Common Matters is built on a simple idea: that the matters that matter to the creative community are worth talking about. But this edition went a little deeper – the talks focused on the topics we seem to be actively avoiding. Working relationships. Repression. Imposter syndrome. How to make a business work over two decades.
Our ninth event was back at The Steel Yard in London, and featured three talks that moved between funny and raw, practical and profound. Here’s what you missed – or what you’ll want to revisit…
'Creative Codependence' by Jessica Bong-Woon & Fia Townshend
Ragged Edge Creative Director Jess Bong-Woon and writer and copy director Fia Townshend took the stage together to make the case for something they believe in deeply: writers and designers are much more than just colleagues: they’re creative partners, and the work suffers when they’re not treated that way.
“Writing makes design more meaningful. Design makes writing more buyable. Working together makes your ideas stronger.”
— Fia Townshend
Copy Director
Using their elite shared portfolio of world-class branding work as examples, they walked through five relationship rules for better creative partnerships:
- Get on the same page
- Start and finish together
- Speak each other’s love language
- Fix each other
- Keep the spark alive
Sexy. True. The work they showed was better for the deep collaboration: ideas that couldn’t have come from one discipline alone.
Their message to the room was warm but direct: stop treating writing as a finishing touch. Pull writers into the room at the start.
'Yeah, I'm an Imposter. And What?' by Paul Hewitt
Jess and Fia’s rules of engagement had heated up the audience, as Paul was welcomed to the stage with a wolf whistle, and a title slide that read: My pain is chronic, but my ass is iconic. He had us at hello.
What followed was genuinely the most honest talk Common Matters has ever hosted. Paul is an established Executive Creative Director, from roles in Google, Deliveroo and That Lot.
“Do I believe imposter syndrome exists? Of course it does. But do I think it’s a guiding energy for what makes great creatives? Absolutely I do.”
He made the argument that imposter syndrome isn’t the enemy of great creative work: it’s a driver. He traced the feeling back through three pivotal moments… being made to feel like he didn’t belong at Google for not having a degree, a breakdown at a conference when he heard about a childhood that mirrored his own, and burning out so severely he developed blood clots and lost his mobility at 27.
Each point and story told landed with the warmth and self-awareness of someone who has processed their experiences in order to make them a power. The things we’re told to repress are exactly what make us good.
“Victory will go to the psychotic optimists. The people who know they’ll find a way, even if that way isn’t clear.”
Freddie Öst takes us on a very SNASK journey
Freddie Öst, founder of Swedish branding and film agency SNASK, arrived with the energy you’d expect from someone who once convinced the CFOs of Sweden’s biggest companies to front a punk band music video, and got nominated for a Grammy for it. Yep.
“Brands are built on emotions. Brands are not numbers. Humans are not numbers. And love is not numbers. So stop measuring everything all the time.”
His talk was part provocation, part masterclass, part stand-up, part Carlisle roast (you had to be there) — and pretty hard to summarise. But the ideas underneath the glitter and pizzaz were sharp.
On data: stop pretending you can measure emotion. Fall for love.
“When you make something no one hates, no one loves it.”
On trends: don’t ask people what they want. They don’t know.
“Apple never asked us if we wanted an iPhone, because they knew we didn’t know we wanted an iPhone.”
On branding: it’s not your product, it’s the reason someone chooses you.
“If marketing is asking someone out on a date, branding is the reason they say yes.”
And on being yourself: complex, difficult, non-optimised people make better creative work.
“Grapes grown in perfect conditions can never become complex wine. Just like us.”
SNASK have been killing it for 19 years by doing things their own way, and we all felt fired up by the story.
Another event, another reminder of why this community keeps showing up for one another. Thank you all for a fantastic evening, and we’ll see you at CM10!
