10 Years of Studio Optic
Today marks 10 years since Studio Optic was registered as a limited company 🎉
In that time, we have partnered with over 100 clients across 12 countries and 4 continents – amazing! We have provided the branding for over 60 brands & businesses, designed dozens of websites and have played our part in raising a combined total of over £220m across successful Series A & B campaigns.
Like so many start-ups, the early days were spent in a spare bedroom – first in London, then in Newark. After a few of years of working day and night to grow our client-base, things led to our first studio – a beautiful space overlooking the River Trent. Our team of trusted freelancers grew steadily, as did the diversity of our portfolio and services on offer. The 'Covid years' brought us back to working from home and with more clients based globally, a realisation that remote-working was sticking around. Now, as the dial tilts back towards in-person, hybrid working, we enjoy a healthy mix of all of the above, with an added understanding of the importance of environment.
So, without trying to be too 'LinkedIn', here are 10 things I've learned along the way that I feel are worth sharing and reminding myself every so often:
1. Trust your gut – it's almost always right
Time is limited, so having a good understanding of clients and contacts that might not be quite right for our offering can be invaluable. Like any business, there are highs and lows, busy times and less busy times. Sometimes, it is easy to feel like saying yes to every opportunity that comes your way, even if something doesn’t feel quite right.
From the outside looking in, there may have been times where a client may have seemed like the perfect fit. Dig a little deeper and you soon come to realise that their goals, morals or values don’t align with yours, or they may not have the budget available to make those goals a reality. It could be down to costs, personnel or circumstance but sometimes you just have to say no. Unfortunately, it is often true that projects with lower budgets become more time-consuming and demanding than those that are greater. Ultimately, this can have a negative impact from both sides of the relationship. An easy way to avoid this is a clear and concise brief from the outset that outlines deliverables, timings and budget.
2. Run your own race – don't worry about others
10 years ago, I’m not sure I even knew the phrase Imposter Syndrome. Now, we hear it on a regular basis and it is becoming more and more accepted that it is something we all learn to deal with in our daily lives. In my opinion, this rule is equally important both in and out of our professional lives.
Goal-setting is so important and in addition, we have to recognise that our own goals are all that matter. It’s easy to see the PR and social posts from external sources and inevitably start to compare ourselves to others but ultimately, what is shared often doesn’t reflect reality – and even when it does, it doesn’t impact our own.
Year on year, we have seen Studio Optic grow – our portfolio of work, our services, our revenue, our team and our experience. Some years, this has been in line with the goals we set in advance, in other years, this has exceeded expectations and our future goals adapt accordingly. Ultimately, we are ‘running our own race’ and the upward trend we work so hard to build on comes through a commitment to staying true to ourselves on this path.
3. Environment is paramount and inspiration is hugely important
Looking back to when Studio Optic was launched, the vision of what an ‘ideal agency environment’ looked like was very different to how people might imagine this today. The agency life I left behind in London still echoed a ‘Mad Men’ style culture of late nights, bright lights, being seen to be seen – all day and night, every day and night. Ping Pong, table football, fridges stocked with alcohol and even accommodation within the buildings were there to encourage people to stay and work all hours. At times, the culture was fun and colleagues felt like family but years of working this way leads to burnout.
This culture accelerated the launch of Studio Optic. I was willing and motivated to continue (and increase) the hard work and long hours, but I recognised this could be done more efficiently on my own terms – a simplified process, with fewer people between the client and the creative.
Moving into our first studio was a great feeling two years in to starting the business. A beautiful, bright space with big windows providing great light, fantastic views over the River Trent and amazing transport links. It was a great fit and we enjoyed three fantastic years there until the Covid lockdowns changed the working landscape for everyone. This period of working from home showed that working remotely had no immediately negative impact on the work we delivered, though over time, it did have an impact on the social habits and collaborative nature of studio working.
We have learned that for creative industries, it’s not so much about where the work is done but more what – and who – surrounds it. With a team based all over the UK, aspects of remote working have always been – and will always be – part of our process. For now, we’ve found a balance and a hybrid way of working that combines the benefits of home / remote working with access to engaging studio environments that benefit the work we do and the connections we make.
Oh, and standing desks – where would we be without them?! Research suggests that standing as opposed to sitting at a desk for work each day is the equivalent of running 10 marathons a year. I can’t imagine working without one now – and the added bonus of being able to pedal on Zwift whilst writing emails feels like the ultimate work hack!
4. Nobody's coming to save you – own your output!
When running a business there’s no hiding place. Coming from a big agency background full of collaboration in numbers, ideas, proposals and responsibilities can all be shared. Win together, lose together. By owning your output and by having complete responsibility of the work that leaves the studio, your mindset changes and you quickly realise that every decision counts.
Unnecessary mistakes can lead to added time, added time leads to added costs and added costs lead to an unhappy client. There is no room for error and an added pressure that the buck stops with you. I have learned to embrace this feeling and now realise that it can lead to great things.
There’s a great pleasure in ‘owning your output’, by being in full control of the work that is delivered. Every decision is made for a reason and more than ever, those decisions have to be justified. This is true for projects of all scales and when realised, becomes a valuable habit.
