Jeremy Coysten is partner and creative director of North. The London-based design and branding agency works with clients like the Barbican, Somerset House and The Earthshot prize.
Design
What would your monograph be called?
We have published a book, called North, Extracts from Visual Identities, but it isn’t a monograph as such, so it can’t really be that.
We’re working on the next book and it will be called North, Archive of Visual Identities. We’re emptying the archive room and photographing everything from test sheets, prototypes, print, mock-ups, merch, the rejects, and general North bits and bobs.
What recent design work made you a bit jealous?
The new Centre Pompidou brand refresh by Zoo. They brilliantly reinvented the visual identity, whilst retaining the building symbol by Jean Widmer.
Working for iconic cultural organisations such as the Pompidou is a privilege. Projects like those don’t often come along. Over our 30 years we have been lucky enough to have done quite a few.
We’re currently working with the Fundació Joan Miró, in Barcelona – a very special place, which I first visited over 30 years ago as an art student. This year they celebrate their 50th year.
What’s an unusual place you get inspiration from?
A visit to Leyland SDM hardware shop on Farringdon Road. It’s a calming place full of positivity.
Jeremy Coysten’s much prized rubber
Name something that is brilliantly designed, but overlooked.
A Staedtler Mars Plastic Rubber is a tool I’ve been using all my life. My father used them, and I inherited their use. The card sleeve ensures you have a clean, fresh rubber for the task ahead. They never seem to run out.
What object in your studio best sums up your taste?
My Leica M7 and Leica M11 cameras.
Leadership
What feedback felt brutal at the time, but turned out to be useful?
Hard to mention any names, but the conversation went something like this, “We know the guidelines are finished, and we launch in a few weeks, but we have to change the name.”
Through the process, we discovered a more suitable name that was more relevant, more distinctive, more international, and more campaign-friendly. There’s always a solution.
What’s an under appreciated skill that design leaders need?
Tenacity. Don’t ever give up on what you believe in.
What keeps you up at night?
Ideas and tinnitus.
What trait is non-negotiable in new hires?
More than one. You have to be competitive, hungry, hardworking and a nice person. In an interview, I always ask myself, would I like to sit next to you?
You can teach the craft, but it’s hard to teach these traits, and they’re impossible to spot in a portfolio or interview. Any new hire must prove themselves.
Complete this sentence, “I wish more clients…”
…didn’t use Teams.