Jens Bringsjord
You're listening to Design Atlas Season four.

Jens Bringsjord
Have you ever wondered how design and environmental consciousness can intertwine to shape impactful experiences? Today we have the privilege of featuring Gareth Hughes, a Welsh design director based in Amsterdam, whose journey unfolds at the intersection of creativity and sustainability. With over 12 years of experience, Gareth has not only led design teams but has also been a guiding force for emerging creatives.

Jens Bringsjord
Join us as we explore Gareth's mission to collaborate with climate and socially conscious organizations. His recent venture into addressing climate change, and why he believes the creative minds hold the key to being part of the solution.

Megan Luedke
Let's take a trip down memory lane to Gareth's childhood. Looking back, his parents played the lead roles in this creative saga. On one side, there's his dad, the rule setter and master of logic, always laying down guidelines and steering clear of surprises. On the flip side, there's Gareth's mom, a true storyteller in her own right. She could weave captivating tales from the simplest sounds, turning them into magical stories that echoed throughout this home.

Gareth Hughes
So yeah, I think, my parents, being creative in their own ways, definitely influenced, kind of like how I think about things, how I approach things like, having rules around things and creating systems, but also having that creative, kind of imaginative side as well. I had no siblings, but grew up in a suburban area with a lot of, friends around me.

Gareth Hughes
I was always the oldest in the group, so I was always a few years ahead. And when you're 13, that means you're always faster, smarter, better at football or skateboarding or whatever.

Gareth Hughes
In high school, I actually wanted to be, a chef when I grew up. But at the time, 14 year old Gareth thought, well, I kind of get to cook at home anyway. Like, why would I want to cook at home after I've been cooking all day? surely I can kind of make room for something else in my life?

Gareth Hughes
whether it was a good decision or not. I'm not sure yet, but, it seemed to make sense to me. At the time, I was fairly good at art. Not particularly spectacular at it, but, it was something that I wanted to also improve upon, but find some sort of kind of use for it. And that kind of logical side of my thinking was kind of saying, well, if only you could put art into some kind of functional reasoning.

Megan Luedke
Gareth's path unfolded, leading him to the world of graphic design, a destination he hadn't initially set his sights on. Surprisingly, it just clicked for him.

Megan Luedke
He found inspiration in iconic movie posters classics like Alien and Jaws. What captivated him was not just the emotional resonance they conveyed, but the intentional design behind every layout, sparking a newfound passion for the art and science of graphic design. His passion laid the foundation for his first job in the creative space.

Gareth Hughes
My first job was that, a studio called Magnetic North, who were quite well known for creating these crazy flash websites where you'd have to draw to navigate to the sight line, draw different, different shapes, and discover news articles by drawing a line. And that line would lead you to a random news article that you might be interested in.

Gareth Hughes
But they also did a lot of websites for the BBC, so they had to kind of cater for this audience of millions on one side and create these websites, which were, top tier, accessible, responsive, and on the other side, just kind of really wacky websites like you've never seen before. And I think this kind of combination, really informed, what kind of work I enjoyed doing in the years to come.

Gareth Hughes
And the team that was super small as well. I think that was only about 25 people. So you really had to wear a lot of hats. I remember one time doing a photo shoot while being, just kind of a background model in the shoot and then doing the design for a projection, and also finding a photographer to help with an event, all for the same thing.

Gareth Hughes
which is pretty crazy, but a really good way to to learn.

Jens Bringsjord
Reflecting on Gareth's journey, he found himself at a crossroads, examining a portfolio that echoed university branding and a variety of websites. It's something tugged at him a yearning for work infused with emotional resonance, a missing piece in the puzzle of user interface. Enter Gareth's friend David, a man with aspirations in the visual effects realm. While crafting his showreel, he sought to transcend this mundane tutorial showcase, driven by a passion for film that went beyond a mere compilation of lessons learned.

Gareth Hughes
By a friend of mine, David, who was hoping to break into the visual effects industry. He was trying to piece together a showreel of some sort to submit as a portfolio, but he didn't want to kind of just simply have a show reel of like, here are the ten tutorials that I've learned back to back, because he's also really into his film.

Gareth Hughes
So I said, I'll tell you what, I will help. Script and storyboard. A very simple story. You can worry about all the the animation and the tricky stuff. and we can design a character together and, go on a shoot together and kind of just do this side project. How long could it possibly take us to, to make it actually took us about 11 months of evenings and weekends, working until the early hours in many cases.

Gareth Hughes
So yeah, this this story I try to make it as simple as possible. So it was possible for David to animate. And then great. In this 92nd, short film.

Gareth Hughes
And it's pretty insane, how much they've learned during that project. literally 3D modeling, animation of characters, creating, rigging and compositing the character onto and back plate, which was this forest that we went out and, did a film shoot for. And on my side, I ended up deciding for some strange reason that I was going to do the soundtrack, even though I've never written music before.

