Interview with Gem Barton
“The book celebrates the various strategies that students and graduates are taking to gain exposure, while also including interviews and inspirational advice from those who are now enjoying success as a result of their creative approach to employment.”
Her advice is that we need to be honest with ourselves, understand what we like but also what we are able to do. We need to contact the right people and not let the fear slower our plans.
Helpful sites for self employed:
https://www.enterprisenation.com/
https://www.startupdonut.co.uk/
“Your plan should demonstrate that you understand the market and have thought about what you are going to offer, whether you need staff or premises, and so on. The plan must include financial forecast showing the costs and cash flow you expect and any funding you need to raise.”
5 steps that the students should follow:
– work hard
– take time to analyse any failures
– be brave, take chances
– have meaning
– take care of your emotional health
I agree that collaboration is very important not only we create our business plan but also when we have our company. Our abilities have limits and we can learn a lot of somebody else’s knowledge and experience.
“John Maeda’s creative nature makes him a different sort of leader—one who prizes honest critique and learning how to “productively fail.” In this candid, entertaining, and instructive talk, Maeda uses perspectives from his various backgrounds—as an artist and designer, a technologist, and a professor—to discuss new leadership lessons he’s learned throughout his career. What are the opportunities and the limits of using social media in the new networked organization? What does leadership even look like today? And how can we adapt and move forward in our ever-changing innovation economy?”
He said that if you are the only one good at something is not good – because you don’t know how good you are…
Is amazing how many changes have happened only at a time frame of 2 decades.
He is saying that things and organizations now days have become more chaotic – it is a problem of the leadership design.
Here the difference between traditional leader and the creative one:
Here the difference between the start-up companies and the end-ups:
“Michael C. Place, David Bailey, Ian Anderson, Nick Bax and Matt Pyke share their secrets for launching and running a successful design studio, from how to employ people and structure your team to when to stop growing.”
“Do Good Work is a creative platform by branding studio Farm Design that shares knowledge through experiences and life lessons to inspire growth.”
The don’t focus in just one category – they do websites, package designs, branding… “Every day we have new problem – we are not just designers, we are storytellers, problem solvers
“Wallace & Gromit producers hand stake in business to staff”
Founders of the UK’s biggest animation company giving up 75% of Aardman to employees to ‘safeguard independence’
Sproxton and Lord hope that employee ownership of Aardman will encourage the team to come up with more creative ideas and ways of working once they have a stake in the company’s future. I think this is a very good idea – people work better when they have some kind of incentive that by dong more, they will get more.
“The company is creating user experiences for clients, cutting out the traditional agency model, and re-investing in itself, a platform for its people.”
Here we see the same model – the employees share the profit of the business.
“How To Run A Creative Business: In-depth breakdown w/ Melinda Livsey”
It is interesting that 90% of her clients come from referrals. She charges for a logo between 5000$ and 6000$. She said she needs to gross around 7000$ a month to make money for herself, taxes and business expenses. Basically, if you don’t know how to deal with new business, you are not going to have business for long time. Working 40 hours a week will not be enough – you will need to do not only the design but also the administrative part, client relations, sales, marketing… The hours will be between 60 and 80. Starting your own business is a lot of work. She uses the Trello system.
The advise is to write a focus sheet – this way you stay focus during the day and not getting distracted by many other things.We need to be very discipline. Also when we wake up is good to spend 10 min thinking what we have to do during the day. Later when clients are calling responsiveness if very important and meanwhile we need to build a better gate to stop people not qualified working with us. In the conversations with the clients we need to bring the money subject quickly and upfront. We should not be afraid to ask. We are in creative business but we need money to stay in it. We need to ask them about their budged and learn to say no. “If you are saying no to the ones that can’t afford you, you are making roo for the ones that can.” We have to filter certain type of clients.
https://www.aiga.org/membership-community/aiga-awards/2013-aiga-medalist-stefan-sagmeister
“Inspirational and intriguing designer Stefan Sagmeister is recognized for his unorthodox, provocative designs that tweak the status quo and question the designer’s role in society.
