Verònica Fuerte on Building Hey Studio

0:00From the Association of Registered Graphic Designers, this is the Design Thinkers podcast. Design Thinkers is Canada's largest graphic design conference. Since the year 2000, the RDD has been bringing together visionaries from a range of disciplines to explore creativity and the design process. Join our host and RDD president, Nicola Hamilton, as she sits down for casual and candid conversations with Design Thinkers speakers, both past and present. This week on the Design Thinkers podcast, I'm joined by Veronica Fuerte. Veronica is the founder and creative director of Hay Studio in Barcelona. Since launching in 2007, Veronica has built one of the most recognizable and beloved studios, known for bold color, geometric forms, and a relentlessly optimistic aesthetic.

0:49Hay's work has spanned everything from brand systems and editorial design to public art and exhibitions with clients like Apple, The New York Times, Monocle, and the city of Barcelona itself. In this episode, Veronica shares how she built Hay from the ground up, starting as a solo designer with no clients to now running a globally admired studio that's remained intentionally small, collaborative, and independent. We talk about the importance of creative intuition, the realities of studio life, how to keep personal work at the center of your practice, and why she never wanted Hay to feel like an agency.

1:22We also touch on making space for women in leadership, building visibility as a Spanish design studio on the international stage, and why sometimes the simplest ideas are the strongest. If you've ever wondered what it takes to run a studio with heart and vision, this episode's for you.

1:40Verònica Fuerte:Hello. Hello, Nicola. How are you? I'm good, thanks. How are you? Good. I want to start by going backwards a little bit. You founded Hay in 2007, and you were just 27. Is that correct? Yes. Wild. So that wouldn't have been like right out of school, but it can't have been that long after finishing design school. What did you get up to before you started your own studio? Yeah, I finished when I was 21. I mean, I finished the timing, you know, when I finished the uni and then I work in different studios in Barcelona. I think it was three different studios and a big agency and yes I always knew also when I was studying you know that I wanted to create something by myself but of course I needed to learn from others first and that's the reason I just I didn't open it and found it just hey just when I finished the uni so I wait some like seven years to to learn and then when I realized okay now I'm ready that you are never ready but you I was ready to start yeah yeah do you remember what some of the things you were sort of gathering in those studios like if you knew that opening your own studio was the end goal were you sort of collecting information at each job yeah I remember maybe one the one that I stayed longer, three years.

3:17And it was a small studio like Hay. And I said, okay, I want something like that. Not big, small, that more accurate, more craft. And I think I learned from, there was also a project manager inside. And I think I learned a lot from that side of the business. That when you are at school, at uni, it's something that you don't learn a lot. so I I focus on that yeah what was the actual impetus to starting starting hey like do you remember like a moment was there a moment where you're like okay I'm doing this on my own now or did it sort of happen organically I think it was organically yeah I think I had some freelancers like everybody you know when you are working you always like oh school you have some freelance and And then I realized, okay, maybe I have, I had only one, but okay, maybe I'm ready.

4:14I know you need to take some risks because you don't have like the same stability. Okay. And I said, okay, that's the moment. Yeah. I took risks. I mean, risks that paid off. Yeah. Yeah. I think, I think I was in, in, inside me, I was super ready, you know? and of course I was afraid of the of the management business part like how I'm going to earn enough money by the end of the month this kind of thing that fears me a little bit. Do you have any advice for anyone sort of at that place where they you know they've been working in studios for a while they feel like they want to do something on their own and they're sort of preparing to take that risk?

4:56Not so much. Not so much. Yeah. No, I think also, I mean, my parents, they are the entrepreneurs. They were, they are retired now. But I think, I think it's because I always explain it in interviews. I think because when I grew up, like listening of business always always I mean all days even in Christmas you know so I remember one Christmas that my father phoned a client for us for money because he didn't pay the invoice and he phoned the client and said okay congratulations Christmas or whatever and And then you need to pay me this invoice. So this is, I think at the end, when you are a kid, like I think I was 10, you remember these things, you know.

5:56And I think that was my best knowledge, advice. I think it was through the years when I was a kid. Yeah. Did you recognize that your parents were entrepreneurial? And that was probably part of why you were going to do something on your own? No. When I was a kid, it was, now are you doing this? please papa don't do that but then then you realize that it was I would do the same now you know not maybe not this way but I would do something similar maybe I think about that too my parents were also really really entrepreneurial and until I sort of started my own entrepreneurial journey I don't think I sort of thought about them in that way until all of a sudden I was like oh I I could actually call my dad for help here.

