[a] I and we

Every company of one must think about this brand language.

Do I, Stewart Ainslie, communicate this business as myself, or in the words of a collective?

You’ve been here long enough to know that [a] is all me. But it’s never just me; it’s always we. Every proposal and most meetings involve teams, and those teams are often assembled by [a] design agency. When [a] writes, we write about we. When I write, I write as me. That doesn’t sound great for brand tone or consistent house styles.

[a] decision

This business is a collective effort with one person at the core.

We write we!

Ultimately, you can own I or we. It’s probably best to try and stick to one writing style, though. Since 2015, [a] has been a wee business, and we don’t see a problem with being small and thinking big.

Now that’s decided, we’re off for a quiet walk on our own. Writing this has been a hell of a job.

[Edited by Stew in June 2024]

RNLI Fish Supper 2019 - Dunblane

Dinner with the Scottish Chair

Fish Supper is the annual RNLI (Royal National Lifeboat Institution) event of the autumn. Funds raised support the charity’s life saving work at sea.

Individuals, groups and organisations are asked to sit down together for a meal, remember the work of volunteer lifeboat crews and raise funds for the charity. More about the RNLI fish supper campaign here.

[Edit: Stewart Ainslie and Grant Crockett are both Dunblane residents. In August 2019 we decided to volunteer our time to RNLI. This post has been updated post-event.]

We are delighted to host an evening with Roger Lockwood, Chair of the RNLI Scottish Council.

Tickets for supper on 22nd October are £22 and can be purchased on Eventbrite [link removed].

There will be a short talk, table games and a chance to mingle in Riverside Dunblane. By attending a Fish Supper your support will help bring RNLI Lifeboat Crews safely home.

© RNLI - Used with permission

Price includes one drink on arrival, a main meal during the event and coffee after dinner. Drinking water will be provided at the table and the bar at the Riverside is open for the duration. We will do our best to seat groups together but cannot guarantee you will not be sharing a table with others. Whilst we are working hard to ensure all seating needs are accommodated it’s not always possible due to the nature of this event.

All proceeds will be donated to the RNLI.

Edited: December 1st 2019

We are very proud to have raised over £600 for the lifeboats from a small group of guests at this intimate event and would love to be involved with Fish Supper in 2020 and beyond!

RNLI Fundraiser with Riverside staff and Roger Lockwood (Chair RNLI Scotland).

Grant Crockett draws the raffle.

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Back to business

See our brand work for Scottish Mountain Rescue (SMR).

Interview: Ben O'Brien

On London

I studied in London. And as soon as I left I knew I was going to go back. 

I was in my early twenties at the time. This was the late 90s and it was a great place to be and loads was going on there. I started out in animation, went out on my own for two or three years then went part-time for an animation studio. Two friends and I wanted to grow our folio and so we talked about setting up a little studio. Which we did. 

There were only three of us in the company but we managed loads of freelancers. I suppose you could have called me a creative director but it wasn’t really like that. We had been to college together but had different skills. Jay was more focussed on web design, and had a brilliant grounding. I loved creative and Adrian was great with all things film.

After a while though, it felt like every freelancer was better than I was at animation and had a better understanding about how characters moved and that side of things. Those were skills that didn’t really appeal to me. I found out that I preferred the way things looked to the technical side. So I started drawing and quite quickly fell totally in love with illustration.

Around the same time my lifestyle changed and I realised that I wasn’t really loving London any more. Maybe it was an age thing. But there was a period of time where I had a studio in London but I hadn’t had a meeting with anyone in almost six months. Or rather, I had never needed to go for a meeting. At that point I had to ask myself what I was doing there.

I met my wife at a similar time and we sort of ran away together. We ended up in Cornwall and started seeing the other side of life. Buying a house, being able to get a bus to the beach and feel a bit more stable was great. By this point my clients were globally based, largely thanks to my wife. So there was no need to move out of a small town. We had our son and it was great. 

But a few years in we started to miss city life. Fi [Ben’s wife] is from Melbourne so is used to city life. We found Frome, which is an amazing place and isn’t as big or expensive as Bath, Bristol or London. It was a really good choice for us and it allowed us to visit London much more easily for fun or for work.

We’d been away from London for long enough to enjoy it as a holiday but it wasn’t home any more.

[More to come]