My first, long awaited journey into the Outdoors Industry

In 2021, I had the absolute pleasure to fill the role of Jr. Graphic Designers in the creative team over at Huish Outdoors, an umbrella company that owns many fantastic high-end SCUBA diving and watersports based businesses. Some of the big names included BARE, Oceanic Worldwide, Suunto, and Hollis.

Coming onboard in a position I was somewhat overqualified for was an interesting transition from some of my prior experience, but the most notable thing about my time at Huish was I learned above all what it means to be apart of a strong and passionate team of creators, leaders, and just all around great people who all had an adoration for the outdoors.

I took many fantastic lessons from my supervisor, Erin—an incredibly talented designer with a knack for golden symmetry and packaging design— as well as from the Marketing Director, Olivier—no doubt the best leader I have ever had the opportunity to learn from—and all the way up to the company’s owner and CEO, Mike Huish, who was a shining example of what a leader at that level should be, which is someone that all their employees can look up to and be proud to work for.

Above: photography from the Huish Outdoors 2021 Company BBQ

The technical experience I was able to pick up at Huish was far more developed and professional than many of the other endeavors I have been a part of in the past, from learning new applications such as Adobe After Effects to building easy-to-translate web design layouts in Sketch that I would hand off to developers for quick and hassle-free buildouts. Above that all though, I learned how to be a strong leader, how to provide concise and positive mentorship, and how to take a step back from a strictly professional mindset in the workplace and instead provide real, critical interactions with other people while still maintaining strong, positive morale.

All that is exactly what made every day at Huish Outdoors a fantastic experience. As I earned more trust and demonstrated my value, I was given more and more large scale opportunities to pitch major product concepts, logo redesigns, and new branding identities, as well as many other phenomenal photography projects that all just came together to make the experience the best professional sprint I have ever had.

My only reason for leaving such an excellent place is that I was given an even more incredible opportunity to work at a company I have wanted to be a part of since its formation; Cloud9. It was a decades dream to work there, and I had applied for the position before I was hired at Huish, there was just a very rigorous application process. If I was able to go back and work again at Huish in a capacity that was closer to my current responsibilities, I surely would.

I can’t say enough great things about that company and the broader outdoors industry in general, and I hope to come back into the industry again in the future once I’ve built out an even stronger set of skills to elevate more companies and teams within them.