Design school vs. Self-taught: who goes further?

This week, we’re asking each other the awkward questions others might not usually answer, from money and self-worth to creative process, client mistakes and whether either of us could actually be replaced on Sticky Notes.

Do you actually need a degree to become a good designer? Or can you teach yourself everything you need to know? We get into:0:00, Introduction05:42, Do you need a degree to become a designer?14:52, Was university actually worth it?18:23, Can you work at a top agency without a degree?25:29, Can taste actually be taught?32:38, AI, education and the future of learning design42:10, Are designers taking too many courses?57:32, Should you charge friends and family for design?

This week, we’re doing something a little different.No big topic or case study. Just an honest conversation about why running a creative business feels really hard sometimes.We’ve both had a few turbulent weeks recently, so we wanted to go properly behind the curtain and talk about the stuff that doesn’t normally make it onto Instagram: unpaid invoices, difficult client conversations, financial pressure, changing expectations around AI, slower leads and the constant pressure of having to go out and earn every single pound again next month.

This week, we’re going behind the scenes of one of CJ’s favourite brand identity projects to date: the complete rebrand of Mike Lane.Mike has spent the last 10 years building an incredible business creating highly detailed modifications for scale models inspired by films like Back to the Future, Batman, Jaws, Terminator and Fast & Furious. But after a decade of growth, the brand had outgrown the handwritten signature logo Mike had created himself.The challenge was to take something incredibly personal, handmade and full of passion, and evolve it into a brand that felt more established, engineered and trustworthy, without losing the personality that made people love Mike Lane in the first place.

This week, we’re doing something a little different and playing a game of Would You Rather: graphic design edition. Some of the questions are stupid. Some get surprisingly deep. And a few reveal far more about how we think as designers than either of us probably expected.

This week, we're getting into the uncomfortable conversation you have to have with yourself when promoting your business on social media. The line between marketing yourself as a designer and becoming a design influencer.

This week, we’re talking about the red flags we look for before agreeing to work with a new design client.Finding clients is one thing. Finding the right clients... well that's a whole other story.After years of working freelance, running our own studios and making plenty of mistakes along the way, we’ve both developed a pretty good radar for the little signs that can tell you whether a project is going to be brilliant… or an absolute nightmare.

This week, we’re talking about everything it takes to run a successful creative business that has absolutely nothing to do with being good at design.We share the skills, traits and ugly lessons we’ve picked up while building our own independent studios.We get into:👉 Why being a great designer doesn’t automatically mean you’ll run a great design business👉 The sacrifices we’ve made to build our studios👉 Why sometimes you have to put the pencil down and think like a business owner👉 How your ego can damage otherwise healthy client relationships👉 Why marketing yourself isn’t optional when you work for yourself👉 The importance of ambition, hunger and continuing to push yourself forward👉 Why resilience matters when your work, content and ideas are constantly being judged

This week, we’re continuing the case study series with a look behind the scenes of Jack’s latest brand identity project for Verdex - a premium all-wheel-drive robotic mower.Rather than leaning into the same overly technical, futuristic visual language used by much of the industry, Jack took a completely different approach: retrofuturism.We get into:👉 How retrofuturism became the central creative direction for Verdex👉 How Jack developed a logo around slopes, freshly mown grass and the letter V👉 The small optical adjustments that make simple logo marks actually work👉 How tone of voice can make highly technical products feel more human👉 Why one strong creative lens makes every design decision easier👉 How finding the right client can lead to some of your best creative work

This week, we’re doing something a little different and taking you properly behind the scenes of a real brand identity project.CJ breaks down the identity he created for Anti-Boring Content Club, a Berlin-based influencer marketing agency built around one very simple belief: most branded content is boring, predictable and completely forgettable.We get into:👉 How CJ approached designing for a brand with an extremely long name👉 Why the logo was deliberately designed to feel boring at first👉 How the idea of hijacking and hostile takeover shaped the entire visual identity👉 How to know when a creative concept is being pushed too far👉 Why clarity should always win over cleverness👉 Why even something as small as a business card can become part of the brand story