Time flies: A reflection on five years running a design studio
Lark recently turned five and I can’t quite believe it. It's been five years since I took the plunge, quit my dream job at a well respected London agency and started work on a lifetime ambition of running a design studio (well I got some business cards printed which felt like a pretty big deal at the time). A lot has changed in those years, we’ve weathered a pandemic, taken on bigger projects and moved out of London to Leamington Spa. With some time to reflect this month I’ve collated five thoughts and lessons learnt and taken a look back over some of my favourite projects.
These things take time
I thought finding clients would be easy. Over the years I’d built up a network of connections and thought this would be the ‘in’ to exciting briefs and high-fee clients. My naivety was massive. It takes commitment and patience to develop a good working relationship. But once trust is established, the work just gets better and better.
One such relationship is with our client Tea Times Trading. What started as a quick social media campaign has developed into an ongoing relationship resulting in a variety of lovely projects. Our work for all three of their tea ranges (Dragonfly Tea, Tick Tock and Eleven O’Clock) has included trade adverts, packaging consultation, creative direction, exhibition design and merchandising as well as design for social media. Last year we completed our biggest project to date designing and launching the new Tick Tock website.
Our shopfront window for Dragonfly Tea turned heads on Kensington High Street.
The website shows off Tick Tock’s quirky personality without missing the heritage or provenance of the tea.
Working with experts
In addition to our client relationships we also have strong connections with our partners and suppliers. If we can’t do something we find the people who can. Our studio is intentionally small. We build teams on a project-by-project basis using a network of experts to create, design and solve problems with us. This could be as simple as finding an illustrator to produce a bespoke piece of art, to partnering with a copywriter to name and build a brand from scratch. And like any relationship sometimes they grow to bigger things. Our work with WithPrint led to a Christmas card collaboration shortlisted for a D&AD award and our partnering with Yarn brought about a branding job for them.
We worked with Yarn to develop a name and brand for a new UK national lacrosse league.
Our Christmas card collaboration with WithPrint led to a D&AD nomination.
Sharing your secrets
When I worked in studios I was used to constantly sending and receiving links to things we’d seen. Great music, an amazing artist or some new scientific discovery. As designers, inspiration can come from anywhere and I’m always on the lookout for something to spark the next idea. After starting the studio I missed having these interactions and, having read the excellent Do Open by David Hieatt, I decided to start Five Finds. It’s a monthly email newsletter of inspiring finds that we send out to clients, friends and followers. It’s been going for three years now and has proven to be really popular. If you’re reading this and are intrigued, sign up for the next one here.
Stick to your guns
One of the things I did before I started the studio is to write a manifesto (it’s literally a sketchbook with the word manifesto on the cover). And the first item on that list was no free pitching. For those who don’t know the term, it’s a process in which a design studio is asked to supply some initial ideas for free to prove their worth before being selected to work on the project. Picture asking three builders to build a wall and then choosing to pay the best one. Mad right? Well we don’t do it and we’ve lost out on projects because of this stance.
But, when British Lacrosse came to us they hadn’t been through the process of hiring a design studio before and thought they needed to see some initial ideas before choosing an agency partner. After a meeting and consultation we put together a proposal describing our process and the reasons for going on a journey before designing anything. This ultimately won us the job.
Always on
Sorting through photographs the other evening I realised that it’s not just the links online that I collect for inspiration. Running your own business means you’re always ‘on’. There is always a brief on your mind, or a problem to solve. It’s when I’m away from my desk on a walk to clear my head that inspiration strikes and it’s often from the strangest of things. Most of these finds are filed away on a hard drive but some grow to become a project in their own right like our Birds Eye series of Venetian masks.
Mind the Gap — Bath 2008.
Life imitating art — Wandsworth 2020.
So there it is. Musings on five years of Lark. All that’s left is to thank all of our wonderful clients, talented suppliers, lovely friends and kind followers for making what we do possible. We couldn’t do it without you guys. Here’s to the next five years.
Keith
