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Ian Loseby, Arris

Ian, how did you get into design?
Art has always been my favourite subject, from being very young I drew pictures all the time - I loved it. My great grandfather was an artist and art has always been a strong subject within my family. So from the very beginnings some form of art was always going to be a major influence in my life.

When I was sixteen I started to work in the bars at a local hotel, collecting empty glasses in an evening, then bottling up the following morning. Along with my colleagues we started a Friday disco night and I naturally designed the posters to promote it. This I did by cutting up magazine/newspaper headlines, then sticking individual letters together along with suitable images. I then enlarged the pasted up original to the desired poster size. I developed a real passion for typography and soon discovered a typeface catalogue (my pride and joy) and with a larger selection of 'cooler' typefaces available it gave my efforts greater impact and a more professional finish.

These early efforts naturally did their job to get people in on a Friday night, but more importantly for me I attracted more design work from local businesses that saw something in my efforts around the hotel. So before I got into further education or indeed got a job in the industry, I was doing paid work, albeit not for a lot of money - although it felt like it at the time.

I left school halfway through doing my 'A' levels. Luckily I instantly landed a job as an Office Junior in an Advertising agency in York, where I went for work experience just a few months before. It wasn't a design role but I was in the right business. I made the designers in the studio give me briefs and I would develop design solutions in my spare time for them to critique - I loved it. My enthusiasm was noticed and soon I became a junior designer in the studio.

After a year I left the Advertising agency and was accepted on a number of art and design courses. Feeling I'd done my apprenticeship in graphics I chose to do a course in Film, video and Radio production, rather than the graphic design or GAD options. A couple of years later, on the very last day, a graphics student said, 'Ian, I hear you're setting up a design company, here's my card.' I wasn't but thought, 'That's a good idea - I'll have a go,' and I did. So in January 1992, I started a design company.  For the first two or three years it was more of a youth club than a business - my mates (and their friends) would pop in all the time, it was a real fun time but I obviously didn't make much money. But I did get clients.

Do you have any formal training in design?
I actually don't have any qualifications in graphic design at all, but I have a lot of practical experience. My early business familiarity in and around the hotel and then my job in the advertising agency in York, gave me a good foundation to work on. During that period I had always passionately wanted to do design - my enthusiasm and drive got me a junior designer role. It was then I was told that I wouldn't get any further without qualifications, so I went to college but studied film, video and radio production instead of Graphics. I don't regret what I did but I do believe a more formal or focused education would have speeded up the process and given me more opportunity.

How did Arris get started?
I set up this company with a friend as a partnership but when that didn't pan out I went solo until I employed Sarah, our Design Director, who just walked in one day. The company has slowly and organically grown since then.

What's your motivation for staying in design?
To be a designer, you have to be a problem solver. Design is a problem solving discipline not a decorative process. I enjoy solving other people's problems to get results.  I enjoy seeing things from a different perspective, thinking differently and getting the response that everybody is looking for. I think my main driver is seeing clients happy because their problem's been solved or they've done well out of my involvement. Of course, clients don't necessarily see it like that - to them I may just be doing a job and presenting them with a bill at the end. But I wouldn't mind if there were no money in it, in fact it would have probably been easier for me! However as I've become more experienced my attitude has changed considerably.

What do you think is the real purpose of your work?
Whatever the solution you come up with, it is targeted. There has to be an action or reaction from your audience, therefore it's nothing to do with your own personal preferences, it's about understanding those you're doing the work for, client and consumer alike. If you want to express yourself, then go into fine art. Design - and that includes engineering design and architecture etc - has a purpose, it has a job to do and a function to perform. Being a designer doesn't necessarily make you cool or hip, I think the seeing designers as arty is a misleading. Some of the best designers I know really aren't 'cool'.

Do you pitch for work?
No, the past fourteen years has been built on recommendation alone. I don't free pitch either as I'm strongly against it. What companies like ours do for business is awesome, because we have the power to change the way people think.  Why give that away for free?

How do you position yourselves to get work?
As I've had no formal design or business training, I cut my own groove and I see that as a real strength - I'm not indoctrinated in any way. I also hate being pigeonholed so it's hard to describe one particular sector that we work for. We do anything that involves solving some form of commercial communication.

Most of my working life has been in business-to-business corporate design. That's not too difficult to do, so my service has expanded from just creating materials that communicate, to advising on the best types of media, suitable materials and the ideal marketing channels to work them through. We help clients to add value and be more cost effective. We design for all forms printed and digital media. But more ideally we brand companies and therefore handle all materials like stationery, websites, promotional items through to exhibitions, ambient media, packaging and advertising. We become their brand guardians.

