In the latest episode of Plant Based On Fire, Bryan sits down with Sophie Shand, the founder of Studio Flora, an independent graphic design agency dedicated to vegan and mission-driven brands. Sophie’s journey from working in traditional design agencies to establishing her own studio is a compelling story of aligning personal ethics with professional work, all while contributing to the growing vegan movement.
The Journey to Studio Flora
Sophie’s transition into the vegan design world wasn’t a sudden leap but rather a series of realizations and decisions that culminated in the creation of Studio Flora. Reflecting on her experience, Sophie shared,
“I found myself in meetings discussing how to sell more hamburgers, and as a vegan, I just couldn’t do it. That’s when I realized I needed to work with brands that align with my values.”
This moment of clarity was the catalyst for Sophie to start her own agency, where she could focus on helping brands that share her passion for veganism and sustainability.
The Challenges of Starting a Vegan Design Agency
Starting a business, especially one with a niche focus, comes with its own set of challenges. Sophie admits that her biggest hurdle was overcoming her own lack of business knowledge.
“When you set out on your entrepreneurial journey, you might have deep knowledge of your craft, but learning how to run a business is a whole different game,”
she explained. Sophie’s experience underscores the importance of continuous learning and adaptability in the early stages of entrepreneurship.
Despite these challenges, Sophie has successfully established Studio Flora as a go-to agency for vegan and mission-driven brands. Her deep understanding of the ethical considerations involved in promoting these brands gives her an edge in creating designs that resonate with both the companies and their audiences.
Insights You'll Gain from Sophie’s Episode
Aligning Ethics with Work: Sophie emphasizes the importance of working with brands that reflect your personal values, making your work not only more fulfilling but also more impactful.
The Importance of a Strong Foundation: Sophie’s approach to design starts with a brand strategy workshop, which helps align all stakeholders and ensures that the design accurately reflects the brand’s identity.
Balancing Ethics and Market Appeal: Sophie discusses the delicate balance of promoting a vegan identity while also appealing to a broader audience, particularly in the context of product labeling.
Continuous Learning in Entrepreneurship: Sophie’s journey highlights the steep learning curve of entrepreneurship and the necessity of expanding your skill set beyond your core craft.
Creative Tools and Principles: Sophie shares her go-to design tools and the foundational principles that guide her work, offering valuable insights for aspiring designers.
Building a Brand with Purpose
At Studio Flora, design isn’t just about creating something that looks good—it’s about crafting a brand identity that truly reflects the mission and values of the company. Sophie believes in the power of strategic design, which starts with understanding the brand’s core values and audience.
“The most important part of design is really the strategy and research. The creative part comes easier once you have a strong foundation,”
This approach has proven successful for Studio Flora, allowing Sophie to create designs that not only stand out visually but also connect with consumers on a deeper level. Whether it’s designing packaging that resonates with flexitarians or crafting a brand identity for a mission-driven organization, Sophie’s work is always rooted in purpose.
Embracing the Future of Vegan Design
Looking ahead, Sophie is excited about the potential for Studio Flora to continue helping vegan brands thrive. She dreams of working on projects like rebranding a major vegan advocacy group or creating a design for a craft vegan beer—a project that would allow her to blend creativity with her passion for veganism.
For other designers and entrepreneurs looking to make a mark in mission-driven markets, Sophie offers this advice:
“Gain as much industry experience as you can before setting out on your own. It might not always be fun, but it’s invaluable.”
Sophie Shand’s journey with Studio Flora is a shining example of how aligning your work with your personal ethics can lead to a fulfilling and impactful career. By focusing on vegan and mission-driven brands, Sophie is not only helping companies succeed but also contributing to a larger movement towards sustainability and ethical consumption.
As Sophie puts it,
“I just want to help as many vegan brands as possible.”
And with her dedication and expertise, there’s no doubt that she will continue to make a significant impact in the world of vegan design.
🔗 Useful Links:
Website: www.studioflora.design
Linkedin: www.linkedin.com/in/sophieshand
instagram: www.instagram.com/design_studio_flora
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Episode’s Transcript
Please understand that a transcription service provided the transcript below. It undoubtedly contains errors that invariably take place in voice transcriptions.
Bryan (00:01)
Hello and welcome to Plant Based on Fire where we are talking about plant based businesses and their inspiring stories to thrive in our industry. I'm your host Bryan and the best way you can support us is to click that subscribe button down below. Make sure you get all of our cool episodes and tell us what you like about the episodes. Leave us a comment. Tell us some other amazing people that we should have on the show. We would love to connect with them.
