A profile on Creative Director Richard Veale
Name & Age:
Richard Veale, creative director Lionheart Marketing Communications, aged 42 (honest). First job & wage: Working in the local brickworks, where I learnt to flick pieces of clay considerable distances and very accurately! I earned £99 a week and finished at 3.30pm.
What I've done in my career and how I got where I am today:
I was rejected at an art college interview, aged 18. I then worked in a bank for two years and had to wear a suit (it didn't). I then found a craft-based job working in the archives as a paper conservator, before going to art college in Camberwell.
There I learnt the art of bookbinding and associated crafts but, three years later, I found myself training to be an accountant - an unexpected step. I couldn't hold out long and went back to Somerset College in Taunton, where I found my vocation - graphic design - for which I had lots of ideas and began crafting designs by really throwing myself into it. I loved it.
I progressed, via junior designer, to senior designer at Clarks, where I gained really great experience. From there, I decided I must try out at an agency and moved back to Exeter, where I had the opportunity to take up the role of design director at Lionheart.
Career high point:
Seeing designs appear in the high street, or being able to say to the kids: "I did that" (only for them to say: "What's it for"?).
Career low point:
Any "thanks but no-thanks". Having good ideas turned down (or not even noticed). However commercial we designers are, most of our work has a personal element which sometimes you have to be prepared to stand by as being what you feel to be right. Being able to step back to take comments can be quite difficult, but good, constructive criticism can often make for a better solution.
When I'm not working, I like to:
Wallpaper anything that stays still long enough - I've just finished some table legs.
Things I've learned and wished I knew when I started:
I had no pre-conceived idea of the industry before I started. It's probably better to keep it that way - it's certainly not a predictable industry.
My advice to someone starting out in business now:
Have a really good go at it, be committed and enthusiastic, take in everything that's going on around you and try to get it right. I have been lucky enough to have been given good opportunities but have found that success comes from a mixture of listening to others, making the right decisions and always making a round of tea.
My ambitions for the future:
To help run an agency that creates great work and get results by communicating clearly and effectively, with more than a bit of really tasty design. To have a portfolio of work that stretches back 40 years, full of work I'm proud of, and to get to retirement age and have a pension that's worth something.