Tara Pigott is a freelance Graphic & Brand Designer. She helps sustainable and positive impact businesses visually communicate their mission, values, and messages through intentional branding and design. Her mission is to be able to help such businesses create strong visual presences so that they can powerfully speak to their target audiences and make a greater impact in the world. Outside of work, she is a competitive powerlifter, so spends many hours in the gym lifting heavy weights.
Free Guide: Building a Brand to Increase Your Impact
Katherine Ann Byam 0:01
One of the things I most love about interviewing youth on this podcast is the absolute idealism and incredible beauty of theie thinking processes. Listen to this comment that my next guest Tara has made.
Tara Pigott 0:14
success isn't necessarily a numerical value or tangible thing that I can quantify. It more so speaks to a feeling and sense of satisfaction within I'd measure success in how fulfilled I feel, how happy and confident I am, but also how much value I've provided people with and how much change I've helped to bring about through design. Yeah, I think it's in a way dangerous to chase numerical goals and indicators of success, because ultimately, we'll never be satisfied. And we'll always be chasing more and getting carried away with the data. So that's why I see success as more an overall fulfilment, satisfaction.
Katherine Ann Byam 0:59
Listen to this episode now. This is season five, the great debates of our times, Season Five will be centred around the great debates. And we will be comparing and contrasting different viewpoints on various topics that are consuming the public discourse at present. The reason I've decided to take this approach is because, we or at least many of us, are losing the skill of debate. And I think this is an essential skill for us all to practice once more. I don't see how we get to the point of saving the world and saving our planet, if we don't know how to discuss our differences. I also think that the solution to most of our challenges is somewhere in the spectrum of views but never at either extreme. I will be working with guests to curate the content and discuss beforehand, I will understand their positions, their areas of genius, and navigate my questions around that so that the conversation is challenging and stimulating without being combative. I hope you enjoy Season Five of Where Ideas launch; The Sustainable Innovation Podcast.. Tara Pigott is a freelance graphic and brand designer, she helps sustainable and positive impact businesses visually communicate their missions, values and messages through intentional branding and design. Her mission is to be able to help such businesses create strong visual presences, so that they can powerfully speak to their target audiences and make a greater impact in the world. Outside of work. She's a competitive powerlifter. So spends many hours in the gym, lifting heavy weights, Tara, welcome to Where Ideas Launch.
Tara Pigott 2:35
Hi, thank you for having me, it's a pleasure to be here.
Katherine Ann Byam 2:38
Really great to have you. Getting into your background, I absolutely love it, when I get to meet and work with young talent like yourself, I've been digging through your social profiles to learn more about you. And I discovered that you actually are trained in sustainable development in your degree from Warwick University. What encouraged you to choose this is a first degree and what brought you to this commitment to purpose?
Tara Pigott 3:04
Yeah, so it all started from quite a young age, to be honest, like growing up as a child, I was always concerned about the environment. And a story that I remember is that there's a stage in primary school where I actually collected empty, crisp packets from other children after they had their lunch and made them into this sort of abstract art, art piece to stop them from going to waste. So I would say it was quite emotionally affected when seeing you know, the state of the world and how it was deteriorating. And I noticed as well that this seemed to affect me more than it did like my family members and peers. And at the, at the time, it couldn't really understand why I kind of had trouble understanding why these people didn't care about these issues. So I was always quite passionate. So fast forward a few years to when I was applying to university, I knew I loved studying geography, and learning about the world and different cultures and countries. So I thought that this is what I'd study at university. And it was in looking for that geography degree that I just stumbled across a degree called Global Sustainable Development at the University of Warwick. And it was, yeah, like, immediately, I knew that this was the degree for me and what I wanted to study. So yeah, I guess in order to answer your question, there wasn't really a defining moment in my life where I made, you know, a commitment to purpose as such. It was just a really strong feeling and conviction from a young age. I knew I wanted to be part of the solution, and do all that I could to drive positive change.
