design/leader: Jay Topham, Unfound Studio
In our interview series, design leaders answer five questions about design, and five questions about leadership.
This week, we interview Jay Topham, founder and creative director at Unfound Studio. Quickly becoming an established name in the industry, he speaks to us about getting inspiration from libraries, tenacity in designers, and the pencil.
Design
What would your monograph be called?
The work is the point.
What recent design work made you a bit jealous?
Mouthwash Studios rebrand for Fellow.
What’s an unusual place you get inspiration from?
Reference Point, a library, bookshop and bar in the same building as us. We kick off every project in there as a team, keep us off Pinterest.
Name something that is brilliantly designed but overlooked.
The pencil.
What object in your studio best sums up your taste?
My Alvar Aalto 60th Anniversary stool 60.
Leadership
What feedback felt brutal at the time, but turned out to be useful?
A client once described a visual as ‘like Toy’R’Us 10 years ago’. It became folklore at the studio; not sure how it was useful come to think of it – but I guess it’s always good to be humbled.
What’s an underappreciated skill that design leaders need?
Encouraging and appreciating friction. Our best work happens when we can’t find the answers, or the brand needs more guidance, there’s not enough time or our ways of working are flipped on their head.
What keeps you up at night?
The ideas the client didn’t pick.
What trait is non-negotiable in new hires?
Tenacity; we’re a team of doers before anything else.
Complete this sentence, “I wish more clients…”
…said maybe to the scary ideas.
If you’d like to be interviewed for our design leaders series, drop us a line at [email protected]
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