96. Deliberately closing down a design studio to go freelance again, with Angela Roche

It's our final guest of season five. Angela Roche is a graphic designer and creative director who runs Manchester studio, Love & Logic.

We've been trying to get Angela on the show for quite some time. Disclaimer alert: we're great friends and once shared an office when she was running Design By Day – a brand and digital agency that had tremendous success, working for clients such as the NHS, Barnardo's, and Brother.

We fondly remember leaning out of the window of our Northern Quarter base, watching the world go by as we helped each other figure out all the challenges of running a business. Or when we had swivel chair races across the floor. Or create fun videos for her agency's Instagram feed. Or when we dressed one of our team as a 'hipster', complete with a fixie bike, turned-up jeans and a little hat. They were great times and great people: Sami, Jonathan, Rob (whom we've also had on the podcast), Parham and many more that followed. Angela looked after them all, offering a great place to work and grow.

But after 12 years – 16 months spent during the pandemic – Angela found herself at a difficult crossroads. After much soul-searching, which we can imagine wasn't easy for someone we know who cares hugely about other people, Angela decided running an agency wasn't for her anymore. And so, she closed Design By Day and launched her solo venture, Love & Logic.

In this episode, we'll talk about building a design agency and its many challenges, and we'll hear of Angela's experience of closing it down, despite its success. We'll cover themes of the fear of failure, confronting gut feelings, and opting for difficult choices when you know they involve more than just you.