Nicole Tan is a designer, art director and illustrator based in London. After six years at 1000heads agency, working her way up from Junior Designer to Design Director, Nicole launched herself freelance at the beginning of 2021. Her work is heavily influenced by her Chinese-Malaysian background and love for Chinese culture. She likes to bring a little surprise and delight into the world through design, illustration, and storytelling, often taking inspiration from nostalgia, emotive connections, and everyday observations. Her vibrant and well-crafted portfolio of work is full of sumptuous colour and playfulness.
Having faced challenges as a woman working in the design industry and struggled with confidence – especially when it came to leadership roles – Nicole believes that exposure to other women leaders and underrepresented creatives through various platforms has helped overcome her self-doubt. As she tells us: “I’ve had the opportunity to work with other women and seen more women spotlighted in leadership roles in the industry. This has shown me that being an introvert ESEA woman doesn’t have to block success in senior leadership. Leadership can come in all shapes and sizes from persons with different backgrounds and.”
We caught up with Nicole to find out more about her creative process, experiences, and thoughts on creating a more equal and diverse design industry.
Can you tell us about your career path and how you got to where you are now?
I studied at Nottingham Trent University and from there my love for graphic design took concrete form. I started out as an in-house designer for fashion and e-commerce, but my true goal at the time was to break into the agency world. I ended up at an agency in Soho for six years. Working up the ladder from Junior Designer to Design Director, I had a great opportunity to learn the ropes and work across different clients from hair and beauty to tech to alcohol. After six years, I took a leap of faith and launched as a freelancer so as to pursue more personal projects and get back to the core of my love for design, namely making things.
How has your visual style developed in the course of your career? Have there been any pivotal moments?
A visual style can be quite personal, and I find that mine has developed as I learn from different projects and collaboration with other creatives. I’ve only really delved into my personal style and reflected on what I want to do in the last year since freelancing. It’s been great fun to experiment and see where I can take it. Working on illustrations like Malaysia Nostalgia and Chinese Foodies of IG 100 for Celestial Peach’s project allowed me to explore my style and love of food in illustration.
Where do you get your inspiration and how do you approach a new project?
Projects can start in various processes. They may start with a spark that burns slowly over days or months before igniting into something tangible. In other cases time is not a luxury. I always find that upfront concepts and research very important before diving right in. I love getting inspired in ideation sessions, seeing different creative minds at work and sharing different perspectives. Inspiration can come from the usual suspects like social, design websites etc. to more surprising places like an old sign en route to getting a cuppa. I love a mood board, collecting visuals and seeing how the concept weaves into the visual meaning and the purpose behind the design.
For my illustration, I take inspiration from nostalgia, emotive connections and everyday observations. I particularly like observing light refractions and love bringing them into my illustration work.
What aspect of the creative process do you most look forward to and why?
I find the creative process very interesting. It is never a linear process and more like a squiggle. Although I’ve been going through the process for over 10 years I still feel the same angst and sense of being an imposter and being not good enough. I’d get very excited by a new brief, it’s the unknown but also an explosion of all the potential concepts at the same time. I love exploring concepts and creating meanings for the art/creative direction. The next stage – experimenting and executing – is usually where I particularly process feelings of angst. I push through this squiggly creative process and come out the other side with a sense relief that I am getting somewhere, that it is all going to be okay.
“I find the creative process very interesting. It is never a linear process and more like a squiggle.”
Tell us about a favourite project that you’ve worked on and why it’s important to you.
A recent project I worked on was for Lunar New Year 2022, ‘The Lai See Canvas’ in February. Surprisingly it wasn’t about the creative process but the purpose and the outcome. I teamed up with The Steam Room to create red envelopes (that in the ESEA culture, people give to friends and family to share good luck for the start of the new year). The Lai See Canvas were essentially a canvas for people to personalise their own at workshops held at The Canvas Cafe. This became a social gathering in a community space to celebrate the new year together in a slightly different fashion. All the proceeds went towards Hackney Chinese Community Services to give back to the community. It has been one of my favourite projects as I saw how much it meant to people to come together as a community and celebrate their common culture.
How has being a woman impacted your career?
I have found it very challenging to be a woman in this industry, particularly during my stint in a leadership role. Whilst I had dreamt of becoming a Design Director and providing my team with creative tools and guidance as to collaboration, I found it difficult to sustain an extravert persona and found I was often comparing myself with the other mostly male senior leaders in the company. Since then, I have had the opportunity to work with other women and seen more women in prominent leadership roles in the industry. This has shown me that being an introvert ESEA woman doesn’t have to impact on success in senior leadership roles. That leadership can come in all shapes and sizes from persons with different backgrounds.
“I have had the opportunity to work with other women and seen more women in prominent leadership roles in the industry. This has shown me that being an introvert ESEA woman doesn’t have to impact on success in senior leadership roles.”
Do you have any thoughts on how we can counteract the gender imbalance in the design industry?
I had a conversation with a colleague once when I was in discussion about taking on a leadership role. I mentioned how uncertain I was about taking on such a burden of responsibility and wanted to ensure I met expectations. My colleague asked if the position were offered to a male team member would they second guess it? I replied instantly: no.
Since then, I’ve been being more exposed to women in the industry and learnt more about women’s experiences of success as well as their struggles. This has encouraged me to overcome these feelings of self-doubt. I love Design by Women and would love to see more underrepresented women celebrated across more platforms like this one. My other go to spaces are F*ck Being Humble and It’s Nice That. I love seeing more guidance and mentorship being given in this industry as well as the spotlighting of women’s successes.
“I love seeing more guidance and mentorship being given in this industry as well as the spotlighting of women’s successes.”
How can we encourage greater diversity and inclusion across the creative industries?
Since working at various places while freelancing, I have seen progress in companies to create partnerships with schools to expose and encourage new blood, so that this industry can also be a viable career option. Celebrating creatives from more diverse backgrounds across social media, exhibitions and advertising should be seen almost like casting for a TV ad. It is not just the TV screens, it’s the people behind the scenes that show a different perspective, that makes this industry truly diverse.
Do you have any women role models or mentors who have shaped your career?
Although only for a short period, Diana Alcausin, Associate Creative Director at the WeTransfer Advertising Studio, made a massive change in my perception of what leadership looks like. Through her presence alone she has taught me that leadership can be realised successfully in a style that doesn’t involve being a brash extroverted character and can be eloquently performed without that. Leadership is being the face of the team and standing tall with confidence.
Leadership doesn’t mean you should always know best, but rather you should collaborate and trust the team to work collectively so as to improve on process and creative concepts together. I am really grateful for the opportunity of working with Diana as this has shown that there’s more than one way to lead. Diana has not only given me the confidence and tools to push forward innovation together, but also given me the strength to believe that I can take on a leadership role in the near future if the right one arises.
“Leadership doesn’t mean you should always know best, but rather you should collaborate and trust the team to work collectively so as to improve on process and creative concepts together.”
What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?
It’s a process, not a destination. And, comparison can kill you.
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- Website: niconico.uk
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- Instagram: @niconico_everyday