STB Partners Q+A
Where craft meets commercial clout.
Creative Partner, Craig Lister on building connections through craft, and why an imperfect, human-led approach will become more premium in the age of AI.
What role does craft play in commercial design – and why does it matter beyond making things look beautiful?
Craft in commercial design is about intention – the care and precision that make ideas not only look good but work beautifully. It bridges creativity and effectiveness. I’ve always been drawn to hand-produced design, because that’s where the imperfections live. Imperfections make a piece feel unique, human, and memorable. They create a connection that you can’t get from something too polished or mechanical.
Beyond beauty, craft is about understanding who you’re designing for and shaping every detail to resonate with that audience. It’s not about perfection; it’s about authenticity and purpose. You’re investing in differentiation and long-term value – signalling quality, building credibility, creating connections that templates can’t.
With design increasingly templated and deployed at volume and speed across multiple platforms, why does precise typographic craft still matter – and how do you justify the time investment to clients?
Typographic craft still matters because it’s one of the purest expressions of how a brand speaks. Typography carries tone, emotion, and trust. When it’s crafted well, it elevates even the simplest message.
Design must move fast and scale across platforms, but that doesn’t mean losing the care and precision that give it character. Typographic craft is about doing the best possible job within modern constraints, bringing human judgment that machines can’t replicate. Good typography isn’t decoration, it’s communication – improving legibility, accessibility, and brand recognition. It’s an investment in long-term brand quality.
The Stomp Round Leicester elephants combined hand-painted craft with public art at scale. What does that kind of project deliver that purely digital work can’t?
What projects like the Stomp Round Leicester elephants deliver, that purely digital work can’t, is soul. There’s something powerful about seeing the human hand in the work. It would’ve been easy to apply vinyl lettering, but instead the letters were drawn by hand, masked, and spray-painted – every imperfection on show. That gives it life.
Those subtle inconsistencies and marks of craft make people stop, look, and feel connected. It’s the same feeling I get when I see a hand-painted sign, or type carved into stone – a sense of history, care, and permanence that digital work rarely captures.
Projects like that keep traditional skills alive, connecting people not just to the artwork, but to the process and maker behind it.
Your work ranges from intimate band graphics to mass-market retail brands like Canon and Morrisons. How does your approach to craft change depending on context and audience?
My approach to craft doesn’t change – the outcome does. Each audience is different. The first step is understanding what makes them tick, the language they use, and what they care about. Successful brands fully embrace their identity – how they look, speak, and connect. Craft is about executing that identity with care, whatever the scale.
Investment in craft has the most immediate impact on smaller, personal projects. My passion projects – bands, makeup artists, personal trainers – are often done with no monetary gain. It’s about connecting with people and learning how they think, which also informs how I approach larger brands. Craft matters at both scales.
To what extent can you craft something once, and then automate the rest? Where’s the line between efficiency and compromising quality?
There shouldn’t be a line between efficiency and quality – they can coexist if approached correctly. At STB, many clients have worked with us for years because we’re upfront about costs and deadlines and deliver consistently.
If something is crafted properly from the beginning, automating repetitive elements is where true efficiency comes in. It’s about being commercial with your time without cutting corners on the aspects that give the work its character.
As AI-generated design becomes ubiquitous, will human-led craft become more premium – and in what circumstances will clients want to invest in it?
Yes, human-led craft will become even more premium. The agencies that remain most valuable are those bringing human knowledge, experience, and ideas – the nuance and judgment that machines can’t replicate.
AI has its place, but when you want design that truly resonates – that connects emotionally and communicates authentically – there’s no substitute for experienced creatives with deep craft understanding. Clients will invest in that when they want work that isn’t just seen but felt.