A cunning trickster turns convention upside down, stretches the bounds of propriety, stomps on mores and taboos and alters popular perceptions. Stefan Sagmeister has long fit this “bad boy? bill. Known for upsetting norms, he tricks the senses through design, typography, environmental art, conceptual exhibitions and, lately, video.
After his 2008 show at the prestigious Deitch Projects gallery in New York, Sagmeister had fixed his focus on the broader impact of design—to change perceptions and possibly behavior.”
“If it’s too new I get anxious,” Sagmeister once said, “if it’s too familiar I get bored.”
&Walsh is creative agency in NYC specializing in branding & advertising.
“I started out as an engineer, then moved to art / design, then to scientific research / leading, and then into business / tech / investing. Now I’m deep in product / technology with a trail of books that trace my unlikely journey.”
Studios
Pentagram – is independently owned design studio.
https://www.pentagram.com/work/sustainability-solutions-group
“Highly regarded and well-known Sustainability Solutions Group (SSG) is not your typical climate consultancy. They don’t only create climate action plans and implement them—they shape the future of cities and communities through a radically collaborative, deeply values-driven way of working. As a worker-owned cooperative rooted in climate justice, SSG’s philosophy of sustainability isn’t just about lowering emissions—it’s about redesigning the systems we live within.”
Chermayeff & Geismar & Haviv – independent design firm specializing in the development of trademarks and identity programs.
Superside
Collins studio
COLLINS is a transformation consultancy and Ad Age’s 2023 Transformation Firm of the Year, as well as Ad Age’s 2024 and 2025 Design Firm of the Year.
I visit often the Target stores – they sell a lot of products made by the company Anchor Farms. So, now I know the design for most of them is made by Collins.I love the colorful graphics in the coffee packages.
https://www.wearecollins.com/ideas/101-design-rules/
design rules
Design is hope made visible.
You can live your life as the result of history and what came before, or you can live your life as the cause of what’s to come. You choose.
When talent doesn’t hustle, hustle beats talent. But when talent hustles, watch out.
When you work only for money, without any love for what you do in and of itself, your work will lack energy. People will feel that. So give every project everything you’ve got, at every moment, every time.
A good philosopher will say: “Know thyself.” A good shopkeeper will say: “Know thy customer.” A good designer will say: “Know both.”
Listen for when someone is dismissing your ambitions. Only the petty do that. Avoid them. Instead, seek out those much better than you; they’ll make you feel that you can achieve your dreams, as theirs are probably even larger. They’ll wave you on to the finish line. A brand is always answering two questions. The first one internally facing: What do we believe? The second, externally: How do we behave? You must remain authentic to yourself, your core values, and what you stand for. If you’re not, people will sniff you out. But your brand must maintain cultural congruence — remaining relevant to the times, always evolving to inspire people at large. The answers to these two curiosities must always be aligned.
Find a way to connect every project to something much bigger: a higher order value, a truth, a courageous goal, or a larger question. Then, if your efforts start to lag or feel mundane, return to that larger ideal that inspired you in the first place. It works.
Put this over your desk: “You never change things by fighting the existing reality. To change something, build a new model that makes the existing model obsolete.” Buckminster Fuller knew stuff.
A good designer will help a company get to where they want to go. A great designer will push a company to where they should go.
Are you going to tell a story? Then tell a big story. An enormous story. An epic story. Or tell no story at all.
The role of creative leadership is to create more leaders — not more followers. This view is more uncommon than I’d like.
I’ve learned that there are only two kinds of people:
1.) People who do exactly what they say they’ll do.
2.) People who are full of shit.
Form follows fantasy. Every good idea comes from a spark of imagination, not pragmatism. Facts are important. But possibility creates futures.
Never take an unpaid internship. Ever. It is unethical to be offered one, and in many places, it is illegal. But more importantly, what kind of people would refuse to pay you? Oh yeah, really shitty people.
If you lose the desire to be silly, the power to laugh, and the ability to poke fun at yourself, you will lose the power to think. All work and no play makes Jack a dull boy for one reason: It kills off his imagination.
