STB Partners Q+A
The future isn’t polished,
it’s full of potential
One of our Creative Partners, Charlotte Brown, on why junior designers have the courage seniors lack, and why ideas matter more than ever in the AI age.
Why invest time in portfolio reviews, live briefs, and mentoring when you could just recruit experienced designers?
At STB, we believe it’s vital to invest time in the future generation of designers. Not only is it beneficial for students, but it’s genuinely beneficial for us too.
Students have fresh, innovative ideas, and they tend to keep up with trends and new ways of working. That’s inspiring for us and gives us perspective on how we work and think. It also gives us early access to emerging talent before they enter the competitive job market.
It’s not just about recruiting designers for a quick studio fix. It’s a longer-term plan to help shape future designers and build relationships that benefit the entire creative industry.
What’s the business case for building relationships with design students, and how does that align with STB’s ‘Good Deeds’ philosophy?
Our Good Deeds initiative is about doing work that makes a real difference, and supporting emerging designers is investing in the future of the creative industry. Instead of gaining recognition through awards, we believe it’s more important to invest time and money into building relationships and leaving a positive mark on the next generation.
The business case is straightforward: by building these close relationships, we’re able to attract designers who aren’t just technically skilled, but who also align with our values. It helps us spot designers with real potential that we can nurture and support over time. We don’t just get more interest when we’re hiring – we get a better-matched selection of talent who understand what STB stands for.
You run live briefs for students. What do you learn from their approaches that informs your commercial work?
We look forward to the live briefs every year. The students benefit massively by gaining insight into studio life and client work pace. However, we gain so much more – like firsthand insight into emerging trends and how fast the design world is changing.
We give students the freedom to be explorative, daring, and bold. This reminds us to take more risks and stay open to new possibilities. It keeps us creatively sharp and proves that good ideas can come from anywhere.
What’s the gap between what universities teach and what the industry needs?
Universities do a great job teaching creative thinking and craft – foundational skills that every designer needs. What’s often missing is real-world experience: working with clients, taking on feedback constructively, and meeting genuinely tight deadlines.
Time is a huge aspect of commercial work. While there are deadlines at university, students can spend as long or as little on a brief as they like up until that deadline. Studios are fast-paced environments, and interns are always surprised by how little time we have on projects.
Live briefs give students important insight into the industry. Understanding these realities early helps prepare them for the transition from education to practice.
