I noticed some job vacancies on your website and would like to put myself forward for the roles.
Which ones you’re asking? Well, to be honest, there are two; the art director role and the lead/senior creative role.
To start off with, my name is Dan. I’ve got 10+ years in brand building, graphic design, and creative direction. I started my career with a Bachelor of Visual Communication, then did a Masters of Creative Advertising, I was selected as one of 12 students to do AWARD School in Queensland, Australia, and recently was selected as one of 30 students from around the world to do the Cannes Lions Creative Academy.
But study is one thing, experience is another. I’ve worked across a number of brands over the 10+ years of my career. I’ve built global brands from the ground up, Worley and Advisian are two examples. I was across everything from technical design applications, to owning the brand books and managing stakeholders and creative teams. In my current role at Worley, I lead the creative team where we work to bring good design to every asset and touchpoint. Worley is 55,000 people and a publically listed company in Australia - so this has taught me a thing or two (hundred) about communication and collaboration.
Working in such a large organization has also taught me how important people are. This is why I started our Pride network. I love good design and creative thinking but I feel like this was one of the most rewarding things I’ve done. We started with four people in a room in London, we are now about 150 strong with local chapters in Australia, the UK, the US, and The Netherlands popping up. We’ve created guides for allies, mental health resources, transitioning support, mentorship, and above all, acceptance, to the organization. And we are proud to show off our Pride brand to the world. During my time leading Pride, we’ve scored Third Most Improved in WorkPlace Pride’s annual awards. 🏳️🌈
Oh probably worth mentioning too, somewhere along the way, I’ve picked up a camera and called myself an amateur photographer. I’ve done shoots for travel brands and on construction sites and recently fell in love with film photography. This helps me be creative outside of a ‘work’ setting and I feel like I’ve always got an excuse to go for a walk if I have a camera in my hand.
So, that’s me talking about myself for a bit. Let’s talk about how I can fit into the role…
A few points from the role descriptions:
Make, curate beautiful things, fine-tune details, and collaborate:
This has been at the core of what I do. Striving for perfection in the small details in every design. Collaboration is important here. Sometimes I may pick up something others missed, and sometimes someone will do the same for me. When we work together we can make beautiful art.
Work together with a multidisciplinary team to bring great work to the table:
Yep. In my experience, I have worked with photographers, videographers, editors, copywriters, strategists, illustrators, and artists. I’ve also had to be all of these things too. But all of our different experiences and skills have always come together to bring great work to the table.Guide all different specialists within DEPT®, by showing creatives, producers, designers, and digital marketers how important their skills are within a project:
A big part of my current role is managing the creative team, giving them a voice and confidence in their ideas. Everyone has a part to play. The organization I am at now is not a marketing or creative-led organization, so it can take a lot to sell our ideas to our stakeholders, but I can confidently say that we have built a strong reputation, and everyone values the skills we bring to our projects.Promote ways to further solidify beautiful brands with the help of a team:
Branding is my favorite aspect of design and creativity. I’ll always look for ways to further build a brand. I believe if something doesn’t add value to a brand, then it is damaging the brand. There is rarely anything in-between. I’ve given webinars and talks within my current organization on the importance of branding.Find the best way to get a message across in our current landscape:
The fun part! The current landscape is so noisy and cluttered. A brand’s message needs to come across in a way that’s authentic and meaningful. Does Dominos Pizza really need to post a message grieving Queen Elizabeth II? probably not… We are kidding ourselves if we think people want to read brand messages, so finding a way to get the message across in a clever way can be quite an enjoyable challenge.Work closely with account and strategy — you engage and inspire creative teams that enjoy working with you because of your vision on creation:
I really do believe that collaboration is key. I couldn’t do my job alone. And that’s collaboration with everyone across the project. I’ve worked with everyone from junior designers, to senior creatives, to marketing directors and the executive teams and CEO. Everyone needs to be inspired and buy into the vision for creativity to work. Account and strategy are just as important to getting good creative as the art directors and copywriters.
You can read more about me on this site, but it’s always a lot better getting to know someone over coffee. So reach out anytime. Would love to chat 😊
Thanks
Daniel Bell
danieljbell@gmail.com
+31 6 2728 4215