Stuck on a problem you can’t solve? Go bigger. Expand it. Make it giant. Do not try to contain it, or simplify it, or reduce it. Make it so large that you can begin to see a new pattern. Solve the larger problem and the smaller one will get solved along the way.
Always begin in mythology. It’s good fuel. Fables and fantasy don’t age or grow stale for one reason: They are a step into a dimension beyond the reach of time itself. Build with them.
When I turned 35, I shifted my desire to be happy to a desire to be useful. It made all the difference.
There are only two kinds of leaders:
1.) Those in the engine room helping the crew shovel the coal.
2.) Those who sit on top of the train and wave at the crowds as they pass by.
Learn from ad agencies. They say yes to everything, even when they can’t do it. But they try. Designers say no all too often: “Oh, no. We don’t do that!” That’s shortsighted. Instead, say yes to everything. But always add “yes…if.” Then define your terms.
I was on a board with the esteemed educator Sir Ken Robinson. At one meeting where a pompous guest was droning on, he turned to me and whispered, “What we do for ourselves dies with us when we leave this planet. What we do for other people can live on forever.”
The opposite of courage is not cowardice. The opposite of courage is conformity.
Ubiquity = Invisibility. What we’re overly familiar with, what becomes common, we stop seeing. One function of design is to restore our perception, renew our understanding, and invite us to be more alert.
Seek simplicity only on the far side of complexity. Do the work, the research, the understanding, and discover the unseen, surprising, unanticipated insight before you start crafting your solution.
A celebrated designer I admire once said “Style = Fart.” I disagree. I believe “Style = Accuracy.” It gives focus and timely relevance to ideas.
If you want to make people like things, work in advertising. If you want to make things people like, work in design. Both are valid ways to build a brand, but the second way pays off better in the long run.
You can always pull a good story out of a successful product or service. You can’t always pull a good product out of a story.
Hire gifted people your clients would never let in their front door. Give them influence. Clear the runway. Provide sandwiches. And stand back.
When designers get overwhelmed we can retreat into passivity. We pull back. This gives us an illusion of control. The less we try, the less our chances to fail. We make it look like we’re not responsible for what happens to us. But never give up. Move in closer, instead. Try. Make a mistake. Apologize quickly. And keep trying.
Never be boring. Be ridiculous. Absurd. But never be boring. (Yes, this rule will get you in trouble.)
Push.
Push harder.
The goal is to make the complicated simple — not the other way around. The best ideas are often expressed as simple ideas. They’ll have power because they’ll feel inevitable.
Looking backward from the end of a project, it will have the appearance of inevitability. But when you began, you had no idea you’d end up there. What dullards suggest at this point is dangerous: “This creative process is too messy and too complicated. It needs efficiency since this solution was so logical. We should apply more logic throughout the process!” That’s the beginning of the end of creativity. Resist this urge. It destroys spontaneity, originality, serendipity, and unintentionality, which is where the biggest ideas are waiting for you.
Do you find yourself surrounded by people who whine that “clients don’t understand what we do”? Those people will never have good clients.
A designer’s first job is to articulate the tangible value we bring to every situation. It’s not the clients’ job to try to guess it.
Average designers hit the brakes when they feel fear. But when the talented get frightened, they hit the pedal, accelerate, and drive headlong into the unknown.
I’ve taught students for 20 years. In that time I’ve seen self-confidence, persistence, and desire play a much larger role in growth and achievement than talent. Passive? Whining? Waiting for orders? You won’t get off the ground. Energized? Enthused? Curious? The sky’s your limit.
If you want to teach design, first read “Teaching to Transgress” by bell hooks. Your whole mindset will change. If it doesn’t, please do not teach.
Seeking mastery in design means being comfortable with making your own path. Forge the new road. Others will question it and doubt it. But that path will eventually come to fit your soul. It will not only lead you into deeper parts of your craft, but to hidden parts of yourself.
There may come a time when someone publicly attacks you or your work. If that happens, remember this: Those who attack are the ones who fear you the most. They’ll suspect that your talents might be greater than theirs. They, in fact, become your most sincere believers. It’s a proof point when they start showing up. Watch for them. Then thank them when they arrive.
