[About]
Kia ora. Hello. I’m Dan Newman, an experienced design leader and designer from Wellington, New Zealand.
Over the past two decades I’ve led, hired, and managed growing teams in several startups and digital agencies. This work was across timezones, in offices, and remotely, all while continuing to design and direct projects. I love working with fun, genuine, creative people, while helping organisations with a real purpose and vision.
[Details]
| dan [at] newman [dot] is | ↗ | |
| Portfolio | dan.newman.is/a/designer | ↗ |
| GitHub | github.com/danserif | ↗ |
| linkedin.com/in/danserif | ↗ | |
| Twitter (RIP) | @danserif | ↗ |
| Timezone | GMT+12 / NZST — | |
| Location | Miramar, Wellington | |
| Citizenship | New Zealand |
[Skills]
I take great pride in supporting creative teams to do their best work with an empathetic and encouraging leadership style. In over two decades working hands-on and directing teams, I’ve designed everything from websites, apps, installations, and design systems to conferences, keynotes, swag, office fitouts, posters, billboards, advertising campaigns, logos, and brands.
I’m experienced in the following areas:
- — Visual design, art direction, and typography
- — Branding, identity design, and design systems
- — Advertising, marketing, and growth experimentation
- — User research, usability testing, and prototyping
- — Managing multidisciplinary teams and projects
- — Remote and hybrid team management
- — Leading design ideation and the creative process
- — Front-end development support and collaboration
- — Shipping and refining quality user experiences
- — AI-assisted design and development
[Experience]
| DaaS | Creative Director /
Designer Remote |
|
| DaaS (Graphics) is a design subscription
service. I run the business aka Dan as a Service and provide branding design, leadership, and coaching for early-stage founders and go-to-market teams. |
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| Axiom | Head of Design Remote |
|
| Axiom is an observability application for
developers. I helped grow the design team while also establishing the visual aesthetic, brand, GTM strategy and metrics, product onboarding, UX, marketing website, emails, blogs, conferences, ads and swag. |
||
| Stedi | Design Lead Remote |
|
| Stedi is a startup building EDI
software. I worked with a team of designers and front-end engineers to establish the design direction, brand, and marketing efforts for the launch of their first developer-focused products. |
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| Springload | Creative Director Wellington, New Zealand |
|
| Springload is a digital design and
development agency. I led and hired a large creative team while supporting a merger with another agency, as well as pitching, delivering, and improving the quality of projects. I also directed and designed the award-winning Klim Type Foundry website. |
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| Koordinates | Head of Design Wellington, New Zealand |
|
| Koordinates is a suite of geospatial data
management tools. I joined as their first designer and helped hire a team to work on a major redesign of the product. We also designed brand and sales collateral, as well as the marketing and help websites. |
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| Xero | Creative Director Wellington, New Zealand |
|
| Xero is online accounting
software. I led and hired an internal design team through intense growth while also directing and designing xero.com, Xerocon, OOH and digital campaigns, and creative for marketing, sales, and product teams. |
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| Tigerspike | Design Director London, United Kingdom |
|
| Tigerspike (now Concentrix Catalyst) was a
mobile agency. I joined the London office as it was established, and helped design some of the first iPhone and iPad applications for The Economist, Al Jazeera, Virgin, The Telegraph, ODEON Cinemas, and France Télévisions. |
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| Flightless | Designer / Front-end
Developer Wellington, New Zealand |
|
| Flightless was a design studio. I worked with the team to design and build websites, interactive exhibitions, and brands for clients like Icebreaker, Nintendo, SPCA, Pik Pok, Te Papa (Museum of New Zealand), and Spy Valley Wines. |
||
| The D.A. | Designer /
Co-founder Whanganui, New Zealand |
|
| The D.A. was a design studio for
freelancers. I co-founded a company to help students get freelance design work and business experience before graduating. We worked with various clients designing logos, websites, interactives, and print collateral. |
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[Education]
| Masters (MCGD) | Waikato University | |
| Scholarship | Nottingham University | |
| FH Oberösterreich | ||
| Bachelor | Whanganui School of Design |
[Awards]
| Red Dot Award | Best of the Best(2) |
| Type Directors ClubTDC | Certificate of Typographic Excellence |
| AGDA Awards | Pinnacle(1) Distinction(3) Merit(2) |
| Finalist(4) Judge’s Choice(6) | |
| Communication ArtsCA | Award of Excellence (Typography Annual) |
| D&AD | Shortlist(2) |
| DINZ Best Awards | Gold(2) Silver(6) Bronze(5) |
| Finalist(14) Judge(1) |
[Quotes]
“Dan you are everything I’ve ever wanted in a sparring partner in design! I respect that you give me space to try things out while guiding them into a good place with your experience. I’m very excited where we are heading with our brand, and grateful you’ve helped us stand out in a sea of startups.
I really appreciate you jumping into different areas of the business (marketing, sales etc.) to help us scale. Your fingerprints are all over Axiom and it’s amazing!”
Neil Jagdish Patel
CEO / Co-founder
⌙ Axiom
“Listen, I acknowledge off the bat that I’m the client from hell. I’m a designer with very specific tastes and exacting standards. It was a long, gruelling project that pushed technical and aesthetic limits.
But Dan pulled through. He deftly managed my expectations while navigating the complexities of an agency and made a world-class site that continues to reverberate through the industry. Which is a polite way of saying it’s so f**king good that people are still ripping it off!”
Kris Sowersby
Director / Lead Type Designer
⌙ Klim Type Foundry
“Dan you are an absolute superhuman. I’ll always remember when I first met you for a coffee after you were hired as my boss. You asked “How can I help?”. I appreciate so much how you listened and included everyone in developing our team and practices.
I have seen the people and work flourish, and how thoughtfully you’ve looked after the team members facing challenges. You have been the bedrock of our wonderful, fun, and inclusive team culture, thank you for all you have given (and all the sleep you have lost!).”
Elizabeth Cretney
Design Director
⌙ Springload
“I’m extremely grateful to Dan for always pushing us to deliver truly beautiful work, while building and mentoring a powerhouse team (from 2 people to nearly 20), under incredibly challenging pressures and timeframes. Thanks to Dan’s talent, commitment and resilience our work and our team delivered to an extremely high standard. We couldn’t have scaled the team or maintained our high quality standards without him. It’s an understatement to say Dan had a huge and very positive impact on Xero.”
Philip Fierlinger
Head of Design
⌙ Xero