Nils Leonard on Craft, Culture, and Why Print Still Matters

At OFFF Festival 2026 in Barcelona, the conversation around creativity felt charged this year. Among the standout voices was Nils Leonard, co-founder of Uncommon Creative Studio, whose talk cut through the noise with a mix of honesty, intensity, and conviction.

Uncommon has built a reputation as one of the most disruptive creative studios working today. Known for projects that blur the line between advertising, art, and cultural output, the studio consistently pushes beyond traditional campaign thinking, creating work designed not just to be seen, but remembered.

Their 2026 identity for OFFF was a perfect example. Instead of starting with a visual system, Uncommon created a living one, collecting human samples from creative events and cultivating them into a lab-grown culture that became the foundation of the festival’s identity. It was a project that sat somewhere between science experiment and design system, visceral, unexpected, and deeply rooted in the idea of creativity as something organic and shared.

We caught up with Nils Leonard in Barcelona to talk about his beginnings, the philosophy behind Uncommon, and why, in an age of AI and infinite output, physical craft and print still hold a unique kind of power.

Beginnings

People of Print:
Let’s take it right back. Where did you grow up, and what shaped your early world?

Nils Leonard:

I grew up in Wealdstone, zone five in London, a pretty rough, working-class environment. My dad was a biker and a tattooist, my mum was an RE teacher. It was a creative household, even if no one would have called it that. I loved film, music, album covers, all of it. But I didn’t think a career in art was possible. We didn’t have money, so I wanted something that could give me that. I became obsessed with advertising, especially those cinematic fragrance ads. I remember thinking, someone made that. It didn’t just happen.
I didn’t get into university, so I went to the Job Centre and asked for a job in advertising. They had one at Lintas. I turned up two and a half hours early and somehow got it.

That moment changed my life.

People of Print:
How important were mentors in shaping your path?

Nils Leonard:

Massive. I was lucky early on; I found people who lived creatively. Not just in their work, but in how they dressed, how they behaved, how they approached life. One of the most important was Simon Fairweather, a typographer and obsessive craftsperson. He taught me how deep you can go on something seemingly small. That level of focus stayed with me. I’ve always had mentors, and I still do. I also learn from people what not to do. Heroes and villains, both are important.

People of Print:
Who did you look up to?

Nils Leonard:

People like Peter Saville, not just because of the work, but because he was cool. He had a presence, a way of living. I don’t think we talk enough about that. People don’t get into this industry just to produce output; they’re chasing a version of themselves, a life.

And that’s still true now. My heroes haven’t disappeared, but my understanding of them has evolved.

Building Uncommon

People of Print:
What happens at Uncommon between a brief landing and an idea being realised?

Nils Leonard:

The first thing we do is ask: Why are you here? I never used to ask that. I used to try and impress clients. But you can spend six months working together only to realise you don’t want the same thing.

Now, we align early. If a client understands what we do and wants that, we can move fast and make better work. We don’t pitch much. We prefer to work quickly, collaboratively, and honestly. It’s a much healthier process.

People of Print:
How do you approach originality in a world full of references?

Nils Leonard:

We reference everything, film, music, art, culture, but not so much advertising. By the time ideas move through the studio, they’ve evolved. The question we always ask is: Is this new? Will people talk about it?Taste plays a huge role. It’s not just what you make, it’s how you make it.

Making vs Marketing

People of Print:
There’s a lot of talk about “creating culture” What’s your take?

Nils Leonard:

I think people overcomplicate it. Brands like Palace or Corteiz aren’t sitting there trying to “create culture.” They’re just making things they believe in. The danger is over-analysing that.

At Uncommon, we make our own work as well as client work, but the goal is simple: we want people in the real world to recognise what we do. Not theorise about it, feel it.

People of Print:
Your work leans heavily into physical craft. Is that intentional?

Nils Leonard:

Completely. The more you can do in-camera, physically, the more honest the work becomes. It removes artifice.

With AI, everything is starting to look the same. Decks look the same, treatments look the same, and I hate that.

So we’ve pushed in the opposite direction. We make things harder for ourselves, physically, practically, because the output feels more real. Sometimes, even imperfect. And that’s what makes it interesting.

People of Print:
You’ve worked across print. What role does it play now?

Nils Leonard:

Print is evidence. No one is digging through your Google Drive in 30 years. But they might find a printed piece, a book, a poster, something physical, and it could change their life. That’s the power of it.

We redesigned Port Magazine, and the process of physically making something, disrupting it, and experimenting is incredibly rewarding. Print has an immediacy and permanence that digital just doesn’t.

Advice for Creatives

People of Print:
What’s the opportunity for creatives right now?

Nils Leonard:

Be more visible. Be more famous. Don’t hide in craft.
There’s this idea that it’s a choice, craft or visibility, but it’s not. The most powerful work combines both.

A single object, a print, a poster, something physical, can carry an idea further than you think.

People of Print:
Is print dead?

Nils Leonard:

No. If anything, it’s one of the few mediums where something can be discovered years later and still have impact. Imagine someone finding your work in 20 years, and it changes their life.

That’s what print can do.

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What makes Nils Leonard and Uncommon so compelling isn’t just the work itself, but the philosophy behind it. In an industry constantly driven by speed, optimisation, and sameness, their approach feels deliberately resistant.

Make it real, make it physical and make it matter.