5 Minutes with… Lydia Dunay

If you’ve met Lydia Dunay, chances are she’s made you laugh. Creative director at Cartwright and lover of a good giggle, Lydia’s sense of humour is at the very core of her being. It’s accompanied by a lifelong love of visual design, a desire to “mess with things aesthetically”, and commitment to verbalising all her “worst ideas”.

She joined the agency in its early days in 2021, having previously spent time at creative shops including R/GA, HUSTLE, Butler, Shine, Stern & Partners, and Union Made Creative, where she worked under the mentorship of Keith Cartwright, the future founder of Cartwright.

As a leader, she’s all in, running amongst her team instead of lording from above, intent on creating great work as a unit and being in the weeds together. She finds uses for her marketing skillset in a number of ways, primarily in creating work for brands, but also in her role as a mother, where her ability to sell has even her toddlers convinced that broccoli is their favourite food.

LBB’s Abi Lightfoot caught up with Lydia to unpack the origins of her love of visual design and infectious sense of humour, and find out why Cartwright is the perfect place for a person who loves to wear many hats at once.

LBB> Where did your passion for visual design initially come from, and when did you realise that it was a passion that could become a career?

Lydia> I think my love for beautiful, elevated design originated in the same place that most visually-inclined creatives discover their passion… in an alternative bohemian daycare run by atheists and social outcasts! We had very little rules and even fewer resources (shout out to raw potato stamps and Mr. Sketch smelly markers as the most underrated tools in the birth of an artist). From a very young age, I was always looking for ways to mess with things aesthetically. Not for any other reason than curiosity and knowing things could look and ultimately be different if I wanted them to be.

I went to a proper art school and started with, some might argue, a delusional idea of being a painter and sculptor. That dream quickly died when a professor from the sculpture department insisted we spend an entire semester making things out of trash and informed me my work was good but I couldn't be taken seriously as an artist because I looked "too normal”, Joke's on that guy. I spent nearly two decades afterward making a living out of tricking people into thinking I'm normal as a way to Trojan-horse unhinged ideas past skeptical colleagues and clients. Normal-looking, I'll take, normal-thinking would be an insult.

LBB> The about section of your website was very entertaining. Where does this sense of humour come from, and does it infuse into your work at all?

Lydia> I grew up in a household with an editor and a political science professor. You would assume that environment would produce very straight-laced, by-the-book, serious kids. On the contrary, my parents and all their friends had extremely dry, biting, sarcastic humour. My brother and I realised early that the keys to ‘The Big Kid Table’ were earned through sounding smart, and that was most easily demonstrated through making people laugh.

In my experience, humour is always disarming. It is the way I operate, communicate, create work and create bonds with the people around me. I will always attempt to start from a place of humour, whether you ask me to concept around the rebirth of Crystal Pepsi or sell enriched uranium. I didn't go to Wharton Business School and I can't sing or dance, so when in doubt, I will default to what I know, which is trying to get a laugh in the room.

LBB> When did you join Cartwright, and how would you describe your current role and responsibilities?

Lydia> I joined Cartwright in 2021. This is actually the longest time I've spent somewhere in my career. I was an early hire and joined as a creative director while we were still remote during covid. I have always gravitated toward start-ups, hybrids and smaller shops because my role is never just one thing. I feel excited and challenged every day trying to wear and balance a large variety of hats (thank God I have a disproportionately large pumpkinhead). It feels rewarding to get to exercise so many creative muscles, especially on the visual side of advertising.

LBB> Tell me more about learning from Keith’s mentorship, and how your professional relationship has flourished over the years up until now. What is it like to now work with him at Cartwright?

Lydia> I have known the man since I was a small baby child in advertising. He hired me out of Brandcenter sometime I believe in the Mesozoic Era. At the time, he had just left W+K and started his own agency, Union Made Creative, in San Francisco. It was just him, me, and my writing partner Whitney, one big room, no rules, clients like Nike, Lego, and Beats, and absolutely 24/7 panic and imposter syndrome. I had no idea what I was doing, worked 18 hour days and made zero money (I was still conducting business on my LG Slider until he forced me to finally get an iPhone). We had his undivided attention, however, and that proved to be the most valuable thing for those first few years.

