Isaac Powell is a UK-based independent design director and founder of STAGECREW. His work spans identity systems, interactive design, and visual communication, often developed through close collaboration with clients and a considered, concept-driven approach. He places particular emphasis on “slow work”, prioritising experimentation and depth over speed in order to develop thoughtful and enduring design outcomes. Powell’s clients include Paul Smith, The Line and West of West.

Your work is deeply rooted in editorial design principles. What is it about that discipline that continues to inform how you approach brand and digital projects?

I think print-based editorial design is in some ways the purest distillation of visual communication there is, given the fixed limitations of the physical space you have to work with. With a website, you can always add another page, or just let things scroll, but in a newspaper or in a magazine or book you obviously can't do that. That challenge requires you to look deeply at your design choices, and if there’s a better way to use the space you have. So even with digital or wider brand work, I’m always trying to elevate the information or narrative and express a concept in an intentional way, all with those constraints in mind, imagined or otherwise.

You’ve spoken about the importance of “slow work” in your practice. How do you maintain that approach when working within commercial timelines and client expectations?

I try to be very open at the outset of a project that this is the way I prefer to work, and most clients react really positively to it. In my experience, a more free and open exploratory phase followed by considered refinement yields the best outcomes, and tends to lead to a more fun and equal process. I should add that I don't really see 'slow' as a negative; instead it is rather 'as much time as needed' to get to the right result. Sometimes that might be quite quickly!
Having space for conversations around higher level concepts or rough ideas is also a useful way to learn more about the subject without getting attached to a particular route, or getting tunnel-vision on one framing of the brief. It's also more collaborative, and opens the doors to new ideas, which is never a bad thing.

In your work with Paul Smith, how did you approach contributing to a heritage brand with such a distinct and established identity?

I worked with them on a previous version of their website as part of a wider team, and it was a valuable experience for sure. As you’d probably expect, respecting the history of the brand was central to everything we worked on, whilst also trying to find new ways to leverage it in the digital space. The classic PS ‘colour strip’ was a particularly iconic piece of the brand collateral, so I spent a lot of time trying to use it in interesting ways.

You describe your work as being conceptually driven yet highly refined. What does that refinement process look like in practice?

I think there’s a few different aspects to this. There’s the refinement that I’m constantly doing myself, which is usually on the more technical side of a design (playing with different margin sizes, or tightening type systems), or on the visual side (experimenting with new concepts, or variations of a theme etc). Then there’s the refinement of my understanding, which only comes via collaboration and conversations with the client. The more you know, the more that then feeds back into your technical refinement as well, and so over time you have this natural, almost circular approach where you’re constantly improving the work as you gain more knowledge. I also can’t stress enough how important time away from the screen is for me; it’s amazing how a few days away can sharpen my awareness to missed opportunities or lacklustre parts of a design.
In reality, this results in pretty messy files with lots of experiments (some failed, some useful), variations, branches and other things that can all be discussed and, ultimately, refined into something that resonates.

Collaboration seems central to your process. How do you approach working closely with others while maintaining a clear creative direction?

I think it’s about communicating the important principles that underscore a given brief, and using that shared vision as a north star when responding to it. If you can do that whilst being open to new perspectives and ideas and letting your collaborators explore their own interpretations in their own way, then you can foster an exciting mix of outcomes. I also think it helps to see yourself less as some temporary outside service provider, and more as an equal partner with your client, which helps the creative balance and usually results in a more honest and rewarding process for everyone.

Growing up surrounded by art and creative practice, how has that environment shaped your perspective as a designer today?

It certainly helped me to cultivate visual taste from an early age, which I consider to be the most important trait for a designer to have. It also gave me a real appreciation for the craft of things, this idea that great things take time and patience, and to think beyond just what something looks like, but also at what it says. I think there’s a lot more art in design than people realise.

Many of your projects balance clarity with atmosphere. How do you approach creating a specific feeling through graphic elements alone?

I always want to make things that capture the essence of my client, and the message they want to convey. To elevate their work, not mine. Of course, I’m trying to make something I’m proud of, but I’m also trying to get out of the way, you know? So capturing that atmosphere or feeling is again through understanding, and conversation with those I’m working with. I’m essentially trying to marry aesthetic principles to conceptual principles, so I tend to bounce around between styles quite a bit, always making sure I’m making choices for the right reasons.

Looking at your practice today, are there particular types of projects or directions you’re interested in exploring further?

I recently co-founded STAGECREW with the aim of being able to collaborate with photographers, film makers, artists, and other creative individuals on specific briefs in the cultural space; specifically ones working with physical objects or other materiality, and exploring how these can be portrayed offline and online. I’m excited to see what we can do.