6:43Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah. So I sort of had no idea. Okay, let's talk about starting the studio then. It's 2007. You're under 30. You've got a freelance client, right? When you first start. Talk about those like early, early years. Sort of what are you building? Were there any big pivotal moments when you look back at it? I was at my home here, the room in front of where I'm now. and and i think it's easy you know when you are a creative you can found something at your home it's easy for us you don't need like a big investment of money but we almost always have all the stuff we need right like we almost always have you know our kitchen table and a laptop yes and wi-fi yeah and wi-fi also important so yeah so but i think that what we need is ideas yeah clients of course but if you don't have clients and i only had one client so i had many many ideas you know that i was like collecting through the years or maybe i was like creating

7:54Verònica Fuerte:from zero and that was where i focused my energy like creating hey for example the naming all the identity all the values of the company everything everything and also creating like ideas projects from zero like for example i remember doing some illustrations christmas greetings whatever you i I just need an excuse to create something. And that's what I did. So if you don't have clients, so you just need to create ideas and show it to the people. Yeah. So one solid paying client and lots of personal projects that you're putting out into the world. Not very solid client, but at the time I was with the father of my daughter that he's also a designer.

8:49So he helped me. At the end, you need to find a moment that maybe one is helping you as well. So it's not just by my own. So that was, I mean, it's not just me. So I needed, I had some help of the father of Nora and I was lucky in that sense. Well, but I think that's true for a lot of sort of independent solopreneurs or early boutique studios is that there is someone they're supporting, whether that's like a network of pals that you're sort of bouncing ideas off of, or if that's a partner who's supporting you financially in some way, or someone who is sort of coming in ad hoc when they can to sort of help out.

9:30Yes, I need it's good. And it's good like to take this, you know, because sometimes you don't feel I don't deserve this help. Yes, please take this help and take profit of that. Well, I mean, now, almost almost 20 years later, isn't that wild? Hey, he's going to be 20 in a couple of years. But you're consistently recognized as one of the most interesting studios in the world. Creative Boom just put Hey on its 25 graphic design studios to know. That's a huge honor. I saw you on Instagram say that you were listed as number five and you have five people on your team. So it felt cute and kismet. Yes.

10:12But talk to me a little bit about your team today. So it's five of you. It's still small, but bigger than just you in your house. Yes. For me, it's the perfect number. I said that as well. Because when you have a very specific style, you can see it. I mean, people need to have sensibility about this style and also how we work. And also, I control everything. I mean my team has a lot of freedom to create but also around some some rules you know like not a lot of information like clear simple so all these kind of things so that's the reason I I need to check everything and if imagine if if I was like 20 30 people it was impossible so that's the reason it's small and it's going to be always small and and i think uh i create like i like like to create other projects aside with collaborating with people that it means like if i maybe i count the people i collaborate it's a big studio you know for example our podcast the host so other thing people that is around but it's not the nuclear the core of hay so your team of five they're folks that are working primarily on the design projects and are you sort of tackling some of those collaborations the podcast those things yes we are creatives two designers uh and me and a motion designer laia a project manager and also six counting the store because there is a a shop manager as well.

11:59But this is a small studio focus on creativity. You know, I think creativity is the most powerful value at the studio. Yeah, I'll come back to the podcast and the store. We'll talk about both of those things more in depth. But I do want to talk about the style. I think a lot of the industry knows a piece of hay work the second they see it, right? You've developed such a strong signature style. It's deeply influenced by color. You've actually said that color is a universal language that everyone understands. Can you tell us more about what you mean by that? How does color sort of come into the process for you?

12:34I always say organically. When I was at the university, I remember I was like using a lot of color in the projects. And like, you can see a little bit, you know, it was horrible projects now when I see this. That just means you grew. Yes, but I'm still collecting some of them. But you can see some ingredients, you know, like typefaces, colors, and simple things, symmetry. So I think it was always there, you know. So when I found it, hey, I wanted that. And color for me is a way like I express many things. I mean, everybody understands color. you know it's um it's for and because i always wanted to one of the objectives when i founded hey is uh democratized design you know like it's for everybody it's not for civic uh people or target it's design is for everybody and must and needs to be like way that way so that's the reason these kind of ingredients are the ones that people understand i'm not sure if i reply your answer but Yeah, you did.

