How I Work: Damian Bradfield, Chief Creative Officer, WeTransfer
Damian Bradfield works hard to not have a routine. Images: c/o Damian Bradfield. Header image designed by Barbara Cadorna.
The buzz for WeTransfer Co-Founder and Chief Creative Officer Damian Bradfield always comes from learning. “Meeting artists that are risk takers, those unafraid and unperturbed by the new, and those that embrace counter-culture working hard to bring their vision to life,” he says. “In short, working with misfits.”
In addition to his day job, Bradfield has written two books (The Trust Manifesto and Algorithmic Reality) hosts the Influence podcast and created the comic book Joker. Just don’t ask him about his routine–he works very hard not to have one. Herewith, 10 insights into how he works, including working out early ideas with pen and paper, embracing his inner hermit during the winter, and why, if he was paid for the hours he spent worrying, he would be a trillionaire.
Scenes from the WeTransfer office in Amsterdam.
Rise and Shine
Do I have a routine? No. I work incredibly hard not to have a routine. The word alone sends shivers down my spine. I dread the idea of having a commute to work or a morning ritual. I find the concept chastising and hope that no two mornings are ever or will ever be the same.
In general, however, I wake up around 7 am, stretch on some lycra, and prepare to go the gym. Then I walk downstairs, pick up my phone, and pretend to myself that something very important has come up, preventing me from being able to work out. I then take an (ever increasingly) cold shower (I am now down to 32 degrees C / 90 Fahrenheit) and read Twitter.
Do I drink coffee every morning? Nope. Tea? Yes, sometimes, sometimes with milk and sometimes black! Do I blend my own green juice? Yes, but every day? No. Because I also love a bacon sandwich and thick lashings of marmite on fat-cut white bread every now and then. One routine, therefore, I guess I have is deciding how to avoid routine every morning, and I stick to that religiously.
Work Uniform
The same can be said for the work uniform. I went to a boarding school, we wore the same thing every day for 13 years. Why? I guess the goal was to repress self-expression. Why would I continue that Victorian concept now that I'm a grown man? This is probably delusional, but I would like to think that I mix it up. Sometimes I wear blue socks, sometimes green. I might slip into some Y Fronts on a Tuesday and a thong on a Thursday. I'm a free spirit. I can happily skip from a tailor-made suit to a pair of 20-year-old jeans. I don't wear all black, and I don't just wear sneakers. I love knitwear in the winter because it hides my slowly protruding man boobs. I like slip-ons in the summer because I am lazy, and it saves me having to bend over and tie shoe laces.
How I Structure My Day
My day is generally spent avoiding all elements of structure, somedays I can happily start at 5 a.m. and have the most amazing semi-orgasmically productive day ever, and on other days I am useless until 3 p.m. In the winter I live on email, I avoid speaking to people whenever I can, and detest meetings with more than 1 human being. I'm an einzelganger and a hermit who occasionally goes outside if the sun is shining. When the sun does shine (which rarely happens where I live) I metamorphose from a social mole into a social butterfly and will happily talk to people all day long; they, however, no longer want to talk to me, though, as I've spent ten months of the year avoiding them.
Playlist Favorites
I don't really have playlists. I've created them in the past for my kids with creepy animal sounds to scare them into wetting the bed, but in general, I live for radio; the unpredictability of radio is what I love. Combine good radio and Shazam, and the mix is like adding Skittles to a can of Coca-Cola.
If you were to ask me today which artists I'm listening to right now it would be Sault, Cleo Sol, Moses Sumney, and Fred Again and again.
Tools of the Trade
There is only really one tool to my trade, and that's SuperHuman, the email client. I love it.
Dream Studio
I had my dream studio once upon a time. A few years back, we took a space in Amsterdam on the old gas factory site and built a beautiful studio space in the park. A cavernous open plan space with a gallery downstairs and amazing rolling desks that we custom-built upstairs.
We showcased work from emerging artists every three months in the gallery and would hold events and talks in the space and have BBQs in the park. It was magic.
One Unique Thing About My Work Process
I hate collaborating. In the world of always-on, digital white board, google docs miro boards, I like sitting alone with paper and pen. I need to sit with an idea for a while and bring it to 30% at least before I am willing to share any of it. No matter how rubbish.
Mantra
It's better to remain silent and be thought a fool than to speak and remove all doubt.
My Bright Idea that Never Saw the Light of Day
Is obviously not very bright; it's 100% unpolished and unpresentable; otherwise, it would have seen daylight. I also don't have one idea; I have one hundred, but I'm a marathon runner and not a sprinter, so eventually, all of my unpolished diamonds (read three out of 100) will see daylight. It's just a matter of time.
To-Do List Item That Keeps Me Up At Night
Everything; I can worry about something I might have said to someone I just met and chew over my response to their simple innocuous question all night long. I can worry about who I might have offended, lunch appointments I haven't confirmed, meetings I forgot to cancel, parents evenings I avoided, whether I picked up my dog's foot long turd from the dog park yesterday or not.
If I was paid for the hours I spend worrying, I would be a trillionaire.
If you’d like to read more from Creative Factor, subscribe to our newsletter. Or looking to tell your brand story? Introducing Creative Factor’s Storytelling Studio.
Plus, more great reads right this way…
