Today Guy Rickard, the boss of Paladin Sports took time out of his schedule to share his creative journey with us.
Guy shares how difficult he found his schooling years; he had a lack of confidence which extended into areas of his learning and concentration. However, from a young age, Guy knew that he enjoyed skateboarding and making designs to place on tee-shirts to sell to his friends.
This inspired Guy to later study graphic design and screen-printing through a certificate course. Before he knew it, Guy was making screen-prints for the likes of Huffer and ABC and continued to create his own shirt designs.
Guy discussed the Paladin Sports logo, showing us the original logo with a serif font and sword running through the middle. This logo was updated four times before transforming into the contemporary design it is today. Guy said that the rebranding took around 12 or so months and explained that rebranding usually takes a lot of time and money to complete.
The logo represents a medieval arrowhead from a side on glance, while also attempting to represent a knight’s armour through that of thick, sharp line work. The font is serif and appropriately kerned to match the length and straight, geometric aesthetic of the logo’s imagery.
A piece of advice that Guy threw our way was this: “Do not be afraid to put monetary value on your work!” It is important to learn how to make a profit from your skills, time and effort put into your work.
“Perseverance is everything; there are setbacks in everything. If you feel like giving up, ask yourself; ‘do you love what you are doing?’ If the answer is no, then maybe it is time to look for something else. But if you do enjoy your work; keep moving forward.”
He further explained that you need to get yourself a voice; to have confidence to express yourself in a world full of conversation. He said that sometimes, it’s not all about the creative skills, but also about presentational, professional and pitching skills – which makes a lot of sense as these attributes will help to build stronger networking, confidence and communication.
Lastly, Guy explained that keeping one’s mental health in check is important for oneself and the overall creative team. He understands what it is like to have hard days or days when you need to self-reflect or get a check-up. He recommends finding a workplace that is understanding of these situations because mental health is one of the most common routes to feeling trapped and ineffective.
Guy’s words gave me a lot of ‘food for thought’ moments; I have been thinking a lot about my next steps and what to do and its proving to be quite a difficult and sensitive topic for me to wrap my head around. In order to keep moving forward, I am just focusing on the tasks at hand so that I will not fall to far behind.
Sophie Stichbury 