Andrew Purchase, or Purcho, as he’s known to his Aussie mates, is a brand designer who hails from the UK, has carved an international career working in London, Sydney and New York, and now lives in San Francisco with his wife and daughter.
Ok, now that you know me a little that’s enough of talking about myself in the third person. My colleagues have described me as a hands-on designer with enthusiasm for ideas big and small. My achievements and unique understanding of design come from the many perspectives of an entire career spent conceiving strategies for world-class companies and start-ups, across an array of consumer, retail and corporate brand marketing challenges.
Originally trained as an Industrial Designer, I blend expertise in ideation, graphic design, product design and creative vision to bear as they relate to brand development, user-centred design and consumer engagement strategies.
I use thought leadership and design thinking to influence and lead cross-functional creative teams, and ensure the consistent delivery of design intent across multiple disciplines and project types including; brand design and communications, retail marketing, spatial design and customer experiences, and more recently, digital user experience and interface design.
As a creative problem solver, throughout my career, I have been on a mission to work with people to produce great ideas that make life simpler and easier for consumers. I really love what I do. If you can see the potential for us to work together do please contact me. I’m all ears.
CAREER EXPERIENCE
CLIENTS & INDUSTRY
ABOUT ME
BIG SHOES TO FILL
I began my career in the design studio of one of Europe’s largest brand design agencies, Design Bridge where I worked with design industry luminaries who engendered him with a passion for strategy, big ideas and attention to great craft.
At the end of 1999, I had the opportunity to emigrate to Australia and took those learnings with me. In Sydney, I embedded myself into a highly sought after niche, as a graphic designer and product designer delivering value to clients in the world consumer brand design.
From 2004 I worked for an International Brand Design Consultancy called Blue Marlin, firstly as a Designer, then promoted to Design Director of Innovation.
In 2012, I stepped up to an opportunity to influence a creative team as Acting Creative Director at a boutique branding agency called Loop Brands.
Since 2015 I have been based in the USA, where I currently work as Creative Director for Barrows Global, a WPP-owned creative agency, in the country’s most influential hubs of creativity and innovation; New York City, and now San Francisco.
Passionate about innovation and design, I love partnering with brands i their ambitions to meaninfully connect with their customers, by creating purposeful ideas that establish brand recognition and relevance in consumer lives, strengthen market distinction and leadership position.
Brands with purpose create more meaningful connections with customers and remain relevant as customer needs change, and the world around them evolves. I believe that now, and the future, it is the customer’s experience that matters most when creating market-leading differentiation. When touchpoints seamlessly integrate to give customers what they want, when they want, we make life simpler and easier.
USA – GREEN CARD HOLDER, NO WORK VISA REQUIRED
Creative Director @Barrows Global. Aug 2015 – Current
Freelance Design & Art Direction. Jun 2014 – Aug 2015
AUSTRALIA – CITIZEN, NO WORK VISA REQUIRED
Design Director @Loop Brands. Feb 2012 – May 2014
Freelance Design & Art Direction. Jul 2009 – Feb 2012
Design Director @Blue Marlin. Jun 2007 – Jun 2009
Senior Designer @Blue Marlin. Dec 2004 – Jun 2007
Senior Designer @Brave Communications. Aug 2002 – Sep 2004
Brand Designer @D3 Design. Feb 2000 – Jul 2002
UK – CITIZEN, NO WORK VISA REQUIRED
Design Manager @Design Bridge. Jan 1999 – Dec 1999
Freelance Designer. Apr 1998 – Jan 1999
Designer @Rocket Graphics. 1997 – Mar 1998
For every agency here, there is a case-study, please click the link to download my resumé or contact me to discuss.
Household Brands: Unilever | Coca-Cola |
Food, Beverage And Alcohol Brands: ABI | Adriano Zumbo | Cadbury | Campbell | Arnott’s | Corona | Dairy Farmers | Diageo | Freisland Campina | General Mills | Heineken | Kelloggs | Lindt & Sprungli | Moet and Chandon | National Foods | Nestlé | Penfold’s | PepsiCo | Real Foods | Sanitarium | Sara Lee | Schweppes | Streets | Uncle Toby’s
Retailers: Walmart | Mattress Firm | Rite Aid | T-Mobile | Target | Walgreens | Woolworths
Fin-Tech, IT & Electronics: 1Cover Insurance | Bank Of America | Boral | British Areospace | C.G.U Insurance | Capital One | The Carrick Institute | Foxtel | HP | LG | Logitech | Motorola | Perpetual Investments | Sydney Credit Union | Samsung | Tower Financial | Urbex | Whirlpool
Lifestyle & Apparel Brands: Adidas | CR7 | Fossil | Guy Sebastian | Luxottica | Patagonia | Raden | Reebok Australia | Skins | Victorinox
Personal Care & Beauty Brands: Colgate-Palmolive | Coty | Kimberly Clarke | L’Oreal | Nude By Nature Cosmetics | The Honest Co |
Pharmaceutical Brands: Bayer | GSK
Start-Ups: 40 North Foods | Freestyle | Roar Living | MyCurl | Solar D
Other: 3M | Virgin Australia | The Starlight Foundation | TNS Global
For every client and industry sector here, there is a case-study, please click the link to download a summary.
“As you can see I’ve been a die-hard MAC fan for a while”
You could say I’ve always been destined to do something creative with computers. The proof is here in a geeky picture of my mates and me, circa the mid-80s. I’m the one on the right, wearing an Apple Macintosh T-shirt. My big sister worked for Apple back then, hence the tasty T-shirt.
The road to becoming a designer started in high school, where I excelled at art and design. This fed the desire to go on to design school and become an industrial designer. After graduating, I was lucky to be snapped up by Design Bridge to manage client brand design and structural branding projects.
One of my great joys is to work with people from all over the world. I have worked on client projects in Europe, S.E. Asia, the Middle East and Africa as well as Australia and the USA. I have collaborated with some very crafty consultancies and agile agencies, ideating, developing and facilitating. Bringing to life big brand strategies and ideas for everyone from cereal eaters to beer drinkers, fast (and slow) food feasters, to tech geeks, sports freaks and a lot more in between.
When not consulting….
I earned my B.A in industrial Design & Technology from Loughborough University and a Business Management qualification from TAFE College, Sydney before moving to the USA.
I now live with my wife and daughter in Oakland, CA. I’m a loyal Warriors fan, love any sort of action watersport but miss the rugby and vegemite back in Australia.
NO WORK VISA REQUIRED – FULL PERMANENT GREEN CARD STATUS
I’ve always loved drawing, making, doing and building things, I guess it’s in the genes. My mother is a successful landscape watercolour artist and my grandmother was too. My father was a mentor and a passionate educator.
Whilst One grandfather was a serial entrepreneur (he owned a jam factory, loved the arts, was a theatre set & costume designer AND an actor), my other grandfather was knighted for his contribution to key World War II efforts to divert the Nazis.
My 2 great uncles left me big shoes to fill. One was the inventor of the UK’s Trojan Utility car and the Hounsfield Tensometer. Whilst my other great uncle shared a Nobel Prize for his contribution to the invention of CT diagnostic technology that has helped save countless lives. I think like all my entrepreneurial relatives, I want to make a difference to peoples’ lives and my way to do that is through innovation and good design.
View my WORK. Check out my CORE EXPERTISE. DROP ME A LINE.
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