Project leadership under pressure
Somewhere between the client and the team, the budget and the idea.
Image ©Leoni Selby, created using multiple design, editing and AI tools.
Who this is for
Agencies with more work than capacity. Teams running several complex projects at once, each with its own client, its own scope, its own way of going sideways. Anyone who needs someone senior to hold the whole thing without a long run-up.
What it looks like in practice
Translating the brief
It's called a brief, but it rarely arrives briefly. Clients usually know roughly what they want and not always how to say it, so the first job is decoding it. Then giving back what they actually meant, plus the layer underneath that nobody had spotted yet. That's usually where the real opportunity lies.
Running the room
From there I write the offer myself, in language the design team can actually build from. What the client agrees to is exactly what gets made, so getting that translation right matters more than almost anything else in the whole process. Once it's accepted, I build the team and the plan around it, run the feedback rounds and bring in another senior designer or art director when the work calls for it.
Keeping the standard
Once the team's built, I become the client's stand-in inside the room. I know what was promised, so I get the final say on what goes out the door, style, brand, copy, design, all of it checked against what we agreed. My main job is to make sure that the client gets what they came for.
Holding both ends
I'm the first call and the last one. Deadlines, scope changes, quality checks, keeping the client informed before they have to ask. When something shifts, everyone hears it from me before it becomes a problem, so I have my eye on the ball every step of the way.
How I work
Twenty to twenty-five live projects at a time, depending on scope, is where I do my best work. I've run up to thirty-five at once, but it felt like drowning. I can't guarantee the quality and standard I want to give my clients at that pace. So I won't do that again.
When it goes right, the designers get the credit. When it goes wrong, I get the call. That's simply how the job works and it's taught me more about leadership than anything else I've done.
What you get
One point of contact for the whole project. Briefings a team can build from. Budgets and deadlines that hold. Happy stakeholders. A client who stays informed and a team who stays sane even when the client isn't feeling generous that week.
Rate
€85 per hour. Packages available for longer engagements (see Services & Pricing page). Terms apply. Read up on them here.