India Pearce

India Pearce is a London based designer and art director who, alongside her role in the advertising agency VaynerMedia, works passionately to support and showcase young creatives through instagram platform FreshMeet and the London chapter of The Design Kids. Conscious of the important role designers play in teaching and inspiring the next generation of talent, she is an ardent advocate of mentoring.

Together with her colleagues, Anoushka Schellekens and Curtis Reeve, India organises talks, workshops and competitions aimed at helping emerging talent to bridge the gap between graduation and landing their first job. They have partnered with big names such as  JKR, Adobe and Design Bridge. 2020 proved to be a particularly challenging time for new creatives with degree shows and industry events cancelled on account of the pandemic. However, thanks to the support of many UK universities, design studios and advertising agencies, FreshMeet successfully created ‘The Nationwide Degree Show’, an initiative that saw the work of 46 students showcased on billboards across Britain. An exciting alternative to the ‘traditional’ in-person degree show, India describes seeing this campaign process through as an amazing experience: ‘The support we had for the project was overwhelming, with over £100k’s worth of media space donated to make it happen.’

India’s creative journey started when she studied illustration at the University of Edinburgh. She moved to London after graduation and began freelancing as a graphic designer in advertising agencies. Her agency experience allows her to adapt easily to many different visual styles and she describes herself as a bit of a ‘visual chameleon’. India believes the key ingredients to a successful project are to have plenty of room for experimentation and discovery, as well as  curiosity and collaboration. ‘Limiting yourself too early on is going to limit your output. Draw inspiration from your experimentation and let that inform the nature of the project.’

India’s had many female role models during her life and career, from her hard-working mum to female Creative Directors – all of whom have inspired her and helped her understand the industry and how to navigate it. She believes too much importance is placed on the achievement of senior roles as a measure of success and that success in the creative industries can be defined in many ways: ‘Let’s celebrate the creatives who disappear from the ladder… the ones who deviate into teaching and inspire the next generation, the ones who drop out to go freelance… the creatives who stop work to write a book or become keynote speakers. We need to redesign what it looks like to succeed in the creative industry.’

We caught up with India to find out more about her career path, her experiences as a woman working in design, and her advice for new and emerging creatives.

How did you first become interested in working as a designer and art director?

After a brief stint working in an architect’s office at the age of 16, I swiftly decided that architecture wasn’t for me. Very stuffy, super quiet! After that I was at a bit of a loss; I knew I wanted to do something creative, but the art department at my school was lacking so I flipped and studied computer science with coding, mathematics with mechanics and English Literature. It was an interesting mix for someone hoping to pursue a creative career, but I managed to get onto the illustration course at the University of Edinburgh. I use everything I learnt there now in my career as a designer, even though it wasn’t the straightest path in the world!

Describe your career path and how you got to where you are now.

One of the things  I liked most about my time at Edinburgh was that our tutors really encouraged us to work on live briefs. My final hand-in was a selection of projects that I’d been working on with external clients and collaborators, so I left University with a solid foot in the real world for which I’m very thankful.

I moved straight to London. There was no job lined up and looking back I’m not even sure I had a vague plan, but I started freelancing. At one point I was covering in an advertising agency for a designer who was visiting family abroad and she never came back, so I stayed! I was really thrown in at the deep end, but I appreciate everything I learnt at Gravity Road. I was able to experiment with a lot of different styles of work across many different platforms. I now work in the London Office of an American advertising agency, VaynerMedia, which is going through an amazing period of growth right now.

In tandem to this, I was asked to start running the London wing of The Design Kids. Together with two absolute creative gems (Charlotte and Anoushka) — who I am lucky enough to call my colleagues–we organise a suite of talks, workshops and competitions for creative graduates aimed at bridging the gap between graduation and ‘the real world’. We’ve partnered with some big names, such as JKR, Adobe and Design Bridge, to bring inspiration and motivation to graduates across the UK. Nowadays we run that all through the FreshMeet Instagram, with Curtis Reeve rounding us up to 4. Last summer you might have seen some of our billboard campaign across the UK. We’re really looking forward to TDK picking back up as lockdown lifts.

How have you developed your visual style over your career and have there been any pivotal moments?

