Designers who have inspired me to run design agencies
This is not based on how much they earned. I sometimes simply like their profile or website. This could be you as well, which I found on LinkedIn.
So, whatever I did for myself, for OTHERS, for anything, for work, I was always looking for inspiration from others, especially those in the same field, same context, same with what I would do. Can be in design, writing, drawing, etc. But most of them are always from the West, so far, coincidentally.
When I was designing in tech, I would search for inspiration. When I’m a designer team of one, I would search the inspiration. When I founded an app by myself, I would like to search for inspiration from the other indie mini founders (So I would not get inspired by something BIG while I work on tiny things). When I found and partnered to build a design agency, of course, I would like to search for inspiration as well. Most of them are about what they do and how they do it.
I did the same thing here:
For those who are not designers or whatever, who … let’s say check the list on my notes and you have nothing to do in that field or thing, you might be confused because you didn't get the context. It would be like a nurse seeing a teacher’s note. You might only form an opinion in general.
If my grandma were to read this list (doesn’t mean my grandma would be like that), she might think this is the list of wealthy people LoL (probably some of them, yes, though I don’t know). They are mostly not the kind of designer who shares the income, although it’s becoming the norm now for some particular cultures. So we need to get the context here first.
To make it easier, I’ll list their LinkedIn and their studio/agency links here:
- Shane Allen, Creative Director + Founder
with Haelo Studio — Company LinkedIn - Erik Herstromm, Founder + Creative Director
with Studio Herstromm — Company LinkedIn - Joumana Elomar, CEO & Founder
with Skale — Company LinkedIn - Sylvain Maretto, Freelance Product Designer (Principal, Manager, Director, Consultant)
- Alexandr Socoloff , Creative Director & Founder
with Produx Design Studio — Company LinkedIn - Hunter Thompson, Founder
with Kinetic Studio — Company LinkedIn - Tim Gabrielsson, Founder
with Zipzap Design — Company LinkedIn - Hunter Hammonds, CEO, Co-Founder
with Off Menu Design, — Company Linkedin - Spencer Marsh, Operator & Designer
with THE INDEPENDENT STUDIO OF — Spencer Alexander Marsh, Company LinkedIn - Sam Judge, Designer — Director
with Sam Judge Studio, Company LinkedIn
Added more after this blog has written:
- Mike Kuechenmeister, Director of UX Design
with Supergreen Digital, Company LinkedIn - Zachary Winterton, Creative Director
with Winterton Media , Company Linkedin - Jason Hancock, Owner/UX Director
with Hancock & Rowe, Company, Linkedin - Massimo Meijer, Founder/Brand & Design Director
with TINY MASS, Company Linkedin - Vita Specer & Alex Spencer, Design Director & Art Director
with Syncrely, Company Linkedin - Oli Harris & Jordan Harrison, both are the Co-Founders & Design Directors with Haptic Studio, Company LinkedIn
- Joseph Ship, Founder & Creative Director with Shipp Studio, Company LinkedIn.
Update:
Right after I wrote this, I found this tweet 🫨 . Let’s not follow this path!
Also, I might update the list above when I find more.
