Dani Molyneux aka Dotto Studio in conversation with Helen Tong
Shillington graduate Helen Tong is one of our collaborators on the DesignbyWomen platform. She recently chatted to Dani Molyneux of Dotto Studio to gain an insight into her interest in creating expressive typography, working on community projects, and advice for new designers. Wanting to find out more about Dani’s experience working as a woman within the design industry, they also discuss gender inequality and co-hosting Ladies Wine Design Manchester.
With a love for language, Dani Molyneux is a talented typographic artist and designer based in Manchester UK. Having worked at various studios and agencies across the country as a designer and art director, she set up Dotto Studio in 2017 and now works primarily with clients within the arts and culture sector. Dani’s playful yet beautifully crafted typography is often at the forefront of her work. She is an expert at exploring and experimenting with type to illustrate the concept behind a project or piece.
Alongside running her own studio, Dani’s also passionate about community engagement and giving back. She co-hosted the Manchester chapter of Ladies, Wine & Design with Tali Cahani from 2017 until October last year. Having attended an initial session, Dani was drawn to the honest conversations women were able to have with each other about their experiences within the industry and being able to openly ask questions about things they hadn’t felt able to before. Providing a space where women from all backgrounds and ages could connect was a huge motivator behind organising the events, “there was this circle of benefit and you realise you’re not just helping people, they’re helping you too… there are so many good people out there and many put themselves forward to do a talk or workshop, and the things we were able to take away from those were really valuable.”
Going into 2021, Dani has another exciting project in the works with Penny Lee and Tali Cahani — The How. Starting this March with ‘How to… Spring’, which is a seasonal membership providing a pandemic power up for creatives in business. The project is looking to explore questions and issues surrounding topics, such as work culture and societal change. There are sessions and workshops run by experts providing insight and actionable steps for everyone, as Dani tells us, “it’s still early days at the moment and we are building it up quite slowly and trying things out. Gauging what people want and need in the current moment. With Tali and I previously running LW&D and Penny who previously ran CreativeMornings/Sheffield, we all want to keep up something that brings people together in a practical way, where they can go forwards with some useful and actionable pointers at the end of it.”
In keeping with her ethos of giving back, Dani has recently been holding 1-to-1 chats with students and new graduates, regularly providing, tips and advice on making connections and entering the industry. Looking back, she remembers wanting the perfect job after graduating but having now spent years working in the design industry in a number of different roles, she recognises the value and benefits of every new experience, “things like client management, time management, budgeting, how to do a meeting, how to speak to a client or account manager. I don’t think I noticed that initially, but all of those things made a huge difference to the designer I was able to become.”
She believes that making connections and getting involved with creative and community events is a great way of getting your name out there and adding to your experience, both things which will really help when applying for jobs. Dani also highly recommends working on personal projects, “it’s really valuable and whilst it’s important not to pressure yourself, it’s also great to have that time to experiment and not worry too much about what it is you’re creating. It helps with your sanity as you’re doing something you enjoy but it could also lead to other things…”
Helen caught up with Dani to find out more about her experiences as a woman within the industry and the projects she’s been working on.
What is it that you love about typography and made you want to become a typographic artist and designer?
I’ve always loved language. And the way words can make you feel something. I read a lot and sometimes a specific word or sentence properly jumps out. Same with music or a good film. You remember certain phrases or lyrics. They can move you or remind you of something awesome or sad even. Words have power. And typography creates those words as image. I mean, graphic designers have always worked with type. More recently I wanted to explore how I could push that to be more experimental and expressive. And then bring those elements into my practice.
Can you tell us about your career path of how you got to where you are now?
Similar to a lot of people, my career has taken a winding path. I always wanted to be a fashion designer and hadn’t even heard of graphic design until I was on my Art Foundation course. My tutor suggested I might like it and he was right! I studied at Leeds College of Art & Design (now Leeds Arts University) and after a bunch of work placements and internships I got my first job at a design studio called Sheppard Day in London. I worked in London for a few years before moving back up north. I then worked as a designer/art director in a few agencies and had my last full-time job for five years at Uniform in Liverpool. I’ve worked within different disciplines, from corporate comms, packaging and branding – branding being where I found my feet and enjoyed the most. I took some short time out of agency life when I had my daughter, which is what led me to jump into freelancing. I worked for a few years freelancing in-house at various agencies before setting up Dotto and building up my own client base. Which brings us more or less to where I am now! Dotto will be 4 in April. Eek.
