​I’ve spent 25 years designing and shaping brands and how they are experienced. My approach is rooted in business-led brand strategy, optimising user experience, and a strong creative instinct supported by well honed design skills. I focus on crafting distinctive, thoughtful, strategic human-centred brands and experiences that differentiate, connect, create memories and build trust.
I help businesses define brand positioning, proposition, purpose and personality, and translate these attributes into meaningful brand experiences and high converting user journeys across digital, print and real-world touch points.
Areas of focus
Brand strategy
Design strategy
Brand architecture
Brand identity design
Website strategy, design, content creation and program management
Brand guidelines, brand books and design systems
Editorial, brochureware, presentation media, sales collateral design
Marketing and social media content design
Packaging design and print production management
Brand programme design and management
My background
Before moving to the UK I ran my own small strategic brand and design agency in Cape Town for 15 years, ID&B (Identity & Brand). ID&B specialised in drawing out the brand's unique characteristics and qualities for true distinction, and communicating the company or product's authentic value across audience segments. A human-centred approach that enables deeper brand connectivity regardless of the complexity of the brand proposition, or the scale and scope of brand segments, activities and touchpoints. ID&B partnered with companies of all sizes across all sectors, unpacking brand personality, purpose, and proposition and developing and maintaining the brand position across channels and touch points. Through ID&B I had the privilege of working with entrepreneurs, start-ups, scale-ups and companies expanding their global presence as well as global brands, institutions and the public sector.
Before ID&B, I worked for large global branding agencies such as FCB, Brand Union (Super Union) and TBWA, in Johannesburg. These experiences gave me a deep and broad skillset in structuring complex strategic branding systems for large-scale global organisations.
Before that, I worked for a legendary master typographer Gerhard Schwekendiek, a designer of distinctive handcrafted fonts who developed many timeless classic brands, logotypes and their fonts. Under the mentorship of Gerhard, I learnt how to build brands from the ground up according to precise analytical research-based methods.
This experience provided me with foundational knowledge in building, evolving and managing human-centred brands that build and reinforce meaningful connections regardless of shifts and dynamics in the market and consumer landscapes.