Hey, I’m Alex, a hands-on creative and design leader.
I’m at my best when something is new, complicated or hasn’t quite figured out what it wants to be yet.
For 20 years, I’ve turned ideas into identities, products and experiences people understand, remember and care about.
Context
Cosmo Tech had powerful simulation technology, but a complex product experience and an equally complicated story to tell.
Approach
I worked from the inside out - understanding and simplifying the product first, then using that knowledge to reshape its design language, structure and ultimately the company website.
Outcome
A clearer direction for the product and a nearly completed website redesign that made Cosmo Tech's technology considerably easier to understand.
Context
A fast-changing startup had no coherent identity or design language.
Approach
Built a flexible visual system across brand, product, digital and everything in between.
Outcome
A recognisable design language that evolved with the company for over seven years.
Context
A powerful but complicated data platform needed a clearer identity and a more understandable product.
Approach
Connected the identity, website and product - and turned a request for saved lists into a way to reuse Mosaic's maps, filters and insights.
Outcome
A distinct product identity and a clearer experience for exploring complex business data.
Context
A brand-new painting competition had no history, audience or reputation to rely on.
Approach
Built the identity, digital experience and event infrastructure as part of the organising team.
Outcome
A sold-out first event that's already growing into something bigger.
Context
Nearly twenty years of music needed somewhere for ideas beyond the music itself.
Approach
Treated every release, label and side project as an excuse to explore a different visual idea.
Outcome
A constantly evolving body of identities, records, digital work and creative experiments.
I like getting into the mess, working out what matters and finding an idea worth pursuing.
Then comes making it work: giving it an identity, designing the product or website, and getting the details ready for the people who'll actually use it.
At Brainnwave, that kept me busy for seven and a half years. With The Iron Thistle, it took us from an idea to a sold-out event—and straight into planning the next one.
Finding the idea, setting the direction and making sure the good bits survive contact with reality.
Positioning, naming and visual identities that give people something to recognise—and a reason to care.
Turning complicated companies and products into digital experiences that make sense and actually feel like something.
Working out what an early product needs to do, how people will use it and what we can sensibly build first.
Ideas designed to get noticed, whether that means a launch, a campaign, an event or occasionally wondering whether we can (or if we should) make a taxi look like an ambulance.
Working with other designers, developers, illustrators, photographers, filmmakers and other specialists to make ideas better than I could make them alone.
I use AI most days: to research unfamiliar territory, structure information, explore ideas, develop writing, prototype and document the work.
It helps me get further into an idea before committing to a direction—and spend less time on the repetitive work around it.
Getting useful results means giving it context, asking better questions and checking what comes back. I still need to know what's worth pursuing, what needs another pass and when it's confidently talking nonsense.
I paint very small things and make videos about why we paint them. Nearly 20,000 people have apparently decided this is worth watching.
Electronic music, records and the things around them. It's taken me to stages in New York, Puerto Rico and, bizarrely, Greenland.
A miniature-painting competition I’m building in Scotland with friends. Because apparently having hobbies wasn't enough and we needed administration too.
I'm looking for a hands-on creative or design leadership role in a small, ambitious team.
Somewhere I can work directly with the people making the decisions, help shape the direction and stay involved in making it happen.