What's creating a brand about?
I think branding is a fundamentally very simple thing that some people are trying to turn into an art form. Like I said, everything we do is about solving problems and understanding what people need. Branding helps businesses to understand and appreciate what type of company they are - to duly attract the right type of business, people and customers.

Understanding the various channels it has to work in becomes more complex, but as long as your research is in-depth and accurate, then it's a question of ensuring you've covered for every eventuality. I leave 'no stone unturned' - I know when I've got it right because I'm totally confident - I've considered it from every aspect.

How do you choose your clients?
I don't - they choose me. For 14 years I've never promoted myself and I'm still in business. We work hard to build relationships with our clients and to gain their trust and confidence. Once you understand them and their market, they trust you to do all of their design work. They say, 'Can you sort this out for me?' and even if you don't do it yourself, you'll organise it and act as their eyes and ears.

Personally I like to look at things from a different perspective than the general way of things - I like to challenge the norm. I resist popular culture because that's what everyone else is doing - why would I want to do that?

You need the confidence to challenge your clients. If someone tells me that they want a brochure, I'll ask them why. It may be that they end up saying, 'Well I don't really want one, do I?' I'm helping them to solve their problems by working them through. Of course, not all clients are that easy to work with. I can spend all day and night working on something, take it back to the client and they don't like it. When I ask why, they'll simply tell me they wanted it blue for no reason! Do you wonder that a lot of designers get frustrated?

What stage is Arris at now - do you think you'll expand?
I'm at a stage where I can now focus on the direction I want to go in - but I don't want to give anything up. I like variety and I hate doing the same thing twice. So it's quite exciting.

I'd like to expand but currently I'm not focused enough on money to be a very successful - I lack the structure or organisational skills but I'm working on it. I'm the Managing Director of this company but I'm no MD I realise that. I get no buzz from business or from seeing a bank account grow. Don't get me wrong, I feel responsible for making sure that everybody here gets paid on time but money itself doesn't inspire me at all. So my journey now is to find new working colleagues, people that are different to me in their drive, but similar in personality, and it's going quite well.

How do you respond to a brief?
The person who's asking you to do a job usually has an idea of what they want  - even if they don't tell you. The skill is in uncovering their thoughts and then ensuring you understand what they mean. People can be very misleading, I sometimes forget that and go into a presentation knowing that they asked for 'cool and contemporary' when they actually meant country cottage and rural! They were using the wrong words to communicate, or their terms of reference were different to mine - so clarify everything, and challenge if needs be is vital. You have to confirm and qualify what they mean all the time. Personally I don't mind asking the obvious questions and requesting explanations - don't fear looking stupid. The more influential the client, the more challenging I become, because they're often surrounded by people who say yes without understanding fully what is being asked. The client isn't always right, but they do hold the purse strings so you have to solve their problems and make them happy.

What happens when a job comes in?
That depends on the job - we don't have a very strict process, as every job is different. But there are a number of stages we always go through.

Initially there's a period of 'discovery' or research, of which the most important question is, 'Am I dealing with the right person?' You're working on two levels: the business/commercial level and the emotional/creative level. Can I get on with this person and are they going to be open with me? The creative business is so different for that reason and if you don't get it right, someone else will. You have to do the right thing for your client - but you also have to do what that person wants. If they're unwilling to talk, then I say, 'OK, I'm going to do what I think is right for you, not what you think is right for you.' It can be an uncomfortable process, but if you find a client who can coherently say what they like it becomes so much easier, it's almost like making friends.

By understanding them and their psychology I can make decisions on their behalf and that's the position I like to be in. They can ring me up and ask me to sort out a brochure or website, and I can be left to my own devices knowing that they are confident that what I'm creating will benefit their company.

The next stage is to feed back that research and define a number of 'approaches'. We do this by showing reference and balancing that against the research we discovered. The third phase is the start of the creative process, coming up with a number of concepts the project could adopt.

All this is done in partnership with the client, a joint process, and between us we challenge every aspect to ensure a successful outcome. Once we have all the selected idea is signed off, we go into delivery. That may be undertaking the photography, illustration, copywriting, website building, planning and so on, until the project is finished to final full visual stage. Another final signoff is required and then we print, or upload, or provide, or deliver and the job is over.

