“Simpleness and getting an idea across really fast is the key,” says Korie Cull, a senior graphic designer, whose work has recently been shortlisted for a national award.
In just over two years, Cull has gone from being an unemployed design graduate, to a graphic designer, to running major accounts for digital marketing company Affari Media.
Cull has helped the Nottingham-based firm grow from a startup to a six-person company with award-worthy campaigns.
When company co-founders Craig Brothers and Ben Hankin met Cull in July 2012 they recognised his potential. “Korie had a great way about him – he’s very friendly and outgoing”, says Brothers, who nominated him for the Guardian Small Business Showcase Rising Star award.
Cull, a graduate in Concept Design from Staffordshire University, was skilled in using software such as InDesign and Photoshop.
When he became Affari Media’s first employee, Cull was able to pass these on to Hankin, who had previously worked as a designer on local papers.
Brothers was impressed at Cull’s ability to apply his training to a commercial setting. “He adapted his skills and expanded them, going home at night and teaching himself new ones.”
While Brothers and Hankin have effectively been his mentors, Cull says it was more collaborative. “It was more of a friendship – I was teaching Ben and he was teaching me. The new skills that I knew, he didn’t know. It was a trade-off, which worked really well.”
Cull had been unemployed for two months when he was offered an interview as part of a government-backed scheme to help people get work. “[The scheme] encourages businesses to take people on and then helps with funding for the first part of their employment,” says Brothers. “Our plan was always to look for people within the city boundary.”
Cull admits he was picky when it came to hunting for jobs. “I wanted it to be in Nottingham, I wanted it to be a small company and I wanted it to appeal to me and my skills set,” he says. “I didn’t want to be a junior graphic designer – I wanted to be a graphic designer straightaway.”
There was a creative chemistry from that first interview. “I was super enthusiastic,” says Cull, and felt that the company’s approach worked for him. Within a month and a half of starting he had taken on his first client, and the number he is responsible for has continued to grow. In the past 12 months Cull has taken charge of a major account, Fujitsu, in terms of design, client communication and account development.
Building client relationships was new to Cull. But his personable nature has proved invaluable. Brothers offered him support, sharing his expertise in business development.
Recruiting Cull, someone who could share skills that the founders lacked, has encouraged them to adopt the same approach with all new hires. Their newest recruit has training in programs that were unfamiliar to Cull, such as Illustrator.
Cull’s success has also helped define the structure of the business. Brothers says it’s unusual for graphic designers to be so closely involved with clients. Cull’s rapport with clients has given Brothers a vision for his agency. “We will have a design-based managed agency where each designer will be given an account, all encompassing.”
Among Cull’s favourite campaigns so far, was one called: “Two Worlds Colliding,” part of The Storage Papers campaign shortlisted for the B2B Marketing Awards 2014. Here he took an innovative approach to selling a server – the concept featured two planets colliding with flying debris.
The campaign, in the Most Commercially Successful Campaign category, presented a range of Cull’s skills including 3D animation, UX design and digital publications.
“The accolade is a huge achievement for our agency and Korie, considering there were more than 500 entries from around the world, including entries from renowned and established agencies,” says Brothers.
Brothers anticipates that Cull will join the company’s board of directors in time. He says that part of that role requires a willingness to be constantly available. “I recognise that in Korie,” he says.
Cull says: “I don’t have ambitions for me personally, but I have ambitions for the company – I want it to grow, so we have a bigger team.
“I want to have a team of creatives beneath me and we can go in the morning for a coffee and bounce ideas off each other. I want it to be like that every day.”
