Culture isn’t a pool table
or a beer fridge.

It’s not spending 4 and a half days hating your job, but getting giddy for ‘Friday Beers’. It’s not putting aside 1 afternoon every 6 months to tick a CSR checkbox. It’s not a bean bag, a dog profile on the team page website, a beer tap in the kitchen, a shelf of awards, or a ball pool in the boardroom. 

Culture is going for a yomp up Mam Tor, to ‘have a think’.
Culture is leaving the studio on time, because you got shit done. Culture is being around a bunch of people that want to use their skills to better the world, not just make rich people richer. It’s being inspired to try something new without fear of failing. It’s open, honest conversations. It's fullfilment and purpose. It’s having more fun with a £5 foam football than you could ever have with an expensive pool table.

We spent a lot of time creating our workspace when we moved studios. Our first studio was built on half a shoe string, and while money isn’t everything, it certainly helps. It probably wasn’t a coincidence that we were both getting back problems from sitting on knock-off chairs, 8+ hours a day. We were also facing brick walls. For 5 years. Hardly inspiring.

Our current space has thoughtfully designed furniture to give people enough space, but bring them together to collaborate when needed. We got some comfortable chairs. Our backs thanked us. We got a good coffee machine. Our taste buds rejoiced. 

We have different spaces, for varying degrees of mess. We have more power tools than swatch books, and currently, more chairs than people.

We talked about getting a foosball table, or a pool table. Did we actually want one? No. What we actually wanted was an empty space, a foam football and 2 bins to play ‘Side by Side ball’. If you’re lucky enough to have played with us, you’ll understand the unsurpassed joy that comes from such a game,
If you’re yet to play, we’re waiting.

Our culture runs deep. It dictates the type of work we take on, the type of clients we choose to work with, and the type of people we like to spend our time with. It's helped us build our new studio. Somewhere we can invite other creatives, clients, and even our children. Importantly, it keeps us accountable.

Are we perfect? Absolutely not. Have we made mistakes over the course of our journey? Plenty (you can read about our tales here). Without sounding too cliché, those mistakes have helped us shape and grow a culture that helps harness great ideas, in a space people feel happy in.