Chris Vernon-Smith

A quick(ish) intro

I started out in digital at a role as a junior dev at the Consumer rights and publisher Which?. There, I met some amazing people and I built custom HTML content for their CMS: things like data tables & charts and then moved. I was also learning Flash (remember that?!), and progressed to making interactive content to help bring their editorial pages to life, and increase page dwell time.

I then moved to the UX team using Flash as a prototyping tool for user interactions, working on their rebrand and new website as part of an Agile team. This I loved, but after a year I decided to go freelance and enter the agency world.

And from there, I never looked back. Within the first two years I'd worked at large production agencies like TAG, comms agencies such as Wunderman, and ad agencies like BBH, as well great some independents like Tommy, designing and building display ad campaigns for Microsoft, Google, Audi, Warner Bros, Netflix and Paramount Pictures.

I built up some great relationships with agencies and was often asked back. I also started taking client-side roles (Mother London, FarFetch, Virgin Media) and lead roles at EG+, which has continued to be the case throughout my career.

Fast-forward to the present, and I've worked on campaigns and projects for the likes of Amazon Prime Video, Bank of Scotland, British Airways, Google (Chrome), HBO, Netflix, Paramount Pictures, Qiddiya (Saudi Giga Project), Rolex, Sony, The Body Shop, Warner Brothers, Which?, Virgin Media and Vodafone.

So, who am I and what do I do?

I am a process-led designer, influenced by my front-end developer and UI/UX experience. This skill-set means I can quickly adapt and move between visual design for ad campaigns and process-led work such as designing templates, writing user documentation and helping implement design systems, processes and applications. I have also helped clients at the early stages of campaigns to scope and define projects.

Much of my experience has been with creative production agencies, whose processes I bring to all clients. Whether I am helping designing marketing campaigns, deep-diving into a CMS, or helping teams define workflows and processes, my technologist mindset and efficient structured ways of working are always at the heart of my approach.

And it is at the intersection between content production + processes + technology that I am at my very best, helping clients exploit their systems and optimising their workflows to produce high-quality work.

So how can I help you?

Well, that depends on what you might be looking for so, to help, let me suggest a few scenarios:

  • You have a design project for a marketing campaign
  • You are moving to Figma from XD or Photoshop
  • You are onboarding a new CMS across the business
  • You want to optimise your creative production processes
  • You are scaling up a digital studio team
  • You are in-housing digital design from a third party agency
  • You are oursourcing a digital design team to a third party agency

If any of those apply and you want to have a chat to see how I might be able to help, just give me a shout!

Who can I help?

Heads of Digital, Production or Operations at digital agencies, Heads of Studios running content design teams, Marketing teams, Digital publishing & Editorial teams, stakeholders and brief-owners of content creation: I can help you.

My cross-functional skillset and multi-team experience gained across digital design in many guises enables me to empathetically communicate with people across a wide spectrum.

If you are interested in moving a step forwards, just drop me an email, give me a call or book a meeting in Calendly.

And now?

I'm always happy to have a good old chat and I love meeting new people. So feel free to drop me an email, give me a call or book a meeting in Calendly.