Gareth Hughes
And besides from some very light music lessons in high school. So yeah, over 11 months we kind of created this thing. We were really happy with it. we also just wanted it to be over with. We were super tired and we ended up, hosting it on Vimeo, and it's kind of the best way to share on Showcase short films.

Gareth Hughes
So Dave could email it to, different studios and I could host it, for my website. Little did we know that after one day of being on Vimeo, someone on Vimeo seemed to like it and put it on the front page of this incredibly popular film website. And we were like, is this is this supposed to be happening?

Gareth Hughes
What's going on? This film is this film is not good. This should not be here. People should not see this film. It should be hidden in an email. We have no idea what we're doing. This is our first short film. Please do not judge us. And, Yeah, like we got, something like 130 or 300,000 views in the first month of it, which for us was pretty insane.

Gareth Hughes
by today's standards, that's quite a small number. But at the time we were like, getting all these DMs from Hollywood producer people. I don't know if they were legit or not, but, we were just getting all these messages from people in L.A. saying, hey, we looked a movie. Would you like to talk, working on about working on this other thing?

Megan Luedke
Gareth's journey unfolded in London, where he planted roots for four transformative years. Each year brought a distinct set of experiences with the initial one revolving around pitch work. This period became a crash course in efficiency, demanding the skill to swiftly distill ideas into impactful visuals for presentations. The demand for clarity merged seamlessly with a call for high quality output, a juxtaposition that provided enlightening as Gareth navigated these dynamic years, the art of balancing speed and quality became a crucial lesson, accompanied by the growth of his team and engagements with substantial clients.

Megan Luedke
After those four years in London, Gareth took a turn towards Amsterdam, a city that had piqued his interest. After several years, frequent weekends spent in Amsterdam unveiled the city's essence, gradually captivating his heart. The realization struck Amsterdam wasn't just a city to visit is a place to call home. Magnetic pull intensified as Gareth discovered the vibrant landscape of creative studios from renowned names like Netflix, Uber and Nike, with their European headquarters to the eclectic and imaginative boutique studios like Random Studio and Resin.

Gareth Hughes
I was like, this city's got it going on. It's beautiful. It's got this historic kind of village feel, but also this kind of current of creative energy, so my wife and I kind of made it our mission to, to move, which took around a year, to, to find the right opportunity. and for me, the opportunity came, from ACRs Amsterdam studio.

Gareth Hughes
They had just won a major account and needed some new design support. So I was kind of like the first to raise my hand and say, like, look, I really want to move to Amsterdam. And I already work at Acca. do you think maybe I could, move over? Possibly. Please. And the, kind of response was, so can you move here?

Gareth Hughes
next Monday, bearing in mind it was Wednesday at the time. So it was really a rush to pack my things and, get things ready for the week after.

Gareth Hughes
And that was it. I got a one way ticket that Saturday. grab myself an Airbnb for, first month before finding somewhere to. To live has been around five years since I've lived in Amsterdam now, and I felt like I joined the Amsterdam studio at a really good time. there were quite small. There's probably about 20 people working there at the time.

Gareth Hughes
So the next few years were all about, growing a team, growing the portfolio of work to kind of, achieve a standard that we had aspirations for an overall just create a culture that people enjoyed working and, a team that was super talented. And after a year or so working there, I, was promoted to director, alongside another fellow creative director, Evan Dunn.

Gareth Hughes
And I was essentially down to us, because we had no, super senior creative director above us.

Megan Luedke
Climbing the professional ladder, Gareth achieved a milestone the coveted role of creative director, a dream he'd harbored since his early days as a designer. Yet as he stood at this pinnacle, larger considerations occupied his thoughts.

Megan Luedke
The global landscape, marked by issues of climate change and inequality, weighed on his conscience. Gareth grappled with this feeling that he could do more, and it epiphany dawned an opportunity lay before him to channel his expertise in communication, whether through branding, product design or social initiatives, as a means to contribute to positive change.

Gareth Hughes
I felt like there was, something I needed to be a part of in some shape or form. but with all these responsibilities, I found it very difficult to be, as involved as I wanted to. At the same time, I was feeling this need to get my hands dirty again. the rate at which craft is evolving, and from a design perspective, is something that you really need to keep on top of as, someone who lives and breathes creativity.

Gareth Hughes
And this goes for, for anyone, no matter what field that you're in. the moment you stop practicing, you start to lose touch with, what it takes to create, good work. So I had this kind of vision of me five years from now being this, super senior, another white dude at the top of an agency, becoming more and more out of touch with what, got me there in the first place.

Gareth Hughes
And I'd always tried to have side projects on the on the go, at all times. Not to quite to the extent of, of gloom, but I've always trying to, to reach that kind of level again of, of side project, which I was really, really happy with. But it became harder and harder. The more kind of responsibilities I had, which I think is quite common with, creatives who reach a certain point in their career.

Gareth Hughes
So I started looking into this space to see, you know, how could I, at least get involved in my current position? and the more I kind of got into it, the more kind of interested I became in, the possibilities of all these fantastic companies, startups, individuals doing really interesting things. one of the podcasts I was listen to was, fast co world changing ideas.

