My approach to creative & design

The beginnings

The first five years of my career were spent in two fast-paced design studios with rapid team turnover, business pivots, and relentless delivery pressure that taught me the value of both speed and quality. In my fifth year I won my first award, Best Use of Data, for a campaign for the Financial Times—that's when I understood what design strategy was capable of.

Working at that pace forced me to develop the skills the business demanded: a respect for copywriting's ability to elevate creative work, and an understanding of technology as a tool for amplifying brands.

The independent years

Eight years freelancing with top London agencies taught me what creative ambition looks like from the inside. The best design doesn't happen in isolation — partnering closely with strategists and copywriters taught me how to build visual systems that aren't just well-crafted, but act as the foundation for culturally resonant ideas.

I learned how the best ideas emerge under pressure, how craft is non-negotiable, and that staying at the top means fighting for what's right, not what's safe: Wieden+Kennedy's pursuit of cultural resonance, AKQA's strategic digital precision, Droga5's belief that the best work blurs art and design to move business and culture at once. These weren't just jobs — they were an education in creative standards.

The operational years

Moving client-side to giffgaff meant looking at the operational infrastructure a team needs to deliver its systems, principles, and culture, not just its output.

Over two years in-house, I’ve asked myself a harder question: how do you lead a team that produces great work consistently, not just once, but repeatedly, at scale, and that cares as much as I do? I've built a creative studio of seven creatives across art direction, design, copy, motion and digital, prioritising data-driven performance without compromising visual craft. Two team members have progressed a full level – mid to senior, and senior to manager – with zero turnover across the team.

Collaborating across the business broke down siloed behaviour between design, copy and strategy. Introducing a comprehensive design system cut internal feedback cycles and materially reduced time-to-market. The in-house team now shapes how the giffgaff brand shows up across every channel, how it adapts, and how it drives effectiveness at scale.

Embracing technology

Throughout my career I've helped creative teams understand and adopt new tools. Most recently at giffgaff that's meant rolling out Weavy, a node-based generative platform, so the marketing team can produce art-directed images from pre-built creative system prompts—and using Claude Code to build a custom studio resourcing tool, letting us retire a paid vendor at zero added recurring cost.

The value of any new technology comes from testing it early and staying curious about what it can actually improve. AI is moving fast enough that a tool that was mediocre a year ago can be a category leader now — so I stay hands-on and open-minded rather than picking a stack and stopping there.

The tools I’m using

Across brand, product, and marketing I'm currently using ChatGPT, Higgsfield, Gemini, Magnific, Claude, Framer, Canva, Cavalry, Adobe Creative Cloud, Figma — with Weavy and Claude Code in daily use at giffgaff.

What’s been said

“Alex is a seriously talented designer, but beyond the quality of his work, what I always appreciated was how easy he was to work with. He’s thoughtful, collaborative, completely dependable and always brought a calm, positive energy to the team, even when things inevitably got a little hectic.

He has a great instinct for what works creatively and was never afraid to challenge an idea or push the work that little bit further. At the same time, he was always open to other perspectives and focused on getting to the best possible outcome for the work and the wider team.”

Richard Hau
Project Director, Grey

“I love working with Alex, every collaboration was a joy; he's a true designer with deep intent and interest in his subject, but he's also a great communicator who wants to get the most out of everyone around him and have his team feel included and invested in their work.”

Grace Francis
Chief Experience Officer, Droga5

“Alex is a breath of fresh air and his talents are outstanding, nothing is ever too hard for him. He really cares about his work and the team around him, he’s always willing to help out whenever the need arises as well as offer support to the other designers.”

Lisa O'Brien
Senior Project Manager, Grey

“It's been a real pleasure working with Alex, he was always an inspiration to all of us and a very important asset to the creative team. He's a dedicated, ambitious and hardworking employee and probably one of the best colleagues I've met in my entire life.”

Ricardo Cabrita
Senior Designer, NKD

“Alex is a brilliant designer and a great colleague. His can do attitude is second to none and nothing has ever been a problem for him: Alex always surprised me by finding a solution to any design challenge in record time. I was always impressed by his broad technical skills, a keen design eye, and his incredible speed without ever compromising on quality.”

Alessandro Foschini
Creative Director, NKD

My creative philosophy

Technology – including AI – will always play a role in creativity. It exists to expand exploration, increase efficiency, and free teams to focus on judgement, storytelling, and craft.

Let’s build something extraordinary.

I’m currently open to Creative Director and Head of Design roles. Whether building an in-house team from the ground up or scaling one that already exists I’d love to hear from you. Equally, I’m happy to hear from agencies with ambitious requirements.