Alex Beck and Will Hudson discuss the collaborative journey that began with a box of postcards, and led to It’s Nice That, along with Anyways Creative, Lecture in Progress and If You Could.
It all started with a set of postcards.
When Will Hudson and Alex Beck were students at University of Brighton, they teamed up to produce a postcard collection to fund their year-end portfolio shows—and in the process laid the groundwork for a partnership that would build one of the best platforms for celebrating creativity, not to mention positivity: It’s Nice That.
Hudson initially launched the site as a blog in 2007, while still a student.
“Not everyone had a website, and it just gathered momentum,” he tells Debbie Millman in this episode of Design Matters. “It was a time where we were constantly looking at other creators’ work and websites, and it was born out of a desire to document and find a way of archiving and making a reference point.”
Hudson and Beck graduated and went off to jobs in the graphic design world. And then, one day, Beck’s phone rang—It’s Nice That was pulling in some 80,000 readers a month. Hudson wanted to join forces with Beck, and offered him a 50 percent ownership. The two quit their jobs and took a bet on It’s Nice That—one that has undoubtedly paid off.
Today, the site pulls in two million readers per month, and encompasses a biannual magazine, an event series (Nicer Tuesdays) and an official shop (Company of Parrots). Hudson and Beck have also since expanded their enterprise to include their own agency, Anyways Creative, the advice platform Lecture in Progress, and the job board If you Could.
… And it all came from a set of postcards—a brilliant example of how collaboration, good work and positivity can conquer all.
In December, It’s Nice That, with support from Google, put together a collection of the site’s top 100 articles from among the pool of 25,000. Here are 10 we love.
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Graphic Design is Mental: Tips for Looking After Your State of Mind as a Designer
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Back in 1900, Activist W. E. B. Du Bois Was Using Infographics to Challenge White Supremacy
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“We Need Everyone to Wake Up.” Google’s Tea Uglow on Intersectionality in the Creative Industries
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The Only Way is Ethics: What are the Moral Obligations of a Graphic Designer?
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Work Hard, Be Nice to People and Have Rich Parents: Addressing Privilege in the Creative Industry
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Taiwanese Graphic Designer Wang Zhi-Hong’s Sublime Cover Designs
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Chris (Simpsons Artist)’S Surreal But Accurate Illustrations of Creative Jobs
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Back of the Rack: We Get to Know Eight of the Most Niche Magazines Occupying the Newsagents’ Shelves
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Saul Bass’ Rejected Designs for The Shining, With Notes From Kubrick