Discover the interview of Ben Brears from Robot food, located in Leeds, England
How did you become designer ?
I went to University on a great course in an unfashionable part of the UK, studying Graphic Design at Staffordshire University, in Stoke-on-Trent. From there I took the usual route into industry — despite graduating headlong into 2008’s global recession — of a series of internships at different London based agencies before finally landing my first full-time role some 9 months after graduation, as the first employee of a then-start-up agency called B&B Studio. Almost a decade later, and I’m back in my native Yorkshire as part of the senior team here at Robot Food, helping define the strategic and creative direction for our array of clients.
How would you define your vision of design, your style ?
It’s something of a cliché to say I believe in great ideas, well executed; but it’s true. For me, and for Robot Food, the idea always leads. A well rounded and well informed brand and creative strategy informs all of our output, and puts the design team in a great position to create work that not only answers the brief but resonates with its target audience and sets the brand up for a great future.
For the future, what are your professional projects ?
One of the best things about working at Robot Food is that every day brings a new challenge. We have a wide variety of clients ranging from start-ups to multi-nationals and all of them have different needs and requirements. 10 years into my creative career and I’m still learning. This week alone has involved an international rebrand, a number of more localised brand and packaging designs, and shooting a short film for a client’s crowd-funding launch. So I guess the only real answer to that question is ‘who knows’? Let’s hope it stays as varied and exciting.
What do you like the most in your job ?
Aside from the variety of work I’ve already mentioned, I’d say the bonds and relationships that exist among our team. We’ve tried to harness our knowledge and cherry-picked the best parts of our collective career experiences to foster a culture that promotes creativity and community, and we tap into the best of each other’s skillsets to create the best possible outcome for our clients. We value a work-life balance and have a strong team dynamic — essentially, we’ve got each other’s backs and we work (and play) as a team rather than a collection of individuals to get stuff done.
