James Callahan is a creative founder, studio builder and accidental CEO.

A dyslexic art-school dropout, he went on to co-found FutureDeluxe and later also became the CEO of Forever, a collective of independent motion and design studios spread across different cities, time zones and levels of beautiful chaos.

For the past 20 years he has worked inside the motion design industry from multiple angles: making the work, selling the work, and now mostly acting as coach and cheerleader to the people who are far better at it than he ever was.

The studios create visuals, design systems and experiences for brands, products and technologies that are often extremely complex but ideally don’t feel that way to the audience.

His job largely involves sitting between creative ambition and reality. Budgets, deadlines, expectations, growth, new tools, new clients and all the new problems.

He is particularly interested in what creativity means in a world where the tools are changing faster than anyone can keep up, and why taste and judgement are becoming the most valuable asset you have.

He believes in being kind, staying uncomfortable, and keeping the underdog spirit.