Sarah Maguire is a partner and executive creative director at True Story branding agency. After graduating from NCAD with a a degree in visual communications, she returned to Dublin and joined Brand Union as creative director. During her 11 years there, she created identities for Cully & Sully and the National Lottery. She set up True Story with Phoebe deVere White for clients such as Keogh’s, Glenilen Farm, Silver Hill Duck, the National Lottery, ESB and Electric Ireland.
01 What was your earliest ambition?
Once someone told me about graphic design, I was sold
02 It’s our round. What are you having?
A chilled glass of dry white wine always goes down well
03 Social media platform of choice?
Instagram. No words needed
04 A mentor or someone that inspired you?
Jim Dunne and Peter Kruseman, co-founders of The Identity Business
05 If you could be born into another time and place, where and when would it be?
1920s New York. For the fashion and the cocktails
06 Favourite writers?
Angela Carter, AS Byatt and Erin Morgenstern
07 A film you’d watch again tonight?
Wes Anderson’s The Grand Budapest Hotel
08 Is there an unsung hero you’d like to thank?
Family carers during the pandemic lockdown
09 Something that no longer happens that you miss?
Top 10 countdown from Top of the Pops
10 Desert island pet: Dog or cat?
Dog
11 Favourite ad?
Spanish Lottery’s Christmas ad 2015 ‘Justino’
12 Are you an early adopter? What’s new?
I’m quite traditional in the way I work, but in the early days of the pandemic I introduced our team to Slack as a way to communicate internally while working from home. One positive from the lockdown is that it pushed me to think differently about how we work
13 A brand to which you feel some loyalty?
Apple – highly functional, intuitive and beautiful
14 Someone you might be starstruck to meet?
Film director Tim Burton
15 Something that recently brought a tear to your eye?
Watching my 10-year-old daughter manage with great maturity the unexpected death of one of her pets
16 Something that recently got your goat?
Anti-mask protestors
17 What would be your fantasy act of heroism?
Solving single use plastic and climate change
18 You’ve won the Euromillions and disappeared. Where might we find you?
On the Orient Express
19 Someone or something that strikes you as beautiful?
Fresh snow
20 ‘Here lies Sarah Maguire’. Complete your epitaph…
Still thinking outside the box
