Because the best ideas start on the side.
We speak to the creators of some of the coolest ideas, all started as side projects and grown into something much bigger. If you know an amazing project that you think we should interview, email us: hello[@]outofhours.org
Quarterlife
On a mission to make your twenties feel less isolating, and help answer some common questions, Joy Molan and Emily Parker came together in 2018 to set up ‘Quarterlife’ - an online magazine they describe as for “confused 20-somethings” to shed some light on some of the issues getting to the younger generation. We talk about how they set it up, how they got a feature on the High Low podcast and why it actually helps with their day jobs.
COVID19 Dashboards
GitHub staff machine learning engineer Hamel Husain has built a free, open source project called the COVID-19 Dashboards, sharing daily updated graphs about coronavirus cases globally. He’s received 300,000+ views of the site already, including data scientists, doctors, and epidemiologists, and has over 23 contributors worldwide. Husain worked with the non-profit organisation fast.ai to build this project using the tech from a previous side project fastpages.
Words By_
When Sophie visited the refugee camps in Italy, she was surprised to receive so many poems of thanks from the people she helped. Together with her friend Bethany, they decided to create a poetry book - putting the words of refugees, and other lesser-known stories, alongside those of published poets. And so WordsBy_ was born: a poetry book sold in Waterstones, with all profits going to Unicef Next Gen. Personal experience, accountability and hard work can make ideas happen.
Simple Politics
Hattie Schofield joined Tatton Spiller in 2016 to help build Simple Politics. When they started, they just knew they wanted a simple way to make politics accessible to the masses. They now have media platforms with 350k+ followers, with posts educating over 2 million during the election. We talk about how side projects can help you find a job you love, the existential doubts when starting out and when to take a break.
Revolt
Alex Lewis’ story of building Revolt (a brand consultancy focused on social purpose) is not your typical side project story. He didn’t build the agency whilst working full time. But it is a story of going against the grain, listening to your gut and trusting your observations.
He’s also written two screenplays and a book, so he knows a little about finding time out of hours. We discuss why purpose need to be at the core of modern brands, why individual passions shouldn’t be feared, and the joy of screenwriting.
Myth Atlas
Thiago is one of creative advertising’s success stories. He rose to creative partner in agencies like AMV BBDO and Droga5, and worked on multinational clients, winning multiple awards.
Yet throughout Thiago's rise, he has always managed to make time for his own creations: writing and illustrating on the side. Myth Atlas is Thiago de Moraes’ latest published children’s book. We talked about how to work, creativity and why having a job is like having a child.
Mars Needs Women
Mars Needs Women is the brainchild of Charlotte Bax - a clothing brand where a % of the profits go to support STEM charities. We talked about how to build a strong brand, and how printing 25 sweatshirts led to a visit to NASA and celebrity fans like Karlie Kloss and Yara Shahidi.
Exponential View
We talked with the extraordinary Azeem Azhar about his side project, a newsletter with 43,000+ readers. From the BBC, Reuters, The Economist to venture capital funds, we discuss the paradoxes of careers and Azeem’s drive to learn new things.
Hateboards
We met with Dal & Ben, both creatives in top London advertising agencies. Ben has awards from both Creative Circle and D&AD, and Dal has just finished a Ted talk on a campaign that reached ½ billion people.
They also both love side projects. Together they formed Hateboards, an art project turned skateboard company, sold in 15 shops across the UK.
Fulfilled
We met with Elizabeth Vince, the founder of Fulfilled: a skincare and haircare brand that is vegan, refillable & designed to reduce single-use plastic. She also works at Google.
Expedition Medicine
We met with Nathan: an expedition doctor, (the only doctor on adventure expeditions), photographer and A&E fellow at Kings Hospital.
We talk about how side projects help him make better life decisions, reduce burnout, improve his mental well-being and ultimately make him a much better doctor.
The Speed Project
We met with Nils Arend. Nils runs a creative production house in LA. He is also creator of the craziest running race in history: The Speed Project.
The Speed Project is a 550km race from LA to Las Vegas. It has been going for 5 years, amassing a following of 22k+ people. It's still unofficial, there's still no website, and there’s still no rules.
Sirsu Goods
We met with Ameer Carter, a designer with so many side projects, he makes them look easy.
In this interview, he tells us why you should choose a side project over a side hustle, how to find your strengths, how to find the time and why talking to others about your project matters.