13:48Yeah, yeah. That it's sort of one of the visual languages that are universally understood, no matter where you are. And then I think also a lot of the work that comes out of the studio has this like real sense of joy that comes with it. Is that process joyful? Yeah, I think I always, it's connected. You know, color is connected for me to optimism. And optimism is being fun, joyful. So it's part of everything. I mean, I can't imagine like, I mean, it's possible, of course, but a joyful project made with all black. It's difficult. Maybe it's more focused on the copywriting. But for me, everything is connected.

14:34and is organically like goes with another, you know. And I never said, okay, this project needs to be fun and joyful. No, no, it's not part of the process, but everything is connected.

14:49Verònica Fuerte:So at the end, what you see is optimistic most of the time. Yeah, that makes a lot of sense. Do you have a favorite color right now? Yeah, red. Red? Is it always red? Yes. When I was a teenager, I painted my room in red. Wow. What shade of red? Like a bright red? 100 % red. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I mean, always was red since I was a teenager. Yeah, when I was more child, kid, it was pink. And then I changed to red. And it's a color that for me has a lot of positive vibes. So I have some clouds, red or some objects in red. Yeah. Now I'm going to watch for red in all of Hayes' designs. See how often it comes up.

15:39While we're on the topic of the studio, I want to talk a little bit about sort of growing it over time. So we've talked about the team and how five people, it's going to be five people forever. But you've also spoken really openly about working with a coach to sort of push your leadership and business skills in running the studio. And I think that it's so amazing that you talk openly about that because as designers, we don't learn how to manage people or run businesses, but inevitably we end up doing that. So how did you get to that point where you hired a coach and what has that experience been like?

16:13Yes, it was many years ago. And as you well said, Nicola, nobody teaches about that. And when you have a company, when you were with people at the end, it could be design, whatever. so when you work with people at the end you need to to grow on that in that kind of soft skills that nobody teaches you and maybe you have it like in a way that it's super organically

16:40Verònica Fuerte:unnatural intuitive it's not my case so many years ago um i have a breakdown so i had a personal issue so many things at the same time happened and i felt like okay i need help in many ways and one was at at a studio uh in at work so asking friends and people some somebody has um told me about that so you can't go to to a coach and i didn't know about that i think a lot of people rely on that kind of coaching support and don't talk about it as openly yeah i think it's it was six years ago maybe and or more and it was it's like a therapist but therapy but at work and helped me like to be okay this here are my problems you know i don't know how to to make these things better i don't know how to deal with this it was more or less everything connected with with people or sometimes also with clients dealing with clients that is also people of course so how you receive a feedback how you manage everything so help me a lot like through the years like to manage all these feelings and trying to focus on instability and talking and I've developed certain like methods yeah like that helped me and my team.

18:16Yeah, I think it's so amazing. I think also to sort of talk about that as an option, right? Like it doesn't always mean you have to hire someone internal to help do those things. You can rely on somebody external as well. Yes, yeah, always. If you can, I know it's expensive. It's not, but I needed to, it's so much that I, okay, I invested my money and my time on that. Yeah. And does it feel like it paid off? Yes, 100%. I always recommend it to everybody. And now my coach has many, many designers. Well, that makes sense, right? There is something sort of specific about the work we do in that I think creatives who are making something from nothing have a different set of emotional challenges.

19:04Yes. And now she's like super focused on design matters. That's amazing. And are you still working with her? sometimes specifically just when I think now I'm not need um her help but sometimes in a specific moment when I have some doubt I have uh one hour or maybe two two days but yes it's always there just if I need her yeah I think that's so incredible because again I think she's probably asking you hard questions that you wouldn't ask yourself too right always yeah always yeah it's it's like this voice you know and and now Claudia the project manager also I tell her okay maybe it's good if you have some some lessons or lessons you know like hours with with my crew and and she's now doing that with her.

20:04And I think it's not just for me because sometimes I see it in this distance. And of course, like younger people, they don't have the experience or whatever. So I see it in distance. And I think, wow, this person will need this or will enjoy that because not everybody wants that or it's open to receive this kind of coaching. Yeah, well, even thinking about your project manager, getting that kind of feedback or having that space to ask questions, because again, to your earlier point, like dealing with clients is sometimes an emotional challenge, right? You're sort of trying to figure out like, what is it?