Joining us today is Sophie Shand. She is from Studio Flora and she is an independent graphic design agency serving vegan and mission driven brands. Welcome to the show, Sophie.
Sophie (00:39)
Thank you very much. It's great to be here.
Bryan (00:42)
We appreciate you joining us and helping to be a part of the empire that's changing the planet here, right? So I'd love for you to maybe take us back in time a little bit and what inspired you to sort of start Studio Flora and why did you choose to focus on such a narrow niche like you and I have with vegan and mission driven brands?
Sophie (01:05)
it depends on how far you want to go back. I would say I was always interested in working for myself, but it was never really an aim of mine. I'm not someone who's particularly interested in taking risks. In fact, I would say the opposite. I'm pretty risk averse in all situations in life. But I suppose it was kind of a culmination
Bryan (01:08)
Yeah.
Okay.
Sophie (01:33)
different experiences that I had working for design agencies. Essentially, when you're a graphic designer, you are like a visual spokesperson for various brands. And you may not want to take on that role, especially if the brand is selling burgers or dairy products. And I found myself in those situations quite a lot of times where I just wasn't comfortable with
actively promoting, companies that didn't align with my ethics. And I think there was one occasion that really stood out to me as particularly jarring. And that was when I was at the headquarters of one of the world's biggest fast food giants in a meeting with them on how to sell more hamburgers.
Bryan (02:30)
Right. Yeah.
Sophie (02:31)
that exactly what you want to be talking about as a vegan. And yeah, that on that particular occasion, I did have to say to my employer, I'm so sorry, but I just this this is not for me. I cannot take on this project. But I suppose that sort of set the ball rolling in my mind of maybe I could be doing something else. Maybe maybe I could be actively helping vegan brands instead of instead of burger brands, I guess.
Bryan (02:45)
Right.
I love it. Well, I appreciate you like standing up for like your core principle values. think that many of us in the world are faced with those, and have to make that decision. Do I just go with the flow? Like I am in the, I'm in that fractional CTO space and I've been in that similar situation as well. But thankfully, since I have enough clients, I can say like that I'm just not gonna do that. Right. Yeah.
Sophie (03:25)
Not today. I I was super lucky in that my employer was very understanding and it actually kind of became a bit of a joke at the design agency that the boss had asked the vegan to sell burgers. And so they learned the lesson and they didn't ask me again. So that helped.
Bryan (03:39)
Mm -hmm.
And it's in it's yeah, like we could probably do a whole podcast episode on this topic. So I'd love to invite you back to talk through that some more. It is so interesting though, cause I found myself at conferences where there's no vegan food and I literally have to leave the conference to go find some vegan food. or, or you're in that situation where it's culturally acceptable that to promote the hamburgers cause they don't think there's anything wrong with it.
Sophie (04:03)
Yeah.
Bryan (04:12)
But yet you and I know that it's tremendous amount of animal cruelty. It's a tremendous amount of health, bad health reasons and bad for the planet. So it's just like, yeah. So I really appreciate you being a voice to set an example and a tone to help people wake up and, and, and see that. So, so that's how design studio came about then. And, and here we
Sophie (04:39)
Yeah, here we are. And I think going back to what you're saying about conferences, I like to be enviable with my food. So before these conferences, if I know there's not going to be any vegan food, I will make the best food ever and bring it in a Tupperware and then offer it to everybody else.
Bryan (04:56)
Nice. I love it. Yeah, that, is a great, I, I, I feel like I probably run, my schedule too, too much to do that, but like, I totally am jealous. That's a great idea. So that's another awesome tip for people listening to make people jealous of how good our food is looks and tastes and stuff. So I'm, I'm curious, like you're the, the, the strong out.
Sophie (05:07)
Hmm.
Yes, exactly.
Bryan (05:24)
Outspoken vegan when it comes to that business and the moral code and stuff. How does, how does your, your vegan roots sort of tie in and influence your design philosophy and how you handle the projects
Sophie (05:40)
So I suppose it kind of boils down to the question of what does being a vegan designer mean, I guess. So on the one level, there's of course the ethical alignment. Because when you work with a designer, most clients find it really important to have this personal connection because you are really entrusting the designer with something very important and dear to you. And just having that ethical alignment,
helps put people at ease and helps them feel like, okay, yeah, she understands me and what I want to achieve here. And she's the right person for the job. So just having that deeper understanding is one aspect of it.
