A Talk by the Sea from DutchScot - Plymouth Design Forum

DutchScot is a design and branding consultancy that describe themselves as ‘colliders of ideas and invention, relevance and difference, intuition and experience, substance and soul.’

Based in London, they create and sustain lovingly crafted change for brands across the world. They believe in creating ‘surprising and intelligent design for fascinating individuals and brands, ignoring conventional opinion and the usual short-term thinking to discover new possibilities and directions that buck trends and deliver long-term change.’

Founded by Creative Directors Ross Goulden, Alex Swatridge and Jacob Vanderkar, who have assembled a passionate team with diverse skills and experience – working across all creative disciplines and areas including culture, technology, beauty, property, education, hospitality, fashion and charity.

We feel lucky to attract brilliant speakers, including Alex. This is only possible due to the support from our brilliant partners G.F Smith, the paper specialists, who have been a long-term supporter of PDF, and our more recent association with Eat Work Art, a fantastic organisation offering creative spaces and studios in Plymouth (Alma Yard and Light Studios) and beyond.

You felt Alex’s excitement as she shared her professional journey and DutchScot’s growth. Alex graduated from Norwich School of Art & Design in 2005 with a BA in Graphic Design. While at art college she met her partner Ross, with whom she would later co-found DutchScot with their friend Jacob. She then joined Hat-trick Design, working her way up over the next 11 years to Design Director.

Around this time, Alex started helping Jacob and Ross with side projects in the evenings and weekends. With no free time and realising they worked well as a trio, DutchScot was founded. The agency name recognises Jacob and Ross’s respective Dutch and Scottish heritages.

At the heart of their practice is craft, playfulness and curiosity. With each case study Alex shared, you sensed how much she cared about the projects. Not only does DutchScot deliver brilliant work, but they learn and grow from the experiences.

Despite a strong international reputation, the studio has retained a homely, collaborative vibe. Although the projects have grown, Alex believes in keeping the team small, so the founders can always work directly with clients. They also frequently collaborate with independent creatives, especially copywriter Nick Asbury.

For the brand identity of Aya, a modern Japanese restaurant inspired by haikus (a traditional poem consisting of three lines) the relationship between words and visual design were paramount. Nick created a series of haikus to playfully depict ingredients used in the kitchen and to describe existential concepts, such as ageing, yearning, nostalgia and death. The logo acted as a charming good luck feline character, with the three letters forming a subtle link with the poems.

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