Profile: Founded

Friday, 31 October 2014 •

“Working with people is people. We are not artists, we are commercially minded.”
I recently attended a talk featuring Anthony, the creative director from Founded. Originally named Blue River, Founded is a graphic design studio based in Newcastle Upon Tyne, which produces creative responses for a varied and international client base.

When Anthony began to work at Founded, he didn't begin as a designer. He lacked experience and had a taken a degree in something completely different, and was offered the position of Account Manager. He knew it wasn't what he wanted to do, but being in the environment allowed him to gain experience in the field. Learning from the designers who worked there, he worked hard to join the creative side of the business, and has managed to work his way up to Creative Director. This stresses that its not necessarily about the skills, background or degree you take: it's all about your mind frame, and passion. The most important part of design is the idea.

The company doesn't advertise it's brand, and doesn't pitch without being paid. The way they get their clients is through their work: the most important advertising is your product itself. He mentioned that the internet and PDF's have revolutionised the company, and the field as a whole, due to being able to expand further than their region. The process is quicker, more efficient, and allows their work to be seen by millions all over the world: alongside having clients from all walks of life now, too.



Anthony wanted to talk about his work with the Baltic, a contemporary arts centre sitting on Gateshead's side of the Quayside. Founded have worked with them since it opened, and had many issues to tackle. The Quayside was rough and derelict until Gateshead Council decided to put money to revitalise and resurrect the area. Something they wanted to create was a place to hold contemporary art, but, it isn't that sought for by the North East, when compared to places like London. The solution to this was to advertise the Baltic, to make it fun, different, and befitting of the area. With it's own typeface based on the industrial building it lives in, being the face of the company, Founded developed the identity, way-finding system and building exterior, stripping the brand down to it's core elements: typeface, and a serious black and white colour palette. Founded began to explore a cheeky attitude for the centre: a white page, with bold, black text stating "Baltic has toilets." They needed to inject a personality into the place, engage with the locals and communicate.

Some of their most well known campaigns are -- "250 Plastered Geordies" which was placed on buses, taxi's and billboards. This advertisement played on the culture of Newcastle, and what it's known for. "1,700 Naked Geordies" followed, where Founded were able to explore photography, and created a build up to the project. They were also involved in the advertisements for the Turner Prize, in which they engaged and empowered the public, inviting them to "make [their] own mind up." This was such a huge deal due to it being the first Turner Prize exhibition held outside a Tate gallery. Most recently, Founded helped rebrand the Baltic's kitchen.


After Government funding for Art Gallery's dwindled, Baltic became commercially minded, turning to Founded to design bags and books for the brand. These merchandise lead to the Baltic being named independent retailer of the year. For these reasons, the Baltic and Founded work well hand in hand -- they understand one another, and after 10 years of working together, Founded created two wooden posters, featuring "Me, We" from Muhammad Ali's poem, to commemorate their relationship.


Anthony also had some words of wisdom for us designers who are still trying to find our feet. "Don't be scared of competition, learn from them. Look at each others work, compare, bounce of others at all times. It's important to keep up with current trends and to keep your work fresh." I found the talk extremely inspiring -- Anthony has such an extensive experience, it was refreshing and influential to here what he had to say. I think I learnt quite a lot of life lessons, that I will definitely keep in mind.

You can find more of Founded here, here, and here.