Neidy Perdomo, 33, Artist & Designer

Art can change your perspective. For artist, graphic designer, and brand developer Neidy Perdomo, the very act of creating changed her.

Neidy is a first-generation American, born in Miami. From her earliest days she loved art. She and her brother would occupy their time quietly doodling and drawing and reading.

“My parents were always working so hard,” she says. “That has really served as how I approach life now.”

She first showed her work in elementary school, when she won an art competition and had her piece displayed in a local bank. By middle school, her family had moved to Davidson County, NC, for more opportunities, and Neidy was able to join an after school art club. Things really started to click in high school, when she learned graphic design in Microsoft Publisher.

She joined the yearbook staff and discovered she loved layout and design. When she got to senior year, it seemed like a natural subject to pursue for her senior project.

“By that point I had learned what it was like, and I wanted to explore it a little more,” she says.

A teacher connected her to a local graphic designer, Kay Myers, to serve as her mentor, and to her first design client, designing the label for Zeck Beck’s Barbeque Sauce, a Thomasville-area business. Within a few months, Neidy’s work was on the shelf at a local farm supply store.

“I just loved it. Seeing the bottles actually printed – just seeing them on the shelf was pretty cool.”

She moved to Greensboro in 2009 to study at NC A&T State University. She joined the art department and worked three jobs – yearbook designer, resident assistant, and photographer for the African American Atelier, a local art gallery.

Professor Roymieco Carter supported Neidy’s growth as a designer. She still thinks about something Carter said: Are you a designer or are you a decorator?

“Design solves problems and decorating makes things look pretty. When I am working on a project, I’m like, ‘How can we best communicate this message or the vision of the brand, and make it easy to understand without overdoing it or having elements in there that might be distracting or not really adding to the message?’”

Just before graduation, she met the marketing director for the fabric manufacturer International Textile Group (ITG), who was on campus recruiting for summer interns. She wound up with an internship serving the Burlington Industries division, creating marketing materials for their textile technologies. She got to help propose names for products, design logos, and create content that helped explain how the technology works.

“I was also working closely with the research and development team when they would create new technologies and bring them to market.” The internship turned into a full-time gig. 

She loved this work – helping to design the brand for a product.

“Branding work is creating something from nothing. You are bringing something to life that didn’t exist before. In a way, there is no right or wrong way,” she says. “This is one of my favorite things to do in terms of design.” 

If you walk into an REI or a Gander Mountain today, you might find a logo she designed on some insect-repelling textiles.

In January 2019, she decided it was time to launch her own business. She had moved up the ranks to serve as a manager in the marketing department, a role where she didn’t get to do much creative work anymore. She started working for freelance clients – with ITG as one of her first partners.

Neidy works for big and small businesses, as well as local nonprofits like NCCJ, Casa Azul, and the YWCA of High Point. She recently created a reusable cup design for the Greensboro Chamber of Commerce which features iconic places and landmarks from throughout Greensboro.

She finds it rewarding to work with new business owners, helping them craft the look and feel of their brand.

“They come to me with a vision or a meaning behind why they started their business,” she says. “Once I get the ideal message and work to create something for them, seeing their reaction at the end it is always just so fulfilling.”

Every day is different. Some days she is pouring over Pinterest, searching for inspiration. Others, she is digging into a pile of information, formulating a plan for how to organize words and images into a coherent message using the Adobe Suite. You can book her for design work online.

The beginning of the pandemic was a transformative time for Neidy. She was going through a divorce. The business was new. The world was on fire. Downtown Greensboro exploded with art as the killing of George Floyd prompted artists and activists to unite and create art on the boarded up businesses. Neidy joined in.

“I was going through a lot,” she says. “Through my art and my art community, it really helped me get out of that and put my mind somewhere else to work on a passion and feel purpose. I felt like I came back to life through art and painting.”

She applied for an artist grant through Arts Greensboro, now the Arts Council of Greater Greensboro, and was funded to create a solo exhibition.

She got out her iPad and started sketching – and crying. Every black and white, abstract digital illustration was an emotion, a piece of herself she was exploring and reinventing. Darkness and light, the good and the bad.

“They all have a very personal message to me. There was a time where I was exploring just self-growth and figuring out how to recreate myself…. To me making all those pieces was extremely healing.”

The work took on a whole other life when she started going to pop-up markets to sell prints of the pieces. Everyone saw something different in the work. She loved hearing what it meant to each of them. You can buy some of her pieces online. 

“I am now working on a series called ‘Paradise,’ which is coming out of a place of pleasure and the things I enjoy in life,” she says. 

These days, she is working on balance and living with purposeful connections to the community around her.

“Being a creative and doing the work that lights you up and brings you joy – it takes a lot of believing in yourself. Creating and maintaining connections and relationships is important, because as creative, I feel like we can get stuck inside just creating. But it has been very key for me to make a living as an artist and designer, to get out into the community and connect with people. You never know where your next project can come from.”