Real Talk: Jason Peart, Head of Design at Locum's Nest
Jason Peart is Head of Design at Locum’s Nest, an app that connects doctors to locum (temporary) work in hospitals, whilst cutting out the inefficient, ineffective and expensive agency middleman.
I first met Jason well over a decade ago during a video shoot at London’s iconic Notting Hill Arts Club. We clicked at the time because I was trying to get some t-shirt designs made and he was the talented designer/illustrator/clothing brand owner that I needed. This was way before my own career as a designer and even before my time in the music industry, but even now I wouldn’t be able to match the talent that Jason had back then.
What I love about Jason is that even after 20+ years working with some of the biggest names in creativity, he shows no signs of being a typical senior creative type. He doesn’t care for the clout chasing and politics, nor does he keep quiet and toe the line in order to be accepted. He is one of the few people in life that I see as always being their ‘authentic’ self.
Jason has been a great friend and mentor to me and I know many of you will really feel what he has to say in this interview.
I hope you enjoy this one as much as I did!
Zack
Hey Jason. How’s it going? Where are you and what are you feeling right now?
Yes mate, all good! Sitting in my bedroom, just watching the world via my laptop. I’m super chill, to be honest. The world requires our stillness and it’s a great time to revisit ourselves as a nation and as a global nation. One thing divided us (Brexit) and something so shitty is now forcing us to reconnect and work together for the good of everyone. Mad, isn’t it?
I can’t imagine what it must be like working for a health tech company during this time, especially one that connects doctors to vacant work. Tell us a bit about Locum’s Nest’s impact on healthcare so far and how the company is changing due to COVID-19.
The very nature of our business is to help the NHS. Our startup is the result of two doctors working within the system, seeing the shortcoming of departments trying to find staff and having to outsource to agencies to fill those shifts at premium rates. The NHS is already suffering and we aren’t talking about small amounts of money here. Over the last 3 years, we have helped hospitals up and down the UK to save millions of pounds.
Last year the recognition really started coming through with awards from the NHS as well as the tech community. I saw these awards as feedback from frontline doctors and hospitals that our product was really changing the way they worked for the better. That’s all I needed.
Due to the current crisis, we have given all new hospitals and GP trusts free access to our staff bank of 25,000+ doctors and healthcare professionals. We offer the service short term so they are not tied in to anything.
The results have been crazy! The other day we had 11,490 new doctors register onto the system.
What are some of the design challenges you face at Locum’s Nest?
The first thing is that the design team is just me, myself and I. I’m the UX guy, the UI guy, the Strategy guy… When you get involved with a product or role like this, you really have to be thinking 4-5 years ahead. You have to have a vision for what could become possible, so when I started I was always gonna start by building a foundation that would allow us to explore the full potential of what and where we could be years from now.
With the right foundations, you can dismantle, rebuild and be flexible, especially as it’s just me. I need to be able to work fast as the business needs change daily. It’s funny that the rest of the company has grown around me and I continue to be a one-man show. What I set out to do at the very beginning has worked and is still working, which is the validation I need.
You’ve been working at startups since 2015, after spending almost two decades working in agencies. Why the change from agency to in-house and how was the transition?
I think the iPhone planted the seed that would finally blossom into an almost resentment for ‘Agency’ life. I think many designers had that “Logan’s Run” moment too! The dream of ascension to this higher place - Platinum Membership to Soho House, the judging panel at Cannes and playboy type centerspread in Creative Review (is that still a thing?).
But the reality for me was the work - How great was it? Was it really groundbreaking and changing the world? The answer - F*ck no! It was just this massive circle jerk of agencies competing to have more shiny awards in their receptions.
Anyway, back to the iPhone I mentioned earlier… The iPhone would change the way users would receive content and the relationship would go from us telling them what to consume to the users choosing what they want to consume, and I knew that would open huge possibilities. This thinking was not new and had been how developers and product companies had always been working, albeit the output looked awful. Sorry!
Soon the urge got too big and I quit one of the most well known Creative agencies out there. I started looking at roles that at the time most would have considered career suicide and the first place I ended up at was the Money Advice Service, where I helped them to audit their content and create a platform that made it easy for the public to access and understand key information. This involved creating a “face” - making their brand more relatable and digestible while observing the basics of service design - creating rules, guidelines and a library that could evolve and be accessed by all departments.
This was a daunting task as everything I did had to fall within the .Gov’s already existing accessibility guidelines. This role really helped me affirm that I made the right decision and that there was no turning back.
