Creative Figures

Designer Erik Herrström on his book The Echo, why his studio never shows clients a mood board, and designing identities for Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley."We never show mood boards to our clients, ever."Erik Herrström grew up in a small village in the south of Sweden and built his first website at twelve. He interned at R/GA in New York on the redesign of Nike.com, later joined the team of a designer he had idolised as a teenager, and spent years at Spotify, where he worked on Spotify Wrapped. Six years ago he moved to Vienna, where he now runs STUDIO HERRSTRÖM.He talks about the David Bowie exhibition his team built in a SoHo subway station, creating identities with the estates of Whitney Houston and Elvis Presley, and why mood boards keep work measured against other people's references. He explains why he wrote The Echo, how beta readers changed its whole structure, and why he self-published it. He also shares his view on AI and brand design, and his advice for young designers: stay curious, avoid shortcuts, and ask to shadow someone experienced.Erik HerrströmSTUDIO HERRSTRÖM: https://www.studioherrstrom.com/The Echo: https://the-echo-book.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/herrstrom/Studio Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/studioherrstrom/LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/erikherrstrom/Studio LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/studio-herrstrom/Creative Figures 🔗 https://creativefigures.fmYouTube: https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFMInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

Illustrator and artist MURUGIAH on leaving architecture, finding his own style, and opening the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration with his first solo museum show."Everything you've done, it doesn't have to just end. It can be fuel for what you do next."MURUGIAH trained as an architect for seven years before turning to illustration. Born in Burton upon Trent and raised in South Wales with Sri Lankan heritage, he spent more than a decade searching for a style that felt his own. A mentor's advice during the pandemic led him to make work about his childhood search for identity, and a new piece every week built the visual language behind his commissions, posters, clothing collaborations and public sculpture.He talks about his debut solo exhibition, MURUGIAH: Ever Feel Like…, one of three shows that opened the Quentin Blake Centre for Illustration in 2026, and explains why he feels no guilt about leaving architecture. He also speaks about the slowdown in commercial illustration and how he works across public art, talks, workshops and his own products. For artists starting out, he recommends persistence, obsession with the subjects you love, and a simple two-column exercise for finding work no one else could make.MURUGIAH Website: https://murugiah.comInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/_murugiah/Creative Figures 🔗 https://creativefigures.fmYouTube https://www.youtube.com/@CreativeFiguresFMInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/Hosted by Alen Kapetanovic.© Alen Kapetanovic. Madrid, Spain. All rights reserved. This work may not be used to train AI or for automated data mining purposes, including under Article 4(3) of Directive (EU) 2019/790.

Kieron Anthony Lewis opens this one by saying he cannot do the project justice by describing it. That you almost have to see it.He is right, which is awkward for a podcast. So here it is: a 456-page hardback with gold foiling along the edges, sealed inside a case made of concrete, cast in the shape of Tafawa Balewa Square in Lagos. Around seven kilos all in.The book features 161 artists connected to that square, produced in connection with the Lagos Biennial and timed to Nigeria's 65th independence anniversary. The brief, as he first understood it, was that they were going to make a coffee table book.He designed it over roughly two years in London, with London printers. The concrete case was made by the team in Lagos. Which means the first time he saw the two together was when he arrived in Nigeria, almost nervous, thinking — can you imagine if it doesn't fit?This is Second Take, a short format on the show. One idea, one guest, lifted out of a longer conversation. You do not need to have heard the original.Full conversation with Kieron: https://creativefigures.fm/s02-e12-kieron-anthony-lewis-on-editorial-design-identity-and-finding-meaning-through-work/Find Kieron here: https://kieronlewis.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/kieronanthonyl/Find me here: https://creativefigures.fmInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/Video version includes footage courtesy of Lagos Biennial https://lagos-biennial.org/ and Kieron Anthony Lewis https://kieronlewis.com/

I asked Andy how long it took him to start liking himself the way he is. He did not give me a number. He said it is something he has to constantly return to and refresh.This is Second Take, a short format on the show. One idea, one guest, lifted out of a longer conversation. You do not need to have heard the original.Around 25, Andy started to realise he probably has ADHD. His first reaction was not relief, it was grief, because this was not something he could hustle his way out of. Not long after, he found what he now calls the neurodivergent lens. Brains are different, not necessarily worse or better, and they perform differently in different contexts. Which brought him to a thought that changed things: maybe he is not broken, but in this society, this is a disability.From there he started trying to cultivate himself rather than overcome himself, and he explains why that shift matters particularly for artists. He also takes the Joseph Campbell line about the cave you fear to enter and argues it is usually read wrong.He does not present any of this as finished. He calls loving himself a continual battle.Full conversation with Andy: https://creativefigures.fm/s02-e30-andy-j-pizza-adhd-self-worth/Find Andy here: https://www.andyjpizza.com/https://www.creativepeptalk.com/https://www.instagram.com/andyjpizza/https://www.andyjpizza.com/rsoFind me here: https://creativefigures.fmInstagram: https://www.instagram.com/creativefigures.fm/

Gemma O'Brien describes flow as a forgetting of yourself. Fully absorbed, at one with the work, no sense of time passing.Then the conversation turns to boredom, and that half is the sharper one.This is Second Take, a short format on the show. One idea, one guest, lifted out of a longer conversation. You do not need to have heard the original.Gemma talks about why flow arrives by surprise rather than on demand, the difference between being absorbed and being zoned out, and why filling in a mural outline does not count. She contrasts it with scrolling, which also makes time disappear but leaves you without any sense of agency or control.She is also open about the parts of her job that bore her. Admin, client emails, the middle phase of a project that is all small tweaks and colour changes. A few years ago she resisted all of it, on the logic that this was supposed to be her passion so it should all be fun. She does not think that any more, and what she says instead is the part worth hearing.Full conversation with Gemma: https://captnoffscript.com/s02-e35-gemma-obrien-bored-of-herself/Find Gemma here:Website: https://www.gemmaobrien.com/Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mrseaves101Find me here:Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/captnoffscriptWebsite: https://captnoffscript.com/