We were super inspired by our interview with Ilenia Notarangelo, Co-founder, CEO and Creative Director of Illo TV. The Turin-based creative agency specialises in Illustration and motion design and has created some remarkable work for the likes of Google, Airbnb and Samsung. We talked about how Ilenia started her career from a not-so-creative place. Also, the importance of picking the right business partner, and overcoming the psychological struggles of running your own company. For those who want to see their faces, you can watch this chat on our YouTube Channel 📺 

We learnt so much speaking to Aporva Baxi, founder and ECD of branding agency, DixonBaxi. Aporva has an amazing career working as a creative director across the world and is now running the agency for more than 18 years. We chatted about what it was like to drop the career of a creative director in high demand to start your own agency. And how important it is to always stay creative. If you're a visual listener, watch this conversation on our YouTube Channel 📺 

Our final guest in our Leadership Series was the legend that is Buzz Pearce, SVP of Design at checkout.com. Buzz has over 20 years of experience in the design industry, leading teams at Skyscanner, Skype, and Microsoft, to name a few. We discussed how to communicate the value of design to your leadership team. Also, he explained how to build a safe, company culture to give honest feedback. 

Buzz will also be a teacher on our Executive Programme For Design Leaders. Learn more here 

Obsessed with branding? Then listen to these great tips from Campbell and Robyn Butler, Co-founders of Lovework Studio. Together they have worked with some of the best brand agencies around. From Wolff Olins, Design Studio, Dragon Rouge and many more. In our chat, they explained why ugly logos are a good thing, and how to present your ideas to clients in an unconventional way. If you're a visual listener, watch this on our YouTube Channel. 

Campbell and Robyn also curated The Ultimate Course on Brand Design & Strategy, Branding Now. Learn more here.

The third guest in our Leadership Series was Guy Duncan, Chief Technology Officer at Tide – one of the fastest-growing FinTech companies in the UK. Guy has over 20 years of tech leadership, previously as a CTO of BMW and other large organisations like Valtech and PayU. Be prepared to get really practical insights on how to convince your leadership team to launch your idea, how to reduce your work stress and how to prioritise your time as a C-level executive. 

Guy will also be a teacher on our Executive Programme For Design Leaders. Learn more here 

In our second interview in our Leadership Series, we were joined by Fura Johannesdottir, Chief Design Officer of Huge Inc. Fura has over 20 years of experience in the industry, working for brilliant companies like R/GA, Publicis Sapient and loads more. We discussed her approach to design leadership and the best way of talking to business leaders about the power of design. 

Fura will also be a teacher on our Executive Programme For Design Leaders. Learn more here 

Our first guest in our new Leadership Series is Bidisha Sinha, Senior Associate at the legendary Zaha Hadid Architects. We chatted about the need for a new Bauhaus, what it was like to work with Architecture pioneer, Zaha Hadid, and the challenges and rewards of being a design leader. 

Bidisha will also be a teacher on our Executive Programme For Design Leaders. Learn more here

We had a great chat with Sébastien Van Laere, Founder of Superframe – an agency using insight and foresight to develop brand-, innovation- and business strategy for some of the biggest global brands. We discussed why thinking about the future is important in our lives, some of his favourite trends of 2021 and whether Clubhouse is a trend or just a fad. 

Sébastien also curated our Innovation Strategy Course – A practical course for Senior Strategists who want to level up their strategic thinking 👉  

In a Design Hotline edition of the Creative Capes Podcast, we sat down with Mike Reed and Sam Russell of Reed Words – chatting about all things brand language, played some quick-fire, brand writing games and answered our special guests' burning questions on brand writing and language.   Mike and Sam are also curated our Building A Brand Language course –  learn how to write for brands consistently and with impact 💥 more info here 👉 https://bit.ly/3jHJByN

On episode 16 of the Creative Capes Podcast, we had a great time speaking with Christopher Bahry, Co-founder and Creative Director of Tendril - a design-driven animation, VFX, and digital innovation studio with offices in Canada and Brazil. Christopher shares how important creative partnerships are in growing as a designer, human and a business. We also discuss his learnings from co-founding Tendril 10 years ago to now, as well as what's the next big thing in motion design. If you want to see Ekaterina's and Christopher's faces, head over to our Youtube Channel @futurelondonacademy 

Christopher is also one of our industry experts on our Creative Business Masterclasses 👉 Learn how to run and scale your design business