering the right inspiration at the right moment. For me, it came in the form of Paula Scher — iconic graphic designer, creative force, and unapologetic trailblazer — and an article written by Stephanie Hays titled Designing Like Paula Scher. This isn’t just my first blog post for my series Put On Lipstick and Get It Done — it’s a love letter to the woman who made me believe in bold design, fearless leadership, and the creative power of lipstick.
Paula Scher once said, “Go upstairs to the ladies' room, put on your lipstick and figure it out.” That line didn’t just land — it detonated. It wasn’t about makeup. It was about confidence, grit, and having the presence of mind to face any challenge and resolve it with clarity. That’s exactly what I want this series to be: a celebration of showing up and making it happen, even when things are messy, uncertain, or downright intimidating.
In her beautifully articulated article, Stephanie Hays breaks down how Paula Scher approaches design, and it left me underlining every other sentence as if I were reading a personal manifesto. Here’s what hit me the hardest:
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https://medium.com/sndcampus/designing-like-paula-scher-9621f9e2cb67
1. Look Around You — Design is Everywhere
Scher doesn’t lock herself in a design bubble. She walks, she observes, she sees typography in the wild and uses it to fuel her creativity. That made me realize — I’ve been missing so much potential inspiration by dwelling in the quiet of closed doors. Real design lives outside.
2. Don’t Wait to Feel Inspired — Play
Paula said she gets her best ideas in taxis, when she allows her subconscious mind to take over. That shook me. I thought design had to be done in perfect, focused silence and a pretty setup. But no — sometimes it’s about releasing control, allowing your brain to connect things freely, and letting go. That’s where the magic brews.
3. Redesign, Revisit, Reignite
Scher’s commitment to evolving her work made me reflect on my hesitation to revisit past designs. Instead of seeing it as a failure, I’m learning to see redesigning as part of the process. Creative growth is messy, and that’s okay.
This blog series, Put On Lipstick and Get It Done, isn’t just about design. It’s about being a woman navigating creative chaos, career transitions, and self-discovery through storytelling. And it starts here — with gratitude to Paula Scher for showing us how to lead with vision, and to Stephanie Hays for distilling that brilliance into words that struck my creative core.
To anyone out there hesitating to start, to leap, to make something: this is your sign. Put on your lipstick, and figure it out.
With immense respect to Paula Scher for her fearless legacy, and to Stephanie Hays for her thoughtful tribute that sparked this piece.
