Oh, hi...

Over the past 14 years, I’ve enjoyed being a graphic designer graduating into the newly developing world of ‘interaction design’, an experiential marketer, a too-hard-working art director, an agency creative director, and a very fortunate design strategist.

Currently as a Senior Director at IDEO in San Francisco, I'm lucky enough to work on designing strategic, purposeful and effective content and products for some of the biggest brands in the world. I lead teams to deliver across graphic, product, and interaction design, grounded on high level brand strategies, business design, and consumer-centric creative.

That design-thinking philosophy has become a backbone of how I approach everything. An empathy for both the brand’s business needs as well as the people they’re engaging with, is vital for design work to truly deliver. Combined with my personal desire to just make cool, beautiful, thoughtful things and try to put them out into the world, I approach my design with that balance of form and function. And when I’m not doing that, I’m probably drinking wine and reading sci-fi books whilst being pestered by the dog to play fetch.

Top Secret Secrets

The joy of working with awesome clients is that the work is awesome. The downside is that it's all confidential. Please just drop me an email if you're interested in talking about real work instead of just reading about it philosophically.

Strategy & Storytelling

A huge part of my role is understanding why we're here in the first place, what difference we want to make in the world—then designing tools and narratives in ways that can inspire everyone to express the strategy in everything they do.

Creative Leadership

I'm lucky enough to have had the opportunity to work across all kinds of creative media and altitudes—from AR installations, to brand strategy and marketing campaigns, to helping shape some of the world's biggest digital products. Combined with a real joy for mentoring and guiding talent, that breadth of empathy defines a key characteristic of my leadership style.

Keeping my hands dirty

It's a fear that many of us can relate to, that with seniority comes disconnection from our craft. I put a lot of mental energy into finding time and space to use my love for making things as a driver, catalyst, and source of clarification for teams. The line between trusting and leading the talented people around you is one I enjoy walking.

Human-Centered Design, and...

One of the many joys of having been at IDEO for the last 5 years is a deep and ranging immersion in the ways of Human Centered Design, but also the fact that it's just one part of a holistic design research plan. Human behavior, analogous and inspirational experiences, expert inputs and stakeholder opinions all contribute to grounded strategy and creative direction.

Clients, Culture and Inspiration

The pure volume of content, experiences, research and inspiration we’re exposed with can be overwhelming. So with our teams, clients, and partners, we put a lot of energy into not only finding the right inspiration, but finding ways to consider it, process it, and make it an actionable driver for the work.