. . .

The Top 25 influential and inspiring Design Directors

ad: Annual 2026 Winners

22

22

APPROVED

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Gareth David

Design Director at BigBang.studio, Victoria

#1 ranked Design Director

As a Design Director, I specialise in shaping strategic design solutions that deliver real business and brand outcomes. I work in close partnership with clients to define direction, uncover opportunity, and develop design responses that connect meaningfully with audiences. My work combines brand...

Design Director, Creative, Graphic Designer
London: United Kingdom, Melbourne: Australia
Lilydale, Victoria: Australia

Looking for work

5

5

Portfolio

Reel

Cosmo Jameson

Creative Director, London

Creative director with over a decade of experience designing award-winning and globally recognised brand identities for organisations across sectors and continents, who's practice puts a focus on bright ideas, meticulous craft and collaborative relationships, adapting in team size to suit any...

Design Director
London: United Kingdom

Looking for work

APPROVED

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Jane Kott

Creative Director at goodloan.ai, California

#3 ranked Design Director

Hi, I'm Jane, a Creative Director who turns chaos into clarity and makes it look good in the process. I've been doing this for 10+ years, moving from design into direction, with a focus on work that feels precise, intentional, and easy to understand. Not into decoration. Very into results.

Design Director, Graphic Designer, Creative
Los Angeles, California: United States

3

3

Portfolio

Reel

Adam Cale

Design Director at Thisaway, London

Design Director with a focus on big ideas rooted in clear strategy. Over ten years' experience working in some of London's top agencies. Working on brands and campaigns spanning illustrious corporates, iconic sports institutions, inspiring NGOs and industrious start-ups. Currently working at...

Design Director
London: United Kingdom

Portfolio

Reel

Shingo Sato

Design Director at Design Bridge and Partners, São Paulo

Shingo is a creative designer focused on branding. He strongly believes that a structured and meaningful thinking leads a better result for design, specially on branding scenario. Create a design with meaning touch people's heart, making even the simple be special. He has been creating, leading...

Design Director, Branding Designer, Packaging Designer
São Paulo: Brazil, New York: United States
São Paulo: Brazil

Looking for work

Portfolio

Reel

Curtis Free

Design Director at Conran Design Group, London

Curtis is a Design Director with 14+ years of experience reimagining and repositioning brands through strategy-led identity and communication design. Working within multidisciplinary teams, he guides projects from concept and development through art direction to final delivery - always with a...

Design Director
London: United Kingdom

APPROVED

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Caleb (Phil) Powdrill

Freelance Creative & Design Director at CAPOW Studio, United Kingdom

#7 ranked Design Director

Design and art direction for brave brands. I've worked across Spirits, Automotive, Energy, Healthcare and more, helping challengers and market leaders deliver extraordinary creative. From Jaguar to James Bond, I've created branding, design systems and environments that make a difference. Get in...

Design Director, Creative Director, Graphic Designer
Glasgow: United Kingdom, Leicester: United Kingdom, London: United Kingdom
Glasgow, United Kingdom: United Kingdom

Looking for work

APPROVED

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Paul Leon

Creative/Design Director and Designer at U037, London/ Hampshire

#8 ranked Design Director

Very Experienced Design Consultant and Creative Director working on Projects for the likes of Virgin, Asda, Black & Decker, BT, Guinness and Hasbro to name a few. Skill set and experience has led to involvement in large scale projects to the value of billion pounds. I believe in the importance of...

Design Director, Creative Director
London: United Kingdom
London/Hampshire, London/ Hampshire: United Kingdom

Looking for work

Portfolio

Reel

Yolanda Lam

Design Director at Huge Inc, New York

I'm a design leader who brings clarity, curiosity, and vision to complex challenges. With deep experience in digital product design, agentic tools, and generative UI, I help teams and clients imagine what's next, then build toward it with purpose. My goal is often to elevate user experiences, while...

Design Director
New York: United States

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Lawrence Everard

Design Director at Ruder Finn, Surrey

#10 ranked Design Director

The antithesis of the LinkedIn 'creative'. Having started my career in packaging and brand communication, I was offered a job in advertising in one of those sliding-door moments and never truly looked back. My advertising journey started as a designer before I rapidly moved into the role of art...

Design Director, Creative Director, Head of Creative
Kingston upon Thames, Surbiton: United Kingdom, Weybridge
Thames Ditton, Surrey: United Kingdom

Portfolio

Reel

Ivaylo Gogov

Product Design Expert at SAP, Sofia

#11 ranked Design Director

With over 20 years of experience in design leadership, Ivaylo Gogov has developed a deep expertise in product design, interaction design, automotive HMI, and 3D design and animation. Throughout his career, he has focused on creating user-centered solutions that have made an impact across industries,...

Design Director, 3D Artist, User Experience (UX) Designer
London: United Kingdom, Tokyo: Japan, New York: United States
Sofia: Bulgaria

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Rory Campbell

Senior Freelance Design Director, London

Senior freelance Design Director with 15+ years' experience leading brand, product, and design systems for global organisations and agencies. I typically step in when teams need senior design leadership quickly, whether that's defining or evolving a brand system, stabilising quality across delivery,...

Design Director, Digital Design Director, Digital Designer
London: United Kingdom, Thames Ditton
London: United Kingdom

Looking for work

APPROVED

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Sophie I Rautenbach

Design Director + Owner, London

#13 ranked Design Director

I'm S I Rautenbach, a design director who crafts visual identities with intent. With over a decade of experience, I've worked across sectors and scales, from B-Corps to global brands. I bring systems-thinking and sharp intuition to every brief, combining design leadership with strategic rigour. My...

