What makes a great Creative Director?
Rene Toneman, Creative Director and co-founder at Silo, The Hague
About Rene
Rene Toneman (1973) is Creative Director and co-founder of creative agency Silo. Working at the intersection of brand, digital and spatial environments, his agency specialises in strategy, branding & identity design. Silo combines creativity, craft and technology with the aim to improve the human experience.
Before founding Silo, Rene worked as a designer at Studio Dumbar, and at Fabrique as creative director where he was responsible for one of the creative teams.
In addition, Rene supports the industry as a board member of the Association of Dutch Designers (BNO), and regularly performs jury services for international design organisations.
His expertise in developing successful brand experiences has given Rene the opportunity to lead amazing projects for Unilever, Nationale Nederlanden, MoMA, The Dutch Parliament, Zaans Medical Center and Muziekgebouw Amsterdam, among others. As creative director, Rene has received global recognition for design excellence and was named European Design Agency of the Year in 2012 and 2017. His team’s work has been recognised by ADC New York, D&AD, EDA, Red Dot, Frame, Tokyo TDC, ADCN, DDA, and IF.
Questions
Tell us your own path from Designer to Creative Director.
My path started as designer at Studio Dumbar. The intense studio culture had an enormous influence on my personal motivation. From Gert Dumbar and the many wonderful colleagues, I learned how important it is to discover your own signature and to make this the leading element in your solutions. But I also learned about the impact of humour and visual design and what it can bring to the public domain, and the world of clients.
After more than five years, I transferred to Fabrique, where I was asked to lead one of the creative teams. Although I didn’t have a clear understanding of what I was getting into initially, I knew that my challenge at this agency lay primarily in improving the quality of the work, team well-being, and new business activities. For me, this was a major development: from designing by myself to actively managing and influencing both the design team and clients. The leadership role required that I reinvented myself.
In 2008, after 6 years at Fabrique, I started my own agency with two former colleagues: Silo. For the first time, I could establish my own standard. Not only the creative DNA, but also the culture, the team I worked with and the type of clients I wanted to work for.
The steps I took were, each in their own way, significant to me in developing from designer to creative director and entrepreneur. It is a path that is still evolving and continuously presents new directions.
What was the hardest part of the transition from Designer to Creative Director?
In a transition like that, there will be several bumps along the way. The act of designing yourself changes into coaching and directing. A personal intuitive process becomes a guiding process in which you have to set the course in advance. These changes require a different attitude. In the beginning, I had to search for a solution that would give me the same satisfaction as I felt as a designer. I finally succeeded by putting the team together differently, and by organising the design process within the team differently.
What specific qualities are essential to become a great Creative Director?
There are many different characteristics and styles that determine the effectiveness of a CD. From my perspective, I would highlight the following three values:
As a CD, you are an INSPIRATOR, enthusing/inspiring the team with the goal of creative innovation.
To be able to weigh the interests and needs of customers and users, and to assess the ideas in the creative process, you need to have an inexhaustible EMPATHIC POWER. And finally, to communicate your thoughts and ensure fruitful interaction in the creative process, clear COMMUNICATION and ARGUMENTATION are essential, towards the team and the client.
Tell us about some of the pros and cons of being a Creative Director.
Pros:
- Experience unlimited creative possibilities. You set the creative standard and direction, you can decide.
- Be proud of your team’s creative achievements, share success together
- Collaborating with great talents who learn from you, and vice versa
- Experience the appreciation of clients
Cons:
- A lot of meetings, a lot of talking, a lot of creative processes taking place at once.
- Not being able to fully realise an idea because of lack of budget, time or capacity
In your view what are the primary responsibilities of the Creative Director in an agency setting?
You set the creative bar, give direction to the creative process and set the tone for the creative culture in the agency.
Describe your management style.
Although I have a dominant opinion on which direction we go, I find it essential to operate as a team. A good idea rarely comes from one designer but from each other’s influence and decision making. Designers work on ideas individually. During that process, they continuously discuss, influence, exchange ideas and change course. I stimulate progress by making proposals and taking decisions in that process. Sometimes that means intervening, but often it is a fluid development into a joint proposal. This does require a certain degree of independence from the team. I feel most happy when we, as a team, have achieved a great innovative performance, and have moved forward with it as an agency.
How long did it take you to feel completely comfortable in your role?
This lasted about a year I think. The jump from designer to creative director did not take place within the same agency. At first, I had to get used to taking responsibility for the creative work of the team. While I hit the ground running, there was so much room for improvement. So my challenge started at the organisational level, with building a strong creative team. I became more confident when we achieved better creative results, and when we could measure ourselves against competing agencies in pitches and design award programmes.
My role as CD within Silo is more comprehensive, as I am also a co-owner. This evolved when the team started to grow and it became more and more important to make strategic choices for the development of the agency.
Did you ever suffer from what’s known as ‘imposter syndrome’? If so, how did you deal with this?
