Why did you decide to enter the creative industry?

I was always driven to draw and create images, but during my school years, I had no realistic idea of what that looked like as a job. I didn’t have any role models in design. After my high school exams, I had the opportunity to go to art school, which felt like a pier into the unknown. However, from that point on, my path was set, and I was completely focused on a creative career.

 

What was the creative industry like at the start of your career?

It wasn’t great. Employment rates were low, and I was worried about what I might do after finishing my design degree. At that time, the internet was just starting to get established, and I took a job with an early web start-up. It turned out to be a fantastic opportunity. I was so eager to be designing for a living that I worked long hours and learned as much as I could. That step set me up for a life in the industry. (The web start-up is still going, too!)

 

“I don’t think any of us envisioned it would become quite the creative force it grew into.”

 

Why did you decide to establish Thin Martian?

The agency started as a side hustle between three friends, making animations and websites. We wanted to have some fun and freedom, and it was an opportunity to do something creative where we set the brief. I don’t think any of us envisioned it would become quite the creative force it grew into. Ambition and naivety drove us on.

 

How would you describe the philosophy and culture of Thin Martian?

We definitely wanted to do something fresh and avoid the blinkered thinking we’d seen from other companies. We were always trying new things and had a keen focus on making sure the team was having fun in their work. I think this sense of fun permeated through the business into the work and started to influence our clients to be a little more daring.

 

 

What challenges did you encounter while running a creative agency?

We wanted the team to be as diverse as possible to ensure we could offer a variety of perspectives in our work. While we achieved this to some degree, we struggled to hire female developers back then. It seemed to be a male-dominated profession. I’ve been encouraging my young daughters to play with code, using ScratchJr.

 

Can you recall a particularly good moment in the company’s history?

The field trip to Barcelona! Or maybe the skiing. We were very fortunate to be able to take the team away for some well-deserved retreats. In terms of work, we had some awesome clients, like Xbox, The Guardian, and British Airways. Understanding how their businesses worked was fascinating. I remember being in meetings with pilots and ground crew from BA, explaining how flights operated so that we could produce an app for them. I was like a kid in a candy shop.

 

What prompted you to sell the company and fully focus on type design?

After 10 years of running the agency, I think we’d become exhausted. It was high-pressure and fast-paced. I was also getting a little disillusioned by the ephemeral nature of the internet. It was disheartening to see our work disappear after a year or two or quickly become outdated due to the web’s fast evolution. I wanted to do something that had a more lasting impact, something I could spend time crafting.

 

How did you prepare for this career transition?

While at the agency, I had been re-familiarising myself with the type and lettering world. I set up the Type Worship blog and used it to scrapbook the things I liked and make notes about them. I eventually started reaching out to designers in the field to ask them about their work. This was a great springboard. I immersed myself in the industry, which eventually led me to enrol in the summer Type Design course at Reading University.

 

 

What made your career change so successful?

I think I owe a lot to the course at Reading and the folks I met there and along the way. People were very supportive and encouraging, even though I was starting from scratch in designing type. I didn’t put too much pressure on myself, even though I had no idea what I’d do if my new career choice stalled. I just put my head down and trusted the process.

How important is type design to a brand’s identity, a project, or a campaign?

I think it was Erik Spiekermann who famously said, “a typeface with some depth and character, plus a strong colour, can sustain a corporate identity program on its own.” I certainly believe it’s one of the core building blocks of an identity. It permeates everything your company produces, defining its personality and tone of voice. I’ve designed custom typefaces for educators, architects, and TV networks, all of whom understood the importance of crafting a specific visual tone of voice. Likewise, in the fonts I create for general use, I strive to design each with a strong enough character to compete with the more common options.

 

     

 

Where do you find inspiration for a new creative project?

I recently realised that all of my typefaces have, in one way or another, been inspired by my lettering and illustration projects. For example, my most popular typeface, Span, was designed as part of a studio project I was working on for fun. I drew some letters to complement an illustration that was shaping organic plant forms into a geometric pattern. The design needed some titles that spanned the two concepts. This sparked the creation of Span, and the font has now been used for projects ranging from Disney to 007, James Bond.

 

“Branding should permeate everything the company does, reflecting its values and commitment.”

 

In your opinion, what elements make a brand’s identity memorable and distinctive?

A seamless brand package instils confidence. When the logo, typeface, and written tone-of-voice are in harmony, the identity becomes more than the sum of its parts. This creates a lasting and distinctive impression. I’m drawn to brands with a human touch. When buying from an unfamiliar company, I check their ‘About’ page to ensure they care about quality and the environment. Branding should permeate everything the company does, reflecting its values and commitment.

 

 

How has the creative landscape evolved during your career?

I feel like the pace of change in the industry has accelerated over the last few years. On one hand, the gamut of design styles has become more diverse, offering more opportunities to specialise and forge new ground, which is great. However, it’s now harder to keep track of the diverging trends and fashions in graphic design, as they are more fragmented and overlapping. Rather than chase the current zeitgeist, I focus on designing fonts and lettering that appeal to me personally or fulfil a need – even if that need is specific to me or my work.

 

In an alternate universe where you weren’t in the creative industry, what profession would you work in and why?

I love stepping into a client’s shoes and exploring their world. The idea of immersing myself in a new subject, like economics or engineering, is fascinating. However, realistically, I’d always come back to design in one form or another. It’s a vocation for me. I never take for granted that I can make a living from it. I love that it’s essentially visual problem solving. The design process often feels like a battle between experience and imagination.

 

 

If you were a brand, what would your slogan be?

With my typefaces all being inspired by my lettering and illustration projects, they have a strong, complementary relationship with imagery. I’ve been toying with slogan ideas around this concept. I’m still figuring it out so stay tuned!

 

During a tea break, what are you dunking?

Anything with chocolate! I can’t get enough. It’s always tea though, I’m not a coffee person.