Dare to build work that outlasts you - Nils Leonard
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What does Nils Leonard consider the purpose of building work that outlasts you?
When I say loud, I don't mean in a brash, possibly American way. I just mean be out there. Be heard. If you're happy writing as opposed to speaking, then write. If you're happy publishing, do that. If you're happy to make an image a day, do that. But constantly be out there, I think is important. I mean this like back to our original conversation, be making things that appeal to you first. not to clients. Don't try and make things that are clever for clients. Make things for you that move you and everything else will follow. All the best lessons in the world, all the coolest bands, the coolest people, the coolest chefs, they never made food for their audience. They made it for themselves and their audience fucking loved it.
Welcome to Daring Forever, a podcast about being human, wired for wonder, capable of courage, perpetually becoming. It's about the waves that knock us under and the strange stubborn grace with which we surface. My name is Ryan Malinich, I'm an author, creative, and an eternally curious human being on a mission to speak to incredible people whom I call forever-daring humans. Those in pursuit of an extraordinary life. Every week I share an interview that is packed with amazing stories, value, and I can only ask you, how will you dare forever? This podcast is inspired by my upcoming book titled Daring Forever, which is now available for pre-order out in October. Today on Daring Forever, I'm joined by Niels Leonard, creator-founder of Uncommon Creative Studio with offices in London, New York and Stockholm.
Uncommon's work spans design, advertising, film and even art shown at Venice B ⁇ L. Niels doesn't want to win the opening weekend. He wants to make reference points, work that people still talk about decades later. We talk about why he lets himself treat every single brief as a chance to matter, why the question worth asking new client is, why are you here? And his method for flashing out fake client inquiries too. We also chatted about his recent bacteria heist behind of festival identity. This conversation is about building work that outlasts you. It's my pleasure to share with you my conversation with Niels Leonard. Hey Niels, welcome to Daring Forever. How are you doing? I'm
good, thank you, mate. Good to see you.
Good stuff. Good to see you here. So the show is film around the title of my new book called Daring Forever. And I tell every single guest on this season so far that they're not the most fitting guest for the season because I purposely look for people who are doing the things that I feel they've been put on this planet for. And in your case, you've been going one of the very big leading voices in our industry doing what it feels like that you want to do what you feel like you want to do. So if someone have not heard of Niels Leonard, Hawaii w would you do how would you introduce yourself?
My name is Nils Leonard. I'm the creative founder of Uncommon Creative Studio. I started the studio with Lucy and Natalie. We are still the only majority female founded studio of our size in Europe. Probably the world, I'd argue, but let's see. That's up for debate, I'm sure. I've been going about nine years this year. We have three studios in Stockholm, London, and New York. Prior to that, I was creative chairman of a place called Grey London, which was a big traditional ad agency that I grew to a certain point. And I think that was where I learnt all my lessons. But that's sort of me now. We make a mix of stuff, fully fledged design practice, global design practice. We make advertising and coms. We do PR, we do brand narrative and strategy.
We do feature films. We do what we call narrative objects and experiences. And we make art, most recently exhibiting at the Venice BNR.
Well. How do you keep all of it under I don't know some one direction? Because I like that you call it uncommon. And I remember the time when you guys left Grey and started on your own. I believe you had to do a bit of a gardening leaf, so you were trying to make disposable coffee pots, is that right?
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Chapters
5 chapters
1
What does Nils Leonard consider the purpose of building work that outlasts you?
0:09–8:39
2
Why does Nils ask every new client “Why are you here?” and how does that shape the brief?
8:39–17:20
3
How did the long break after leaving Grey influence Uncommon’s direction and philosophy?
17:20–27:50
4
What was the strategy behind the three‑year “bouncing flag” website and how did it filter out fake inquiries?
27:50–49:19
5
How did the Volvo “life‑paint” project evolve and what lessons did Nils learn from it?
49:19–54:05
Speakers
1 identifiedMore from Daring Forever (Find your Extraordinary)
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