Designer reveals she’s made £7,000 A MONTH in lockdown by printing companies’ logos on face masks

A mother-of-two has revealed how she’s made £7,000 a month in lockdown by printing companies logos on face masks.

Dani Turner, 31, from Yateley in Hampshire, was working two or three days a week before the Covid-19 pandemic, taking home around a £1,000 a month as a freelance graphic designer.

But when the pandemic hit she saw a chance to pick up some extra cash working from home, and increased her monthly income sevenfold, while looking after her three-year-old daughter Mila and 10-month-old Paige.  

She told FEMAIL: ‘I noticed everyone was wearing surgical masks when I was in the supermarket. I thought how scary they looked and clinical. 

‘I also thought about what would happen to the demand for masks if they were to become a part of everyday life. Would the NHS have enough?

‘I thought about how masks could be the new normal, perhaps a uniform staple for companies. 

It was from there Dani came up with the idea to print logos onto company masks, and soon was taking home £7,000 a month, charging £56 for a pack of four reusable masks. 

‘I have to work around my daughters and work really late nights when they are asleep. I have toys in my spare bedroom set up as my office as a little place for them to play while I work. I pray for naps in the day!’

Dani said she started the designs because she saw the chance for companies to advertise their brand and protect their employers at the same time. 

She realised it would be a way to ‘slow the spread of Covid-19 and to support the NHS by sourcing their own face coverings instead of using surgical masks’. 

‘All companies advertise,’ she said. ‘This was a way they could do it free of charge protecting their employees, and those around them, walking around and travelling and at the same time being less intimidating to the clientele. 

‘I can make the mask any colour with any logo. So each mask can completely match a company’s branding.

The designer has since worked with Hun Wines, a canned wine brand that’s a favourite of Amanda Holden, and Make Up By Carmen, a beautician who works with celebrities including Meghan Barton-Hanson. 

‘I have made masks for estate agents, personal trainers, hairdressers, make-up artists, receptionists, plumbers, electricians and restaurants,’ she said.

‘I wanted to provide masks that were good quality/comfortable and that lasted.’  

Dani added that she was worried at the start of the pandemic, but her business idea quickly saw her luck turn around.  

‘In the beginning, because my partner and I are both self-employed with no holiday or sick pay and two small children not in school, we had no idea how we were going to pay our mortgage, bills, and do the food shop. 

‘My partner works on a building site which was closed due to Covid. I had no design work coming in and we did start to panic. 

‘I had to think of a way to change the way I worked to adapt to what was going on around us. 

‘I started off just selling them to friends who owned salons and as they received their masks, they put them on Instagram,’ Dani added. 

‘Then it spiralled from there, with more and more orders coming in. Some single orders, some in the hundreds. I targeted larger companies with established branding with lots of employees.

‘Some celeb make-up artists contacted me and they also posted on their Instagram accounts with large followings, so that really did help. More and more orders kept coming in.

‘I have had to get a friend to help me with my invoicing and accounts to keep up with the order process.’

Dani said at the moment she just has her friend Daniela Meluzzi working as virtual business PA for her.

‘I have had to get really organised with the amounts of orders coming in, so I design to make the masks look great with a company’s branding, logos and colours, and Daniela streamlines the order process.