About me.

Orange and black diagonal striped pattern, resembling a warning or caution design.

Skills

and experience

Creativity goes far beyond words and pictures; it solves genuine business challenges. I connect brands with their audiences through purposeful storytelling and persuasive calls to action, focusing on creating the 'pause moment', that critical instance of genuine attention in a world of constant noise. My approach is data-backed and performance-assessed, guaranteeing every project delivers real-world, visible impact, turning attention into value and vision into value.

David Lee, Creative Lead & Art Director, lack and white portrait of a smiling man wearing glasses and a white shirt.

Skills.

Creative direction and brand strategy

  • Translating client briefs into high-impact, omni-channel concept creation.

  • Expert in pitch leadership, narrative development, campaign theme ideation and scamping to secure client buy-in and approval.

Project
management

  • Expertise in managing the delivery of projects across multiple marketing channels.

  • Stringent quality control to maximise consistency throughout briefs, keeping standards high by setting the example for others.

Commercial
leadership

  • Driving ROI, sales uplift and organic account growth by aligning creative output with financial objectives.

  • Strong stakeholder management and client-facing skills, strengthening partnerships with clients through active listening.

Leadership and mentoring

  • Deeply passionate about building high-performing teams and fostering creative excellence.

  • Experienced manager, conducting regular performance reviews and setting objectives to help mentor talent from junior to senior levels.

Use of generative
AI tools

  • Reducing costs and speeding up content creation, ideation, and research through workflow automation and advanced prompting.

  • Adopting a broader vision of GenAI as an assistant to add value, not diminish the creative process.

Performance
analysis

  • Utilising data and analytics to review campaign KPIs are being met, ensuring continuous improvement towards project success and conversion rates.

  • Collaborating with internal teams and external clients to bring about campaign success.

Skills.

Creative and strategic
leadership

  • Creative direction

  • Art direction

  • Brand strategy

  • Campaign development

  • Content creation

  • Brand storytelling

  • Design thinking

  • Pitches and presentations

  • Stakeholder management

  • Client-facing expertise

Commercial
and performance

  • ROI generation

  • Increasing sales uplift

  • Loyalty sign-up acquisition

  • Performance analysis

  • Brand awareness

  • Audience engagement

Campaign execution
and delivery

  • Campaign theme concepts

  • Scamping and visualisation

  • Headlines and short-form copy

  • Retail activations

  • Advertising campaigns

  • Point-of-sale design

  • Email marketing

  • Social media content creation

  • Editorial design

  • Mood-boarding and stimulus

Team
leadership

  • Project management

  • Collaborative ideation

  • Career progression of direct reports

  • Active listening

  • Emotional intelligence

Software stack.

Design
applications

Adobe Photoshop

Adobe InDesign

Adobe Illustrator

Adobe XD

Adobe After Effects

Adobe Acrobat

Affinity Studio

GenAI
tools

Adobe Firefly

Google Gemini

Midjourney

ChatGPT

Claude

Wispr Flow

Collaboration
and workflow

  • MS Office 365, Slack, MS Teams, Zoom,
    Screendragon and Ziflow.

30 years’
experience.

  • Led creative strategy and output for Shell UK and Global, including Shell V-Power, Shell Café and Shell GO+ Rewards, delivering campaigns that drove fuel sales uplifts, loyalty acquisition and brand consistency across fuels and convenience retail. Championed GenAI adoption to cut studio production time by 60%, improving agency margins and accelerating delivery to clients. Directed creative for Bowmore Whisky, Viagra Connect and Starbucks while managing a studio team and leading pitch presentations.

    • Secured client buy-in on 30+ campaigns through high-fidelity scamps and concept development, shaping brand messaging and visual direction that consistently delivered measurable ROI against key performance targets.

    • Directed 20+ major rollouts (print, digital and experiential), leading cross-functional teams to maintain brand integrity and creative standards across campaign execution.

    • Achieved 1.05 million sign-ups within 28 weeks of launch for Shell GO+ Rewards, co-developing the 3D visual identity with the creative director and scaling the new brand across point-of-sale, digital campaigns and the Shell App.

    • Cut storyboard production time by 65% (10 days to 3.5 days) using Google Gemini to ideate and storyboard Shell V-Power staff training videos, devising an upscaling workflow and completing the project under budget and ahead of schedule.

    • Led the creative pitch that won point-of-sale production for Viagra Connect’s airport duty-free presence, devising, creating and executing the ‘Confidence Packed’ theme in collaboration with the strategy team.

  • Directed campaigns for B2B and B2C clients from concept through development to final execution, translating brand objectives into visual systems. Developed brand personas, style frames and brand guidelines to ensure consistency across all campaign touchpoints.

    • Led Vision Express brand rollout across 550 stores, transforming visual identity for point-of-sale, in-store marketing and direct mail over 3 months.

    • Delivered Aston Barclay’s brand relaunch within a 3-week deadline, directing creative across all design touchpoints and managing production and stakeholder alignment.

    • Created a series of email CRM templates for Spear & Jackson, using wireframes to secure fast client approval and a modular approach that allowed customisation on each broadcast and promotion.

  • Senior Designer, Stocks Taylor Benson, Aug 2016 – Nov 2018 Translated client briefs into design concepts and established clear visual direction for print and digital campaigns.

    • Led a major pitch to Neff, creating digital and in-store activations throughout the customer journey to strengthen the brand proposition with a series of culinary-themed concepts.

    • Revitalised Herbalife’s social media with a lifestyle-focused content strategy, driving measurable engagement growth and stronger audience alignment.

  • Led front-end design for a £175k pan-European e-commerce platform, developing mobile-first wireframes and design systems that unified 5 European offices.

  • Co-founded and managed a creative consultancy delivering brand and digital solutions for clients in the health, arts and public sectors.

    • Executed a multi-stage social media campaign for Water Babies the Musical, supporting a £1m launch at Curve Theatre, Leicester. Impact: Campaign contributed to a sold-out five-week run.

    • Art Director – freelance, Agencies and clients, London, 2007 – 2012.

    • Senior Graphic & Digital Designer, TGV Design & Marketing, London, 2000 – 2007.

    • Middleweight Creative, KWL Advertising (UK), London, 1996 – 2000.

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