Bryan (06:24)
I, I agree completely. Cause it's, it's that, that question around, like, if you, dunno, I always say to Americans here, like, look, if you haven't left the United States, you don't really know what travel is like, you know I mean? And, people that don't have kids yet, like you aren't really going to fully understand until you have kids. And I think it's the same thing with, with the vegan life is you're not going to really understand it until you are one. So just being able
lock arms with a company and say, look, I do that. I get it. know all I, don't have to explain to me anything because it just like clicks. Right. that's all. So what, you know, this is always that daunting thing. Like when you start your own design studio, what were some of the challenges you faced? How did you, how did you get the ball rolling?
Sophie (07:01)
Yeah, exactly.
I think I, there were definitely certain things that I underestimate. And I think the biggest challenge, yes, I suppose the biggest challenge to my business was me and my, my lack of knowledge. I think when, when you set out in the, on your entrepreneurial journey, of course you'll have in -depth knowledge of your craft,
Bryan (07:26)
As you start any business. Yeah.
Sophie (07:47)
learning how to run a business is a business in itself. And there is just so much to learn. And you really have to have a broader mindset with regards to what your role now is. Because I am no longer a designer, I am also a project manager, I am the sales team, I am the accountant. I'm a whole host of different people that I wasn't a couple of years ago.
Bryan (07:50)
Mm -hmm.
That's right
Sophie (08:17)
So just the learning curve is steep, is super steep. And I underestimated that. So I think that was the primary challenge for me. And also just prioritizing the list of learning to -dos and just getting through that. Because it was often the case that the more I discovered, the more I realized I didn't know.
and that list just became never ending. But I got through it in the end, thankfully.
Bryan (08:48)
That's right. That's awesome. And it I'll unpack that a little bit more in a minute because it's an interesting thing, but like it is really the key is to know when you start a business, it is all those other hats that you have to wear. have this passion for
Sophie (09:07)
Sure.
Bryan (09:08)
Like being a vegan or being a graphic designer or website designer, things like that. But then you've got to learn all those other pieces in some fashion. So I think you spotlighted that for those that want to start their own business soon, make sure you know, you're going to get through those things and have the drive to push through. So congrats on having that and getting to that next step. for sure.
Sophie (09:25)
Yeah, well, there's always a lot more to learn. It's not a tick the box on that one. I'm still working on a lot of things, especially sales, I guess. yeah, that's something completely different to me.
Bryan (09:40)
Yep. So I'm curious if we, if we dig into the actual, the passion piece that you have is, the design and the website creation and stuff. what are some of your favorite tools for those out there that are listening that maybe want to follow in your footsteps a little bit. And so give them some tools of the trade.
Sophie (10:02)
tools in terms of software or in terms of learning design or
Bryan (10:08)
Yeah, a little bit of both. Maybe I don't know. I'm sure there's people out there like I'm doing this for the corporate man myself and want to want to follow you in your footsteps. But is there certain tips and tricks that you have? Like I know I'm a huge fan of figma, but maybe you use a different tool. Yeah.
Sophie (10:21)
Sure. Our Figma's great. I love Figma. I think designers all love Figma. Figma is like a tool for the designers. I would say there are these design principles called the Gestalt, Gestalt, Gestalt, I'm not sure how to pronounce it, principles. And it's kind of rules about creating good design.
Bryan (10:31)
Perfect.
Mm -hmm.
Sophie (10:48)
And I think that learning those rules can really help you because software is you can learn any software. There's good software and bad software, software that will help you more and software that will help you less. But if you're a good designer, you should be able to create good design in any software. So I would say sort of learning the core principles of design, maybe studying a little bit of the Swiss design movement. Those are kind of like the classics.
learning about things like grids, about the golden ratio, just some sort of, I'm not sure how to describe them, but core rules to creating good quality design that will help you on your
Bryan (11:35)
Yes. like Figma is just one of the many tools, but like you're really saying like lay that foundation of these core things. And no matter which tool you use, you can apply them to it.
Sophie (11:42)
Yes, exactly. Then it doesn't matter. Yeah, I mean, I work in PowerPoint, I work in Figma, I work in anything, whatever my clients want me to work in. I mean, I have my personal preferences, but yeah, it's about making it convenient for the end user in the end.
Bryan (11:50)
Mm -hmm.