Design Director, Art Director, Graphic Designer
London: United Kingdom

Looking for work

APPROVED

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Simon Warden

Design Director at LINE FORM COLOR, UK

I run my own bespoke multi-discipline design practice, Line Form Color. Specialisms include Branding, Identity, Packaging innovation and new product development. I have long term clients in the automotive fragrance, fashion and health & beauty sectors.

Design Director, Art Director, Graphic Designer
London: United Kingdom
Surrey, UK: United Kingdom

Looking for work

APPROVED

Portfolio

CV

Phill Davis

Design Team Lead at Ocado, London

#15 ranked Design Director

I'm a senior Brand and Design Director creating distinctive, effective work across retail, ecommerce, consumer brands, lifestyle and B2B. I combine strategic brand thinking with hands-on creative direction and design, helping organisations turn complex ideas into clear, engaging and commercially...

Design Director, Graphic Designer, Creative
London: United Kingdom, Winchester, Guildford
London: United Kingdom

Looking for work

Reel

CV

Matt Darcy Hunt

Ideas, Art Direction & Design, London

#16 ranked Design Director

Over the last 20+ years I've worked across advertising, branding, publishing and brand experience — creating ideas, design and art direction for some of the world's most influential brands. My work has been recognised at the world's leading award shows — from D&AD and Cannes Lions to Design Week and...

Design Director, Art Director, Graphic Designer
London: United Kingdom
London: United Kingdom

Looking for work

Peter Allinson

Head of Design at UKTV Creative, London

Designer. Director. Dad. I'm an award winning Creative Leader, Art Director & multi-disciplined designer with a branding, design & advertising background. I work in the areas of brand design, advertising & innovation with a portfolio of creative campaigns, brand identities, motion graphics, print...

Design Director
London: United Kingdom

Looking for work

2

2

Paul Duncan

Group Creative Director at Ogilvy Health, London

I'm Group Creative Director at Ogilvy Health UK. I have over 30 years' experience and have dedicated the last 15 years to bringing my craft to health advertising. The first half of my career was spent working in consumer advertising, collaborating with clients such as adidas, Vodafone, HSBC,...

Design Director, Creative, Graphic Designer
London: United Kingdom

Looking for work

APPROVED

Portfolio

Reel

Jason Ford

Design Director | Creative Director, London

Jason * is an award-winning freelance Design Director, Creative Director based in London with a proven track record of delivering thought provoking branding and design, all underpinned by strong core ideas that create seamless and cohesive brand experiences across all touch points. Please get...

Design Director, Creative Director, Branding Designer
London: United Kingdom

Looking for work

Portfolio

Reel

CV

Stephen Carpenter

Broadcast Director at Freelance, Hertfordshire

A versatile executive creative lead with extensive experience spanning top 10 global agencies and market leading global brands. Managing a large team of designers, developers, digital and marketing executives with over 20 years experience helping businesses understand and influence their audiences...

Design Director, Digital Creative Director, Creative Director
London: United Kingdom
St Albans, Hertfordshire: United Kingdom

Looking for work

APPROVED

Portfolio

CV

Harry Sutherland-Hawes

freelance graphic designer at studio s, london

I have over 20 years experience in both print and digital - not just on the creative side, but also dealing directly with clients and suppliers, ensuring jobs run smoothly and meet key deadlines within budget. I am used to both running teams and being part of a team. I can manage several projects...

Design Director, Graphic Designer, Broadcast Art Director
London
london: United Kingdom

Looking for work

Portfolio

CV

Victoria Rushton

Creative Director at RushtonSmith, Oxfordshire

#22 ranked Design Director

Bottle the magic that keeps customers coming back. As a branding studio for hospitality, culture, the arts, food and drink brands, I take what makes you unique and express it across every aspect of your brand - from your site to your signage. Helping you achieve lasting growth and unforgettable...

Design Director, Creative, Art Director
London: United Kingdom, Reno: United States, Shanghai: China
Oxfordshire: United Kingdom

Reel

george wu

Design Director at Mother Design, hove

George Wu is Design Director at independent branding and design studio Mother Design, part of the Mother Family spanning London, NY, LA, Shanghai and Singapore. A concept-driven thinker, George stretches the possibilities of brand world and expression, drawing on her experience directing...

Design Director
hove: United Kingdom

Looking for work

Portfolio

CV

Meriç Kara

Creative Designer- Design Consultant at Meric Kara Design Projects, Istanbul

I am Meriç Kara, born in Izmir, Turkey, in 1977. I hold an Industrial Design degree (2001) from METU and a master's degree from Milan Domus Academy. From 2003 to 2005, I developed my work in the Design Department of Fabrica, the Research and Communication Center of Benetton in Italy. Since 2006,...

Design Director, Product Designer, Creative Director
Istanbul: Turkey, Lisboa
Istanbul: Turkey

Looking for work

Portfolio

Reel

Gregor Johnstone

Creative Director at Bulletproof, New York

Scottish Kilt Wearer, based in New York. Passionate about bringing big ideas to life through powerful storytelling & meticulous craft. Happiest when obsessing over a new hobby or making things by hand.

Design Director
New York: United States

Find Design Director jobs
Find Design Directors

ad: Annual 2026 Winners

ad:

ad: Hire Agencies

ad: Hire Talent

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.