James Good is the company and creative director of James Good Limited. He started his own design business when he was 17, having been inspired by a childhood surrounded by print in his grandad’s print factory. Since then, James has not rested in ambition to own and run a leading design agency. James Good Limited was fully incorporated in 2002. The business moved to South Wales in 2006, where James and his team of 6 passionate and enthusiastic staff now operate. James is a member of the Chartered Society of Designers and the Institute of Directors.

Read our interview with James to gain an insight into his innermost thoughts, ambitions and fears!

What three words best describe you?
Ambitious, Opinionated and Fair.

What three words would your team use to describe you?
Ed: Picky, Forthright and Cheeky.
Tori: Contrary, Ballsy and Passionate.
Rob: Perfectionist, Driven and Sexy. (Thanks Rob!)
Kathy: Driven, Articulate and Considerate.
Andy: Perfectionist, Honest and Uncompromising.

What are you working on at the moment?
World domination... been working on it for a few years now - plan's coming together slowly but surely!

What attracted you to the world of design?
I do love it. I guess it's a profession that gives me absolute control and the opportunity to consider every tiny little detail, without being criticised for being a control freak! I think design is a part of your biological make-up. Any good designer will tell you that they never stop analysing, challenging, critiquing, rethinking, improving and redesigning everything in their mind. Design is either in you or it's not. 

What would you consider your key strengths?
My absolute unwilting belief that huge success and recognition is only around the corner. That belief has given me the confidence to invest in my business with a big business attitude. We do everything as if we already were the large international agency we believe we'll be.

What drives you mad?
Stupidity. I just can't deal with stupid!

What is your largest achievement to-date?
Paying my mortgage whilst supporting Kathy (childhood sweetheart) through university and growing my design business... all through a recession. I'm pretty pleased with myself for that. It's been hard and I'm not entirely certain it's over yet, but fingers crossed as we continue to work our way through it.

What is your largest failure to-date?
Mis-quoting a website project massively. The project cost us in excess of 500 hours, but we persevered and completed it (as we do). The learning curve was steep and the experience gained will now enable us to better help many of our other clients. The real silver lining on this dark cloud is that it's the same project that won us the Cardiff Design Award, so I'm pleased that the project is no longer shrouded in only painful memories.

Weaknesses?
Not entirely sure it's a weakness, but due to our ambitious nature and desire to reach the top, James Good Limited is always in a state of growth and change, both in terms of the scale and calibre of the projects we're working on and the requirement for more skilled staff. I often wonder whether life wouldn't be far less complicated and far more profitable if we were to just sit still, plateau and accept smaller, easier projects... but that wouldn't be very 'James Good' of us!

Who do you admire professionally?
There are many designers who produce work that I wish I'd been a part of and there are many designers that I would like to work with, learn from, possibly even add benefit to and inspire.
I admire those that have paved the way for identity designers and educated the world regarding the benefits of identity design; Michael Wolff and Wally Olins, obviously. I particularly love the house style of Siegel + Gale. Miles Newlyn's identity and typography work is spectacular.

What does 2011 hold in store for you?
More of the same please! 2010 has been a good year for us so far. We've taken on fantastic new team members, worked on some brilliant projects that have allowed us to push the boundaries and gained some long awaited recognition for our efforts. More of all of the above will help us make headway in achieving our ultimate goal of placing ourselves firmly in the Top 100 UK Design Agencies published annually by Design Week.

If you're interested in what James has to say, why not follow him on Twitter too? www.twitter.com/jamesgoodltd