Meet The Members: Sam and Kush Of Changes Design

What is the Changes Design mission statement?

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To put the soul back into people’s brands – we draw a lot of our inspiration from our love of 70s funk and soul, so our early branding ethos has been centred around this. We take a no bullshit approach to branding agency work by being honest about what we do, and keeping it bespoke without the drama and faff.

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Can you tell us a little more about your role and how you got into doing what you do?

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Kush (pictured below): I have a logo and branding background and Sam works in website design and development so we work well together in the creative industry. I’ve been drawing since I was young and moved into working in house for various agencies as a product designer and focusing on branding.

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Sam (pictured above): I don’t have any formal design background or education like Kush but 7-8 years ago I worked in the music industry as an events promoter and DJ. My first taste of design was having to design a flyer every now and again for an event. Fast forward a few years and I became interested in designing and building websites which is what I do now.

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When it comes to form and function, what is the role of art and design in changing the way the world works for good?

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Throughout our careers we’ve come from a very user focused role, so it’s about being able to deliver what people want and need from a creative and soulful place. The 70s and 80s were all about feeling good and having a good time – and that’s what we want to achieve with our designs, things that make people feel great.

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How does CD adhere to the triple bottom line?

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Sam: we’re both very environmentally conscious. Sorry to mention it this early on but I’m a vegan – and we’ve worked with many vegan brands. It’s about finding companies that are aligned in the same purpose and values as us, and being mindful about who we collaborate with.

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When it comes to business, it’s common for people to feel the need to decide between higher education and learning on the job, what has been the value of each?

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Sam: I can speak to the value of learning on the job and I think especially in todays age with the internet as a resource, this is really everything, and the sky is the limit. Self-study just takes motivation and nothing beats experience and learning by doing. For example we spent the last couple of months planning how we were going to execute everything and in practice everything turned out completely different from what we expected. So I think it’s important just to get started, to learn, adapt and be out there in the game offering our services and learning as we go.

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It's something I think about a lot as a parent – my daughter is now midway through secondary school so I’m considering her secondary education. When she comes to visit we do courses together and I get to show her how to use the software because she can pick it up quite quickly. I think that’s almost more valuable than waiting to go to university and doing something that might not be relevant to her career path, I want to encourage her to learn real life skills.

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Kush: Because I grew up loving cars and drawing I decided to study automotive design and bring the best of both worlds together. It’s really my general philosophy for life that I just do what I enjoy and see where it takes me. After the course, to get into the world of automotive design it did also depend on who you know and what you’ve achieved and all of that – so that was tough.

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I went into graphic design instead as I’d always been doing this on the side, so it could have been good to have done a more focused course and learn the ropes that way but like Sam said everything is also so readily available online now and we’re still learning on the job to this day. For the creative industry especially, if you really apply yourself you can achieve most things without a degree. Having interests and passion is key, but university did teach me to be independent and organised, I also had a great experience and it gave me more time and space to think.

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What motivates you?

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Kush: I’m always doing something in my spare time, like illustrations and commissions, so I naturally like doing things that are creative and entrepreneurial. Coming from a culturally Asian background there were expectations on me to do something like medicine or law, but my parents saw my creative side and always encouraged me to hone in on these skills, as opposed to doing something I wouldn’t necessarily enjoy. Doing what you enjoy almost always leads somewhere beneficial in the end.

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Sam: I’m similar without the Asian parent expectations. I’ve always had a drive to be independent and do my own thing. I want autonomy and for my life to fit my own structure of how things should work, so I’ve always had an entrepreneurial spirit. I like creating things but also systems thinking and problem solving. Business is the perfect independent outlet for this and being in the design industry allows me to explore that creatively. It’s also rewarding to see the difference we can make to other people’s businesses using our skills and experience – and being connected to others and their projects in this way.

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What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned personally or professionally?

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Sam: Making the transition from being freelance into running a business is tough. It’s a misconception that you’re just doing the same stuff under the umbrella of a business, being truly entrepreneurial is about setting up and running an actual business that can grow and getting proper systems in place.

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Kush: I’d say the biggest lesson has been to invest in yourself. We’ve invested a lot into our business ourselves in terms of expenses and overheads which is what’s helping us to scale so fast, but it can be taxing personally and mentally. So it’s important to invest in ourselves by finding balance and taking care of ourselves as well. The last few months have been tough and there have been times where I felt like I was about to collapse. But it’s important not to underestimate yourself – get started now and enjoy the process.  

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Do you think that entrepreneurial attributes are personality traits, or skills that can be developed?

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Sam: Hopefully they’re skills that can be developed, but it’s a bit of both. I’ve inherently always wanted to create things for myself that I can share, but now we’re really starting to understand new skills and ways of thinking and having to adapt and develop these quite quickly. Things like systems-based thinking, looking at the bigger picture, managing work flow, having a good mental attitude and giving equal importance to taking time off as well as running it.

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How has what you do, changed you as a person?

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Kush:  With the past couple of years that the whole planet has had, we’ve become more proactive in doing things. It’s been a tough time but personally, just having something to put your mind to every day has been a great way to get through it, while doing more both personally and professionally.

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Sam: I can attest to noticing Kush waking up earlier and being more organised. I’ve also become more organised as we’re spinning a lot of plates, we’re still in the early phases so we’re doing a lot of stuff ourselves.

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Are there any books or blogs on your reading list – what are your sources of inspiration?

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Sam: I’m reading ‘The E Myth’. The entrepreneurial myth is about how creatives often start with doing all the fun design stuff when they get into business, and fail to tackle the more technical stuff. So it’s very relevant for creatives looking to learn more about the actual business side of things and that’s where I’ve been drawing my inspiration from for that. When it comes to creative inspiration I love watching soul train videos and listening to music.

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Kush: I think you can always draw inspiration from life and everything around you, but I also love Instagram as a tool for following likeminded content creators and agencies and seeing what they’re producing. It’s also a great way to get a clearer vision of where we want to be, not just in terms of visuals but also methods and seeing how they’ve done it.

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What do you love most about x+why?

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Sam: I love the design and being around others that are making something happen. There’s something about being around that energy that pushes you harder and makes you feel more motivated.

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Kush: It’s been great to get away from working from home and get into a space that’s a creative environment which can get your inspiration flowing. It’s got a good mix of work and play and we love the bar as well – there’s a relaxed vibe where we can work hard and get stuff done but then chill with a couple of beers after work.

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