Fractional Design Director for mission-led teams
Senior design leadership, a few days a month.
I give charities, membership bodies and founder-led businesses a Design Director for a few days a month: someone who sets the standard, owns the decisions, and can still open the file and build it.
For
Charities, membership bodies and founder-led businesses in sport, health, education and climate.
From
Two days a month.
Start
A two-day design audit.
What it is
The person who owns the standard your brand answers to.
What the brand protects, what good looks like, what would weaken it: written down, with a name against it. I'm not a freelancer you brief for one job. I'm the design leadership your team is missing, for a few days a month.
Day to day
Five things I do.
Set the standard, and hold it
I write down what your brand protects, what good looks like and what would weaken it. Then I review everything that goes out against it: reports, campaigns, the website, decks, social. It all reads as one organisation.
Lead the people who make the work
An in-house designer, a comms lead designing on the side, freelancers or an agency. I brief them, review their work and mentor them. You get a senior eye on the work without having to be that eye yourself.
Run design projects end to end
Scope, plan, timeline, budget, sign-off. I run the process, so the work lands on time and nobody on your side has to chase it.
Make the work that matters most
Twenty years in, I still open the file. An annual or impact report, a funder or investor presentation, a brand refresh, a new website: I design and build those myself.
Take the website from concept to live
I build in Webflow and Sanity, and work across Figma, WordPress, WooCommerce and Shopify. I'll advise on the right platform and sort out the details that fall between teams: accessibility, GDPR, payments.
Where this comes from
Twenty years in brand, corporate communications and digital.
Most recently I was Design Director at a UK corporate brand agency. I led the design team and the corporate reporting for companies listed in London and the Gulf: annual reports, ESG reports and investor presentations. I've also run my own practice for over twenty years, for charities, founders and small organisations across the UK.
Who it's for
You'll know if this is you.
- Charities, membership bodies, social enterprises and founder-led businesses with a small design team, or none.
- Organisations where every change made sense on its own, and together they've made you harder to recognise.
- Teams about to take on something big, such as a rebrand, a new website, an annual report or a funding bid, who need someone senior to lead it.
- Founders who are still the creative director by default and want their time back.
How it works
It starts with a two-day audit.
I look at your organisation in four places: how you're recognised, who decides, what it's like to deal with you, and what others do in your name. You get written findings, the three things to fix first, and a 60-minute readout. Then a proposal for one of these, or nothing. See the offer.
Hands-on days
Two to four senior days a month, making the work inside a standard we've agreed. For teams with no designer in the building.
Director retainer
Two to six days a month. I own the standard, review your team's and agencies' work against it, and turn decisions round inside 48 hours.
A project
Brand and website, or an annual report: a fixed scope, set from the audit. I lead it and step back when it's done.
What it isn't
It isn't an agency.
There's no account manager, no layers and no mark-up on other people's work. It's me, working inside your team, with trusted collaborators when a project needs more hands.
One place for the standard, the requests, the approvals and the files. Nothing lives in email.
Next step
A 30-minute call.
Where design is helping you, and where it's holding you back. No pitch. Email hello@warrensutton.co.uk or use the contact form.