Common Matters #7: Falling, Failing and Winning

Thank you, Manchester.

Our latest Common Matters event sold out in just ten days – and resulted in a room packed with 250 creatives, eager to listen and learn. When we curate our events, we don’t ask speakers to stick to a topic or fit into a theme – we simply ask, “what matters to you?”

This time, the experts answering that question did so with candour and humour – and a bit of Northern charm, seeing as most of our speakers hail from these ends. Dan is from West Manchester (now based in Leeds), Emma (now a Londoner) was brought up in Salford, and Paul lived in Manchester for years – Jan is from Germany, but likened Bradford to East Berlin so he clearly has a good read on our culture!

Let’s hear what they had to say.

Some things are undeniable: for example, Dan is a master of his craft.

Other things aren’t as straightforward: for example, how to tell a story through the art of lettering.

From humble beginnings… Dan started experimenting with type with his dad’s influence in mind and his incredible work in hand. This is where our ‘falling, failing, winning’ theme started to emerge – Dan shared some of his early work in the presentation; while it looked stunning to us, he felt a sense of cringe, but knows how important it is to push through your failures.

He highlighted the wins he’s had as a result of sharing his personal, more experimental work – often inspired by travel. It’s resulted in partnerships with brands such as &Walsh, and Apple.

Threaded through Dan’s story is a clear narrative of enjoying experimentation, committing to craft, and genuinely finding inspiration for lettering in places we would never expect, such as the smoggy haze in Jaipur city!

Joining us all the way from Hamburg, Paul and Jan, Co-founders of Hyperfocus, take the stage next – with wisdom to share from failure. Having generated their own ’24-7 PR machine’ through their YouTube channel and industry connections, they know that content creation can go very wrong.

Recording a whole podcast episode without the guest’s mic switched on? Check. Capturing a creative leader video interview, entirely out of focus? Yep. Figma boards that are so messy you think you’re losing your mind? Of course.

But it’s how we respond to failure, and mess, that showcases the resilience we all need to succeed in the world of design.

As homecoming gigs go, Emma set us up for a provocative take. Having grown up in Salford, Emma Barrett now travels the world in her role as Executive Creative Director of Wolff Olins. Back in Manchester, she opened the question we’ve asked ourselves many times before: are you any good?

Good means different things to different people. Which she proved exactly in her examples of global brand challenges – while Decathlon’s brand went from good (value) to great (leading with sport), Benefit built on the story they already had: original, innovative, fun.

So why do we continue to question ourselves, when we all know the immense value of design?

All of our speakers acknowledged that, while the design career path is an incredibly fun one, it’s not easy – especially now.

Failures will happen. It will get messy. You will question yourself.

But experimentation, humour and optimism will see us through.

That’s what matters.

So are we – see you in Leeds on 25th March with a new line up of elite speakers!