Fast forward to now, where we have cool, neat, fun things like 401k's, an HR department, and a holding company to answer to here at Cartwright - but I still sit five feet away from Keith. It's a bigger operation with a much larger group of incredible people he has put together, but it still has the lawless spirit and approach to creative (in the best sort of way) that we did in that one big room 13 years ago.

LBB> What aspects of art direction most excite you, and why?

Lydia> At the moment, I would guess nine out of ten people you interview would say AI. It's the hottest topic of conversation and what keeps us up at night, sweating profusely. I have had some interesting discussions and debates on how it will affect us in this profession. Not just at the business level, but on a human level as it applies to our craft.

On the art side, we are noticing more and more that young creatives don't know how to express themselves or build something without AI. That scares the shit out of me. I sincerely hope we can hold on to the inherently human aspects of making beautiful things with our own hands vs. only with machines.

LBB> How would you describe your approach to art direction, do you lean into digital tools or prefer to opt for more traditional, analogue tools?

Lydia> Now I am going to do a 180 from the previous answer and say I LOVE AI (you hear that, robots? Don't come for me!) I use it probably every day - not as a shortcut, but to elevate the quality of my final product.

However, I also still draw, I scribble on whiteboards and sketchbooks, I make serial-killer-style post-it note walls, and I am currently building overly elaborate ‘Godzilla’ costumes for my toddlers with working electrical components and hand-cut scales... I still love really making things. I think you can always tell if people know how to do things by hand, even from the way they use AI. There's a level of understanding and connection to the world that comes through the work when your way of thinking isn't confined to the prompt bubble.

LBB> You’ve worked with such a wide range of brands and clients, how do you begin to get to grips with a brand and the demands of a project when you first receive a brief?

Lydia> I say all my worst ideas out loud. I'm a firm believer that if you overly censor or self-edit yourself, you will never be able to come up with something new or original. I am so thankful for being surrounded by creative geniuses at both work and my personal life, so if I don't show them my garbage I am doing myself a disservice. When all the garbage is on the table, you can sort out the potentially great stuff and leave behind the two minute song I wrote about NyQuil sleep demons singing to you in the tune of AC/DC's ‘Thunderstruck’.

LBB> Is there an identifiable trend or visual clue that ties all of your work together across brands?

Lydia> I wish I had hidden a series of DaVinci Code-style symbols across my projects that when deciphered, will unlock the secrets of the Universe - but sadly I opted for the Business of NASCAR elective course in college vs. cryptography. I don't think I have knowingly pushed a hidden visual agenda throughout my work, but it definitely is for the most part, colourful and unserious.

LBB> How would you describe your style and approach to leadership?

Lydia> Having worked under many different leadership archetypes, it was easy to spot what was and was not going to work for me when the time came. The people I respected the most, who I would follow anywhere, were not the ones who could quote ‘Art of War’ or blow up the work the night before a pitch just to watch the world burn. It felt lazy when a creative director put more energy towards exercising power over others vs. creating great work as a team.

I always knew I wanted to be that P.E. coach from high school that doesn't bark ‘FASTER, LOSERS!’ from the bleachers, but runs the laps alongside you. It showed you that there was an unspoken agreement that regardless of hierarchy, everyone was in it together and we were heading towards a common goal. It is difficult to build trust, respect, and comradery with people I work under, over and beside if they don't know I am always going to be down in the shit with them, running right alongside if they need me.

LBB> How do you navigate the responsibilities of being both a parent and creative lead at Cartwright? What are the most rewarding and/or challenging aspects?

Lydia> I would assume most people, especially mothers, answer this question by highlighting the crossover between parenting and working with people in advertising. What they might not talk about is how the skills we have acquired in this industry over the years can translate into being a killer parent. I know how to SELL. I can sell my two and three year olds on just about anything. Whether it's not wearing the same Monster Jam t-shirt every single day, to why sadly eating their boogers is not socially acceptable (but may I instead offer you this delicious, naturally-flavoured, sustainably-farmed, disgusting organic fruit goo from a pouch that I can legally promise you has the same awesome radioactive super ingredient as that spider that bit ‘Spider-Man’), I will always get my way.

Their favourite food is broccoli not chicken nuggets, their favourite song is ‘Barracuda’ not ‘Baby Shark’, and their favourite show is Real Housewives of Whatever-I-Want so I am spared from ‘Paw Patrol’. I would say that's proof-positive I am the best parent and the best marketer.