I’m a graphic designer by trade, starting on the bottom rung of the creative industries ladder in 1987 and learning the business by doing it. Progressing through creative departments, running them, pitching for new business, working directly with clients and eventually running businesses of my own.

That experience means I’m comfortable at both ends of the creative process. I can sit with a leadership team and work through a difficult business or brand problem, then turn that thinking into ideas, words and design.

A large part of my work is now brand. I tend to work with established and scale-up organisations whose output has moved on faster than their brands. Through Brand Forensics, I’ve developed my own approach to getting beneath the surface of an organisation, finding what really matters and using that knowledge to inform what comes next.

Campaign work exercises a different part of the same brain. I’ve spent my career developing ideas, art directing, designing and writing across just about every kind of media. I still enjoy making the work as much as thinking about it.

I also work with agencies that need experienced freelance creative resource — whether that means getting under the skin of a brief, developing the big idea, helping with a pitch or getting involved in the work itself.

I’ve pitched for, and helped to win, millions of pounds worth of new business, presented to boards, led creative teams and worked with organisations large and small. But I still approach every new project with curiosity.

Every day is a school day.