ABOUT | design

Hi, I'm Clare.

I’m a Creative / Design Lead with over 19 years’ experience leading in-house teams and delivering brand-led creative within fast-paced, high-growth organisations.

I specialise in creative strategy, people leadership and building high-performing design teams that produce impactful, consistent work at scale. I take an integrated, end-to-end approach to creative, leading projects from initial strategy through to execution and delivery.

My experience spans brand and creative direction, ATL campaigns, packaging, digital platforms and large-scale brand environments. I’m particularly motivated by solving complex brand challenges, developing creative talent and raising the bar for creative quality while meeting commercial goals.

Alongside my permanent roles, I’ve built and maintained a successful freelance practice, partnering with a wide range of brands on everything from brand creation to complex packaging and campaign rollouts. This has given me a broad strategic perspective and a strong understanding of how different businesses operate creatively.

I’m currently Design Lead at Gousto, where I head up the in-house design team of seven creatives across brand, packaging, campaigns and digital. I’m responsible for setting creative direction, prioritisation, and ensuring high-quality delivery at pace in a fast-moving commercial environment. My role includes providing leadership, creative strategy and art direction, working closely with senior stakeholders, agencies and photography teams, and overseeing creative from concept through to final delivery.

Before Gousto, I spent a significant part of my career at innocent drinks, working within the group marketing team across packaging, ATL and brand creative for multiple international markets. As a Senior Creative, I played a key role in protecting and evolving the brand globally, acting as a brand guardian and collaborating closely with local teams to ensure consistency and quality across all regions.

Earlier in my career, I worked at Virgin Media on a wide range of high-profile projects, including leading the design and execution of the V Festival brand across multiple years. Prior to that, I worked agency-side at Redhouse Lane Communications, where I developed strong foundations in design craft, layout, print production and client collaboration.

Staying closely connected to the wider design industry is important to me. I’ve worked with D&AD as an industry expert for student portfolio sessions and was honoured to be invited as a judge for the 2017 D&AD Yellow Pencil Awards in the packaging category.