We’ve gone away fishing again! I’ll admit, we’re a bit late in sharing our reportage of the trip this year, but there’s a reason for this, and thankfully it’s not because of a man overboard, or raw-fish-related ailments.
As per tradition, we’ve made an arthouse-adjacent short film to document the trip, but this time we took the time to reflect on why we started O Street in the first place (15 years ago this month!), what makes us who we are and why we do what we do. Give it a watch!
We’re having a great, busy year at O Street and as a result, our team has grown a little. Let’s get you up to speed on who’s new(ish) around here! Meet our new staff—Becky and Bea, the latest designers to join our Glasgow Studio and our new Studio Manager, Susan.
A proper introduction needs some O Street portraits. So, we dusted off our yellow office chair, gave our good pal Peter Dibdin a shout and then crossed our fingers for a break from the seemingly endless October rain. Luck was on our side, blue skies appeared and our neighbourhood mini-shoot was a go!
Becky fine-tuned her skills at the Glasgow School of Art and KADK, bringing her digital expertise to O Street. A coding and interactive text wizard, she’s been working on some fantastic projects for our US clients since the end of last year. A general provider of chill vibes with a knack for choosing the perfect tunes suited to the studio mood.
Another GSA graduate, Beatrice, joined the studio a few months ago. She’s produced some incredible, unique work since joining us, specialising in art direction, brand identity and digital design. She is the Queen Bea of charity shop scavenging, often unearthing some of the best treasures on her lunch break!
With an extensive background in fashion retail, visual merchandising and small business marketing, Susan recently joined the team to keep everything ticking along smoothly. As well as keeping things organised, she brings her social media skills to spread the good word on O Street. A calming presence in the studio, always ready to talk books, cats and outfits!
All photography by Peter Dibdin.
Last week was our first week working back at the studio, and we couldn’t be happier about it.
Remote working was getting old, Eli was even starting to offer their houseplants cups of coffee and biscuits. So with a little gentle corralling, we made it into the studio bright and early on Monday morning. Fuelled by consistent tea breaks, great company, and some funky ambient tunes, working in the studio beats working from our bedrooms by a long shot. Even if the studio cups were not 100% spider free.
Some of us hadn’t worked in the studio before, so we were even more eager to get stuck into a new routine. Learning how to fit into a team is particularly hard through video calls, so us newbies were desperate to work with each other in person and soak up all the learning experiences we could.
George hasn’t worked in the studio since his internship back in 2019, despite being with us for over a year now. He spent that year working from his living room, scheduling meetings around his flatmate (also working remotely in the living room), so he was more than ready to get back into the office. He’s excited to be back in this gorgeous space, surrounded by reference materials, photography equipment, and some high-class inspiration. The ease of communication between the team is also a massive plus for him, being able to easily keep us all in the loop and help out our interns out with only two metres and a mask between us.
It’s also Eli’s first time working with the team in person, and they’re loving being able to pick everyone’s brains on design terminology and offer helpful (some might say irritating) reminders to fill out the timesheets. Having been working perched on the edge of their bed in a tiny bedroom for the last four months, they’re thrilled at the prospect of a proper office chair and half-decent posture. The workplace mindset was a bit lost working from a cramped flat, so having a dedicated space to be productive has been a massive bonus for them. Losing out on that extra 45 minutes of sleep is totally worth it.
The general consensus is that we’re delighted to be back in this beautiful studio. We feel more like a team than ever, and the boundaries between work and home life are super helpful for both productivity and our personal wellbeing. And having Cottonrake Bakery just down the road only sweetens the deal.
Onwards to many more happy weeks of working in the Studio!
It’s been a while since the O Street crew last touched base at the studio… and we’re all missing it. We’ve even had a couple of new recruits since we started working remotely: Eli joined us a couple of months ago, and George who’s been with us for almost a year still didn’t have his very own O Street portrait.
So we knew it was about time to get reacquainted for a new matching look—for most of us, at least. It’s a tricky job to physically reunite across the Atlantic (and even the Scottish Border right now).
After frantically crossed fingers and nervous glances at the sky, we couldn’t have asked for a better day. Sunshine as ordered and Glasgow’s trademark breeze acting as a natural wind machine.
Our favourite photographer and good pal Peter Dibdin kept us all in line, getting some great shots in the process. All we had to do was avoid the oncoming traffic.
We all brushed up pretty well, with sunlit smiles and hair blowing in the wind (well apart from Neil though his beard did move at one point.) However the real star of the show was the yellow chair. We wanted something a little different for our photos. Something offbeat yet on brand for O Street.
Cue a bright yellow office chair in the middle of the road. After a spot of bother laying hands on the aerosol during a local paint shortage, studio dad Neil managed to paint the chairs himself without annoying the neighbours too much. So our perfectly odd prop was set to steal the scene against the greenery and fortuitous matching graffiti in the background.
Yup, it was great to finally get back to the studio (or at least down an alley around the corner) and meet the team again. Plus we have these smashing new headshots to show for it. With so much of our time spent working remotely, it’s easy to feel far apart—even while we’re working online every day. So these photos really bring us together and that feels good.
All professional photography by Peter Dibdin.