Is there a favourite project that you’ve worked on and why is it important to you?
At the moment, my favourite project is my ongoing ‘Tiny Guide + City Series’. It’s important to me as it’s a hugely personal project and totally selfish. I spend most of my time working on jobs for clients or commissions so carving out some time to be frivolous and playful for its own purpose is hugely valuable and rewarding. It’s enabled me to experiment with my style too. On that note, I’m working on a new personal project based on memories which I’m really enjoying. Looking forward to getting that out into the world soon.
“When you’re creating something purely for its own sake, it means you can’t get held back by any constraints (apart from yourself). It’s also given me a bit of an extra push to make sure I keep some time to experiment in my work schedule – something I have previously found really difficult to do.”
Personal projects don’t have to be some big meaningful campaign, you can just make something fun. One of my clients, who I’d been working with for a while were looking for a new agency and commissioned me for some editorial work after seeing the ‘Tiny Guide’ project. Things feed off each other and you don’t always realise how they will turn out, which is why it’s important to have that time to experiment and not worry about the outcome.
There has been lots of discussion in the design industry around the gender pay gap and how few women progress into senior positions. Have you experienced this yourself and do you have any thoughts on how we can counteract this imbalance?
Yes. Looking back, I can think of countless subtle things that knock confidence. Which in turn has had an effect on progression such as being talked over in meetings or suggesting an idea, only to have a male colleague take the credit. The usual little things that chip away. I noticed more blatant issues after having a kid. I was once offered a junior design position, which I was ridiculously over-qualified for, by an agency as they assumed I ‘would want less stress now’. And hearing the phrase, ‘but you’re a mum now’ as if that means I have chucked any skills and brain cells away in the process. I can’t imagine these things being said to a bloke for example. It’s pretty demoralising. I mean, there are lots of dads in senior leadership teams with no issue at all. In fact, I sometimes used to hide the fact that I had a child when starting a new freelance position just to avoid the crappy assumptions that went alongside it.
In terms of correcting the imbalance, and in the words of Cindy Gallop, I would say hiring, welcoming and promoting the talent you want to see. She’s talking specifically about Black talent and creating a more representative inclusive industry. Role modelling and having a more diverse senior team, (in leadership and at board level) in all ways, means that you don’t end up with homogeneous creative agencies, where people basically re-hire versions of themselves.
“I’m also a big advocate of flexible working for all. When it’s only focused on women with kids, there becomes an immediate divide and even resentment. Every individual would benefit from flexibility and therefore it creates a happier healthier team.”
Things are improving though, there are many amazing women-run agencies now and more places to choose from to work. For example, Edit_ in Manchester run by Karen Hughes and Kadija Kapacee, and Angela Roche that runs Design by Day. Both are really good places. Initiatives like Ladies Wine and Design and Kerning the Gap (amongst others) have got people’s attention with more agencies wanting to get involved in the conversation and people now have a bit more awareness of the issues. Additionally, I think younger women will tolerate a lot less. My generation got used to a certain level of chauvinism, but it wouldn’t be acceptable now.
In your experience, do you think there is equality and diversity across the creative industries today?
Nope. No way. I’d say that this past year has given the industry a bit of a jolt. But there’s some way to go. This is why movements like Black Lives Matter and Me Too are so important to keep shaking people up and getting them to re-evaluate systems. It’s so easy to fall into familiar patterns. It takes work to change things that are so engrained, but it’s vital we do.
What was it that made you want to co-host Ladies Wine Design Manchester and what were the positives you gained from organising the event?
