Trusting Process: Cecilia Serafini on Perfecting Craft
In a culture that celebrates versatility, the value of true craftsmanship is sometimes overlooked. Yet trusting a specialist to excel in their unique skill set not only honours their expertise but it can also elevate the quality of the final work.
For Cecilia Serafini, design director at Mother Design, the power of specialisation in a world increasingly drawn to generalism keeps design dynamic and fuels her professional growth.
Speaking with LBB’s Olivia Atkins, Cecilia highlights that there’s no single formula for acquiring the skills and experience needed to excel creatively. Instead, she champions hands-on learning, curiosity, and drawing inspiration from culture to push ideas forward.
Rekorder director Sam Hoist recently reflected on the creative industry's evolving challenges: "I'd like to see more trust in people's skills and respect for their specialisms. These days, everyone’s an expert, even if they lack the relevant skills. Have an opinion by all means, but if you’ve hired a talented person to do the job, then let them. Otherwise, it just devalues their expertise and the work suffers."
As part of Rekorder’s ongoing creativity series, Cecilia shares her thoughts on Sam’s perspective in this conversation. She explores how trusting individual expertise fosters better outcomes, sparks innovation, and strengthens the creative landscape. From navigating multidisciplinary teams to honing distinct crafts, Cecilia explains why specialisation remains vital in a world enamored with generalists.
LBB> In a field where many roles now require a broad skill set, how important do you think developing a specific craft or specialism is versus being a generalist? How do you think your background in typography influenced your approach to specialisation?
Cecilia> I think there’s merit to both, and a team’s strength partly relies on having professionals with both of these characteristics. From a more personal perspective, I do enjoy having general knowledge of the different areas of our business, but my ultimate aim is to get better at what I’m good at. The idea of becoming a true specialist over time is what really drives my career.
LBB> Given your experience working with cultural institutions and high-profile brands, how do you strike the balance between creative collaboration and trusting individuals with their specialisms? And how do you think that balance affects the quality of the final work?
Cecilia> Mother Design is big on creative collaboration. We’re a relatively small team of people who’ve been working together for quite some time in a lot of cases, and we all value each other’s opinions a lot. As a design director, I’ll often go to our voice lead or our strategists for their thoughts on a piece of design. That being said, all parties involved must be aligned and focused on the end goal – to create work that is strategically-oriented, differentiated and compelling. And to achieve that, there is a need to protect the integrity of the work by removing some of the subjectivity that can sometimes surface in the design process. It’s all about having an open dialogue at the outset of any project about the required roles, responsibilities and expectations. In fact, we go so far as having what we affectionately call internally a ‘pre-mortem’ with clients, where we get around a table to transparently discuss all of our respective hopes and fears for the project. It's hugely beneficial and in some instances, revealing but it ultimately enables us to put pre-emptive measures in place.
LBB> You have an MA in Graphic Design from the London College of Communication. How has your formal education shaped your approach compared to designers who may have taken a more self-taught, on-the-job path? What benefits or challenges have you encountered from this foundation?
Cecilia> My MA at LCC was quite a hands-off course, and my BA before that was in Art History, so I am actually self-taught when it comes to technical and hard design skills. What I took away from my MA was mostly around the history of design and design thinking, looking at (and for) problems and finding solutions. Both in and out of university, it was a time learning and talking about design with my tutors and peers, which I found incredibly valuable. Formal design education also has its advantages not only from an academic perspective but in terms of networking and career opportunities. However, I definitely don’t think formal education is needed to be a great designer, and being self-taught shows a great deal of passion for design. It also often results in people who do things differently, which can be immensely powerful in unearthing new approaches, ideas and ways of working. Personally, I’m often drawn to candidates that haven’t necessarily had a traditional or linear path into design.
LBB> You’ve mentioned you find inspiration in non-graphic design environments. How do these sources influence your work?
Cecilia> When I started doing graphic design as a teenager, I had no formal education and very little knowledge of other designers or the industry itself. I did it because I wanted to. It was (and still is) something I’m passionate about. This, added to my background in Art History, made me approach design from an unconventional perspective. Although at this point in my career I do have a vast knowledge of the industry and the design landscape, in our profession, you’re always learning – that’s what helps ensure that the work you’re creating is both differentiated and unexpected.
LBB> Typography seems to be a defining feature of your work, adding a unique touch to every project. What do you see as the role of typography in communicating a brand or project’s identity, and how do you adapt your style to fit diverse clients?
Cecilia> Type can be such a powerful tool for a brand. It can do a lot of things at the same time. It can be functional and communicate a message, it can be evocative and inspire an emotion, it can be distinctive and work hard for a brand’s recognition. However, the true power of typography kicks in when it’s paired with great writing. At Mother Design, we give our type systems as much thought and consideration as we give to our tone of voice, ensuring that they are both evocative, translate the brand's strategic direction, and meet the client's needs in terms of use cases.
LBB> With the design industry evolving rapidly, how important is it to be adaptable in your work? And how do you approach meeting evolving trends and client needs?
Cecilia> It’s very important. It doesn’t matter how beautiful or well-crafted your work is, if it doesn’t resonate with culture and society, it’s likely to fall flat. Our work is always informed by insights garnered from the sector, category, competitive landscape, audience and the wider cultural context. And as much as it's important to keep abreast of evolving trends and client needs, fundamentally, the foundations of any brand need to transcend trends, and stand the test of time.
Personally, I’m kept inspired by the wider team on a day-to-day basis, and we have an internal initiative that sees us hosting talks and visiting individuals and organisations adjacent to our industry on a regular basis. While I make sure to keep abreast of industry news and trends, I also firmly believe it's important to explore the world beyond that too.
LBB> In collaborative environments like Mother Design, where you’ve worked on diverse projects, how do you navigate working with other creatives versus having total creative control over your output? Are there any aspects of collaboration that you find especially valuable for your craft?
Cecilia> Although Mother Design follows quite a traditional team structure (with roles such as senior designer, design director, creative director, etc), no matter what the role or seniority, it's important that we all feel comfortable to voice our opinions, making the final output one that feels truly collaborative and owned by every member of the team.
In my role, I get the chance to collaborate closely with creative directors and help to set the overall direction of a project, but I also work with our designers to actually realise the overarching creative direction.
And, I don’t mean to sound like a meme, but graphic design has always been my passion, so talking about type or logos or colour with the other designers is probably my favourite part of the day!
