Education – Simon graduated in 2000 with an Honours degree in Graphic Design from Duncan of Jordanstone College of Art & Design, Dundee. Here he found inspiration in Modernism and Swiss/International Style as pioneered by Joseph Muller-Brockmann, Otl Aicher and Max Bill and later the works of luminaries Wim Crowel, Wolfgang Weingart and Karl Martens. During his degree, he worked in design studios in his native Glasgow and further afield with a stint at R/GA, NYC in 1999.

Employment – After graduating, Simon moved to London and joined the team at Cartlidge Levene, a studio renowned for rigour, intelligence and thoughtfully crafted work. Here he was educated in the fundamentals of design. The studio covered a range of disciplines from signage and wayfinding, exhibition design to corporate identity and all forms of printed literature. Simon went on to develop his expertise at coveted studio North Design, producing a mixture of brand identity work and cultural projects, alongside a highly talented pool of creatives. Simon then moved into the world of freelance design, including a brief spell at Madethought where he was exposed to their deeply creative and intuitive design process.

Long stints at Wolff Olins, Moving Brands and Saffron Brand Consultants gave Simon valuable brand strategy experience, working on larger scale, high impact projects. Revered ideas-driven studio This Is Real Art brought Simon onboard to add relevant branding experience for a substantial identity project. He provided guidance and creative direction to the design team. As Design Director at Saffron, Simon worked closely with the Creative Director and founder Wally Olins to effectively translate Saffron’s brand strategy into high-level creative concepts.

Simon returned to freelance design collaborating with a mixture of branding agencies: Siegel+Gale, Interbrand, Design Bridge, Brand Union, and design studios: Bostock+Pollitt, Greenspace, Winkreative, Dixon Baxi and a stint in the branding arm of advertising agency Mother.

Simon is currently Director of Make Lab, an interdisciplinary design studio based in London, working in the areas of brand identity, design and art direction. He continues to consult and collaborate on projects on a freelance basis for other agencies.

Clients & Collaborators – Over the years Simon has been fortunate enough to work with many clients both cultural and corporate.

Cultural: Arte; Barbican Arts Centre; BBC; British Council; Cambridge University; Crafts Council; Design Council; Established & Sons; Future Systems; Home Noir; RIBA; Selfridges & Co; Sergison Bates Architects; Spacelab; Tate Modern; UCL; and restaurateur Alan Yau.

Corporate: Adidas; Apple Inc; Arcadia Group; BMW; British Land; Candy & Candy; CapGemini; Carlisle Group; Clarivate Analytics; Coca-Cola; Derwent Valley; Diageo; Envision; First Direct; Fujitsu; Google; Guinness; GSK; HSBC; Hyundai; iZettle; Kcell; KPMG; Land Registry; Land Securities; Littlewoods; Martini; MINI; Motorola; Nine Elms Vauxhall Partnership; NHS; Npower; O2; OPPO; Parex Banka; Personal Telecom; Philips; PWC; Qatar Foundation; Rapha Cycling Club; Royal Mint; Royal Marsden; Sotheby’s; SWIFT; Swisscom; Taylor Wessing; Tesco; TRT; Very; Vodafone; and Y.CO.

Publications – Over the years Simon’s work has featured in various publications globally, highlights are: Manuals 2, Unit Editions; Typographische Monatsblätter; Process Journal; Logo, Laurence King; Symbol, Laurence King; PlusEightyOne; Idea Magazine; Mapping, Rotovision; Creative Review; Eye Magazine; and the D&AD Awards Annual. His work has also been featured online: Visuelle; September Industry; Brand New, Under Construction; and Collate amongst others.