We made a lot of connections through LWD, there are so many good people out there and many would put themselves forward to run workshops or give talks. For example, Lauren Kelly who runs Behaviour Design, ran some amazing workshops and it was really valuable what people took away from them. We did have ups and downs, as it was a lot to organise, but you get a bit of a buzz when you see the benefits. It was about creating a place where women can chat without fear of saying the wrong thing or it getting back to their boss. I was drawn to it because I’d been working for quite a long time in male-dominated environments, and I realised I hadn’t had that space outside of work to talk about these things because a lot of my friends weren’t in the creative industry. If you’re talking to people in the same industry as you, it really helps. Having my daughter gave me a bit of kick too, all this sexism stuff you think should have been resolved by now. It’s a little bit boring that we still have to talk about these issues. But we really do — I don’t want her to reach 20 and still be having the same conversations we’re having.
With the pandemic and lockdown 3.0 – how have you been coping and what are the things you’ve taken away from the current situation?
It’s definitely changed things. I work a lot with clients in the arts and culture sector and the first thing that happened when the pandemic hit in March was that type of work just dropped off the cliff. Initially, like so many people in similar situations, I felt panic – how am I going to do this, how am I going to navigate the home-schooling situation, and what’s going to happen?
One of the main things that have changed for me in response to the current situation is that I’ve become a lot stricter with boundaries and my time. I can be a bit of a workaholic, always looking for things to work on and not good at taking time out. It’s trying to balance things that are important and that resonate with me. It’s just flipped everything around a bit and allowed space to re-prioritise things. We were on a bit of a treadmill before, and I think a lot of good will come from it. I know it’s the industry and there are often tight deadlines but it’s people imposing deadlines, nothing bad is going to happen if we take a bit longer to do things.
Can you tell us bit about your project The How, the ethos behind it and how it’s come about as a response to the pandemic in 2020?
Sure! Penny used to run Creative Mornings in Sheffield, and Tali and myself LW&D Manchester. We started having regular zoom catch ups throughout the first lockdown, wondering if we could create something that addressed some of the things we were experiencing. These conversations led to what we wanted to do. Every time we spoke, we discussed issues we’d come up against for example, how we wanted change or how we thought things could be done differently. And so, our ethos is to ask questions, whether that be about the future of work culture, active anti-racism or a more human and kinder approach in general. And what that might look like. We’ll bring in experts and draw on their valuable insight, leaving our community with a working toolkit. It will be seasonal (so Spring/Summer 21 will be our first proper sessions). And open to everyone. It’s going to be slow and gentle, no hustling or stress.
“…our ethos is to ask questions, whether that be about the future of work culture, active anti-racism, or a more human and kinder approach in general. And what that might look like.
Do you have any advice for new designers on how to approach looking for jobs in the current climate, or for those have found them – how to approach their first role in the industry?
One thing I would say is that when I was starting out, I wanted this really perfect job and that’s difficult to achieve straightaway. I had this idea in my head that I wanted to work for this top agency and work on amazing projects. But even in the best agencies you just don’t do that all the time, you still have a lot of mundane day-to-day stuff. Wherever you work there are benefits, you might not be doing your ideal job straight away but there are many other things you can take out of it. It might sound boring, but things like client management, time management, budgeting, meetings, speaking to clients or account management. Initially I didn’t realise that all of those things would make a huge difference to the designer I became.
Taking part in things and getting involved with community and creative events will get your name out to people. I think now it’s easier for graduates to make themselves stand out by utilising social media. When you get in touch with someone or apply for roles, you can say look I’ve got all of these things going on. You can do sense checks with other new designers, have conversations about what it’s like where you’re working and there are Slack groups so you can talk to each other. That’s really valuable so you’re not kind of like after doing all this education you’re thrown into the world on your own. I think keeping connections with people is super important, it’s probably the most valuable thing of all.
One final thing is personal projects, everyone bangs on about it – it’s really valuable. Whilst it’s important not to pressure yourself and don’t try and force it but I believe it’s important to give yourself some time to work out the things you would like to do. It also helps with your sanity, especially if you’re working on quite dry client projects. If you’re doing something slowly, it’s good for you to create a body of work you can get satisfaction from.
Any final thoughts to share for women considering a career in the design industry today?
I’d say that you need grit and determination. And you need to keep practicing—we are always a work in progress. Build community—and draw on that for inspiration and support. Give back that inspiration and support to others. You might not always notice at the time, but it will come back to you.
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