“Always think with your stick forward.” Amelia Earhart painted that on her plane. She meant, I imagine, to seize the moment when it arrives. Refuel as necessary. Don’t wait for any damn kind of “inspiration.” Punch the throttle. Get back in the air. Keep flying.
Are you at an agency that habitually recruits outside industry hotshots to lead instead of promoting potential hotshots from the ranks? Run. Now. It will never become what it wants to become.
Separate talkers from doers. For someone to score an interview, I suggest a good book — on anything — to read in advance. “After you finish it, call me, and we’ll schedule some time.” 90% drop off. There are exceptions, but I hire from the remaining 10%.
Be careful of doing too much work that copies the people you admire. Start out that way to see what feels right. But aim to seek what they were seeking instead of doing what they were doing.
Stay away from people who confuse pomposity for profundity. Articulate incompetency is contagious.
Waters Creative
“At Waters, we prioritise collaborating with our clients to design, execute, and oversee projects for both public and private sector organisations in various industries throughout the UK and internationally. We are dedicated to promoting our clients’ brands and presenting them in a positive light, using innovative strategies to help them achieve success. To every project, we bring not only our experience of creativity, problem solving, visual and communication application, but our digital insight, professional commitment and exemplary attitude towards hard work.”
Locomotive
“We design, develop and ship digital products that drive success for our clients through fresh websites, strong brand systems and compelling creative content.”
It is nice to see that companies care about the creative grow of the employees.
Studio Kiln
The Collected Works
https://www.thecollectedworks.com/
Studio Morros
“Studio Moross is a London-based creative studio founded in 2012 by Aries Moross. With a multidisciplinary approach, the studio works across music, culture, entertainment, gaming, and commercial design – creating dynamic worlds through branding, campaigns, live shows, broadcast design, merchandise, packaging, motion graphics, and illustration.”
https://mouthwash.studio/studio/
Individual Practitioners
Paul Rand
Beside creating many logos, books and package designs, he was expert in advertising. He knew how to connect with the audience and promote products. I read his biography couple of years and what made impression on me was the many difficulties he went trough and even he become one of the greatest figure in the design history, he had to deal with many rejections in the beginning of his career. So, the conclusion is that we should not give up with trying to do more and better work.
good design
https://www.paulrand.design/writing/quotes.html
Good Design
Good design adds value of some kind, gives meaning, and, not incidentally, can be sheer pleasure to behold; it respects the viewer’s sensibilities and rewards the entrepreneur.— Design Form and Chaos
Even if it is true that the average man seems most comfortable with the commonplace and familiar, it is equally true that catering to bad taste, which we so readily attribute to the average reader, merely perpetuates that mediocrity and denies the reader one of the most easily accessible means for aesthetic development and eventual enjoyment.— Thoughts on Design
The roots of good design lie in aesthetics: painting, drawing, and architecture, while those of business and market research are in demographics and statistics; aesthetics and business are traditionally incompatible disciplines.— Design Form and Chaos“
Aaron James Draplin
I had watched many of his videos and what impresses me is that he tries to find inspiration anywhere – especially collecting different old stuff (like pins, cards, stickers…stuff that people usually trow way)
Paula Scher
She is one of the most influential graphic designers in the world.
“Scher has developed identity and branding systems, promotional materials, environmental graphics, packaging and publication designs for a broad range of clients that includes, among others, Bloomberg, Microsoft, Adobe, Bausch + Lomb, Coca-Cola, Shake Shack, Perry Ellis, the Walt Disney Company, the Museum of Modern Art, the Sundance Institute, the High Line, Jazz at Lincoln Center, the Metropolitan Opera, the New York City Ballet, the New York Philharmonic, the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the New 42nd Street, the New York Botanical Garden, the United States Holocaust Memorial Museum, the Philadelphia Museum of Art, the Robin Hood Foundation, and the New York City Department of Parks and Recreation. “
Luba Lukova
“Internationally renowned, New York-based Luba Lukova is regarded as one of the most original image-makers working today. Whether by using an economy of line, color and text to pinpoint essential themes of humanity or to succinctly visualize social commentary, her work is undeniably powerful and thought-provoking.”