We are problem-solvers and more often than not, it can be a hugely rewarding feeling to find solutions to the creative problems we are faced with.
5. Never too high, never too low
Ok, I had to make sure there was at least one football cliché in here somewhere but honestly, keeping this phrase in mind has proved to be immensely useful. It’s inevitable, there are good days and less-good days. Sometimes we receive good news, sometimes we receive less-good news. But, it’s so important to zoom out and look at the bigger picture and the wider trends. An upward curve rarely – if ever – goes in a straight line.
Sometimes, the feeling of missing out on a project / opportunity or being pushed back on what we consider to be a great idea / proposal can feel deflating. But, experience has proven that almost always, something else happens soon after that makes you realise things worked out for the better.
In business, there’s no better feeling than receiving good news. All those hours, days, weeks, months and years of graft feel worthwhile and hearing that you’ve been tasked with a new project or opportunity is always so rewarding. It feels more important than ever to celebrate our successes (and this is something I’ll always encourage) but the industry often has a unique way of providing a reminder that it is not all plain sailing. It is therefore wise to appreciate the highs, acknowledge the lows and maintain an awareness that staying calm and composed is usually the best approach.
6. Quality over quantity (ideally both!)
Less is more – an easy thing to say but a difficult thing to action. Usually, filling a page full of content is the easy approach – the default solution. However, it’s important to treat this as a starting point. As designers / creatives, our minds are trained to strip back all that isn’t necessary. The challenge becomes how to communicate the message in the most simplified and efficient manner possible – and this is the hard bit!
They say ‘never fall in love with your first idea’ and this is something that can take years to accept. No matter how great that first idea may seem, there’s almost always a better one out there to be found. There’s a balance to be had and I think this comes through weighing up time, output, audience and relevance. Deadlines are inevitable, so it’s about delivering to the best of our ability within the time available. Who we are speaking to matters greatly, too. We need to consider how, where and when they will see the work we do – and here comes relevance. Is our chosen format, style and content relevant to the message we are looking to deliver? Considering these things ensures we are providing the highest quality output possible.
7. Doing good work leads to good work
This one remains true 10 years on. Put simply, by doing a good job, clients are happy to recommend our services and good work leads to more good work. It’s a snowball effect and one that builds momentum in an organic, genuine way.
By growing the business in this way, it remains sustainable and grows in an upward trend that comes with some form of predictability. Some agencies have other ways of ‘winning’ new work (it might just be me but I hate the phrase ‘winning a new client’ – it feels so impersonal) that often results in a single project and a relationship that stalls when the penny drops. From day one, we have looked to build long-lasting relations with clients and partners who want to come back repeatedly, knowing that we will do a great job.
8. Deliver for the client, not the approval of others
Design is visual but also has an evident, tangible output. The primary objective must always be to please the client. In almost every project, private conversations around a brief, a requirement or a direction take place that the wider audience simply aren’t aware of.
As designers, we often get caught up in designing for the approval of other designers. It’s easy to see why, in such a relatively enclosed industry with the ability to offer interpretations and opinions more easily than ever.
Design is so subjective. As John Lydgate of Bury (my hometown, as it happens!) famously said back in the 1400s: ‘You can please some of the people all of the time, you can please all of the people some of the time, but you can't please all of the people all of the time’. 600 years on, this feels as relevant as ever. With design styles and trends becoming more and more universal in the digital landscape, it feels important that designers and creatives alike stay true to themselves and whilst embracing the opinions of others, ‘ignore the noise’ of external opinions without context.
9. Be Consistent whilst constantly raising standards
This one might seem obvious but has proven to be useful to hold ourselves to account as things have grown – particularly when it comes to workload. Things are busier than ever and as a result, our output is higher than ever. Across all of our services, it’s vital that standards remain high and when it comes to delivery, it’s vital that our output remains consistent.
After 10 years of delivering projects, clients often say we have a style – and that comes through consistency. It is important to remind ourselves to be consistent in style, in quality, in process and in everything we do. This consistency compounds and over time becomes a USP and a great strength.
10. Surround yourself with people who lift you
Based on the theory that we are the average of the five people that surround us, choosing where and who we work with feels more important than ever. Experience suggests there’s a large amount of truth in there and I’m a firm believer of positivity actions leading to more positivity.
Over the course of the 10 years since launching Studio Optic, we have been fortunate to have worked with so many brilliant people. What initially started as a small circle of contacts and clients has grown to become a valuable network of meaningful relationships. These relationships are so important to a small business and word of mouth / referrals continue to be a reliable and trusted way of growing our work.
We are fortunate to be in a position of choosing who we work and partner with and this way of working is a genuine pleasure. Even this week, we are working with one of our clients from those early days of Studio Optic, with many going on to become great friends. When you are speaking with people daily / weekly for a number of years, it’s a no-brainer to make sure that these relationships are a good fit.
On reflection, I think when you make the decision to start your own business, you’re doing it for a number of reasons. Finances, flexibility and freedom all play their part but a big factor is also fulfilment. Pressure and responsibility is inevitable, so it’s important to relish this and enjoy it.
A huge thanks to all who have supported Studio Optic throughout our first decade in business – from clients and partners to referrals and reviews.
