I am an award-winning Creative Director with three decades of experience in brand design, from building new brands and start-ups to helping transform the more established.
My expertise lies in seamlessly blending strategy and design to deeply engage audiences with brands through innovative and impactful creative solutions.
Beyond my passion for crafting captivating work, I thrive on building meaningful relationships with clients, helping unlock critical opportunities, and in tandem nurturing the culture and talent of creative studios.
Leading multidisciplinary teams, I strive to solve business problems, increase mind and market share, whilst building brand coherence and equity.
Projects
- CANAL+ MotorsportsOur brand identity for Canal+ Motorsports has a multi-sensory creative approach that brings the thrill of the race track to viewers of the French broadcaster’s coverage of F1, F2 and F3, MotoGP, IndyCar, World Rally Championship and W Series. We won the pitch for this prestigious project by capturing the essence of motorsports. Motorsports are all about powerful machines, explosive races, shock victories and dramatic mistakes. But one crucial human element delivers irresistible visceral purity
- Amsteldok: WPP Campus AmsterdamWhen leading communication services multinational WPP decided to brand its new Amsterdam campus, they turned to us to develop a name, brand identity and overall attitude and tone of voice. Not only did the identity need to capture the creative DNA of all 15 of WPP’s Dutch agencies and their sum total of 1500 employees, it also needed to establish the campus as an important new creative powerhouse in the city of Amsterdam. The end result was a total brand identity immersed into every aspect
- Pride Amsterdam 2022We designed the identity to abstractly reflect the 2022 event theme, ‘My Gender, My Pride’. From the offset, we were clear we had to respond with an identity that addressed the complicated topic of gender sensitively, and that avoided the usual visual cliches associated with LGBT+ events. Composed of a diverse and colourful range of ever-changing organic shapes, the dynamic identity visualises the fluidity to express gender individually without conforming to socially constructed stereotypes.
- The Social Hub brand bookThe Social Hub combines design-led accommodation, co-working, hospitality and leisure facilities for students, tourists and professionals across 13 European cities. Formerly known as The Student Hotel, the brand book is a flagship asset in their new identity’s rollout. It is a physical manifestation of their new positioning, brand identity and experiences, and a desirable icon showcasing them as a design driven company. We conveyed the brand’s unique sense of fun and collaboration through in
- BNR NieuwsradioBNR Nieuwsradio is the Netherlands’ leading business news outlet, providing informed and incisive content across live radio, podcasts and on-demand audio. Needing to better-reflect its innovative and future-focused spirit within the dynamic media environment, we worked with the internal team and partners to redefine BNR’s positioning, values and character, all embodied in a new brand mantra, ‘Blijf Scherp’, or ‘Stay Sharp’ in English. The resulting visual identity is a family of distinctive a
- Johan Cruijff ArenAWhen Dutch football legend Johan Cruijff died in 2016, the City of Amsterdam decided to rename its biggest stadium after him. After winning the prestigious pitch, we created a new logotype, brand identity, custom brand typeface and wayfinding system for what henceforth is known as the Johan Cruijff ArenA. The challenge was creating a brand identity that answered all stakeholder demands, honoured Cruijff’s legacy and positioned the ArenA as a cutting-edge multipurpose venue for sports, corporat
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Work history
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Creative DirectorD8
Amsterdam, NetherlandsFull Time
Graham is Creative Director at D8, a strategic creative agency with studios in Glasgow and Amsterdam.
D8, founded in 1999 and still privately owned, is a 50-strong creative team whose clients include the BBC, Remy Cointreau, Aldi, V&A, GORE-TEX, Beam Suntory, Greenpeace, AIA, United States Holocaust Memorial Museum and Iberdrola.
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Creative DirectorVBAT
- Amsterdam, NetherlandsFull Time
For 6 years I was Creative Director and Board Member of leading international branding and design agency VBAT, part of the Superunion network, in Amsterdam. During this time I led and nurtured a multidisciplinary team of 34 creatives across a range of disciplines including brand identity, brand experience, brand communication and packaging design.
Key clients: The Heineken Company, FIFPro, ING, PostNL, Johan CruijffArenA, Parkmobile, Nouryon, The Ocean Cleanup
Skills
- Creative Direction
- Branding Design
- Branding Experiential
- Branding Positioning
- Branding Identity
- 360 Branding
- B2B Branding
- Corporate Branding
- Employer Branding
- Audio Branding
- Design Leadership
- Moving Image
- Environmental Design
- Broadcast Design
- Brand Architecture
- Packaging Design
- Retail Design
- Typography Design
- Visual Identity
Education
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(BA hons) Graphic DesignUniversity of Humberside, Hull
- Hull, United Kingdom
Awards
D&AD – Typography / Integrated: Wood PencilD&AD
Amsteldok – WPP Campus AmsterdamD&AD – Graphic Design / Environmental: Wood PencilD&AD
Amsteldok – WPP Campus Amsterdam+ Show more