Bristol, April 12th, 2023

Based in the UK, Unseen Studio is a brand, digital and motion studio that creates refreshingly unexpected ideas and striking visuals that help bold brands cut through the noise. Their services include graphic, web and product design, marketing strategy and digital animation, among many other areas, having worked with clients from all around the world.

Tom Anderson is the Creative Director and Co-Founder of Unseen Studio. He started the agency right after finishing university, first calling it Green Chameleon, and then rebranding it to its current name. In an interview with TIA, Anderson described the first hurdles of starting an agency and listed the guiding principles behind Unseen Studio.

To start off, if someone wants to experience the authentic, non-touristy side of Bristol, where would you suggest they go?

Bristol has a load of amazing areas to visit but they are quite spread out. I live south of the river in Bedminster, so I’d have to say head that way! North Street is full of independent shops, restaurants and covered in street art, so it’s a great place to visit. Maybe grab some food at Sonny Stores or Corr, then head to the Spotted Cow for a pint. If you fancy a big night then head to King Street in the centre of town, listen to some live music at the Fleece or grab a late night cocktail at The Milk Thistle.

What does a usual day look like for you at work?

We’re a small studio, so my days are really varied. My schedule totally depends on which day of the week we’re talking about.

I’m generally involved in most stages of a project in some capacity; I’ll work closely with our team in the planning strategy phase to create unique experiences for our clients. Sketching ideas in the ideation phase or presenting concepts to clients. Design reviews with the project teams to make sure everything is on track as projects progress. Working with the design and dev team to develop concepts in code, or just being a rubber duck for our developers.

Outside of project work, I’m heavily involved in new business, whether that’s meeting prospective clients, preparing pitches or the nitty gritty of planning and executing our marketing efforts.

Would you mind sharing a quick recap of your career path and accomplishments for those who might not be familiar?

I founded the company Green Chameleon, now Unseen Studio, 11 years ago straight out of university. Myself and two friends, Rollo and Nathan, decided to give it a shot with about a year of agency experience between us. Maybe not the typical way to start a studio, but it seemed to work for us. I’ve been involved in all sorts over the years from branding and packaging projects to TV commercials and social campaigns, but digital experiences are what really captured my interest.

What were some of the biggest hurdles you faced in the early days of the company, and how did you overcome these hurdles?

Without meaning to sound facetious, our biggest hurdle was getting clients and making money. We started from the bottom, straight out of university with no portfolio, no clients and next to no experience. Creating a portfolio from nothing was the biggest challenge. We managed to get invited to Dribbble and started to build our profile there, which really helped. One day, my co-founder Rollo decided to ride his bike to the North of Spain for charity. We decided it was a good opportunity to do something creative digitally and so we put together ‘Rollo’s Ride’. The website picked up some awards and then it all snowballed from there and 11 years later, here we are. Award sites such as the Awwwards, CSSDA and FWA have played a huge role in the growth of our studio.

Can you describe the key values or principles that guide Unseen Studio’s approach to client partnerships and creative work?

We have 4 guiding values that steer us; ‘create the unexpected’, ‘embrace the unknown’, ‘sweat the details’ and last but not least ‘prioritise people’.

As a studio, our goal is to help our clients stand out. When it comes to creative work, we always try to create something refreshingly unexpected. We relish the opportunity to push ourselves outside our comfort zone and into the unknown, to learn new skills and push technology to exciting new places. We believe that by shrugging off conventions and avoiding the ordinary, you cultivate the original and that is where the true value lies.

People are the beating heart of our studio. We understand that working as a team is the secret to creating the extraordinary. We want to work with people, clients and colleagues, who are brave and ambitious. People that value creative and innovative thinking and who treat each other with respect. Client and team relationships are the most important part of any project and if you get that right, then anything is possible.

How does Unseen Studio inspire its team members to continually push boundaries and think outside the box?

Pushing boundaries and embracing the unknown is really part of our studio’s core philosophy and so we make sure we find people who share our design ideologies, people who are passionate about what they do and are keen to learn.

I think finding inspiration can be a very personal thing and individuals look for it in a variety of different places, so the first step we take is to ensure that people feel they have the freedom to find it for themselves. Giving them the room to experiment and learn new things. Whether that’s through flexible or remote working, dedicated learning time or ambitious project work.

We also organise annual team trips abroad to design events. Last year we went to OFFF Festival in Barcelona, KIKK Festival in Namur and the Awwwards Conference in Amsterdam. Hearing others in your industry share their experiences can be incredibly eye-opening and inspiring, and something we really value here.

What motivated the decision to rebrand Green Chameleon into Unseen Studio, and what impact has this change had on the agency?

As our work evolved over the years, we began to feel a disconnect between our name and our brand’s personality. We saw the change to Unseen Studio as a natural step in our brand’s development. Our new name and brand is a much better representation of our design philosophy and approach to creative work and we love it!

If you want to know a bit more about the reasons behind our rebrand, you can read about it here.

When taking on a new client or project, what factors do you consider when selecting the team or designer that will be assigned to it?

When possible, we will allow our designers to have a say in which projects they would like to work on while also taking into consideration who may be best suited, either by skill sets, interests, style or availability. Availability is, unfortunately, always a contributing factor. However, we carefully select the clients we work with and the types of projects we take on to ensure the type of work we produce is aligned with the studio’s goals and people’s aspirations. Therefore, if someone is unable to work on a project it’s usually because they’re already working on some other juicy project, so no hard feelings. That being said, we usually have a good spread of the team working on projects together, so there is usually the opportunity to be involved in some capacity.

Looking back at Unseen Studio’s recent portfolio of work, which project do you feel best represents the agency’s values and strengths?

I think ‘The Sea We Breathe’ for Blue Marine is probably the project that best represents what we’re all about as a studio. It’s a highly interactive digital storytelling piece which really allowed us to combine all our skills. I think every single person in the studio worked on some part of that project. From the immersive 3D environments to the custom music score we wrote in house to act as the backing track for the whole journey. Plus, the voice over from Stephen Fry really helped seal the deal!

The cause was immensely important and something we felt passionately about and, creatively, it was a dream come true. The Blue team were amazing to work with. They gave us complete creative freedom and trusted us to produce something effective and groundbreaking.

Can you share your thoughts on using artificial intelligence in your creative work?

AI is undoubtedly changing the landscape of our industry, it’s only just getting started and we’d be crazy to ignore it. Programmes like Dall-e and Stable Diffusion are incredibly powerful tools and there is great value in using them to create moodboards and concept art. We are in the process of implementing just that for a number of our projects at the moment. We’re also currently working on integrating some Open AI as a feature into a pretty unique project, which should have some fun results. However, we’re not in a rush to integrate AI into every aspect of our process just yet.

How would you describe the creative industry in Bristol compared to other major cities?

From street art to music, Bristol is an incredibly creative city. You really feel like you’re in a place that cares about creative expression. The city is full of events and meetups, and there is a strong sense of community that might be lacking in other large cities.

What do you like doing in your free time?

I like to spend time with my friends and family, that’s what it’s all about really. I also love to travel and eat good food. Ideally all 4 of these things at the same time if possible!

How do you explain what you do for a living to a child?

We build websites but fun ones.

What’s a fun-fact that not many people know about you?

I love musicals. The Greatest Showman made it into my Spotify most played.

Thanks Tom!

• Learn more about Unseen Studio https://unseen.co/
• Follow Tom on social media:

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