How do you interpret a brief?
My initial goal is to understand the job so well that I can write a viable creative brief.  That's the document we give to the design team and it contains the core, the essence of the job: who it's aimed at, the schedule, type/colour use, costs, brand guidelines, etc. It may be a long or short document and we might go through numerous phases of refinement until it's perfect. If the brief is tough one, we might try various approaches before we come up with a solution. It's important to get the focus right at the very beginning, otherwise you'll spend hours coming up with great ideas that aren't quite right.

At the start of the brief I explore three areas.  First I look at the company - its culture, ethics, premises, the people who work there. Secondly I examine the market, the people who are buying the product/service. Thirdly there's the person I'm dealing with in the company. You need a champion who'll pick up and run with whatever you produce and tell everyone how great it is. We recently re-branded a company. The Sales Director took the new logo and put it on a great long line of lever arch files in his office. He was really pleased with how good it looked, he loved it, he was living and breathing it. The new brand made him super positive and confident,  and that enthusiasm will be picked up by those he comes in contact with who will respond equally as positively.

When you're doing the design work, how do you start?
Obviously we ensure we get to learn as much as we can first. But if we're talking about idea's then there's no fixed way. Ideas might come in a split second - I've done logos quite quickly and at other times I've spent hours and days and not succeeded.

I research hard and see what other people, including the client's competition, have done. Again, you have to understand your customer: do they want to stand out or do they want to follow current trends? Some smaller companies want to look like the bigger companies, they want to fit in and if you make them stand out, they won't appreciate it. There's no point in putting a shy person in the middle of the room with a spotlight on them, they're just not going to respond. But the showman, who wants something different, wants the spotlight. So understand what person they are and it will provide some direction. After all it's up to them to say yes or no to any concept.

If you're really struggling with something, what do you do?
Stop, go and do something completely different, or go off in a completely different direction. I explore every angle because I'm a solution provider rather than a stylist. Sarah is much more a stylist, and thinks about the finished product: what should it look like? What colours should I use? What graphical elements can we use to communicate? But in all instances, if you get stuck, leave it and come back to it later. It can be remarkable what a little bit of time or night's sleep will do.

Where do your ideas come from?
I look through general design references and pick out the elements that help my vision. Do I want big letters on this? Do I want photographs? Do I want knock back or a foreground thing? Sometimes I'll see something small that will make a massive impact. The client might think they'll get impact by using fluorescent colours but it might be just a single word or picture that creates a stunning effect.

Do you produce plans and working drawings?
From my research I end up with 20 or 30 written ideas and lots of little drawings or doodles. I'm constantly going back to basics and thinking about the people, the company and the market. Asking whether my ideas answer the brief. It's random - you go forwards and backwards, does that work, yes, no, yes, yes, brilliant. You can understand why designers need to focus on their creative work and not take on the role of MD or other jobs, because their thinking processes are unique and they don't work in other areas.

From there I go back through the research in detail. Once I've got the overall feel that I want, there may be two or three fundamental ideas that I can start breaking down. We only go in with a maximum of three ideas, any more and you'll faze people.

The biggest problem is getting the client to make a decision so I start by asking which of the three ideas they like the least and then we're down to two.
Invariably people want to mix and match - they want a bit of that concept and bit of that one. Often they're scared of making a decision. So they need help.

Describe your presentations.
I usually go alone because I'm a talker, and because I'm always 'reading' the client. There are only two ways to present: boarded visuals for hard copy and screens for website stuff. There's no point in doing new media presentations on boards. I don't make up a dummy until the end of the artwork stage unless it's for packaging, because there's generally so much missing at the presentation stage that it becomes meaningless, and the client will get sidetracked with the detail.

Do you measure or evaluate your work?
Clients measure effectiveness more than we do.  We encourage them to do so because then they value our work. But we always do a follow up call.

Sometimes it's very difficult to value creative work. For example Direct Mail you can measure a lot easier than a Brand, because a brand has so many different audiences. Not just the end user or consumer, there's employees, shareholders, suppliers, local government, pressure groups and so on. It would be nice to ask everyone what they think, but impossible. And even if you could, they would probably not communicate their response very well.

Branding is a visual marker that uses tremendously powerful symbolism. If I said 'Stars and stripes,' you'd say America. If I showed a picture of an American flag to 30 people, what would they think about it? What would their responses be? The variation response would be massive. You can apply the same principle to a company brand. So it's critical as a designer to understand all these influences before they start work.

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