Customer's Success Story | Katie J Design & Events & Customily

For Katie Lynch, founder of Katie J Design & Events, creativity has always been more than a business, it’s been her way of celebrating life.

The brand began in 2014 with one printer, a few handmade decorations, and a simple love for making events feel special. What started with crafting for her children’s birthdays has grown into Australia’s largest range of personalized party décor, with over 300 themed collections, all designed, printed, and packed in-house from her Brisbane studio.

Today, Katie J Design & Events ships to customers across Australia, New Zealand, and the United States, helping families create unforgettable celebrations. Behind that success lies years of persistence, heart, and a commitment to making every detail personal, now powered by Customily.

A Journey Built on Celebration and Creativity

Katie’s career started long before her brand. After earning a Double Diploma in Events and Hospitality Management, she worked with venues like Movie World, Sheraton Hotels, and the Brisbane Convention Centre before becoming a Functions Coordinator at an entertainment venue.

When she took time away from events to raise her two children, creativity found her again, this time, in the form of themed parties and handmade decorations.

“Planning birthdays for my kids became a bit of an obsession. I’d spend months curating decorations and themes, which led to requests from friends and family.”

Those homemade projects sparked what would become her business. After a personal turning point in 2013, she launched Katie J Design & Events, starting with an eBay store and Facebook page. Her first big milestone came soon after: her now-famous Divorce Party, which captured attention and gave her brand its first wave of growth.

“From there, demand for my designs took off.”

Over the years, Katie has created custom products for more than 30,000 customers. Every item is still made with care from her Brisbane studio, where creativity and community remain at the heart of everything.

The Meaning of Personalization

For Katie, personalization isn’t a marketing choice, it’s part of who she is.

“Personalisation has always been at the heart of what I do. It wasn’t a decision – it was just how I was raised. My mum would help me make handmade gifts with each recipient’s name written as large as I could manage.”

Her creative streak began in childhood, crafting colourful, glittered magnets and hand-cut notes for loved ones. Her dad later introduced her to design software, and soon she was printing digital cards and custom designs long before it became her profession.

That instinct to make everything personal stayed with her into motherhood.

“For Donte’s baby shower, he arrived four weeks early, and I ended up hand-cutting decorations with his godmother a week after getting out of hospital, determined to make it special.”

When life took a challenging turn after her first divorce, Katie turned her creativity into a source of strength and livelihood.

“After my first divorce, I was navigating a really hard time and needed to be there for my kids while also finding a way to pay the bills. So I turned to what I knew – creating, celebrating, and making things meaningful. Personalisation was never just part of the business, it was the reason for it.”

From her earliest days, every product was personalized by hand, each order edited, printed, cut, and laminated manually. It was time-consuming, but it reflected her commitment to making every celebration truly unique.

Discovering Customily

As her business grew, manual editing became difficult to manage. Going back and forth with customers over text placement or formatting was slowing everything down.

“Editing each order manually became unsustainable. I’d constantly go back and forth with customers over text formatting or names. Even autocorrect caused issues. I hired staff to help, but I knew the long-term solution wasn’t more people – it was smarter tools.”

In 2022, while researching Shopify apps, Katie came across Customily. There were only a few personalization tools available at the time, and she wanted one that was powerful, intuitive, and could evolve with her.

“I found Customily while researching Shopify apps. There were two or three new personalisation apps at the time. I checked reviews and asked my brother, who works in tech, for his thoughts. His reaction confirmed I was on the right track.”

The Decision to Partner with Customily

For Katie, the choice came down to technology and trust.

“It was all about the tech stack. Customily's features aligned perfectly with what I needed, and the support team made implementation easy. With over 500 designs and 6,000+ products at the time, I needed to make sure we set everything up correctly the first time to avoid rework.”

That combination of capability and support was what convinced her to commit to Customily. It wasn’t just about automation, it was about having a partner that understood her business’s creative needs.

The Two-Year Transformation

Implementing Customily across her massive product catalog was a challenge, but one that paid off.

“I started a huge customisation project that took over two years. I connected every product in our catalogue to Customily one-by-one. Now, customers can edit and preview their products in real time. On our end, the files are perfectly sized with cut lines in place, ready for print. For apparel, they go straight to our print-on-demand provider.”

