The power of love: why collaboration is the secret to creative success

We all like to think we're lone geniuses, creating amazing work without any outside help or influence. But if that's all we ever did, we'd be missing a trick. In practice, the most groundbreaking and rewarding creative work typically happens through collaboration.

Whether musicians compose iconic albums, designers and writers build brands, or artists inspire each other in shared studios, great things happen when creative minds come together. The power of creative partnership extends far beyond simply combining different skills.

Collaboration at its best creates an alchemical reaction where ideas spark and multiply, trusted feedback helps good work become extraordinary, and mutual support carries projects through their inevitable challenging phases.

So, to mark Valentine's Day, Galentine's Day, and all the other celebrations of our mutual interconnection going on right now, we figured we'd share some real-world examples of how collaboration fuels creativity.

Through conversations with artists, designers, writers and agency founders, we uncover the key ingredients that make creative partnerships thrive—and how you can harness them to foster more meaningful collaboration in your own practice.

The magic of shared passion

For illustrator Hannah Gillingham, collaboration is all about shared passion. She points to one time when she teamed up with the film director Mattson Tomlin and helped him reclaim his connection to his first movie.

"He put his trust in me when the release didn't go as well as he'd hoped," she explains. "He was left feeling the film had been deeply misunderstood, which started to ruin his relationship with it. This was made complicated by the fact that the story was very much about deeply personal and painful parts of his life."

Together, the pair recreated the face of the film with an alternative poster that better represented what it was about. "And through our joint love for movie posters and the magical effect they can have, we successfully rebuilt his connection to what he'd created," reflects Hannah. "It's truly magical when something like this happens, and you can see it pay off in the work."

The foundation of partnerships

This theme of mutual understanding appears repeatedly in stories of creative partnerships. Margaret Kerr-Jarrett, co-founder and creative director at Nihilo, relates another example from early in her career as a writer.

"My collaboration with the designer Emunah Winer began as a passion project called Two Jewish Women," she remembers. "We created a website where poetry and design worked together to tell a richer, layered, and nuanced story. We did this blindly; we'd never seen anything like this before, but had a hypothesis we could create a whole new format of storytelling."

Nowadays, as founders and creative directors, they don't do as much writing and designing as they used to. "But our hive-mind is the main driver for the disruptive, edgy factor we think makes our work resonate," Margaret notes. "We push each other and our ideas way beyond where they could go with just one brain. It's one of the richest and most meaningful relationships in both of our lives, and we consider ourselves incredibly lucky."

Trust and complementary skills

Many creatives emphasise how different skills and perspectives strengthen their collaborations. Illustrator Ben Tallon, for instance, pays tribute to OFFF Festival founder Héctor Ayuso.

"Since I met Héctor, he's placed absolute trust in me when he could have turned to any number of more established writers and artists," says Ben. "Most recently, I wanted to tell his rather moving and inspiring story through my words and pictures. With a broad range of skills, I sometimes find it hard to know where I belong. And while I see how they all work as one, it's hard to find people who'll pay me to use them together in a world that likes certainty and titles. Héctor has given me carte blanche the whole way."

Similarly, hand lettering artist Ian Barnard 's decade-long friendship with animator Stefan Kunz has evolved into a perfect business partnership. "We connected online around ten years ago, drawn together by our shared passion for lettering," Ian recalls. "Since then, we've collaborated on two successful digital products, generating significant revenue yearly. More recently, Stefan has taken on the role of my agent, a perfect fit given his talent for client communication and negotiations—something I'm not particularly comfortable with."

Opposites attract

Just like with any form of partnership, the best person to collaborate with is not always someone similar to you. Take George J J N., founder of Romanian branding agency Innerpride, who's worked with his partners Viorel Nedelcu and Ovidiu Strugaru for 18 years. "We're total opposites in terms of personality, and we specialise in non-overlapping areas," he reveals. "And really, 95 per cent of my actual personality has been shaped by working together." His advice? "Have the modesty to consider yourself the weakest link in the chain and focus on the positive input of the others."

Similarly, copywriter, brand strategist and poet Rishi Dastidar describes his 20-year collaboration with designer Matt Busher as "one of the joys of my working life". And he notes how their contrasting approaches have added up to something special.

"Since we started collaborating 20 years ago, we've done a whole gamut of projects: posters, exhibitions, delicious little pamphlets," recalls Rishi. "And our partnership works because we bring complementary aesthetics to our crafts. I'm quite an effusive writer; when paired with Matt's design rigour, some magic happens. That's why we're still doing it, and long may that continue."

The importance of communication

For Jimmy Gordon, head of partnerships at OK Social, there's one thing that makes all of this work: clear and open communication. "You simply can't have a good collaboration without it," he stresses. "It's essential in the early stages when scoping out and discussing a brief. It's imperative to propose solutions to the problem and hear feedback and ideas. Creating a team dynamic between whomever you're collaborating with makes the process feel smooth and natural."

Darren Richardson, co-founder and creative director at Gardiner Richardson, outlines a few other prerequisites for successful collaboration.

• Shared DNA: appreciation of strategy and craft
• Honesty: being a critical friend to ensure the best outcome
• Mutual respect for others' superpowers
• Humility: "No room for dickheads"

Conclusion

Successful creative collaboration isn't just about combining skills—it's about building relationships based on trust, respect, and shared vision. Whether a long-term business partnership or a one-off project, the best collaborations push both parties to achieve more than they could alone.

"I've been lucky to have a few creative collaborations," reflects Michelle Benaim S, CEO at In-House. "What they've all had in common is a non-overlapping complementary skill and an ambitious energy.

"In each case, I've known we were in partnership and creating with possibility rather than a sense of constraint," she adds. "I've felt the joy the other person has taken in pushing their own limits when developing a solution. And so I've felt fully supported to push further as well. Mutual trust and respect mean we didn't each just bring our share, but the result was beyond what we could have achieved separately."