I especially like her work about the social justice – the message that she sends is clear and incredibly powerful.
Saul Bass
Neville Brody
I like his poster, cover album design, magazine work, and the fonts that he created. The way he uses typography is so unique.
Chip Kid
I like his book design work – every project is so unique.
Businesses
Martha Stewart
https://www.marthastewart.com/
“At MarthaStewart.com, we embrace our founder’s curious, innovative, and boundary-breaking spirit and infuse it into all of our content and platforms. It’s our mission to teach and inspire you to design the life you want. We believe the joy is in the doing. On MarthaStewart.com, you’ll find tested-until-perfected recipes, DIY projects, gardening ideas, easy entertaining tips, beauty advice, and wedding inspiration. We’ll also help you celebrate the holidays, keep you informed on health news, and encourage you to refresh your home with design advice and cleaning tips.”
I use her site for references for cooking (she has recipes with videos), gardening, or any projects in the house (her ideas are amazing). The layout for her website is very well organized – it is so easy to find the content that you need. The colors that she uses are very modern and always well matched with the content. The use of sans serif and serif fonts is helping for the look of the site and helps the viewer to read the text much easier.
Oreilly.com
I have many books designed by this publishers – I always admire the way the content is organized – it is beautiful and easy to read and find something important.
Starting a creative design company is exiting journey but there are many things that must be considered. First, you need to be good on what you do. You can’t open a design business not knowing well the necessary software, color theory, typography, graphic design history, today’s design trends…
Creating a business plan is the key for success – analyzing the expenses that you will have (renting a space, hardware, software…), setting up website and create a marketing plan how to promote your services.
In the interview with Gem Barton the takeaway advice is that we need to be honest with ourselves, understand what we like but also what we can do. We need to contact the right people and not let the fear slower our plans.
John Maeda in one of his lectures is talking about the changes that have happened at a time frame of two decades. The design field is changing extremely fast. If you want to have successful business, you need to keep up with all the new trends and the changes in the different software.
The “Do Good Work” is a creative platform by branding studio Farm Design. They share knowledge through experiences and life lessons to inspire other people. The don’t focus in just one category – they do websites, package designs, branding… “Every day we have new problem – we are not just designers, we are storytellers, problem solvers” So, it is exiting job to be a graphic designer but also is very hard work. Chris said that he normally works 10 to 14 hours a day. His workday starts at 7am – he needs 10 min to think what he must do during the day and make a focus notes (this helps him not being distracted by something else).
In the article “Wallace & Gromit producers hand stake in business to staff”, I read that the owners are giving 75% of the company to the employees. This is very innovative approach to keep your business successful. Sproxton and Lord hope that employee ownership of Aardman will encourage the team to come up with more creative ideas and ways of working once they have a stake in the company’s future. I think this is a very good idea – people work better when they have some kind of incentive that by doing more, they will get more. The company “USTWO” is using similar method.
In the interview with Melinda Livsey, she is sharing that 90% of her clients come from referrals. She charges for a logo between 5000$ and 6000$. She needs to gross around 7000$ a month to make money for herself, taxes and business expenses. Basically, if you don’t know how to deal with new business, you are not going to have business for long time. Working 40 hours a week will not be enough – you will need to do not only the design but also the administrative part, client relations, sales, marketing… The hours will be between 60 and 80. Starting your own business is a lot of work. She uses the Trello system. when clients are calling responsiveness if very important and meanwhile, we need to build a better gate to stop people not qualified working with us. In the conversations with the clients, we need to bring the money subject quickly and upfront. We should not be afraid to ask. We are in creative business, but we need money to stay in it. We need to ask them about their budged and learn to say no. “If you are saying no to the ones that can’t afford you, you are making room for the ones that can.” We must filter certain type of clients.
Vicky Kafkaki - Graphic Design MA Falmouth University 