On The Couch...with Dan Noctor

Welcome to the first ever edition of 'On The Couch' - where we get to take a deep dive, (or shallow paddle) into the creative minds and lives of those working at id. We will be starting off this regular series with self professed Gunner, Dan Noctor - Associate Director. COYG.

Dan! Tell us about yourself in no more than 10 words. South London raised, support Arsenal, soon to be Dad. Voila! Okay great - so Associate Director eh? How did one end up there? Not through any conventional route. I always wanted a job working in the media in some capacity and originally embarked on a Journalism degree at university. An editorial design module really piqued my interest and made me think about the importance of how a story looks, as much as what it says. Long story short, my experience landed me a job straight out of uni working in a fledgling social media team at my first agency (Golin) as a content designer, rising to Design Director. I was given the time to build my skill set, make plenty of mistakes and establish myself in the industry... and I met my wife there too! I stayed for 8 years and after a couple of short stints at some smaller places, here I am, a proud Freudian. How interesting! What does an ‘average’ day look like for you? It involves a lot of talking! Previous roles for me have been completely design-focused, but I’m now focusing on a lot more ‘bigger picture’ work – the strategy behind campaigns and finding new opportunities with teams across The Brewery. And planning for the future, whatever that looks like right now. I get to connect with so many people on a massively diverse range of work and I am loving every single day. Plus, I still get to dip my feet into a fair amount of design projects too, so I’m not completely out of practice. What is your biggest design career moment so far? Without a doubt my work for the NHS and Public Health England. My first few weeks at freuds coincided with the beginning of the first lockdown and a huge Brewery-wide push to ensure vital messaging was shared with the public. I designed a number of animated videos which, as well as being vitally important pieces of public health content, were featured regularly on national news bulletins, websites and the PMs daily briefings. The most exciting piece of work was the out of home billboard for Every Mind Matters which took over Piccadilly Circus for a weekend. Although my career has been spent working on ‘digital’ content, nothing beats seeing your work blown up big on a big billboard, or on the telly.

What makes Dan, Dan? Friends, family, DIY, trips to the pub, BBQs, cups of tea (just got a hot tap – life changing btw)… and most importantly, not taking life too seriously. And finally, If you could see a measuring scale above people’s heads, what would you want this scale to measure? Their status in society, their level of happiness, their wealth, etc.? I like to think I reserve any judgement on a person until I get to know them, so I’ll go with a happiness scale – we can all play a part in making that better for everyone so it'd be good to know where people are at.