And I think like, you know, you, you take these tools, you use them the right way, but ultimately like you're helping to establish a brand for these companies. What do you, what challenges have you seen with working with clients? Like how do you get them past some of the challenges that they have, or how do you help pull that, that vision in their head out and make sure that it's going to be a brand that, that resonates.
Sophie (12:28)
I think having that core foundation, once again, is super important. So starting with a brand strategy workshop is really the best way to begin a branding project because it really kind of gets to the core of who you are as a company. And it really also helps to align all stakeholders and to help the client themselves understand what it is that they want and what it is that they need.
So when you do a brand strategy workshop, for example, you will be looking at all those important questions such as your mission, your values, but you will also be looking at what is a competitive landscape? How do we talk to my audience? Who is my audience? How is best to position yourself in relation to other brands? What is your tone of voice? How should you speak to that audience?
And it really, it kind of delivers this package of useful information that will inform everything else that comes after. So it will inform your communication, it will inform your design, it will inform your marketing. And it's just a really great foundation for starting a new company, starting a new brand or doing the rebrand.
Bryan (13:49)
Yeah. I think many companies that I've seen, don't take that moment to really figure that out. And I don't think it's a very long process, but it is a really, really important one to, to brainstorm that and have somebody like with your expertise to help guide them through that framework and help set the stage for years to come.
Sophie (13:59)
No, I know the rule.
Yeah, and I think often when people think about design, they really think that you're, you know, sketching and being creative. But that is just a small part of the work of the designer. And the most important part is really the strategy and the research. If you're a good designer, the creative part will come more easily once you've got that strategic foundation. So for packaging, for example,
You really need to do a lot of studying, studying up of all the different shelves, what they look like, what the competitors look like, so that you can really make strategic design choices, which are not based on what do I like personally, what does the client like personally, but what is actually going to work, what is going to sell, what is this retailer going to be happy with. So it involves a lot of testing as well, testing the design, seeing what people think of it.
Bryan (14:49)
Mm -hmm.
Mm -hmm.
Sophie (15:10)
And then making choices based on those results.
Bryan (15:14)
I love it. it, I, I guess I have the question of, you know, the age old question is like, we know as a planetary society that we have to move more towards sustainability in every way, or form, whether you and I believe that if we all just stop eating meat, we can help change the planet and a much faster way. We're not going to get everybody to that fold. the big question that I see.
the vegan society sort of polarizing on is whether you should put the vegan sticker on your, on your product. You know what I mean? Like, do we put that on there or do we hide it because we just need more adoption in the commercial space and the vegan thing scares them away a little bit. What have you seen with your clients and which, which side of the fence do you try to push people towards or recommend?
Sophie (15:49)
Mmm. Yeah.
Yeah, it does.
Yeah, it's quite a polemical question, I guess. People will have strong opinions on this. And for me, it depends so much on the audience, on your consumers or your audience, and yeah, who you're trying to reach. So if we take the example of a meat alternative, your primary audience is not going to be vegans. It's actually going to
flexitarians. And therefore, if we look at studies by ProVeg, they show that flexitarians are put off by the vegan label. However, you do also have vegans who are going to be interested in, they might be in the minority, but they're going to be interested. And therefore, it would be smart to not have the gigantic vegan label on the front of the packaging. But you could still put it on the back, but just smaller so that it's not too
Bryan (16:36)
Mm
Sophie (17:02)
not too scary for our flexitarians and our omnivores. Exactly, we're used to doing that. So that can be a way around it. But for me personally, I don't do that. I communicate very openly about being vegan, constantly posting things on LinkedIn, often saying more than I should do.
Bryan (17:05)
Us vegans read the labels anyway.
you
Sophie (17:28)
It's different for me because my audience is primarily vegans and vegan brands. So therefore it makes sense to be open about these kind of things. And I can usually get away with it if I'm a little too open. So yeah, it depends on your audience.
Bryan (17:46)
For sure, yeah, but I think you set the right tone there. It depends on where your product's trying to target. yeah, that's a good thing to point out.
Sophie (17:57)
Yeah, and it's also question of, do we want to preserve the integrity of the vegan message? Or do we actually want to just sell more products? And in selling more products, we are saving more animals. So for me, I always prefer the approach of saving more animals, doing what's actually most tangible. But I do also understand that some vegans are
Bryan (18:12)
Mm
Sophie (18:24)
very happy with that because, you know, if you're vegan, you want to say you're a vegan product. But yeah, it's a tricky one.
