What Shipped: Issue 3, 2021
Future Super is a superannuation fund that helps people use the power of their money to build a future worth retiring into. We’re building our product and brand in-house and documenting what we learn in the process.
Here’s what we’ve been up to in the past few weeks:
- A Lesson in Recruitment
Getting better at writing meaningful recruitment questions. - Ticktock,TikTok
We’re experimenting with leads on TikTok. Watch this space! - Progress even over perfection
Another issue of what shipped and another theme of our visual identity to explore. This time it’s about perfection and not holding it too tightly (never easy for a designer).
A Lesson in Recruitment
I spent some of this week in our blind recruitment platform, Applied (check it out if you haven’t) interviewing for the Social Media Producer role and reviewing written question reviewing for a new Head of Communications role.
The more I hire, the more I realise how hard it is to write meaningful recruitment questions. Each time I do it, I get better.
This week 2 hours into reviewing our Head of Communications applications I started thinking about dividing the process of recruiting for our creative team between skills (written responses) and curiosity (interviews).
Why? It’s incredibly hard to answer a big question like “what do you see as the biggest media trends in Australia?” in 250 words and have a unique perspective. Likewise for interviews, hypothetical work questions a la “someone has commented to a social post with ‘climate change isn’t real’ what do you do?” is easier to answer in a writtenly (if that’s not a word it should be).
The more I used a blind recruitment process though the more I love it. It’s really pushing me to know what we’re hiring for before we begin the process.
And the benefit is I got to meet some rad people this week who would diversify our team and be fun to work with.
— Grace
Ticktock, TikTok
In 3,2,1…🚀
We wrote in Issue 15 last year about our first foray into advertising on TikTok (see TikTok, more like TikBlock).
Since then, things have gone more smoothly, in no small part because we’ve been assigned an Account Manager who’s given us some great support. We’ve even been invited to a beta program where they’re testing Lead Ads. These ads allow a user to click on an ad, and with more one more click sign up for more info about us and get back to watching hilarious TikTok videos.
Our lead ads have just launched — watch this space!
— Andrew
Progress even over perfection
Run fast and change stuff
Another issue of what shipped and another theme of our visual identity to explore. This time it’s about perfection and not holding it too tightly (never easy for a designer).
It’s probably fair to say we’re not perfect (our mums think we are but they’re a little biased) Treading new ground means we’re harshly judged and usually held to a higher standard. It’s easy to point the finger when there’s no direct basis for comparison, so we’re often the target of said pointy fingers. But we’re not consumed by a need for perfection and rather driven by a passion to build a better future one step at a time.
In short, if we’d waited until we were perfect we’d never have gotten started. So we embrace progress over perfection, ship to learn and get better as we grow.
So cool, what’s that go to do with visuals? Well, it’s that aspect of the business that I want to be reflected through our visual identity. We’re a movement that’s still growing, changing and gaining momentum. We have a lot to say, but not a lot of time to say it (we are facing a climate crisis after all) So we don’t pause to airbrush visuals. There’s no big budget film crews and actors walking in unison up and down escalators (the pinnacle of visual metaphors in our industry). Instead we move quickly to get things on the page and draw focus on the actions we take as a business and the things we want to say as a brand.
We avoid overworking things (because we show up better naked).
We keep things stripped back to give focus to what’s being said (and we’ve got nothing to hide) .
We keep imagery low-fi and diverse so we can mix things up and not be beholden to a single image that represents our brand.
We run fast and change stuff.
— Nick