I don’t think so. But in the course of my career, I have certainly experienced moments of uncomfortable uncertainty and nervousness. Usually, these were situations when I was doing something completely new. I can remember some moments, such as giving a presentation to a group of a thousand Chinese in Shenzhen. Or presenting to the management of MoMA in New York. In retrospect, these were great moments, but I also felt an unnecessary amount of pressure.
I was able to put it into perspective by continuing to emphasise that you choose the challenge yourself and that if you want to get ahead, you have to seize and overcome opportunities like these. Stepping outside your comfort zone always starts with an uncomfortable feeling. Once you are through it, it feels like a victory.
What has been your biggest learning experience as a Creative Director?
It is important to keep yourself focused on your pursuits. I learned the most from the moments when I drew a line and decided to do things differently. Around 2017, for example, I decided out of my passion for architecture to explore more projects in the spatial environment. We now successfully collaborate with numerous great architecture firms on diverse spatial projects for clients such as Boijmans van Beuningen, Unilever, Nationale Nederlanden and De Nederlandsche Bank. The lesson is perhaps obvious when you look back. In essence, every time it is about making the right decisions at specific moments, inspired by ambition and admiration.
Is it important to set and adhere to a creative vision for the agency? If so, why?
For sure it is. The work an agency creates originates from a creative vision, from which the entire team operates. It gives direction, enthusiasm and energy. The result of projects is measured against this bar and determines whether it is successful in terms of quality. In addition, it is important that there is sufficient agreement within the team regarding creative values so that you are all striving for the same level.
Should a Creative Director be hands on or hands off?
As a CD, I like to actively steer the creative process. You make connections between the ideas and assign meaning. You may sometimes have to fill in the blanks yourself, to get the team to go in a certain direction. I always act in a coaching way. It is a joint responsibility to arrive at good solutions.
What tips do you have for building and nurturing a healthy and vibrant creative culture within an agency?
- Everyone is equal in the creative process
- Create a basis of trust so that the team works WITH each other, not alongside each other
- Ensure a mix of disciplines in a team
- Share your sources of inspiration and fascination
- A little internal competition is healthy
- Set clear requirements and goals, be self-critical
- Show as much as possible of what the team produces so that they can influence each other positively
- Create sufficient formal and informal moments of reflection
- Embrace new techniques and experiments
- Celebrate the successes, share the failures
What tips do you have to continuously inspire creative teams?
As a CD, I embrace new creative approaches. This creates room for new solutions that the entire team can all get excited about. It is important to follow new developments in the various fields and share experiences with each other. We do this in the form of presentations and discussions internally, and by inviting external experts to our studio. During Covid, working from home has made this more of a challenge, and everyone in the team feels the lack of it.
Inspiration can often be found in adjacent disciplines. As a CD I try to make connections that expand the scope, creating more exciting solutions.
By actively participating in (a specific selection of) design awards, you can see what is going on in the professional field, and how you measure up as a team.
How do you maintain your own creativity to ensure you remain on top of your game?
For me, this is a continuous process. I keep myself informed of new developments, what I see, read and interpret, what the expectations are and where you can create your own unique proposition. The work and projects that I undertake are a result of my personal interests.
How do you create a balance between giving your team creative space while maintaining overall responsibility for the creative output?
This is always a field of tension. As a CD, you do not know in advance where solutions will be found. A lot of time can be lost in creative research, with no guarantee of a superior solution. Nevertheless, I like to give more space in the early stages of a design process to be able to come up with innovative solutions. Each individual designer is responsible for his own work and the time he is assigned for it. By sharing knowledge, I help the team to make the right decisions in that process and to keep the momentum going.
In your opinion what is the best way to give feedback on creative work?
Always in dialogue. I try to reach a common understanding by using arguments to define a perspective on where things should go. Sometimes this is done in small iterative steps.
How do you defend creative ideas to stop bad things happening to the work?
Unfortunately, it sometimes happens that due to various reasons (politics, finance, the CEO’s partner) the creative idea is negatively influenced. It is important to find out what really motivates someone to deviate from the creative proposal. The story behind an idea is much more important than the design itself, which is much easier to adapt. But it doesn’t always work to get the best idea selected. And unfortunately, you have to accept that.
What has been your biggest success as a Creative Director and why?
Every success comes from a collaboration with the team. I can point to my own role in that, but it is always the synergy that led to the ultimate achievement. And I therefore always give the team the credit. For winning an important pitch, for coming up with an innovative design or for the creative portfolio of the past years.
What was the best piece of advice ever given to you as a Creative Director? Trust your intuition, and learn to identify it.
And finally, what advice would you give to anyone who has recently been promoted to the role of Creative Director?
Find your own style. Connect with your team, and use the collective resource.
About the author
Graham Sturt is Creative Director / Partner at strategic creative agency, D8.
Originally from England, he lived and worked in London for more than a decade before relocating to Amsterdam to follow his passion for Dutch design.