Before Customily, she had used Infinite Options and a custom cropping tool built through a freelancer. Keeping them updated became overwhelming, Customily streamlined the entire process.

“Customily solved everything. It gave me back the time to focus on scaling.”

When launching the new system, Katie decided not to rush.

“We didn’t make a big announcement. I wanted to train customers to use the new system slowly, rather than confuse them by switching everything at once. So I started with our top 25 themes and rolled them out in stages.”

That gradual rollout allowed her team to test, refine, and improve, ensuring the transition felt seamless for customers.

Bringing the Celebration Back to Customers

The biggest change Customily brought was creative empowerment, for both Katie and her customers.

“Customily has put the power of party planning back in the hands of my customers. They can now personalise designs to suit their event – from font and colour choices to uploading logos or custom Canva artwork.”

That creative freedom also sparked new ideas, including her Photo Collage range, one of her proudest additions.

“It was a dream of mine for years, and seeing customers create banners filled with memories makes it all worthwhile. I only wish these had existed when my kids were younger.”

She’s now exploring new integrations and creative tools.

“I’ve been playing with options like Cutout.Pro to create t-shirts, and I’m currently working on design features using OpenAI and cartoonize plug-ins. It’s been a fun and exciting way to expand what we can offer creatively.”

"I’m also excited about the new AI-generated banners and chocolate designs that we’ve been working on behind-the-scenes. Customily’s integration with apps like Cutout.Pro, Canva, and OpenAI has opened the door to even more creativity."

"Now, customers cantake the lead in designing – while I focus on growing the business."‍

Saving Time, Boosting Efficiency

Even though exact numbers are hard to track due to the pandemic and other business changes, the benefits of automation have been clear.

“We were implementing Customily while navigating COVID, moving studios, scaling our team, and closing our eBay store to focus on our website. But I can say that we were able to reallocate two full-time team members who previously handled manual editing. We also saw a drop in customer service tickets, which freed up time across the board.”

Customily’s automation made production smoother and gave her team the breathing room to focus on growth.

“I’ve pre-set the base files with the cut lines we need for production, which has helped eliminate a lot of unnecessary busy work.”

The Secret Behind Her Success

For Katie, success has never been about chasing numbers, it’s about connection.

“It’s the personal touch. As a mum and party planner myself, I know what I would want when planning something special, and I bring that same care and attention to every customer interaction.”

That empathy has helped her brand grow while maintaining the same heart it started with.

“By partnering with platforms like Customily, Ogo, Cutout.Pro, Canva, OpenAI, and others, I’ve been able to offer a highly personalised service to thousands of customers, not just locally but globally.”

Looking Ahead

Katie is already thinking about what’s nex, from sustainability to community impact.

“Shipping and logistics are always evolving, and we’re adapting as we go. The biggest challenge lately has been finding the right internal team. I’ve found the most success working with other businesses – it’s a more stable, trusting partnership where we each do what we do best.”

Her next goals are about giving back and building better.

“Longer term, I’d love to support community causes, particularly skill-building for disadvantaged youth. I also care deeply about sustainability, so it’s exciting to see companies like Visionary recycling printed materials into reusable substrates. There’s a lot of potential for improvement in this space.”

Katie’s Advice for New Entrepreneurs

Her message to other creators is simple: build something that matters.

“Love what you do – that’s what will determine your success. I don’t define success by profit. Plenty of things are profitable, but that doesn’t mean they’re valuable in a meaningful way.”

“For me, success is knowing I’ve created something helpful or meaningful for someone else. I’ve never struggled to get out of bed for work – the only time I’ve felt frustrated is when I’ve accidentally slept in after a late night finishing a design or blog post that I knew would help someone.”

Why Choose Customily’s Product Personalizer?

Katie J Design & Events shows how the right mix of creativity and technology can transform a small business into a market leader.

With Customily, Katie found a tool that not only automated her workflow but reignited her passion for creating, giving customers more freedom and giving her team more time to grow.

If you’re ready to make your products as personal as your purpose, Customily is your perfect partner.

✨ Let’s customize the world together!‍