Hat-trick is a 10-year old, London-based graphic design studio with two directors, 44 years of collective experience, 10 staff members, 41 current projects and about 1 000 projects in total. They were also voted number one in the 2010 Design Week Creative Survey.
Jim Sutherland is one of the two creative directors at Hat-trick Design. He has judged the British Design and Art Direction awards six times and serves on its executive board. Sutherland also lectures at Norwich University College of Arts, University College Falmouth and Brighton University. Before co-founding Hat-trick in 2000, Sutherland worked as the creative director of HGV Design and The Partners. He loves designing and does more of it than is strictly healthy.
Gareth Howat is the other creative director at Hat-trick Design. He has judged countless design competitions, including D&AD, The Roses and Art Directors Club of Europe. Before co-founding Hat-trick in 2000, Howat was creative director at Glazer Design, worked as design director at Lapot and launched his career with a seven-year spell at The Partners. A keen tennis player, Howat landed his dream client in 2010 – the Wimbledon Championships.
The duo has no idea what the future holds for creativity but they hope they will be involved. In the meantime they will continue over-delivering on every project that passes through their studio.
What’s more, Hat-trick:
- Ascribes their success to their enduring enthusiasm for design.
- Have an unusually lean structure in which Sutherland and Howat play a hands-on role in everything.
- Counts the Natural History Museum, British Heart Foundation, Land Securities, National Museums Scotland, Wimbledon Championships, Kew Gardens and Royal Mail among their current clients.
- Have a typical three-second case study that goes like this: 1. Client with problem. 2. Creative solution. 3. Problem solved.
Hat-trick will be speaking at the 2011 Design Indaba Conference from 23 to 25 February.