Katherine Ann Byam 4:43
That's really, really encouraging. And it's interesting because I see young people today as having sort of, you know, obviously, I can't sum everyone up into two buckets, but they're kind of two paths, right? So there's the path of let's really save the planet: come on, what are you doing to our futures, let's make a difference. And then there's the path of, well, hey, I can actually be this mega influencer and make a lot of money. So, so I see these two things as being kind of what's in the public eye, let's, let's call it that you have the Greta's, and then you have the Tik Tok influencer. And your formal uni training doesn't appear to include graphic design. So what made you choose this as a vehicle to kind of deliver your change, your idea of change?
Tara Pigott 5:29
Yeah, I didn't study graphic design at university. Although it was at university where I started getting into design, I found myself designing social media posts and social action campaigns for the clubs and societies that I was a part of at the time. And it was through doing that, that I kind of just fell in love with design, it really provided me with an escape from reading, all the long, boring articles that was necessary for my degree. And I found myself becoming such a perfectionist over the designs that I was creating and spending far too many hours on them, making sure that, you know, I was truly happy with them. So it was doing that where I started to understand the importance of graphic design, in making change and encouraging sustainability and positive change in general. You know, most people can design a social media post in Canva. But designing one that really speaks to your target audience, and communicates your message powerfully and effectively is not such an easy task. So I guess you could say it was my love for design and commitment to sustainability that later led to me kind of pairing these two things together, and making a business out of it. And deciding this is how I was going to contribute to positive change in the world as it were.
Katherine Ann Byam 6:52
Yeah, that's interesting. Did you cover marketing in your degree aswell?
Tara Pigott 6:55
No, it wasn't marketing. It was, it was kind of just studying all of the world's problems. And how we can, you know, in essence, go about solving them. But no, marketing wasn't a part of it.
Katherine Ann Byam 7:07
I find that the command that you have of marketing impressive for someone who hasn't put it into her studies. So that's really encouraging as well. And what do you consider to be the role of design in general on bringing about that change that you want to see? How does design affect us?
Tara Pigott 7:26
Yeah, I think it's really important, especially in our day and age, where so much of what we're consuming is online, which has resulted in people's attention spans getting really short. So it becomes even more important to grab people's attention quickly. And we need to do this in order to encourage people to make change or to join a movement. And you've really got to be intentional about that, and how you're gonna go about doing it. So design is what you can use to grab their attention and communicate your message with them really concisely. And clearly, you know, if we can design a brand, or campaign or social media post that really appeals to the people that we want to target and makes people want to read it and makes people want to learn more, or even convinces them to take an action, then we've done a good job. And I think without good design, it's quite hard to do that.
Katherine Ann Byam 8:21
Yeah. Now, I totally get you I follow you on that. And I think that some of the greatest campaigns that we've seen have really considered the experience of the person watching, right, so it moves you and you know, you look at films like 'don't look up' or things like this, and you really connect with it in a different way than, you know, a scary Guardian article. And God bless the Guardian, I think they do a really good job. But, you know, sometimes there's a lot of fear in there. So, I understand completely what you're saying. How do you measure success? And what has surprised you about your progress so far?
Tara Pigott 8:57
Yeah. So for me, like success isn't necessarily a numerical value or tangible thing that I can quantify. It more so speaks to, you know, a feeling and sense of satisfaction within, so I'd measure success in how fulfilled I feel, like how happy and confident I am, but also how much value I've provided people with and how much change I've helped to bring about through design. Yeah, I think it's kind of, in a way dangerous to chase numerical goals and indicators of success, because ultimately, we'll never be satisfied. And we'll always be chasing more and getting carried away with the data. So that's why I see success as more an overall fulfilment, satisfaction with what I've achieved and how to bring about and it's not this abstract thing that we can ponder about, you know, when I'm successful, but rather we can see ourselves as successful now and now we can be content with where we are now while still moving forward and contributing to more impact.
Katherine Ann Byam 10:07
Yeah, and what has surprised you about what you've achieved so far?
Tara Pigott 10:11
I think for me, I really resonate with the quote that says 'people overestimate what they can achieve in a year, but underestimate what they can achieve in five or say, 10'. And for me, I can relate to this, because the start was very much, you know, a hard slog, like coming out of uni and deciding to start this business, I didn't have a big network, and I didn't really know much about business, or, even marketing at the time. But I guess what surprised me is how much, how powerful the compounding effects of all the work I've put in up until this point is, and how that's just going to keep on growing from now. And I'll see the results of my work in due time. So I guess that has been the surprising factors, like the first year, you know, nothing crazy is gonna happen. But it's thinking about, you know, the next five or 10, where I think all the crazy kind of results are gonna start happening.
