Julia Carefoot
Creative Lead
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Julia is a strategic brand and design specialist, with over 16 years' experience in successful design strategy and implementation. Julia started out working under ex-Chase Creative Directors at Manchester agency, Glorious Creative, and has worked both agency and client side.
Julia has an infectious passion for design with purpose and for bringing brands to life. Her expertise lies in brand strategy, creation, identity, and project leadership. She’s an adaptable problem solver with great organisational and stakeholder management skills.
Favourite record?
A self-confessed muso, I love a wide range of music across loads of different genres. Having said that, I’m a sucker for early 90’s alt rock and grunge and love Smashing Pumpkins ‘Siamese Dream’, Dinosaur Jr’s ‘Where You Been’ and Nirvana’s ‘Nevermind’. More recently, I’ve been listening to The War on Drugs, Rolling Blackouts Coastal Fever and Nick Cave.
Favourite holiday destination?
I loved New York, with all its iconic landmarks, but I also love France where I have very fond memories visiting my folks who lived in the south for 10 years. The best market in France is arguably the one in the La Place-aux-Herbes in Uzès, and the Pont du Gard Roman aqueduct is stunning — made more impressive as it’s on the UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites.
What did you want to be when growing up?
A rockstar! I clearly had delusions of grandeur and my head stuck in the clouds.
Favourite websites?
I’m a bit of a running nut, so I love Strava and all the performance analytics and data that it can generate. Not technically a website, but I use Spotify every day and Instagram. For design Inspiration — Behance, Pinterest, It’s Nice That, as well as Dribble.
Favourite pieces of art?
I loved the Cy Twombly ‘Cycles and Seasons’ exhibition at the Tate Modern back in 2008, but I also love Jean Michel Basquiat and his collaborations with Andy Warhol. I visited ‘Beyond the Streets’ at the Saatchi Gallery in March, which was the most comprehensive graffiti and street art exhibition to open in the UK. It was an awesome introduction to the playfulness and vibrancy of street art for my eight-year-old son, who found it fascinating. Highlights included HuskMitNavn, Kenny Scharf and Stephen Powers.
Favourite podcasts?
I loved ‘The Coming Storm’ which investigated the dark undergrowth of modern America, QAnon and the plot to break reality. It felt like a work of weird dystopian fiction. I’m also a regular listener of Desert Island Discs, The Rest is Politics, and my son and I have recently got into The Infinite Monkey Cage, which is a good way to learn about the world through a scientific lens.
Which famous person do you most admire?
Over the last six months, I subscribed to ‘The Red Hand Files’ (a blog of singer/song-writer Nick Cave) and have found his musings both entertaining and profound. I admire his willingness to delve into a range of subject areas and his reverence at the mystical notions of creativity.
