Co-Founder and Creative Director of graphic design practice Narrate, Rachel Long-Smith is an inspirational designer who specialises in beautifully crafted projects primarily for the arts, culture, fashion and not-for-profit sectors. Successfully shaping her career on her own terms, she often collaborates with other women and is a strong advocate for women’s equality in the creative industries.
Rachel’s recently launched the podcast, Making It: In Design, a series of interviews with women and gender non-conforming creatives, who have made it to senior positions in the industry. So far, the line-up has included Caterina Bianchini and Marina Willer, amongst many other great features, and focuses on women’s career journeys, challenges they face along the way and how they’ve overcome them. The aim is to inspire and encourage women to develop in their careers and to make the design industry a more diverse and inclusive place. As Rachel tells us: “There is a concerning lack of gender diversity, especially when you look at senior positions. I wanted to try and do something about this”.
After attending university in Norwich, she completed an MA in Graphic Design at London College of Communication before deciding to look for a job in a design studio in London. Unable to get her foot in the door despite may job applications, Rachel decided to create something that would make her work stand out. She designed a printed mailer that showcased her branding and print skills and sent it out to almost 50 studios, The tactic worked and she landed her first position as a Junior Designer. In addition, she made many good contacts in the industry that proved invaluable in the first few years of her career.
After working for several years in the design industry and gaining a wide range of experience, Rachel decided to set up her own studio and in 2015 co-founded Narrate with Kelly Barrow. Kelly now runs her own studio, but they still collaborate a lot in what Rachel describes as a strong and supportive creative relationship: “We just work really well together and have a great working relationship… Neither of us is precious about our work and we’re also very open so everything is very collaborative… I really believe that collaboration produces the best work”.
A recent project developed by Narrate in collaboration with Kelly Barrow, is the identity for the exhibition ‘Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945’. This project combined Rachel’s passion for the arts, with the opportunity to celebrate women artist’s and give them the recognition they deserve. The visual identity aptly features the beautiful ‘Marguerite’ typeface designed by Charlotte Rhodes, paired with bold colours and elegant layouts, with all the elements working seamlessly together across printed assets and exhibition design.
Rachel’s personal experiences as a woman in the creative industries have shaped the decisions she’s made and brought her where she is now. Since starting out as a junior designer, in an industry that can sometimes feel like a ‘boys club’, she become increasingly passionate about women’s equality. She’s worked hard towards making a difference through mentoring young women, giving talks, and most recently launching the podcast Making It: In Design – all of which are proof of her passion and determination. We can’t wait to see what’s next in the pipeline!
We caught up with Rachel, to find out more about how she carved her career path, co-founded her own design practice and the benefits of a collaborative creative process.
Can you tell us a bit about your career path and how you ended up founding your own design practice: Narrate Studio?
So, my career path hasn’t been that straight forward. At 23 years old and after a fair few jobs, mainly working in shops and pubs, I decided that I wanted a career in the arts and figured that graphic design could be a fun thing to do. I got an interview at Norwich Art School (now Norwich University of the Arts) and was absolutely gutted when I didn’t get in. I was advised to apply for the FDA in Graphic Communication instead, which was just a 2-year course. I was accepted for this and subsequently went straight on to study for an MA in Graphic Design at the London College of Communication.
Once I had completed the course, I started looking for jobs. I thought because I had a masters it was going to be easy; I never imagined quite how difficult it would be. I was applying for jobs that were advertised but didn’t get anywhere. I also couldn’t afford to live and do unpaid internships (there weren’t really paid ones at the time) so after five months of the job search struggle I concluded that I needed to do something different to stand out. There were quite a lot of studios that I wanted to work at, so I decided to approach them directly. I loved branding and print so I branded myself and created a printed mailer that showcased my skills and sent this out to nearly 50 studios. This got me quite a bit of interest and an interview for a job as a Junior Designer at Three Fish in a Tree which I got. After working there for around six months, I was laid off due to lack of work. I decided to email all the studios I’d contacted previously, letting them know I now had six months experience. Within a couple of days, I had an interview for a junior role at LONO Creative – they said they loved my mailer and had kept hold of it – I went for the interview, got the job, and worked there for nearly four years.
It got to the point where I was leading on a lot of projects, working closely with clients and had learned so much from the people around me, that I felt confident enough to do it for myself. But I didn’t want to launch a studio completely by myself, so I put out an advert on the Its Nice That ‘if you could’ jobs board to find someone to partner with. I really thought ‘everyone’s going to laugh at me’ and think it lame that I didn’t know anyone to set up a studio with, but I was amazed by the number of replies. I narrowed them down to three people and decided to first meet up with Kelly Barrow. We had a few drinks together and just got on really well and I decided not to meet with the other people. Within a couple of months we had quit our jobs and started Narrate with no clients or work!
For about six months we both had to do some part-time freelance work in other studios whilst working on smaller low-paid projects to build our portfolio. Then enough work started to come in that we could go full time on Narrate.
Your portfolio includes several brilliant visual identities for art and cultural institutions and exhibitions. What do you particularly enjoy about these projects?
I love arts and culture, the experience that you get from it and the positive impact it has on society. It’s great to be able to work with nice, interesting content and produce things that are considered beautiful. However, it’s also important to me that there’s a level of practicality that goes alongside the visual beauty, and one of the challenges I particularly enjoy during the creative process is thinking about how the design can be accessible while still have an interesting aesthetic.
We love your project for the Arts Council Collection ‘Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945’. How did you approach this project and what did your creative process look like?
This has been one of the largest and most exciting projects I’ve worked on so far. I collaborated with Kelly Barrow on this one and it’s been an enjoyable process.