Katherine Ann Byam 11:09
When it comes to pricing. How did you go about picking your pricing? I'm intrigued by this. Because when you're just starting out, I can imagine that that's a really slippery slope. How did you navigate that?
Tara Pigott 11:21
Yeah, so that was a challenging thing for me at the time, because, yeah, I wasn't very business savvy, and didn't know much about pricing. And I found myself just comparing my pricing to other designers. And that was kind of how I went about it. But you know, there's also that thing about imposter syndrome at the start is like, well, they're really good designers, why can't possibly charge that much. So there's a lot of yeah, comparing myself and comparing my prices to other people that were offering similar things. But now I try and take it back to the value of what I'm providing. And if this work that I'm doing is going to provide someone with a lot of value, then I should be charging accordingly for that, but it's still a thing that I'm figuring out and trying to navigate. And a thing that will constantly change with time, with my experience and my offering. So it's nothing, nothing that I fully figured out right now, I'd say.
Katherine Ann Byam 12:20
And I have another question around this. And it's, it's more to do with why you decided to start on your own, as opposed to work with an agency or something to start with? Why, why this choice? And why this pathway?
Tara Pigott 12:34
Yeah, it's a good question, because I did have that question at the start, when I knew I wanted to become a graphic designer, there was two kind of routes to go down, it was agency or, you know, being a designer for a company or doing it myself. And I think the doing it myself, and starting a business and starting a freelance venture, as it were, just seemed a lot more appealing to me at the time, I wanted to build something that I could truly be proud of and that could be my own, and it seems like a great challenge. And I love a challenge. And I guess it also gave me the, the opportunity to link it back to sustainability and positive change that I was so passionate about, I still wanted to retain some of that within what I was doing, and not just work for an agency or work for a company that wasn't related to sustainability or bringing about positive change. So I guess it was just yeah, my desire to do something good for the world and I thought like being a freelance designer for positive impact businesses was just a great way of doing that. But it was a very scary decision to make at the time.
Katherine Ann Byam 13:40
Yeah, no, I understand that. And I want to ask one more question around this, I know that I'm digging a lot into your business. But I think that's interesting for a lot of people who are in your position. And I know that you would have faced a lot of these challenges, but I really, I'm really interested in whether or not your client base is 100%, your ideal client, first of all, and what are you struggling with in terms of convincing brands to make more green choices? If you are struggling with that?
Tara Pigott 14:08
Yeah. So first question, no, all my clients right now wouldn't fall into the category of kind of sustainable, positive impact businesses or organisations. And I think when you're starting out any kind of business or freelance venture, we shouldn't restrict ourselves in terms of what work we're doing and who we're getting involved in because it's just really great to get experience across as many kind of places as you can. And I don't want to be turning down work and losing out on those experiences that are going to teach me so many things. So yeah, at the minute, no, it's not 100% my ideal client base, although that is what I'd like to move towards in the future. And the second question in terms of encouraging brands to make ethical change. I wouldn't say that, that's something I'm strongly involved with because the Ethical brands that come to me they're already wanting to make a positive impact are really concerned about how ethical they are being. So I don't tend to be involved in the process of convincing different brands to make ethical change, if you know what I mean.
Katherine Ann Byam 15:16
So let's look toward the future so Metari Design, what are the big hairy goals and key milestones you see for yourself, let's say in the next five years, and I know that five years is a long time in today's sort of environment and context of a lot of global risks. But what do you see for Metari?
