When I first started out, the studio I worked in had extremely long hours. It was both mentally and physically challenging. The directors were demanding and there was a lot of work to be done. In retrospect, those years were well spent. It has taught me a lot. From how to use short cut keys, to conceptualising within a short time frame, professional practises and print production. Basically, it accelerated my growth as a designer.
The official story — We named our studio Darling with the objective to have close relationships with our clients (just like that of a lover). We believe that the success of each and every project was built on these close-knitted relationships, which helps us to create works with depth. Also, we felt that creating artworks is akin to having relationships — being overly attached marbles the judgment of what is achievable while being detached leads to sub-standard works.
The real story — it took us a while thinking of a name for our studio and while browsing through a book — “Never Use White Type On A Black Background”, we played “Russian roulette” and pointed to the word, “Darling”. That became our first challenge as a branding studio, we adopted the name and built a brand story around it.
It always great to have our works selected, designed and realised. To see them freshly printed and produced gives us a sense of pride and definitely perks us up. On the other hand, losing a pitch is devastating.
and the list goes on…
Rule 1: A good attitude
Rule 2: A good attitude
Rule 3: A good attitude
Yes, we do take interns.
The best piece of advice I’ve got was from my creative director when I first started out as a designer - “Are you sure you’re a designer? Do you know your works are shit?”
Website: darling.sg
Instagram: @darling_studio