Gareth Hughes
I think it's called where they, they interview, founders from companies, on their kind of journey to, re-imagine an industry, a product to be more sustainable. And in most of these cases, these really interesting companies, in most cases, they don't have huge budgets.

Jens Bringsjord
The turning points were clear, prompting Gareth to embark on a personal journey freelancing. While these decisions were influenced by external factors, the realization dawned that he was ready for this shift. Throughout his career, whispers of freelancing had surrounded him, urging him to take the plunge. Despite the constant nudges, magnetic pull towards freelancing hadn't been profound until now.

Gareth Hughes
I was having too much of a good time kind of building this team and, learning to the point where I was confident enough to be of real value, to to companies. I felt mature enough, you could say. And there was a moment where my I guess my dad's logical brain kicked in, where I was just like, isn't the climate crisis kind of the brief we should all be focusing on right now, especially as, scientists have been telling us about all these things, but they're just terrible at communicating.

Gareth Hughes
So as a, as a, communication professional, I feel like there was a, there's a huge kind of opportunity here for us to, do something about that and help, deliver the message and also empower people to take action, in a way that is way more enjoyable, entertaining, whatever way, makes people take action in climate change.

Megan Luedke
Offering insights born from his freelancing journey, Gareth extends advice especially tailored for fellow freelancers, drawing attention to startups and initiatives. He emphasizes that success doesn't hinge on multi-million dollar projects. Instead, it lies in projects aligning with the company's current scale and mission. Sometimes the catalyst needed is a simple starting point a project to kickstart momentum, inspire internal teams and investors, or ignite growth on social platforms. Ultimate building a dedicated audience.

Gareth Hughes
all of these things need to be factored. You essentially need to think, how can I bring the most value and be as efficient as possible? I think from a startup's point of view and understanding that. So then there's less guesswork from an agency who might be like, okay, guys, you need to have this on. Here's this big fancy document.

Gareth Hughes
And, good luck with everything, because the more figuring out you leave to the client and the more it's going to cost them, time and money. Eventually, in.

Megan Luedke
Navigating client projects, Gareth shares a strategic approach trimming away any excess, focusing solely on the vital elements integral to a brand identity. He encourages envisioning a brand identity as a product, one that extends beyond immediate use. This foresight allows for unforeseen possibilities. Like other agencies or freelancers, picking up and incorporating the brand identity in ways that might unfold in the future.

Megan Luedke
Gareth also introduces a nuanced perspective, favoring terms like regenerative over the commonly used word sustainable. Acknowledging the rising popularity of these terms, he delves into the caveat of greenwashing, where the genuine intent can often be obscured. Gareth states that while sustainable, might seem limiting if simplicity proves valuable when communicating with a broader audience like his parents or grandma, who readily understand the concept when he mentions working with sustainable companies.

Gareth Hughes
If I said I'm working with regenerative companies, they would have no idea what that means. So it does have a time and a place to to use it. So I think it's not about how we are sustainable, it's how we are improving things. What are we changing?

Megan Luedke
By encouraging a proactive approach, Gareth advocates for being self-initiated, particularly in the realm of freelancing, recognizing the need for selectivity in choosing projects, he emphasizes the importance of thorough research and asking pertinent questions when presented with a brief. Gareth reassures freelancers in the sustainability and climate space that there's an abundance of work available, allowing them to make choices aligned with their values without the fear of going hungry due to passing up projects that don't align with sustainability goals.

Gareth Hughes
There's also more and more new jobs happening in the sustainable sector. Renewable energy, reimagining fashion and, a lot of exciting opportunities out there that you can be a part of as a full time employee of a startup as well.

Jens Bringsjord
Gareth advocates for a pragmatic approach find problems to solve rather than creating problems that demand solutions, he approaches the inherent satisfaction when a problem presents itself ready to be resolved. The emphasis is on addressing existing challenges, offering support where it's needed, and narrating the stories of those issues. For Gareth, the focus lies in discovering solutions to enhance design or communication, rather than fabricating problems solely for monetary gain.

Gareth Hughes
Digital design cannot solve this problem alone. I think digital design is just the kind of face or the tool that people use. So I think the infrastructure behind that is what really matters. who was involved? More of the materials? Where are they coming from? Everything behind the face of what you're interacting with is what matters.

Megan Luedke
As Gareth Hughes shares this chapter of his professional journey, a resounding theme emerges proactivity and purpose from his embrace of freelancing to his advocacy for sustainable and regenerative practices, Gareth story is a testament to the power of finding problems to solve, rather than creating them. His journey from London to Amsterdam, from a creative director to a freelancer, reflects a commitment to meaningful work in a world teeming with challenges.

Megan Luedke
Gareth's advice echoes be self-initiated, be selective, and contribute solutions to the real problems that surround us as we navigate the creative landscape. Gareth's narrative serves as a compass, pointing towards a future where purposeful design and communication play pivotal roles in shaping a better world.