Bryan (18:29)
Yeah, that's right. Yeah. Right. But the oranges and the bananas don't have the vegan sticker and they're doing pretty well. So, but yeah, I know what you mean. It is, it is that tricky, tricky slope. I'm curious. How, how are you getting the word out about design studio? Like, are you in some of the directories? I know we're partnered with a directory called veg reg. and I'm not sure if you're in there yet, but we'd be glad to help you get listed there,
Sophie (18:35)
They don't.
Cool.
not. That would be great.
Bryan (18:57)
I'm curious how you're getting out into the world and promoting your business.
Sophie (19:03)
LinkedIn is currently my best platform. I also go to a lot of networking events locally. We've got some really great networking events in Amsterdam, in the Netherlands where I'm based. And I do use other social media platforms and I have my website as well. So occasionally I'll get leads through my website. I'm also on certain platforms. But yeah, currently LinkedIn is
Bryan (19:10)
Mm
Sophie (19:33)
is doing it best for me. I haven't had so much success with Instagram, contrary to what you might think. Yes, I feel like the algorithm is quite punishing on Instagram. really, you've got to be at it all the time and I find it difficult to keep
Bryan (19:35)
That's awesome. Yeah, me neither. It's hard to compete against such beautiful food pictures sometimes too.
Yeah. I agree completely. So where do you see design studio floor going? What future plans do you have and new services or projects that you're looking into?
Sophie (20:08)
I just want to help as many vegan brands as possible. I would love to, if I think about what's my ideal project, I think I'd love to do it like a vegan beer brand. I think that would be really cool, like a craft beer project, because you can be really like creative and wacky and do something a bit weird. And that appeals to me.
Bryan (20:12)
Me too!
Nice!
Very cool.
Sophie (20:36)
I'd also love to do a rebranding for like a big kind of vegan lobby group because I think that can have a really big impact. And often these these kind of big organizations don't have such good design as well. So it's also an area where I see see a large impact being possible.
Bryan (20:46)
Mm -hmm.
I agree completely. Yeah. So I do know a few, local beer, bottlers and brewers around here in the Charlotte area where I'm based. So I may have to connect you to some of them and see, I don't think they have a vegan, a vegan brand, label yet. So it could be a good synergy there. what, what advice do you have for other designers and entrepreneurs that, want to get in and follow sort of in our path of serving these mission driven markets?
Sophie (21:11)
Please do.
it could be.
For designers specifically, I think it's really important to have to be very knowledgeable about your craft. You do often see students who've just graduated and who want to jump straight into freelancing. And I think the learning curve is super steep if you have to learn how to run a business and you also have to learn how to design at the same time. And I understand a lot of designers want to avoid working for agencies because
Agencies can be scary and it's very cutthroat world with long hours. But that experience is just so valuable. You will learn so much. It might not be fun on all occasions, but it's yeah, it will really help you. So I suppose that would be my advice for other designers. But I suppose it also applies to other entrepreneurs. Yeah.
Bryan (22:05)
Yeah,
Mm
Sophie (22:30)
get a good amount of a industry experience before you set out on your own.
Bryan (22:35)
I agree. I echo that. mean, I spent almost 10 years with IBM and I think that really helped me set a strong, you know, big business foundation that has carried forward into many of my smaller, smaller projects. So I echo that. how, how can we help you, Sophie? What is the, what is the, how do we get in touch with you and how can this community that's watching and listening to this podcast support
Sophie (23:07)
You could you can add me on LinkedIn. And so you can find me my name is Sophie with a pH. And my surname is shand which is like hand with an S in front of it. And I don't know just if you if you know anybody who needs a vegan designer, then send them my way send them my website or yeah, put me in touch with them. guess.
Bryan (23:33)
Awesome. We'll help get the word out. I'm, you know, again, we're looking for the beer company and the advocacy lobby group. So those would be two good clients. I hope if you land both of those, you come back on the show and tell us all about them. Okay.
Sophie (23:41)
Yeah.
Yeah, and then I can provide the lobby group with beer as well. And everyone's happy.
Bryan (23:52)
There is perfect. That's right. You nailed it right there. Well, we really appreciate you coming on the show and spending a few minutes with us, Sophie, and we wish you the best of luck helping to change the world through your little contributions there. And that is all the time we have for this episode of Plant Based on Fire.
Sophie (24:13)
Yeah, thank you very much for having me and yeah, best of luck to you as well.
Bryan (24:19)
Perfect. Until next time everybody, keep the fire burning.
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