. . .

About me

I'm a designer with 25+ years turning complexity into clarity across brand, product & digital.

I've recently left Alt21, a Series A FX fintech, where I led design across client, partner & internal platforms. I joined at a point when the product needed to grow quickly & helped make it happen.

I built a scalable design system from the ground up, redesigned onboarding to cut completion time from 30+ minutes to 10 and completely rethought the dashboard, turning a passive information screen into a useful account hub, surfacing meaningful events & giving users clear actions to respond.

I also established new product behaviours & design approaches for early testing, MVPs & market validation, including new product concepts and gamified experiences. Alongside the product work, I helped bring brand, UX & business strategy into a coherent whole as the company moved through Series A and into scale-up.

I'm now available for Head of Design, Design Principal or Design/Creative Director roles, as well as working with startups and scaleups that need design leadership for a particular stage or transformation.

That might mean leading a design team, shaping product strategy, establishing design foundations, sharpening a brand, or simply figuring out what needs designing in the first place.

My background is deliberately broad. Before fintech and product became my day job, I spent years in brand and creative, creating for Coca-Cola, Vodafone, Sony and cultural figures including Archbishop Desmond Tutu. I've led creative studios, built marketplaces, shipped apps and started ventures of my own. Some succeeded. Some folded. Both were useful.

That mix of brand and product is still central to how I work. Good design isn't just about making the interface work or the brand look good. It's about making the whole thing make sense.

I'm also exploring AI-augmented design workflows, using Claude for research synthesis, ideation and product thinking, and experimenting with MCP-assisted workflows that bring AI more directly into Figma.

I'm enthusiastic about AI, which can accelerate thinking and iteration. Taste, judgement, empathy and responsibility remain human work.

I've spoken at Web Summit, Next Web, Global Entrepreneurship Congress & Friends of Figma about design leadership, creativity in regulated industries and the changing role of designers.

If you're building something ambitious, scaling chaotically, or have a design problem that's been quietly annoying everyone for longer than it should have, I'm available.

Comfort zones expire quickly in design. Curiosity shouldn't.

See full profile details

Details

AvailabilityLooking for work

ContractFreelance, Remote

LocationCoimbra: Portugal

Working locationsCoimbra: Portugal, Dublin: Ireland, Berlin: Germany

Skill LevelDirector

LanguagesEnglish, German, Portuguese

Tagged Job TitlesArt Director, Graphic Designer, Digital Design Director

Achievements

Contributor:

Karl has been a Contributor since 12th February 2019.

People's Choice

See all achievements

Recommendations

Currently No Recommendations

Trade Associations

Institute Designers Ireland

Activity

Connections96 Followers252 Following118

Views4,292

Creativepool member since 8 January 2019

Followers

Katy

Animator / Illustrator, Superdoodle

United Kingdom

Connect

View profile
IllustrationZone

Netherlands

Follow

View profile
Steve

animation-illustration, Steve Karp Animation-illustration

United States

Connect

View profile
Ellie Hubble

Senior Copywriter

United Kingdom

Connect

View profile
shift ENGAGE

Zimbabwe

Follow

View profile
Samira Rafi

Creative Director, Boomerang

Morocco

Connect

View profile
Zed Jameson

Stills Photographer, ZJ Productions

Portugal

Connect

View profile
Ruth Matthews

Freelance Illustrator, Rumfluft Art

United Kingdom

Connect

View profile
Konstantina Sakaridou

Digital Illustrator, Freelancer

Greece

Connect

View profile
Andrew Traill

Picture Editor

Australia

Connect

View profile
Clare Reeves

Presenter / voiceover / Actor, Clare Reeves Voiceovers

United Kingdom

Connect

View profile
Margaret Ashley

Voiceover Actor/Actress, Margaret Ashley

United Kingdom

Connect

View profile
Luis Carvalho

cinematic artist

Portugal

Connect

View profile
3

Simon Waloszek

Creative Director, MC² USA

Switzerland

Connect

View profile
Liliana Hapon

Illustrator

Ukraine

Connect

View profile
Tim Starkey

Visualiser.storyboard artist - Digital.marker, starkey creative ltd

United Kingdom

Connect

View profile
Terry Obiora

Retoucher

United Kingdom

Connect

View profile
Karl Smyth Studio

Portugal

Follow

View profile
Glen

Art Director / illustrator / designer, Freelance

France

Connect

View profile
Ed Strutt

Digital Illustrator, Freelance

United Kingdom

Connect

View profile

« First ‹ Prev

Next ›Last »

OOPS - LOOKS LIKE YOU HAVE JAVASCRIPT OFF. THIS SITE WON'T WORK WITHOUT IT.
NEED HELP IN TURNING IT ON? YOU CAN FIND INSTRUCTIONS HERE FOR YOUR BROWSER.