I am a visual chameleon. I don’t really have my own style. I’ve worked on so many brands across so many industries that I’ve learnt to be flexible. What works with one of my clients doesn’t play-ball at all with another. But across my work there are a few concurrent themes such as a love of type, a love of white-space, and a surprising amount of colour!

Where do you get your inspiration from and how do you approach a new project?

Experimentation. I had a very vague idea for a new project recently, and before I had really put too much thought into it I was already testing out which mediums worked on a new surface. Limiting yourself too early on is going to limit your output. Draw inspiration from your experimentation and let that inform the nature of the project.

Can you yell us about a favourite project that you’ve worked on and why it’s important to you.

The Nationwide Degree Show. There’s not much of my design in this project, just some simple layouts and type work, but this fully self-initiated project was an absolute blast to work on. Working with Charlotte Weyer and Anoushka Schellekens, I crafted this in response to the cancellation of many degree shows across the UK in 2020. I’ve had my work appear across billboards in London, in the Guardian, and even shown in Times Square, New York. But seeing this campaign process through, myself, was an amazing experience. The support we had for the project was overwhelming, with over £100k’s worth of media space donated to make it happen.

How would you describe yourself as a designer and your design approach?

The Collaborator. My work is at its best when I can bounce ideas around the table, working with copywriters, developers and artists. You can achieve so much more as a team than you ever could in isolation.

How has being a woman impacted your career?

My mother is a pragmatic and ambitious woman, who at the end of her career was awarded an MBE for her tireless efforts in the education sector. She was the main breadwinner in our family and because of this, until I entered the creative industry, I was largely unaware of the impact gender could have on a career.

I’ve left roles, and made decisions about new roles, because of the experiences I have had as a woman. I’ve been disappointed in the treatment of and by my colleagues on too many occasions. It’s a token that weighs heavily on my career whether I want it to or not. I don’t believe that my career is limited because of my identity, but I do believe that I might have to work harder to carve that space for myself.

There has been lots of discussion in the design industry around the gender pay gap and how few women progress into senior positions such as Creative Directors and CEOs. Have you experienced this yourself and do you have any thoughts on how we can counteract this imbalance?

Firstly, I believe we need to stop placing so much importance on the job roles of CD, ECD and CEO. They are the job roles at the top of a very limited ladder. Let’s celebrate the creatives who disappear from the ladder — the ones who deviate into teaching and inspire the next generation, the ones who drop out to go freelance and earn way more than CDs as freelance consultants. Let’s celebrate the creatives who stop work to write a book and become keynote speakers. We need to redesign what it looks like to succeed in the creative industry. There simply aren’t enough CD roles around for us to make achieving them the sole measure of success.

Secondly, I have witnessed and experienced many forms of sexism in the design and creative industries. Disappointingly, I’ve seen women in leadership positions work against the gender pay gap. But I’ve also seen agencies take tangible and realistic steps towards levelling the playing field. There is still a monumental amount of groundwork to be done. If 63% of design students are female, then why are only 17% of leadership roles filled by women?

Do you have any female role models or mentors who have shaped your career?

My first Creative Director, Shruti Veeramachineni (now at BBH) and Chloe Templeman, Creative Director at Design Bridge, have both shaped my outlook on what it’s like to work in the creative industries. They’re two very talented creatives in fairly different fields who have helped open my eyes. With also a shout out to Sarah Ellis, co-author of the book and podcast Squiggly Careers. I worked briefly with Sarah in the agency world; she puts amazing work into redefining what success looks like and creating new benchmarks for careers across the industry.

Do you have any words of advice for women considering a career in the design industry today?

Take all the aid you can get. Sign up to every mentoring platform, go to every keynote talk, and network your way into a job. Job applications are hard, and just because you’re not good at the application or the interview it doesn’t mean you won’t be good at the job.  In the creative industries, the one skill you need above all others is resilience because everything we create is completely subjective, and unfortunately you’ll hear the word ‘no’ more often than you’d like. You can do it. And ping me a message on instagram if you need a hand.

Inspiration shout outs:

• Shruti Veeramachineni, Design Director
• Chloe Templeman, Creative Director
• Peony Gent, Illustrator