Meet Ben: Line-stepping problem solver

Literally nobody at Robot Food knows how to make the studio IT work except Ben. Find out more about our resident IT Manager…. oh, and Creative Director.

Tell us one thing about yourself that most people don’t know…

I’m 6’8”. You’d think this would be obvious, especially in person — but everyone feels the need to ask, so here it is in black-and-white. If it helps, the weather is the same ‘up here’ as ‘down there’, and no, I didn’t play basketball — I’m British and that just wasn’t a thing for us, especially in the 90s. That means us tall white guys grew up playing centre-back and watching Tony Adams, rather than waiting in the corner ready to shoot a three-pointer off a kick-out like Kyle Korver.

How would your friends describe you?

Charlie Murphy once famously called Rick James a “habitual line-stepper”. I think my closest friends would probably say something similar. We’re all close enough and have known each other long enough to know exactly where each other’s boundaries are. I’m frequently the annoying one who pushes those boundaries for my and their amusement. Hopefully they’d also call me caring, loyal, and the ‘problem-solver’ of the group too — so long as you guaranteed you wouldn't quote them on that.

Think of your favourite TV show. If our studio were like that show, which character do you think you would be, and why?

My favourite show (at the moment) is probably It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. So I’m wary about drawing any parallels with that particular toxic brood. For the sake of argument I thought it would be funny to find out though, and the internet quiz machines quite clearly call me out as the Golden God himself, Dennis. Yes, I’m concerned about that. I assume it’s feeding off my natural leadership qualities and my ability to understand the, um, implication. In a design sense. Obviously.

What inspired you to pursue your career path, and what’s something about it that surprises most people?

I’d always leant towards the creative arts in school. I found fine art tricky though — without a brief I struggled with motivation a bit, who was I creating for, and what did I judge it against? Then I found screen printing and began making posters and T-shirts for bands, designing logos for local sports teams, making my own websites etc. At some point someone told me what I was doing wasn’t really fine art at all, but something called ‘graphic design’. And the rest as they say, is history.

Reflecting on your career journey, what advice would you give your younger self starting out?

If I’m being glib? “Play basketball instead. Everyone will ask you about it regardless, and if you become even a half decent three-point shooter you’ll be rich and retired by your mid-thirties.” If I’m being serious? It’s probably something about appreciating the journey more, and worry less about where you’re going and how long it will take to get there. In this industry it’s very easy to get caught up measuring yourself against others and their achievements, rather than focussing on you and yours. You get sidetracked in the next, I’d tell myself to enjoy the moment more.