Alex Hearn

The online arena plays such a large role for most brands that it's impossible to ignore. What attracted me was the opportunity to flesh out brand experiences. I relish creating the online journeys that people will go on. But nothing replaces understanding the human element, and combining that with the online brand experience is my speciality.

My favourite type of digital design is the kind that makes people want to explore deeper. It draws them into discovering more about a brand, despite living in a busy in a world full of perpetual distractions.

Design that entices people. Design that connects on an emotional level and sends an authentic message.

I like to think I don't have a style because brands have different personalities, and it's my job to communicate them. The right typeface can say so much about a brand, so I always take my time in finding well designed fonts that send the right message, and I try to steer clear of overused ones. The same goes for cliches in images and copy too. I am here to make brands more noticeable, but being formulaic does the opposite and reduces differentiation.

My design is always based in strategy. It's not possible to create an effective brand experience without planning. The essential elements of a strategy is discovering the values of the brand, discovering who the customers are, their motivations and how the brand can connect with them. Then the design starts. I find researching and identifying the right visual tone a satisfying stage of any project.

My inspiration can come well designed typefaces or anywhere else. I'm always looking at fine art, street art, fashion and old painted signs on the sides of brick buildings.

The amount of third party integrations has transformed digital design and will continue to. On the other hand, people get so distracted with the tech that they forget the human side of things. I enjoy seeing fine art and retro ideas used in digital design. Design trends are very fast moving, so it's always fun to see what takes off.

Having your work officially recognised is very encouraging, and another motivation to keep standards as high as they can possibly be.

TV Products HK are an international company who manufacture innovative retail products, from conception all the way through to distribution. Their competitors mostly show shopping channel style videos but we avoided that formula. Instead we focused on enticing potential clients and building trust. The tone of the project has an interesting balance because it conveys authority and scale but also has a creative and human quality.

There was not an existing online presence or competitors who offered exactly the same thing, which was fun but also challenging. So we created a strategy to understand the needs of their audience and identify the best tone of voice, from logo design to copywriting.

It gave me a thirst for more! People shouldn't design for awards, but winning them can be motivating.

The first thing are the technological developments which opens doors and makes life easier, and there's new stuff happening all the time. The second is something I have a love/hate relationship with - trends. I love them because they are fun and can be exciting, but I hate them because many brands end up looking similar, which isn't good marketing. And the third thing is that we work in an industry where people interact with our work, which is something I find exciting.

The digital sector is an area of rapid growth in the UK, growing around six times faster than any other sector. What makes it unique is the well documented culture of creativity and also ambitious entrepreneurship, backed by the necessary capabilities and resources.

In these uncertain times predictions are difficult to make. However, following on from a pandemic when online shopping artificially grew because people were locked down in their houses, it's safe to say that behaviours may have altered permanently. The digital industry will of course respond to these changes as e-commerce becomes even more normalised.

Think about how you can differentiate a brand, instead of replicating what everyone else is doing.

Add another dimension which compliments your work. For example, understanding human psychology can be a useful skill to understanding more about the people on the receiving end of your work. Reading a publication such as Marketing Week can help you to understand what's going on behind the scenes of brands and campaigns.

I love watching the people work who are paid to paint typography and other markings on the roads. Some of them have incredible skills.

In terms of my work life, it's mostly artists who inspire me - from Keith Haring to Jackson Pollock.