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I don’t want to keep reminding you of your age, but I’d love to know how you’ve seen the design industry change over the last 20 years?
The worst thing is that it’s still a white man's world and that sucks. I could literally count on half a hand the amount of the other designers that were around when I was coming up that were black or Asian or anything else. I’m talking for at least 15 years!
Anyone that says racism doesn’t exist in the design world must be high. I actually got blackballed (lol!) at one very famous agency for speaking out to protect the quality of the project I was working on. I learned a lot of lessons in those early days.
Another thing I can’t stand is the reality of the work versus the grand illusion. All these dreams of working on ‘cutting edge’ campaigns and game-changing ‘innovations’ when the reality is they are probably just going to push work around the agency. Do I believe we are equipping the next generation of creatives with the tools to succeed? Nope.
We need to teach the new blood about the process, creative push back (learn to argue your case), and ownership! It’s like School; We teach everything apart from the stuff we actually need - help me manage my money, what is ‘saving? The stuff we really need.
What advice do you have for young creatives?
FIGHT YOUR CORNER. Always. I think the environment has changed now and it’s much easier to find your corner and represent. The agencies have less hold on the industry and they are now not in most cases the ‘creative hot spots’ they once were. There are so many more opportunities and places to flex your muscles. I don’t want to tell anyone to follow my lead, as that was my hustle. I just want them to believe in themselves and their own skill(s).
What would you like to see happen next in design?
I always find this question interesting and, to be honest, I don’t know. I really don’t.
Currently, we are in the middle of a shitstorm of global proportions, and if I was to see anything from the design industry it would be more empathy and just more truth.
What keeps you inspired these days?
Everything else apart from design. I’ll be honest, in terms of work out there I don’t really care. I stopped paying attention a long time ago. I’m NOT jaded at all with design, I’m just past it all. My interest now is in the processes, methodologies and the boring stuff.
Sound cheesy, but just living in what I believe is the BEST city on the planet is enough. London never ceases to amaze me, and I’ve been all over the place but I’m always excited to come home! My 12-year old daughter is also a daily source of excitement - watching her and her friends navigate through this new world is crazy.
Oh… Then there’s my love of Italian twin value, two-wheeled creations of beauty. Yes, Ducati motorcycles. There is something primal there for me… risking my life at high speed, winner takes it all, wind in your hair and all that is like nothing else. Everything you do is an action followed by a reaction. Turn too soon, end up on the wrong side of the road, brake too late and it’s all over. You’re constantly focused, and moving and improving. You can’t worry about life or work or anything, your mind is where it needs to be and that is powerful.
Jason’s recent side project: Illustration work for UK rapper, Nadia Rose
I wanted to ask you about streetwear because you’ve been into the scene for decades now. How did you get into it and what are your feelings about its current state?
As far back as I can remember, my daily wear has consisted of three items - sneakers, jeans and a T-Shirt. But it was always the shoes. Always the shoes.
My folks were never poor, we were well off - But my mom was never gonna buy me all the stuff I wanted. When this life as a designer started and the money came rolling in… I started tracking down and buying all the shoes I loved as a kid or didn’t have. When you end up with a storage unit as your house can no longer contain your shoes, you know it’s serious haha. I’m sure that’s the story for many of my peers. The journey was long and took me through the early rave years, skateboarding and 2000’s right up to now.
My love for streetwear has changed like the width of my jeans over the decades, but it’s still there. With the time I've been in the scene, I’ve had my own Skateboard company, a streetwear company and consulted and helped create platforms to help other brands. I’ve made friends for life and been involved in some amazing projects.
As for the scene now, well, that's a different thing. I’m not gonna slate it because it’s at a point that is different from where I am now in my journey - There are so many great things happening, like watching friends of mine doing sick stuff with the big brands that wouldn’t have anything to do with them in the past and them changing these brands from the inside and bringing their mates up with them.
Obviously there is an element of hating the ‘money makes me cool’ crowd. Style is not bought, it's earned.
Finally, is there anything you’d like to say to a bunch of creatives on the internet?
Read Capadonna’s verse on this track (at 2.28). It’s one of the best verses ever put to wax.
It’s like great design - it’s just doing its job. On the surface, you have this beautiful thing and then you get into it, and you look deeper and you start to make the connections. The more you look at it (or in this case, listen) you realise that you are so small and some things are just put here to humble us.
Thanks again to Jason! Follow him on Instagram.