MPB is the largest global platform to buy, sell and trade used photo and video kit. My role as head of Design and Creative at MPB was a newly created role in a relatively young business that was receiving significant 3rd round investment from private equity. As such, the organisation was growing at a tremendous pace requiring significant design and creative elements to be introduced quickly and successfully with the design function across the business needing to be built entirely from scratch. My first challenge was the brand itself. A visual identity existed, but it was minimal, confusing, and lacked impact, consistency, or a clear brand story that could be easily communicated. Therefore a complete brand re-fresh was required.

The next and most significant step was the creation of full visual guidelines, covering all aspects of the brand in detail, whilst remaining accessible to a somewhat naive audience with limited experience of design requirements.

At the heart of MPB’s business identity is a strong commitment to the idea of circularity and used over new. As such MPB’s response to economic activities like ‘Black Friday’ required a different approach and message than most retailers. Multiple global events. OOH advertising and MPB offices in Brighton, Brooklyn and Berlin, all required the brand to be effectively implemented and communicated globally, and in physical form.The next challenge presented to me at MPB was how to provide a high standard of creativity and delivery across the business. There were very few processes or methodologies in place, and very little experience of working with designers and little experience of how creativity in its widest sense, could benefit the business.

The next stage was to begin to raise the understanding and expectation of ‘creativity’ across the business. This was accomplished through thought leadership activities on my part, regular and individual mentoring of designers, and sometimes simply leading by example with solutions and design.