What is a?

The last time I was employed was on July 22nd 2015. On the 23rd I left Aberdeen for Edinburgh and for the five years following I’ve worked for myself.

In that time I’ve tried my hand at a few things, the common link being design.

NotFrom_

Between 2015-2019 I traveled the British Isles meeting with all sorts of creative types for a chat. At the start all but one were from London.

The big smoke is rightly regarded as a global hotpot of design talent. Back then, our design press were so focused on London that you might have thought the entire creative output of the UK came out of Shoreditch.

I didn’t believe that and I wanted to prove it to myself. The purpose of NotFrom_ was to shine a light on the incredible talent working beyond the M25.

I learned a lot from interviewing my heroes. In no particular order—

• people working in creative industries are incredibly open

• talking is much easier than writing about talking

• there are an overwhelming number of white men in senior creative roles

• approaching your heroes isn’t scary and unsolicited emails almost always get a response

• always finish an interview before opening the bubbles (I’m looking at you Steve)

Don’t Walk

In March 2018 I established Don’t Walk LLP with Mark McAulay. We had spent a year daydreaming about setting up shop together and it took us another year to settle on the right shade of yellow for our brand identity.

Between 2018-2020 we worked for national charities, visitor centres and a handful of friends. During that time Mark realised that Het Sass was where it was at. Nowadays his time is spent punishing his punters palettes. He’s stocked by bars, kitchens and retail outlets between Aberdeen and London. Importantly, he’s looks like he’s loving it!

Running a small business taught me a few things—

• it’s as hard as people say but the results are absolutely worth it

• remote working really works

• treat people well and they become your greatest spokespeople

• you don’t need a logo on day one

• everyone else would seem to have more of everything than you do

• everyone else is making it up as they go along. And that’s ok

• get an accountant

• the more people are involved in a project the further you can push the work

• the more people are involved in a project the longer it will take

• setting up a company need not be difficult or scary

I’ll miss working with Mark but I’ll always look back on that partnership with fond memories. And I’m greatful to him for taking a punt on me.

[a] design agency

As a sole trader I’ve gone by the moniker of [a] and described myself as a few things.

[a] is a—

• sole trader

• designer

• brand consultant

• design agent

• graphic designer

• brand designer

• middleman

Whilst all these descriptions are accurate none of them are quite right. The only thing that hasn’t changed about the way I communicate my business is an unhealthy obsession with yellow.

People who work as Sole Traders are often described as being a ‘one-man band’. I’ve occasionally described myself as a one-man army*. Whichever metaphor floats your boat, I’ve learned that I’ll never perform music, or go to war, alone.

I don’t know what [a] will be in five years time but I know what it is now.

I can’t wait to share that with you.

I started out with a yellow phone, a set of ‘anti-business’ cards and a really nice pencil.

*I likely won’t be starting a career in music