BOND with Nils

“Make the idea bigger, not the logo.”

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As a Creative Director, what is the core of your work?

First of all, we work as one agency across all our studios, so I have the delight of collaborating not just with the Tallinn team but with teams across the Bond network on a weekly basis. But whatever the team or project, my role as a Creative Director revolves around the overall creative concepts and ideas, as well as the storytelling side of things. It’s about ensuring that the strategy, the visual, and the verbal are in sync and all reinforce each other.

Our designers are masters of their craft and as a non-designer, I don’t give guidance on how they do their jobs. Not that I don’t recognise good design or contribute visual ideas, but design is not my primary field of expertise. Instead, I focus on making sure there’s always a concept behind what we create—an actual idea with purpose. Even more importantly, it has to be an idea that executes the brand strategy and delivers results.

If you can’t explain your idea, it’s probably not a good idea—or even an idea to begin with—and it rarely achieves what it’s supposed to. That’s why I believe in making ideas simpler and bigger—not the logos!

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What was your journey like before joining BOND, and what led you to work in this sector?

I’ve been working in advertising, digital, communication, and branding for 25 years. But as someone once said, life only begins when you’re around 40, and until then, “it’s just research.” In that spirit, I think all the agencies and positions I’ve passed through were mostly that: research and setting a direction for the future. They were about gaining valuable experience and discovering where my true strengths and passions lie. It all makes sense in retrospect, even if it sometimes felt like I was drifting.

In reality, I think everything started much earlier. My dad is an artist and my mom is a design enthusiast who worked at a store specialising in Italian furniture when I was a child. Growing up surrounded by art, culture, and design certainly had a big influence on me. After I gave up my ambitions of becoming a professional cyclist (before even finishing high school), I mostly considered two paths: becoming an architect or a writer—either a journalist or an author.

I didn’t end up following either path but, after much experimentation, I finally landed in an environment that combines the best of both worlds: the visual and the verbal. Although I’m not drawing buildings, I am, in a sense, ‘making places’—whether it’s a shopping centre or a hotel.

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How would you define creativity and what does it mean to you?

By definition, creativity means creating something—making ideas visible, doesn’t it? It’s about getting something done. If a person has lots of ideas but never executes them, they might possess a rich imagination, but that doesn’t equal being creative. Creativity always leaves behind proof.

Years ago, I read how Linus Torvalds, the (Finnish) father of the Linux operating system, criticized the tech industry’s obsession with innovation: “Anybody can innovate… It’s meaningless. Ninety-nine percent of it is getting the work done.” I think creativity works a bit like that, also.

But this isn’t to diminish the importance of creativity—quite the opposite. I think we need creativity more than ever, in today’s world and in every sense. Throughout human history, creativity has been central to our most remarkable achievements and it always will be.

At the same time, I’m not saying that creativity means—or has to mean—just hard work. At its most beautiful, it’s effortless and easy—even simple! The best ideas and designs often are. Like we say at BOND, “In a complex world, simple wins.” Yet sometimes, achieving that simplicity and clarity requires carving a path through a jungle of complexity—which usually involves sweating and perseverance.

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What role does teamwork play in your creative processes?

It’s everything! The beauty of working at BOND is collaborating with people who are sometimes smarter than you, definitely more exceptional designers, often cooler individuals, and who come from diverse nationalities and cultural backgrounds. They bring unique perspectives and, most importantly, are genuinely kind and inspiring. This is exactly what’s needed to create outstanding work:

Work that evolves from being “someone’s idea” to “our idea” – including the client – and ultimately becomes “this is an amazing idea.” Something that genuinely makes a difference in the world. For the client, or, in the best case, on an even larger scale.

I honestly can’t imagine anything better than bonding with talented people over the work I love. It’s something to be deeply grateful for and worth celebrating every now and then.

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“Creativity always leaves behind proof.”

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But surely the day-to-day at a brand consultancy isn’t all sunshine and roses either...?

Yeah, sure. But I still wouldn’t trade any of it for anything. Like the client who evaluates the quality of our branding work with a pendulum, leaving you unsure how to react – should you look away? Are you even allowed to breathe? Or the occasional heated arguments with colleagues about this or that, only for one of us to humbly admit 15 minutes later that the other was absolutely right – after trying every possible way to prove otherwise, but failing. Or missing the moment we’re awarded as the design agency of the year in Estonia because you happened to be in the bathroom. Or those fleeting moments when you feel like an imposter, convinced you don’t know enough about anything.

But that’s life. It’s beautiful – and it makes the highs feel even higher. Plus, it’s what forges a team, creating true and meaningful bonds among us.