Tell us a bit about yourself and where you work?
I'm Solly – a designer at Elmwood, a packaging and branding agency based in London.

How would you describe your role?
As a designer, my job is all about solving problems visually – whether that’s building a brand or telling its story through design. My day typically starts with a briefing from a design director, and then I dive into tools like Illustrator, Photoshop, or InDesign to either tweak existing designs or develop new concepts. Once the designs are ready, I send them off for feedback. By the end of the day, we’ll review everything as a team to decide what’s working best.

What do you like about working as a designer?
The great thing about being a designer is getting to be creative every day, having the freedom to play and not be stuck within boundaries most of the time. Elmwood's great. We have a meeting every Thursday where there's always really fun energy in the studio!

Do you do any creative work outside of your job?
I particularly love film photography. I like the manual aspect of it and being really hands on. I really enjoy it as a creative release outside of work.

What skills do you think are needed for a designer?
One would be to be open to thinking outside the box, not just going on things you've seen before, but trying to come up with new ways to do things is really important. Number two would be being able to work with others. I think having the ability to bounce ideas off people is super useful. That links to number three, which is having the ability to take on feedback and not take it personally.

What fictional character do you think would be good at your job?
Sherlock Holmes. He has the ability to make connections between things that seem almost impossible, and a huge part of what we have to do is looking at a company’s brand and being able to tell a story through it. Even if they don't seem like they work, but trying to create some kind of visual link.

What resources would you recommend to emerging creatives?
Creative Lives in Progress...(I promise not been asked to say this!) If you go on the Instagram and website, there's plenty of resources for making a portfolio, writing a CV and seeing other people's journeys. I couldn’t recommend it enough.

What has been the best piece of advice you’ve ever received?
The best advice I ever got was to be nice to everyone and say yes to everything, even if it makes you nervous, or even if you don't think you're ready to do it. You never know where you'll end up.

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Elmwood is a Creative Lives in Progress brand partner. Every year, we partner with like-minded brands and agencies to support our initiative and keep Creative Lives a free resource for emerging creatives. To find out more about how you can work with us, email [email protected].