Studio Every Conversations: Leo Young from Good Nugget, with Niall McRiner from Studio Every
We had a chat with Leo Young, a graphic and brand designer turned social entrepreneur. He felt so passionate about the lack of diversity he saw over his 15 years in the design industry that he founded Good Nugget: A positive impact agency that gives back.
Good Nugget want to make the creative industry more diverse by supporting young people who are underrepresented. They believe without diversity, life would be a very boring place!
At the start of this month (June 2023) Leo and Good Nugget hosted an Academy fundraiser at SHED in East London.
They celebrated GN alumni, ran talks to highlight the drive for more diversity and used an auction to raise incredible funds for the next generation to benefit from the Academy.
Leo, what led you to found Good Nugget?
Personal experience really. Being in the industry for over 15 years, I saw so much and the biggest thing I did see was a lack of diversity within the creative teams. I would always say that I could count on one hand the number of people from like a different ethnicity that came across.
I've worked for some amazing agencies, but I felt how we hired and nurtured people was very old fashioned. We weren't thinking outside the box. Companies want entry level talent with a year's experience to come in and to do the job straight away. So, we would just go the top universities, view the same portfolios and get the same type of designer every year.
I wanted to sit in a room where everybody's got different ideas to bring.
“The creative industry is seen by low socio-economic communities and certain cultures as a privileged arena.”
You mention universities. Do you think there’s diversity problem within creative courses at universities in the UK?
What we do at Good Nugget is to talk about helping underrepresented talent, and that might include those from low socio-economic backgrounds.
Some of these people feel like they have had an unrepresented experience at university and as a result don't feel confident to get a job.
But I think the issue starts from a lot further back than that. Much younger.
The creative industry is seen by low socio-economic communities and certain cultures as a privileged arena. There are still people from those communities that don’t consider being a designer or artist as a safe career, so don’t pursue it at university.
There’s also a great report from the government called the Social Mobility Commission which talks about class related disadvantages, which also leads to a big gap in diversity in the creative industry.
Interesting, maybe apprenticeships is a topic of another conversation with you.
What sort of activities and initiatives do Good Nugget engage in, to give a 360 approach?
We call it a 360 approach because our core is supporting underrepresented young people. But it's not just those people that we need to help and inspire because it also takes the industry and the education system as well.
We help young people through our direct programmes, whether that’s mentoring or employability skills and providing real life work experience for them.
We work with schools and charities, providing career talks and workshops to help them get an insight into the creative industry.
And I also do D&I consulting with companies to help them create the best practises on building a more diverse and inclusive workplace - they're the gateway to job creation after all.
We can't just be working with just on area, it a process on every possible front.
That’s a nice link to the next question: how have you utilised the creative industry?
The most interesting (and surprising) thing for me when I approached the industry was…is this it?
You see a core group who are interested in and creating change. Then there is a large chunk of the industry focusing on running a profit-making business and so investing in underrepresented talent or thinking about D&I is not always at the top of their agenda.
Luckily I’ve been able to open a network that includes the people who are really interested in passionate to do something, such as coming on board as a mentor or co-hosting school talks and even co-hosting our programmes as well.
“ If you’re a brand and you’re thinking about your growth, you need to reach more people. So, the advantage is the companies that use a diverse industry start to realise the benefit to them. ”
You're a graphic and brand designer, but you have a roster of mentors from an eclectic set of creative backgrounds: filmmaking, writing, magazine editors. Was that exciting for you?
The best thing about running Good Nugget is that I'm learning something every day and I get to meet some amazing people.
We've run a coffee club as a speed mentoring series, where industry professionals will provide 30-minute conversations and I join them for safeguarding reasons. I sat on one the other day where we had an animator from Aardman.
I was thinking, ‘I'm learning so much here’, and imagine if you're 15, 16 or 18: how inspiring that could be.
I'm to meet loads of amazing different people from different industries, which is great. I do have some satisfaction from my personal growth because I’m not standing still. I think that’s just running your own business, one of the things that you do realise is that you're always growing.
What do you think the advantages are of a more diverse creative industry?
I think from a design perspective, you can create more authentic and real design stories. I think that’s one thing we've been a little bit lazy on. For instance, we'll be Western people working on Eastern European or Asian execution.
That realness then impacts the client. If you're a brand and you're thinking about your growth and how you can make more money. You need to reach more people. So, the other advantage is the companies that use the industry start to realise the benefit to them.
There’s something there about having that lived experience. People who see the world in a different way bring completely different perspectives, and that could be any diversity.
I think diversity is such a broad word. I think the easiest way for people to understand is through geographical terms, but when we talk about it, we say diversity is very wide. You just want the biggest melting pot of different people in one space to bring their rich cultural and social experience into this amazing thing that you're going to create. And that's when it's going to connect with loads of different people because it's going to have those authentic voices in there.
You’ve been doing Good Nugget now for three years. What do you think are your biggest learnings? And then what are you most positive about the next few years?
I think the biggest thing that I have learned about myself is when you have been in the creative industry as a designer, you are always working to a brief and that you're always seeking perfection and that you're not happy with something until it's 100%, right?
And now being a start-up and a social entrepreneur, I have to set some expectations of myself but also know when to let things go.
That's been a real lesson: that I'm always learning and I don't know all the answers. So don’t be too hard on yourself and acknowledge self-care by knowing that 50 or 60% is OK on that occasion.
That’s interesting. There’s the phrase: progress over perfection. Just get started.
I like that. I think that's exactly what I've learned. I started a Good Nugget and I thought, ‘We're going to inspire and impact so many people.’
But instead, it's almost the way that we view the impact and how we can help even just one person in people in the right way.
Finally, what you are you most positive about Good Nugget’s future?
I’m super positive about the next few years. Our ambition for Good Nugget is to basically translate our programme to an E-learning platform. We talk about diversity. I want to be able to intercept, inspire and support more people by doing a digital platform, meaning that we can offer it out to people throughout the UK and the world and they can access information and employability skills.
I think why the E-learning platform is super important, is so we can start to engage and talk to more people outside of London and introducing it at a school age.
Thanks Leo, great big reveal at the end there. Thanks again for talking to us.
Leo Young: https://www.linkedin.com/in/leo-young-gn/
Good Nugget: https://goodnugget.co/
