I'm starting my own design studio
I'm starting my own design studio, called Menschen based in Porto, Portugal. In this note I dive into why I'm doing it, some of my fears and I also try to deconstruct some of the challenges ahead.
Image by SIMON LEE on Unsplash
Hey! I'm Hugo.
I'm starting my own design studio, yes you read it right. Its going to be called Menschen and its going to be based in Porto, Portugal where I'm from. Starting a design studio is genuinely scary, how do you do it? What is involved in this process? How do I get clients? How do I get them consistently? These are all questions that I have and that someone starting this or any type of endeavor may have.
Why am i doing it?
This year Katy Cowan from Creative Boom asked on Linkedin for help regarding the question of where our industry is headed in the next 15 years. At the time, although she didn't know this, the question posed, for me, a serious moment for reflection. I had just returned to Portugal after trying to pursue my dream of living in the Netherlands, which didn't really work out. I was without a job, searching for weeks not knowing what to really do, where, all of sudden, Katy's Linkedin post showed up on my profile.
I had a lot to say, because in many ways I was thinking about this exact topic for months. The pain and challenges of finding a job and more importantly, why did I felt so empty working as a designer for a big company in Portugal, before I moved to the Netherlands. In many ways, besides having the opportunity to have my opinion featured in Creative Boom (Thanks Katy, you rock!) this post changed the direction of my career.
"I think the future will see us focusing on the human side of things, so I as a designer, believe we need to think about the future regarding how we can be more human and design in a more human way..."
This was the conclusion I reached when talking about the next 15 years of our industry, it needs to be more human. Its also the big reason behind why I decided to become a teacher, and why I'm opening Menschen. My realization was that design needs to be more human, and weirdly we need to be more human also. Its a dichotomy, on one side technology keeps advancing everyday and we, with it, on another we need drastically to be more human, empathize more and have more compassion.
With this said being a teacher is amazing, I get to do what I love, and I also get to share it with my students. Everyday. Its a really nice gig for those like me, that love to talk about design.
Although as I said I love teaching I still am a designer at heart, I love client work. The routine of dealing with client projects is one that really makes me happy. For the past few months I moved into freelancing as more odd jobs happened to stumble my way, through word of mouth and usually a friend of a friend. One of the projects I'm fairly proud of was the branding for the take away restaurant RG2, created for the girlfriend of my best friend. I'm proud because the project was really cool, but also, because it was developed in a human way, no big corporate bs, just honest people trying to create an honest local business. I think it was Aaron Draplin that talked about working with the little guys, the friend of a friend, and those that need help. I always liked that idea.
I'm not saying that I don't love big corporate projects. I just don't value businesses and people who aren't human. Behind a company, behind a business, there's people, they are the heart of the operation. Most branding and marketing these days completely forget that, we've become too used to seeing numbers rise instead of the people behind them, and that makes for generic marketing materials and a generic company with no heart. This was the reason I left my job, because what I was doing as a designer was not human, it didn't had any heart. Its also why Menschen is being created, because, personally, I think we have a lot of design studios/agencies that are too deep into this system and forget that design is made by humans for humans. So, my vow with Menschen is to create a design studio where we will be doing first and foremost Human to Human design.
what are my worries?
Look, I know I'm here kind of glorifying the idea of creating a design studio but the truth is I don't know a lot about the process of actually creating one. I'm just a dreamer, who likes to dream really high. People usually say that "the sky is the limit", I really don't believe that idea when humanity has already been on the moon. "The limit is beyond the sky" is my proposal for a quote update.
My idea with the Notes section of my personal website is to share the process of going from A to B, besides the other type of stuff I may write about. Its not a straight line and hopefully what I share with you here will be of help for those creating service based businesses.
I have a very big fear of failure, but we miss 100% of the chances we don't take.
My greatest fear is failure. I have to adapt to it, but what if I fail, what if it doesn't work? Is my dream over? As I've said before I moved to the Netherlands in 2024, it was a huge step, I left a fairly safe job to pursue something I didn't knew would work, but it was my dream. I would for the rest of my life regret to have not at least tried. Its the same now, I will try, I will document it and hopefully it isn't a failure. If it is well, I would regret to not have tried.
That's really about all I have to say for now, I'm currently as we speak working on the branding of the studio and business plan, the biggest challenge on my head is how do I get clients. Thankfully I have a fairly decent network of people willing to help out. For motivation, showing my students nothing is impossible and that Human to Human design is the future is enough motivation for a lifetime.
