Interview with Ricci Williams

I started Studio Standard as a way to bridge the gap between amateur designer and the professional design community. We create beautifully designed, editable fashion and premium lifestyle Adobe Photoshop and Indesign templates. To date we've sold over 50,000 templates to designers around the world. As well as selling templates, we're a fully functioning design studio in our own right, with clients ranging from fashion to tech.

My work is founded on a solid foundation in the principles of design, type and creative direction. I like structure and balance. Regarding style, over time I've learned to do more with less. My approach to directing work is anchored in understanding and responding to the objectives of the client.

I work on projects from initial concept through to completion and much of my time is spent presenting strategic ideas, creative concepts and designs to clients. A big part of my job is to stay abreast of emerging design trends and culture and feed them into forming new product ideas and strategies. My knowledge of trends across the beauty, fashion, lifestyle and luxury sectors plays a pivotal role in the work I produce and I love this about my job.

My favorite piece of work so far would be the first book project I worked on with photographer Rankin, called 'We are Congo'. The client for the book was Oxfam, an international charity working specifically on tackling poverty around the world. It was a cause in which I believed and jumped at the chance to work on the project. It was also great to work on something that would have a lasting impact beyond when I’d finished working on it. All the proceeds from the book were invested into the area. 'We are Congo' was launched at the National Theatre in London with an accompanying exhibition in 2010.

I love the tactility of working in print. Whilst I think its more difficult as there are more design considerations, producing work that you can touch and hold is incredibly rewarding.

At night when everyone else is sleeping…

The first thing is the client. The job of an art director is that of an interpreter. If a client a client comes to me with an idea for a project, it's my job to boil down what they want and execute it. I need to understand the rationale behind every decision I make, so a lot of time is spent ironing out the concept before the visual work even begins. This means plenty of time spent researching, note taking and sketching.

To be honest, I think it's quite compulsive. It's difficult to stop working once you've started until the job is done.

There's usually a point in a project where everything clicks together and you achieve what you've been aiming for. As designers, we never know when this will happen so we're working away hoping that at some point it will all fall into place. When it does, it feels great.

A big part of my job is to stay abreast of emerging design trends and culture and feed them into forming new product ideas and strategies. My knowledge of trends across the beauty, fashion, lifestyle and luxury sectors plays a pivotal role in the work I produce.

My style as an art director is classic. On the design side, I’ve never been one to shy away from uniformity in design. My work is founded on a solid foundation in the principles of design, type and creative direction. I like structure and balance. Regarding style, over time I've learned to do more with less.

My approach to directing work is anchored in understanding and responding to the objectives of the client. I work on projects from initial concept through to completion and much of my time is spent presenting strategic ideas, creative concepts and designs to clients.

Trust your intuition. A client will lose faith in you if you don’t trust and act on your intuition, so it’s essential to be a leader, be willing to drive ideas and follow them through.

More and more I think it's the ability to be able to communicate verbally not just visually. As an art director, you have to justify your design decisions to the client but also to your team of photographers, producers and post production managers.

Adobe Suite (Indesign, Illustrator, Photoshop).Grid Systems in Graphic Design Josef Mülller-BrockmannType & Typography by Phil Baines and Andrew HaslamTypewolf.comCoffee

Completely depends on the project. It can be anywhere from three weeks to three months or even more.

Uber, Oxfam, Adobe, Rankin, RiotGames, Bamo, Blumhouse films and more.

I love working with fashion and beauty brands. I like exploring what draws people to things, and fashion is at understanding this.How through visual storytelling you could grow the identity and reputation of a product. In fashion, you have access to some of the best image-makers out there, and so many of the people involved are passionate and driven to create something both distinctive and remarkable.

Im currently working on a book for Bamo,inc which will be out next year.