In a bonus episode, recorded live at the Northern Design Festival, Claire met up with Emma Barratt, global ECD at Wolff Olins. One of the industry’s most trusted leaders in branding, she speaks regularly on global stages and heads up juries at places like D&AD, The One Show and the LIA Awards. She leads large-scale brand transformations for some of the world’s most influential companies, including Uber, Decathlon, Hyundai, Google and Blank Street.

In this episode, Emma shares her journey into design and talks about being a proud Northerner and proud dyslexic - and her interest in the evolution of branding. She shares her experiences of working for global brands and studios, and the transformational impact of design on business. She also provides insights into the culture at Wolff Olins, and perspectives on the current state of the industry

With thanks to the Northern Design Festival for hosting this episode.

LINKS:

Red Setter

Dba

Wolff Olins

In the last episode of series 9, Claire met up with Laurence Bendjenad, Creative Director of the brand design agency Lonsdale in Paris.

Laurence talks through her journey from dropping out of her law degree to finding her passion in design. She talks about working for some of the best CPG brand agencies and the opportunities to travel and live in San Francisco and NYC.

LINKS:

Red Setter

Dba

Lonsdale

This week Claire meets up with legendary designer Michael Johnson, founder of brand design consultancy Johnson Banks. He’s known for defining and designing brands that make a difference, such as UCL, Shelter, Jodrell Bank, University of Cambridge, RIBA and the UN Climate Change Conference - COP26. Michael speaks design conferences around the world, teaches at leading institutions including Ravensbourne, Kingston University, Glasgow School of Art, ArtCenter Pasadena, NYC’s School of Visual Arts, and the University of Cambridge. He is an award-winning author of multiple books including the ground-breaking Branding: In Five and a Half Steps. He has dozens of designs within the V&A’s permanent collection, he’s been the recipient of D&AD’s President’s Award and the winner of seven yellows and a black pencil.

In this episode, recorded live at Johnson Banks studio, Michael shares his career journey, complete with early challenges and rejections, to writing to Wally Olins (co-founder of Wolf Ollins) and a new door opening…

He talks about the evolution of his studio with it’s focus on working with brands that make a difference and the importance of aligning client work with personal and company values.

He also discusses the current focus on trends over longevity in brand design and how young designers need to focus on ideas.

LINKS:

Red Setter

Dba

Johnson Banks