20:42Why am I hitting a wall? It's always and also happens now to me. I mean, it's always there. you know it's funny hey so much of our so much of our business is about working with people it's about understanding people yes we are kind of psychologists because we need to understand yeah we need to understand um words and feelings and a lot of things and put it in images and visual images so at the end it's kind of being an understand people or empathize too with people clients. It's all the time like that. I think often about how tricky color is with clients too, right? Like sometimes you get someone who responds so negatively because for whatever reason, they don't like a very particular color and you have to like dig down to figure out why.

21:33Yes. But I think through the years you understand, I mean, you accept not all the feedbacks, you know, I think it's good to understand this is a good feedback and this is not a good feedback. So if there is not a bad feedback, you need to reply to the client and say, okay, now I'm read that, but now is your time to make a better feedback because this is not good. I don't understand anything and needs to be always supported with arguments. If there is no argument, it's not valid. So I think it's good that we as designers, we need to put boundaries and say, okay, not everything is a feedback. So it's your turn, client, to do your work.

22:16And because sometimes you know that and you see that the feedback is made in one minute. No, no, no. They need to work hard as well. Yeah. And I think that kind of education takes time and experience too, right? Like to understand that. Yes, of course. Okay. I want to turn our attention to the shop because you launched the Hay Shop as an extension of the studio. and I think many of us have prints at home and it's a home for a whole whack of sort of personal projects of yours, of the studio, collaborations. Talk to me about setting that up, what that sort of does, what it adds to the studio. If you're curious about Design Thinkers, our next event is happening October 1st and 2nd, 2025.

23:00Join us at Meridian Hall in Toronto or watch live online. This year's speakers include Chris Clark from The Guardian, Pentagram's Samar Macaron, the team from Pupilla, and so many more. With the theme, Shift Shapers, this year's Design Thinkers aims to give the industry a perception interception. By always moving, morphing, adapting, and evolving, designers are not just embracing shifts within our industry, we're shaping them. With a mixture of presentations, hands-on workshops, intimate round tables and lots of opportunities to connect with the other 2 000 designers creative and art directors managers educators and students design thinkers toronto is a journey into the creative process and a celebration of strategic design thinking tickets for design thinkers toronto both in person and live streaming are on sale now at design thinkers.com yeah i think it's a space of creativity and experimentation because always as designers creators we have many ideas that it's not there is not a client there so it's a it's a space that for this kind of of experimentation it was always at the beginning since 2007 when i found it but But of course, there were ideas.

24:26I showed these ideas by a homepage because there was no Instagram. So I remember like every day the homepage was different, the image of the homepage. So different in terms of side projects, you know,

24:42Verònica Fuerte:illustrations, faces, whatever. And one day from the homepage of Flickr, I used to have Flickr, it went to instagram so many different platforms and then i think it was to 2014 i i founded the store online store because i said okay we are doing so much we have so much work here so let's do something with that you know and it was at the beginning was posters because I think it's the easy way of paper support to make the follower work. And it's not expensive to produce that. So it was... I think designers also like making posters and they don't have a ton of client application anymore. All the clients, all the brandings, there is a poster.

25:33Also, if you don't need that. So it is posters, tote bags, you know, I mean, these kind of things. and we set up the store, online store and it went very well, you know and yes, when we came up with ideas we said, okay, maybe we can put it on the store or not and also it's a votation, we put it always like I like this or not and then after some years of the online store I remember people came to the studio like, okay, I want to buy some print spontaneous, you know, and that it's nice, of course, but sometimes we were like busy or we weren't at the studio. It was more and more. And that's the reason I opened the store, the physical one, because there was a demand.

26:26It was just before COVID. I think it was six or seven months before COVID. No one knew. Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I know. It was a mistake, but of course I didn't know nobody knows about that and then the store went very well people came and one of the questions I just said is like at the end is like we never like we are like always like 50 50 it's not that we are money from the store but we add value to the to the brand and and also make it like visible and approachable to people and makes I mean it's part of our work and also democratize design, many things. And sometimes because we did this kind of project at the store, there is a goes with a commercial project after.

27:19So one injects energy to the other. It's always like that. It's good. And it's not like because many people ask me, are you earning a lot of money with a store? No, no, no, no. You and I are both designers who own stores and there is a whole sort of collection of designers who have opened up these physical spaces. Jessica Hish once described any small business as a tiny miracle. And it's a line I think about all the time, like being able to keep a physical store afloat and going is a tiny miracle. Yes, it's a miracle. So I closed the store in January, the physical one, because it took me so much energy.

