Uprising: Daisy Loader’s Affinity for Experimentation

Now motion designer and animation director at Coffee & TV, Daisy Loader says that she actually never planned going into the profession, but when she takes a look back, she can definitely see some signs. Besides watching countless Disney films and animation videos on YouTube, being a part of a generation which grew up parallel to modern day technology development, Daisy finds experimentation and invention second nature. “For instance, I would always ask to use the family camcorder and get my friends to come over and we would shoot a ridiculous film. Then we’d spend hours on working on it in Windows Movie Maker. The final output would leave much to be desired, but I remember the sense of achievement we had when we finished,” says Daisy. 

And although nobody in her family was anything like a director, her grandfather did work in a film and TV prop department. He was the one to always push Daisy to work tirelessly towards the industry and her mum was always on the sideline supporting her too. Besides resonating with her creative and curious nature, the job she has landed now also echoes her extroverted inclinations. While loving her down time, where Daisy finds a grounding moment to focus, she also has always loved the social aspect of working in the industry. 

In her early adulthood, Daisy pursued a Bachelor’s degree in Graphic Design at the University of West of England, which she graduated in with a distinction. About the experience at UWE, she says, “I loved living in Bristol as it’s such a creative and exciting city, but I knew I wanted to move to London and start my career in design. I quickly landed a runner's role at Coffee & TV. Whilst I was running I was responsible for working with the marketing team to create designs for in-house jobs and social media platforms.” During that time the studio at Coffee & TV was growing rapidly, so Daisy was always on the frontlines helping to develop the brand style, which in turn helped her when it came to delivering Coffee & TV’s recent rebranding. “From university to working at the studio, I have learned that what we do as artists isn’t about sitting in an empty suite at a computer. It’s all about collaboration and connecting with the people around you,” Daisy explains.

Shifting our look towards her first professional direction project, Daisy says she worked on NHS Hero support, which was a new charity that formed during the covid lockdown. “They needed our help to build their brand identity and highlight the need for PPE during the pandemic,” says Daisy. With that in mind, the team got to work on a film that had to highlight the lack of PPE for NHS workers and encourage people to donate money at a time of uncertainty and loss. Daisy explains that to help people relate to the campaign, she “decided to use textures emulating cut-out pieces of paper to make the campaign feel handcrafted, poignant and human.”

Following that, another one of her make-or-break pieces was the visual identity and title sequence she co-directed for BBC Sport’s The Hundred cricket, which she identifies as the “game changer” not just for her career, but also for the studio and the broadcaster. “We hadn’t done anything in that style before and it was changing a traditional style associated with cricket for a new audience. It was also a great opportunity to work alongside my colleague and friend Ed [Kevill-Davies, AKA EKDMOTION], who I have always looked up to. The BBC were also a dream client, as they really let us run with the vision we had, which resulted in us having a final piece that felt stylistically and conceptually cohesive.”

Looking back, Daisy explains that both of these projects have been pivotal to her professional development. “I always strive to be proud of what I’ve done, while it’s also really important that others like it, I want to be confident that I’ve done the best that I can,” she says. Doing her best oftentimes looks like thinking on her feet, which she has gotten quite good at when one idea fails her and has to be immediately replaced in the fast paced land of advertising. One example of this is the recent campaign Daisy directed for Vitality, which was a big change from how she usually works. “I’m often at my desk, but being in and amongst it all during a shoot is a feeling you can’t quite get while working from home.”