About Me

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My mission

In a culture rife with complexity, I strive to uncover the simplicity in task and communication so people can enjoy and appreciate fluid and authentic experiences by creating smart, compelling and appropriate design and communication systems—because I believe we all deserve beautifully designed experiences instead of the typical, mundane or banal.

Group Creative & Design Director

In the Agency world, I lead, or co-lead, the Design and Creative disciplines. I also co-lead, or outright-lead, the UX discipline as well. I’m a mentor and career advisor to visual and UX designers of all levels and often times my teams are made up of visual designers, UX-ers, copywriters and photographers/videographers. However, I work closely with Business Analyists, project and account management and development teams to ensure we’re on point, we’re on message and the integrity of the vision is not lost or cloudy.

From a client perspective, I am typically paired with the client’s CMO, Creative Director or UX Director (or all three). I prefer to work closely with my client partners as I absolutely believe communication and collaboration are essential—both in terms of creating & executing the solutions we’re building but also in creating healthy, collaborative relationships that endure.

From a Consulting perspective, my roles are similar to the Agency world in terms of relationship building and strategy but in many situations, I act more of a liaison to outside agencies and development teams—though, at times, I definitely get my hands dirty with visual design and UX.

Design vs Creative

Although there is quite a bit of overlap between the two, I make a distinciton between Design and Creative as the nuances are quite different. Simply put, if there are marketing/advertising & communication considerations, the endeavor is Creative (Hickory Farms, KitchenAid, Zales). If not—i.e. digital products, apps, way-finding systems, etc.—it’s Design (Digital Life, Rosetta ICE, AdviceWorks). The nuances come into play primarily in terms of the processes employed to get to the solution. Creative relies on strategy and writing where Design is produced in slightly more liquid and agile environments. However, for example, can a Creative team build an eCommerce solution? Yes. Can a Design team? Of course. Like I mentioned, I believe there is a large overlap between these two sibling disciplines. Fortunately, I can advise and direct from both sides of the plate.