Meet the team: John

By Frauke / Staff /

John of House Vingoe, unshaven guardian of pencils and Pantone books, lover of food and father of Bengals. It might not be the Seven Kingdoms of Westeros this Game Of Thrones fan is ruling over, but with his keen eye for pixel-perfection, our bearded Creative Director is the king of the design team.

If John is not out and about at meetings you can usually hear him rapping along to some explicit grime beats. On a good day the team may even bear witness to a half-decent finger drum session. Considering he used to air drum along to whole albums for fun as a child, we gathered it’s a habit that’s hard to break.

Even though you might be able to hear John from a mile away, spotting him is another story. Tucked away in his corner, wearing nothing but camo clothing and accessories, even for the well trained eye it might be hard to see him – but don’t worry, he’ll jump straight out of his chair to greet you!

John doing Salt Bae

What’s your job?

Creative Director

So what do you actually do everyday?

I’m usually working with the design team to create some lovely work for us and our clients. If I’m not in the office, I’m usually out at client meetings presenting work or telling them how wonderful The Hideout are.

Give us a song that describes you?

99 problems – Jay-Z

What keeps you motivated?

The search for perfection and the end product.

Tell us your favourites: music, TV shows, films?

Get ready for a major list… Films: The New ‘Oceans‘ Series, never get bored of watching any of those. Music: I’ve got a pretty eclectic taste, but more often than not I’ll be listening to either some Grime (P Money, Wiley, Skepta, JME), or Hip Hop (Run the Jewels, Childish Gambino, Notorious BIG). TV: I suggest you watch all of these… The Office, an absolute classic. Curb your Enthusiasm, Entourage, Mad Men, Homeland, House of Cards, Game of Thrones, Billions, Breaking Bad.

What are your most recent discoveries? Any tv-shows, podcasts, blogs or books we should be keeping our eyes on?

It’s been on for a few series now, but Taskmaster on Dave, is an amazing program. Comedians taking part in tasks with hilarious consequences! Every week they’re set tasks which they have to perform to the best of their ability. Example of tasks could be… ‘Draw a caricature of a person that you cannot see’, ‘Make the best portrait of a celebrity using only toilet rolls’ or ‘Make the longest continuous noise’. As you can imagine they’re probably harder then they sound, but what they do make is bloody good television.

You’ve got a time machine, where would you go first?

Jurassic Period – to go and see some dinosaurs.

John Pointing
Young John Arsenal Supporter

Tell us something you wish clients knew?

Making the logo bigger won’t necessarily make it better… Your logo should work at small sizes too!

Team of choice?

Arsenal. North London is Red.

What is one guilty pleasure you enjoy too much to give up?

Eastenders. Even better now Danny Dyer is in it.

Your best impression?

Arnold Schwarzenegger. Get to da chopper!!! Put dat cookie down!!!

The Hideout

What’s your earliest creative memory?

I won a design competition while I was in the Beaver Scouts. The competition was to design a badge for the 80th anniversary of the Ashford District scout association. The winning badge would be created and given to all the scouts in the area to sew on to their jumper. Amazingly mine got picked! My prize, as well as having the badge created, was a trip to The William Harvey Hospital to meet old people on the wards. I’ve still got the frame with the winning badge here today.

Cats or dogs?

I’ve got a Bengal cat who’s pretty much like a dog. He can open doors, likes chasing his tail, and once stole a piece of pizza from the bin and buried it in the front garden.

What do you wish you had known 5 years ago?

How good a smoker is! I got one this year and have been making all sorts of slow cooked treats. The taste of ribs and brisket from the smoker are unreal.

John Creative Director of The Hideout

What are the 3 things you’d take to a desert island and why?

A crate of ice cold Irn-Bru, a hat because it’ll probably be hot, and that time machine we spoke about earlier.

If you had a tagline, what would it be?

F**k that’s delicious! 

If you could give the people reading one piece of advice, what would it be?

Don’t be a fussy eater. Try everything first.

The Hideout

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