Why the Messy Middle Matters.

The finished piece gets all the applause. But ask any working designer where the real magic happens and they'll tell you it's in the bit nobody sees.

That's exactly what Process Events is all about. Run by our friends at Right Aligned, it's a talk series that focuses on the process behind the work rather than just the finished pieces. Speakers share the decisions that shaped their projects, not just the polished case studies. It's grown from its first London night at Signature Brew in Haggerston into a series that now runs across the UK, Germany and Australia.

On Wednesday 4 November I headed along to Process London 004 and came away buzzing. It was an intimate room with every generation of designer in it, and there was real optimism at an uncertain time for the industry. Honestly, the process is just as important as the outcome, if not more so. The process is the point.

Here's some sound advice: the three things that stuck with me, and why they matter so much to the way we teach design at Shillington. If you're one of my students or one of my graduates, this is really relevant to where you are right now.

Maddie Hutchison is a freelance Strategy Director whose career has taken her through some of the UK's most respected agencies, including Further, MadeThought, ThatThing and FutureBrand. She's fascinated by what makes people, brands and ideas tick, and by what happens when you question the assumptions we all take for granted.

Her message was a gift for anyone who's ever stared at a blank page: “worst idea wins.” Get the bad ideas out early and on paper. They often lead you somewhere far more original than chasing the “best” idea from the start. Letting yourself be rubbish for a bit makes you brave, and that's where the original stuff lives.

How we do it at Shillington

This is part of every brief my students tackle. Before anyone opens a design tool, they're filling pages with rough thumbnails and ideas. Quantity first, quality second. I want to see the weird ones, the obvious ones and the ones that make you cringe, because the strongest concept often sits further into the process than you would've thought.

If you're a career changer worried you're not “creative enough”, here's the truth: nobody's first idea is their best. Designers aren't people who only have good ideas. They're people who've learnt to have lots of them.

If anyone's earned the right to talk about process, it's Jim Sutherland. He founded Studio Sutherland in 2014, a studio set up to be agile and playful. He's designed over 50 stamps for Royal Mail, won more than 150 professional awards and judged D&AD eight times.

His big message? Play is a massive part of being a designer.

The proof is Snap!Gammon, a personal project that reimagines backgammon with an Ancient Egyptian twist. It started life as a doodle of a crocodile. As Jim put it: “I could see a crocodile on the plane.” The board became the croc's open mouth, with the pieces (Egyptian plover birds) hopping along its teeth. It was a proper family affair: based on a story by Jim's daughter Lucille and illustrated by his wife, Rebecca.

Nobody briefed it and nobody paid for it. And it won a D&AD Yellow Pencil in 2023.

How we do it at Shillington

Keep sketching. That's the advice I'd give every student. At Shillington, sketchbooks aren't optional extras. We push students to collect the things that catch their eye, from shop signs and packaging to the type on a bus ticket. That habit of looking is what fuels ideas when a real brief lands.

It's also why we champion self-initiated work in student portfolios. Personal projects show employers who you are when nobody's telling you what to do. They're where your voice comes through.

Studio Koto started life in London in January 2015 and has grown into a global creative company with five studios. Its early breaks included designing emoji for Coca-Cola and then winning the Fanta rebrand. Since then it's shaped brands like Gumtree, Nubank and the restaurant app Franki.

Their big idea? Be more comfortable with doubt. Feeling unsure whether something's working isn't a sign you're failing. It's part of the process. The strongest ideas come through exploration and curiosity. What really struck me was how collaborative their studio is, with ideas built and pushed together rather than guarded by one person. Very inspiring.

How we do it at Shillington

Doubt is something every one of my students meets at some point. That's normal. It's also why our classes run on regular crits, where students share work in progress and get honest, constructive feedback from teachers who are working designers themselves.

Crits teach you to show your work before it's finished, to talk about your thinking out loud and to hear “this isn't working yet” without hearing “you're not good enough”. Even though our courses are fully online, students learn alongside a cohort, swapping feedback and lifting each other up. It's the same collaborative spirit Koto runs on, and it's the best preparation for life in a real studio.

Three talks and there was one thread running through them all. Make lots of ideas, including the bad ones. Keep playing and keep noticing. Get comfortable with not knowing yet.

None of this needs a design degree. It needs practice, the right guidance and people around you who'll tell you the truth about your work. That's what Shillington is built for. Our intensive courses take you from beginner to job-ready designer, with working designers as your teachers and a process you'll use for the rest of your career.

Want to see how it works? Book a 1:1 chat with our team, head to a free taster session or download our course guide and start your own process today.

Big thanks to Right Aligned Academy for a brilliant Process night, and to every speaker for being so generous with their process.