On Design with Justyna Green

Levon Sharrow is the interactive creative director at Patagonia. We start our conversation by discussing the design process and the role of tools, imagination and storytelling. Levon also reflects on his time at Nike, before he joined Patagonia, and found his personal true north. We dive into Patagonia's vision, the company culture and some of the recent projects, raising awareness of important en...

Malika Favre is a French artist currently based in Barcelona. Malika's works are incredibly popular thanks to their instantly recognisable style which focuses on light, shadow and the negative space to create bold yet minimal works. In our conversation Malika talks about her love for both maths and the arts, she recalls her move to London, the start of her career at Airside and her first freelance...

Andy J Pizza and Ryan Appleton are the co-founders of Co-Loop – a new artist management agency. You'll also know Andy J Pizza from his chart-topping Creative Pep Talk podcast. In our conversation, Andy and Ryan talk to us about building a community of creatives centred around their values of collaboration and diversity of ideas. They also share their thoughts on the importance of exploring your ar...

Antonia Bonello is the Associate Creative Director at BuzzFeed UK. She's also well known for her retro 8-bit animation. In fact, her passion for it, got her hired at Buzzfeed, after a freelance commission to picture Game of Thrones' 14 most brutal deaths – as cute 8-bit animation – has gone viral. In our conversation, Antonia brilliantly shares the ups and downs she faced growing up, her time at C...

James Turner is the co-founder of Glimpse – a collective which believes that creativity can be used for more than just selling stuff. In our conversation, we discuss some of Glimpse's campaigns such as the launch of Choose Love physical stores, which sold essential items to help refugees across the world and a Kickstarter campaign that saw every single advert in a London tube station replaced with...

Suhair Khan works on Strategic Projects at Google. Before that, she was heading up global projects for Google Arts and Culture. She's also the founder of Open/Ended - a new platform for activism design, which gathers together a diverse community of creative practitioners. In our conversation, we discuss Suhair's work at the nexus of technology, design and art, the joy of experimentation, the role...

Anthony Burrill is a graphic artist, printmaker, and designer who's known for his persuasive, up-beat, typographic works. In our conversation, Anthony discusses his design education and career as well as his early inspirations from travels across the world with his grandfather. We discuss the process of making new works, its importance to the finished pieces and creating work for the public realm....

Andrew Diprose is the creative director at WIRED UK. In our conversation, Andrew shares with me the story of launching the magazine eleven years ago, what he's learned along the way and how the publishing industry changed in the past decade. We also talk about adapting to change - whether it is caused by the digital media consumption patterns or the COVID pandemic. Finally, we discuss Andrew's big...

Claire Cheung is an art director at Studio PI, a new photography and illustration agency that promotes equality and celebrates diversity. In our conversation Claire is brilliant and openly shares her story, working in design and art direction for 18 years as a woman of colour, coming from a working-class background. She also tells us about her role at Studio PI and the agency's mission and offers...

Marice Cumber is the founder of Accumulate, the art school for the homeless. This year Accumulate's participants have worked on the now published Book of Homelessness - a graphic novel exploring their stories. In our conversation, we dive with Marice into her journey of founding Accumulate, the process of working on the book and most importantly, Marice shares with us stories of the book's authors...

Sarah Fotheringham and Maninder Singh are founders of Safomasi - an award-winning design studio with storytelling at its heart. Safomasi is renowned for its travel-inspired prints applied to homewares and home decor by skilled craftsmen at the brand's workshop in India. In our chat, Sarah and Maninder discuss the journey of founding the business, the early years of being part of the creative indus...

Tim Lane is a creative director at Penguin, heading up the award-winning Penguin Creative team, which manages the visual direction of the brand's digital and video output. In our conversation, we discuss Tim's first year at Penguin and his work on making the brand's digital appearance as iconic as its printed editions. We also discuss Tim's previous role as Buzzfeed's first Art Director outside th...

Georgia Spray is the founder of Partnership Editions, a curated platform that connects would-be collectors with emerging artists. In our conversation, Georgia shares the story of how she set up her business after finding a gap in art the market. We discuss the current state of the art market, how to start your art collection and Georgia provides an insight into the artists she loves and champions...

