Let’s get the usual stuff out of the way first. I’m a passionate multidisciplinary designer and creative communicator with 11 years experience. I’m currently Creative Lead @OnwardsAgency where I’ve been leading small teams to create big brands. 

I know how it works. Whether it’s a scrappy business in pre launch, an established brand looking to relaunch and everything in-between. I want to create purposeful brands and direction to take them to the next level. 

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To give you a quick insight into my world, here's a few ways of working and principles I like to follow:


🧱 Foundations are fundamental
Deep diving into a businesses brand world is always vital, but making sure that foundation forms a clear plan, purpose and perspective is something that pays off when building a brand in the long run strategically and creatively. 


🧘‍♂️ Working flexible and focussed
Whether working internally within an agency, or directly alongside businesses, I know that things are fast paced with constant moving parts . Over the years I’ve learnt to spot pain points and when to act on them immediately with the team and when to knuckle down and get into a flow state of work.


👒 It's good to wear many hats
Being as comfortable with concepts or completion as well as client comms or kanbans has been super important. By wearing many hats in the creative process, means I get a clearer picture on the whys, the whats, the whens, the ifs and the hows. 


Swiss army knife of creativity
Design, illustration, animation, digital design and audio, to name a few, are important skills I’ve learnt in being able to build rich brands with substance. And if there's someone with a specific skill for the job to take it to that next level, then let's get them involved! 


🧰 Giving brands the right tools
You wouldn't give a lumberjack a butter knife. So, giving brands complex concepts or complicated asset creation that they'd never be able to implement doesn't make sense. Don't get me wrong, I want to push the creative ideas to the max but it also needs to work for them. 


🕺Style substance and stand out
They say never judge a book by its cover, but if said book is stuffed in the corner with a hundred other books that look exactly the same, well, no one’s ever going to pick it up are they? I want to give people a reason to pick up that book, get stuck in and remember it inside and out.

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To chat more about my work and the way I work, give me a shout at: hello@joesmith.world