28:01it was very very difficult because it's not like designers that we can work everywhere everywhere in the world so it needs to be there physical always and it was so much energy that was exhausting me and i said okay i tried it for i don't know five years it's it's an experience i would love to continue i don't have a partner i'm alone so okay let's do put the store in our studio because our studio is quite big and we made some changes and now is inside the studio as a showroom and you can visit by appointment yeah i mean and figuring out how to pivot those things like those are hard decisions right to sort of see something and say i don't think this is working anymore that's that's tough emotionally yes it was tough it was tough but also sometimes you need to let it go so and and i think it's not a mistake or it's part of the process you know i'm still learning from that and i learned so many things and and i think when we opened the store it was many years ago now and now i can see like many brands doing something like similar, like open stores with coffee, with physical, it's super important now.

29:29And I think it's good. I always, I mean, it's something that maybe in the future happens again. I don't close this door. I don't know. But now it's in the studio that is much more easy for everybody. Yeah. I mean, I'm curious about like how you sort of split your time between the studio and the store. I think I'm curious both like from a financial standpoint, I assume that the studio sort of supports the store and the store sort of supports itself. Yes. Is that true? Okay. No, I wanted always have been like different, like different companies in terms of financial, like the store needs to be independent.

30:08Okay. And so when sometimes, sometimes specific moments, the studio help the store because of the COVID or because something happens, you know, but it was a specific, but my objective is like the store is independent and now because it's inside the store the studio is more easy for everybody but of course in terms of financial but in terms of hours of it's not it's everything is mixed of course okay yes because we are all creatives and we are working some hours at the store not always it's like i think the store manager is the the one that has more work of course but in terms of creativity maybe I don't know I've never like tracked the hours of the store but it's about some time during the the week you know there are some months that it's like there's no new projects and now we are like thinking about two or three new projects that needs more time from from us but it's like that yeah so give and take depending on what's going on depending on what's going on yeah also always like commercial projects are the first one yes first priority always yes first priority okay so you're sort of splitting your time between those things but then you also have a podcast called women at work you just wrapped season five which is pretty incredible you launched it in 2021 after the sort of very worrying realization of how few women were at the top in sort of design leadership positions.

31:49And I want to talk about that, like sort of starting it and with your five years of five seasons of knowledge now, like what do you actually think keeps women from those top positions? I think it's like more or less than many older guests have some in common, some things in common,

32:12Verònica Fuerte:that they are super hard-working women and a lot of determination, passionate about the work, like many things, but I think determination maybe I would say is the first one. I don't know. It's like depends of also we interview many young people, different ages, of course, different cultures. but yes I think all at the end they all tell the same you know like young generations they work a lot I mean a lot but maybe the the old ones though the ones that they are a little bit retired you know they had different experience of course because they were only a few when they started working and for me listening these experiences is like amazing you know like because they are these women they were our first generation or the ones that our role models for me when I was studying so it means a lot that these women are still like working you know like Paula Cher wow it's something that it's inside your work and it's going to be there always like I think creativity never dies so that's the reason we are always working even if you are almost if you have your brain okay but if you have capacities you are going to work always.

33:44Did you think about what it would mean to be a female studio founder when you started Hay? No no no I didn't know anything about that. I didn't realize I was like a woman founding a studio. I was a person. I didn't realize never and when I had this moment of my life this breakdown I started like to appear everything at the same time you know all together and I started like to see everything and I saw like okay wow like I'm alone I'm not I when I go to conferences I always see the same people and when I went to these meetings nobody was looking at me maybe the designer that was a male You know, all these kind of small things, not always, I can say, like it was all the clients, of course.

34:40But I noticed many things that happened in my life before and I didn't realize. And it was because of that. I saw everything. Had you had the opportunity to work under a female designer? Had you had a female creative director early in your career? Yes, I was lucky. my internships were in in a female studios and then realized when I was there I didn't realize it was like not it was rare but I think now I see it was part of my you know my there was it was because something I always I'm not superstitious but sometimes I think that things happens because of one reason. I mean, I've been really lucky to have always have had at least one studio owner in any position I've worked in who was a woman and what that means for just visibility, right?