Radim Malinic is the founder, creative director & designer for London based Brand Nu® – a multidisciplinary award winning studio.  His passion spans a variety of interests which, combined with an entrepreneurial spirit pushes him to evolve and create work across the creative industry.

With talks at the upcoming FITC Amsterdam 2018, and FITC Toronto 2018 we caught up with Radim to talk about how all of his creativity manifests into tangible work.

In your talk description for ALL KILLER NO FILLER you ask "Are you using your skills just to pay the bills or are you trying to change the world one day at the time?" Can you describe how you're trying to change the world, and give an example of something you've done that you're really proud of?

This is how I view it; I believe that everyone has the ability to create work that can have a positive impact on the future of our planet. The best design work is invisible to the naked eye - simply because it fits perfectly with our needs. It just works but it didn’t happen easily. For such reason, I left the prospect of the regular paycheck and agency working hours in favour of setting my own business. I didn’t want to lower my ambitions just because the people around me had a different view on how creativity is valued and explored. At first, I wanted to understand how I can turn my energy in satisfying work for my soul. Then, I realized I need to work with other people’s interest in mind - I wanted to know how I can use my creativity as a tool to help others.

I don’t believe in just getting work done, I strive to make work that goes well beyond the expectations and limits.

I might not change the world per se myself today, but I hope that my contributions to a great cause that would keep on having the impact and direct benefit on a much wider community.

You say you're often inspired by science and behavioural research. Can you describe some of your projects that were a result of this?

Many designers crave the so-called ‘creative freedom’ to enable them to do whatever they like. However, this can seems like a bad bargain for the people from whom they create the work for. The best work is the stuff where you can project your personality and combine it with the objective and whilst making sure it delivers on all fronts. We live in the most creatively privileged times ever, we can work out as many variants of our work with a click of a button or the change of code. Whilst this is great on many fronts, it doesn’t always add up to making the most longterm decisions.

When can you use any colour from the colour wheel where would you go?

Is it the place where you feel it’s right for you or will you use the right reasons to inform your decision making? The user-centric design and research help us making the right connection from the off and we should be learning either directly or via observation to see what’s truly worked and what didn’t. That’s where we start the next project.

Your Book of Ideas is a huge accomplishment. But as a designer choosing the direction for the cover must have been both exciting and daunting. What made you decide on the final design?

Since the inception of my studio, I’ve always been making small showcase books. They turned out to be a great practise before I decided the embark on a full-length book. However, this time the majority of the ‘book design decisions’ were made away from the screen or my studio. I found it quite tormenting to work out the whole concept right where you expect the final results to happen - in the studio. So I focused on one aspect of the book, like content structure or chapter sketches and when I had a clear idea I would write it down, test it and move on the next part. This would be mainly the process of simplifying every aspect.

As designers who are in charge, we can easily design for designers and not the wide public. I wanted to avoid such outcome.

So when it came to the cover design, I only tested one image and I knew it was going to be the final. I was working on the poster design for a client and the stripped down version fitted my test mockup just perfectly.

It was neither of the things that a design book would be expected to look like and that’s where I knew I had to use it.

Can you describe your history with FITC and favourite moment?

My first FITC talk was in Amsterdam 2016 and I didn’t know what to expect at all. I was due to speak in the small TV studio on the top floor, right after Stefan Sagmeister who packed out the main hall.

Five minutes before the start the room was half empty - yikes.

However, by the time I was due to start, we were twice over capacity with people sitting and standing everywhere! This was a truly mad moment. I was made to feel at home right from the start. That year, I loved every talk that I attended. I was truly moved when my buddy Aaron Draplin brought the house with the last talk of the event. It always shows that love and shared passion for creativity bring people together. FITC has a really nice vibe of cross-pollution of creative disciplines - I am excited to see what 2018 will be like. See you there!

Find out more at

FITC Amsterdam // Design, Technology, Cool Shit
Pakhuis de Zwijger • February 19-20

FITC Toronto // The Future of Innovation, Technology & Creativity
Hilton Toronto • April 8-10

Or on his website brandnu.co.uk