Holly Fraser is the editor-in-chief of WeTransfer's editorial platform WePresent. In our conversation Holly explains the idea behind creating WePresent and shares platform's latest collaborations. We also discuss its global outlook on creativity, how good journalism can make a difference and what publishers can do to be an antidote to the clickbait culture.   Presented by Justyna Green Produced by...

Leon Edler is an award-winning illustrator known for his bold and colourful style. He's also the co-founder of Room Fifty, a platform which sells exclusive prints by the best contemporary illustrators and designers in the world. In our conversation Leon shares the story of his illustration career and also offers advice for new illustrators. He also discusses the field of contemporary illustration...

Caroline Pay is the Chief Creative Officer at Headspace - a mindfulness and meditation app on a mission to improve the health and happiness of the world. In our conversation we discuss what we can all do to manage our mental health in 2020 and what Headspace has been doing to help those most vulnerable. We also dive into Caroline's incredibly successful career in advertising, which she enjoyed for...

Åsa Lucander is a director at Aardman Animations - the world famous, Academy Award® winning animation studio, which brought us Wallace & Gromit and Shaun the Sheep among their other creations. In our conversation we discuss Åsa's career journey, her short film 'Lost Property' and the award-winning music video for Coldplay's song 'Daddy'. We go into the nitty-gritty of stop motion animation and dis...

Stacie Woolsey is a designer and founder of Make Your Own Masters - a tailor-made Masters programme she created for herself in response to the high costs of university education and, in her own words, "not fitting in" with any particular course. Now with an MA in Anthropological Futures, in this podcast episode, she discusses her work, her journey creating her education course, and the next steps...

Alexis Williams is the publisher of modern luxury magazines from the Guardian News & Media . In our conversation Alexis reflects on his career at both the Financial Times and the Guardian News & Media, his love of arts and fashion and their role in our lives. We also discuss the DESIGN magazine - the latest addition to Alexis' portfolio of modern luxury magazines. Finally, Alexis shares with us hi...

Jon Cockley is the co-founder of Handsome Frank illustration and animation agency, representing artists such as Jean Jullien, Malika Favre and Tom Haugomat among many others. In our conversation, we talk about Jon's journey to co-founding the agency and how they work with art directors, advertising agencies and everybody in between. We also talk about current trends in illustration and advertising...

Eliza Williams is the editor of Creative Review - a print magazine and website focused on commercial creativity. The publication covers design, advertising, photography, branding, digital products, film and gaming. In our conversation, we dive into Creative Review's history in advertising and graphic design and the publication's growth across the creative discipline. Eliza recalls some of the grea...

Alex Breuer is the creative director of Guardian News and Media and in our conversation, recorded pre-COVID-19 pandemic, we discuss his work and some of its most rewarding projects - from the Brexit day front page and reporting on the Windrush scandal, to redesigning recipe books and crosswords. Alex also shares his thoughts on art education, the importance of storytelling and what it means to be...

A positive episode, to help you through difficult times! I speak to two friends Taymoor Atighetchi and Tobias Vernon about their creative businesses. Taymoor is the CEO of Papier - my favourite stationery company and Tobias is the founder of 8 Holland Street - a beautifully curated gallery space in London and Bath. The two met over a decade go when they both studied Art History in Cambridge, and t...

Nik Roope is a digital and industrial designer and entrepreneur. He is known as the founder of POKE and Plumen to name a few of his ventures. In our conversation, we dive into the early years of multimedia design and the dot-com bubble and discuss everything from Tiffany & Co's first e-commerce launch to Gregg's vegan sausage rolls. Nik also shares his thoughts on the designers' responsibilities i...

Olivia Ahmad is the curator of the House of Illustration located in London's King's Cross and the editor of Varoom magazine featuring a combination of industry insight and critical analysis of the field of illustration. In our conversation, we discuss how illustration is closely linked with our everyday lives, its role in contemporary culture as well as dive into the House of Illustration's curren...