Tara Pigott 15:37
Yeah, again, like this is always a hard question for me to answer because I'm more so like a person that does what feels like the right thing at the time, more so spontaneously, so I don't have like a solid plan laid out about where I want to get to at a certain point in the future. But I do have a few goals. And I do think that our goals should scare us. And if they don't, then they're probably not big enough, I would like to be able to do some public speaking on, you know, the importance of design in sustainability and bring about positive change. And I think I'd like to work with some big organisations and charities that are involved in driving this positive change, and help them with their visual communication and how they're communicating with the broader public. And I think a final thing that I potentially like to do in the future, would be to study more in depth, the behavioural science responses of people when they interact with design, so that I can better understand how to create a design that makes the most impact on people when they are viewing it and have that really rooted in science so that we can use this to drive even more positive change. But in terms of you know, where I'll be in five years, you know, only time can tell I'm excited to see myself, I think it will be somewhere exciting. So we shall see.
Katherine Ann Byam 17:07
Perfect, I'd love some tips. So can you give my listeners some tips on how to prepare for a brand design consultation, and how to think about their design.
Tara Pigott 17:17
So yeah, if you're interested in a brand design consultation, the first thing I'd recommend is getting really clear on what I call your brand's foundations; purpose, your values, your mission, and the messages you want to share as a business or organisation. And without these kind of key foundations of your brand, it will be hard to steer your business in the correct direction, prepare it properly for the design stage, essentially. So your designer will usually ask you about these things in a consultation that, so that they can understand your business and use that to create a design that works really well. So it is good to have, you know, some sort of a clear idea of what they are before going into consultation. Secondly, I think you should consider what you want to get out of working with the designer, that could be more clarity on your brand and who you are, as a business, it could be more sales, it could be to gain funding, or to appeal to a new target audience really nailing this down. And getting clear on what you want to get out of this whole brand design process, will make sure that the whole experience is a great success for you. Because if you're clear with the designer about what you want to get out of it they'll hopefully make sure those goals are achieved, and that both parties are happy with the final outcome. So they're are two tips that I'd give
Katherine Ann Byam 18:44
Thank you so much for that. And finally, I would love to know about powerlifting, it's probably one of the most interesting things I've read in your profile as well. What inspired you to get into powerlifting? First of all, and how does it help you in life and health?
Tara Pigott 19:00
I guess it it could go back to when I was younger, I was actually a sprinter so I did athletics and as a part of that as part of the training for that, we'd do some weights in the gym. And I kind of just loved this section of the training so much that you know, when sprinting kind of didn't work out for me in the end, and I wasn't seeing as much progress, I kind of just wanted to carry on doing sport and training of some sort. So I found powerlifting at university, I think and once I found out about it and found out that you know, weightlifting and lifting weights was a sport in itself. I just became really interested in it. And that's where I got introduced to it and I started training for it and I started competing. And it just, yeah, I just really loved it that I just carried on I'm still doing it all these years later. And yeah, in terms of how it helps me in my life and health now. I think it's a great break it's a great separation from work related things it gives me like a second focus, not all my time and energy is spent going into the one thing, I think it's great to have another thing that you're also focused on so that you can renew and recharge and get inspired and not just be bogged down by the same one thing all the time. So, yeah, it gives me another focus, and also it encourages me to prioritise other things in my life, such as sleep and nutrition and being active. And without having powerlifting, I don't think I'd be as motivated to prioritise all those other aspects of my life to make sure I'm as healthy as I can be in order to make the most progress in the gym, etc. So that's another benefit of it in terms of health.
Katherine Ann Byam 20:43
It's really, really intriguing. And thank you so much for sharing today with us. How can my listeners reach out to you?
Tara Pigott 20:50
Yeah, so I am on LinkedIn. Tara Pigott, is my name. So I'm quite active over there on LinkedIn. But if you're not on LinkedIn, you could also feel free to send me an email. Perfect. Thanks for joining us, Tara. No worries, it's been lovely to have a conversation with you.
Katherine Ann Byam 21:09
This podcast is brought to you today by the brand new Women In Sustainable Business Awards that kicks off in 2023. If you're a business owner who's starting a business with principles of sustainability in mind, and you want to preserve some lost skills, some handcrafting, artisanal work, or you're a social media manager supporting purpose driven brands, or you're creating fashion, or something that is relevant to the sustainability and green transformation, you are more than welcome to join us, and to get involved in these awards. Check out our group, on Facebook; Woman In Sustainable Business, or follow the podcast; Where Ideas Launch, on Instagram to find out more.