I approached this project in a similar way to most brand identity projects, which starts with getting as much information as possible from the client, then undertaking further research and reading around the themes of the project. I developed ideas which evolved from the initial research, writing notes on what could work visually to get the concepts across effectively, whilst ensuring they were in line with the main aims of the brief. During this stage, I also started collecting references for potential typefaces and colours and exploring how this could all come together. It was at this point that I decided that I really wanted to use a typeface designed by a woman because it felt like an important thing to do. I had recently come across the typeface designer Charlotte Rohde and realised that her typeface ‘Marguerite’ would be perfect, so I used it across both design options.
As this project was a collaboration with Kelly Barrow, we decided that initially I would lead on the design work for the visual direction and come up with some ideas, that we would then get together and discuss. So, we chatted through my initial workings and decided which two ideas we wanted to develop further to show to the client. From this point we had an open dialogue throughout the whole process and were constantly in contact, sharing our work and ideas to ensure that we were both happy with the outcome.
During the project I got a bit stuck with one of the concepts, so Kelly picked it up and developed it further, which really made it work. We then presented the two routes to the client from which they choose their preferred option and gave us feedback. Luckily, they loved the work and wanted only a few minor changes, so we just developed the direction in line with this. Once the client was happy with the concept and designs, we started to roll it out across all the assets needed. We split this part up so we each did a similar amount of collaborating as we went.
You often collaborate with Kelly Barrow. How did this relationship come about and what are the benefits of working together on projects?
Kelly and I founded Narrate studio together back in 2015. She now runs her own studio, but we often collaborate on projects.
I find it so beneficial working with other people plus, I find Kelly really inspirational. She’s very conceptual and just an amazing designer.I’ve learned so much from working with her and we work really well together and have a great working relationship. Neither of us is precious about our work and we’re also very open so everything is very collaborative. For example, if I am designing something and I can’t get it to work, I’ll send the file to her, and she’ll develop it and vice versa. We talk things through all the time, which I find really helpful especially when I’m doubting myself. It means I spend less time thinking about the problems and more time getting on with it. I really believe that collaboration produces the best work.
Could you tell us about a favourite project that you’ve worked on and why it’s important to you?
My favourite project has been the exhibition ‘Breaking the Mould: Sculpture by Women since 1945’ that Kelly and I worked on for the Arts Council Collection. The exhibition’s aim was to rewrite the narrative around women in the art and give them the platform they deserve, which is a subject that I feel passionate about. I particularly enjoy working on projects that focus on issues that have a positive impact on society and having the opportunity to work on an important and exciting project, like this one, and give it the identity it deserves was a great experience.
I also believe we produced a strong piece of work, which I think comes across because of the real passion behind it.
Why did you start the ‘Making It: In Design’ podcast and where do you hope to take the podcast in the future?
Something I’m passionate about is supporting and empowering women in the industry. There is a concerning lack of gender diversity especially when you look at senior positions, so I wanted to try and do something about this. I was doing lots of mentoring, but I felt there must be a way to reach more women. So, I came up with the idea to do a podcast where I interview women, and gender non-conforming people, about how they got to where they are today, barriers they have faced and how they overcame them. The hope is that the podcast will inspire and encourage others and ultimately make the design industry a more inclusive and diverse place.
Actually, I don’t know where I’m taking it. I haven’t really planned ahead; I just knew that it was something I wanted to do. At the moment, it’s still pretty new and I’m still learning a lot but the main thing I want is for it to be a helpful resource, as well as being a fun and insightful listen. It’s already made it to number four in the design podcast charts, which is exciting, and I’ve had so many messages from people saying how helpful and enjoyable they have found it, which really makes my day. I also love that fact that I am speaking with women and hearing their stories, many of which have not been heard before – providing a platform for their experiences to be heard is important to me.
How has being a woman impacted your career?
Being a woman, I feel like I’ve had to work harder to prove myself. When I was younger, starting out , there weren’t many female role models in design who were visible, so it was harder to imagine that I could progress to a senior role. But I also think that this lack of visibility made we want to succeed more. I always worked under male seniors, and it got to a point where I didn’t agree with a lot of the ways that they were leading the projects; this pushed me to start my own studio and lead in a way that I want.
I wouldn’t say that I’m a stereotypically feminine woman, and I feel like I probably have some stereotypically masculine traits. I’m quite forward and if I want something, I’ll really push for it. But I think one trait which I hear a lot of women talking about is self-doubt and this is definitely something that I struggle with. I have learnt how to deal with it by surrounding myself with other designers whose opinion I trust, ones with whom I can collaborate and share my ideas.
Do you have any words of advice for women just beginning a career in the design industry?
Firstly, just go for it! Working in design is great and can be really rewarding. It also has a community of supportive and fun people and there are groups for women like Ladies Wine and Design that is so worth being a part of.
Getting into the industry is really difficult for everyone at the moment, so don’t be disheartened if you initially find it a struggle. If you’re trying to get a job you really need to do something that will make you stand out. Everyone applies for the same jobs and just sends an email so think about what you can do to be different.
Something I often hear women taking about is lack of confidence, whether this is in interviews, applying for jobs or sharing work. Firstly, this is something that everybody struggles with at some point in their career so try not to let it get to you. Confidence will come with practice and being prepared is the best thing you can do. If you’re going to an interview practice answering questions with your mates, family or anyone that will listen. Practice showing your work to others and getting feedback from fellow designers. It all helps.
Having a mentor can also be valuable. They can help you in so many ways with specific issues or challenges you are facing and there are lots of schemes out there. Those I have mentored for include The Arena: The A Team, She Says: Who’s your momma and Kerning the Gap.
