Chris Noble
Creative/Art/Director · Chris Noble Design
Exeter, Devon
In My Own Words
In a past life, Chris and his co. changed the face of action sports at his somewhat seminal media company, 4130 Publishing, in England. These days, Chris is a brand-thinking, absurdly detailed creative/art director with an unwaveringly empathetic eye, twenty-odd years at the wheel and an inherent need to learn and innovate. A thoughtful, effective leader who can work solo or in a pack, Chris has done it all—mostly—and has kept everyone happy with his award-winning work and subtle sense of humor. Not to say he’s not ambitious, but he doesn’t worry too much about titles or being a big cheese. He does care about doing right by his employers in any way he can, which may well be gorgeous design. What makes Chris happy and extra-creative on the job is a nice environment and work that keeps his sizeable brain busy, whether that’s branding a big brand or perfecting pixels for an app icon. As you’d hope, he’s a master of the print-relevant Adobe applications and proficient in the video and web ones as well as Keynote. He can work SketchUp and Office, and learns any other necessary skills sharpish. He can also shoot decent photos, illustrate (photo, vector and hand), generally run things, write— he wrote this—and, being English (with a Green Card), make a proper cup of tea.
Work Experience
Creative/Art/Director
Chris Noble Design2007 – Present
• Art direction and design for a variety of clients including Nike, Eddie Bauer, retail stores, lifestyle and sport clothing companies and media brands. • Design for branding, retail, environmental, marketing, packaging, video and motion graphics, animation (artistic and informational), clothing graphics, collateral and websites (including code). • Re/branding and art direction of genre-leading sports magazines and supporting channels.
Sole Proprietor
Chroble2014 – Present
• Ideation, design, R&D and hand-crafting of product. • Startup of micro-company. • Brand design, web build, product photography, ecomm setup and management.
Creative Director
Fiction2018 – 2018
• Campaign concepts, direction, copywriting and team leadership for adidas Horizontal Concepts creative. • Having applied for a Design Director position, being given a Creative Director role starting out with a major and complex campaign for adidas was a trial by fire. Much learnt in three months. The agency's work well has suddenly dried up and the owner wants to go in a different direction away from creative.
Senior Designer
Big-Giant2017 – 2018
• Design/lead for 2D/3D retail, exhibit and environmental for Nike, Converse, and Western Union’s HQ. • Quick-turn ideation, creative direction and team leadership. • Brand design, video and animation direction/execution for happy clients.
Senior Designer, Global Brand Design
adidas AG2016 – 2017
• Built out new adidas NYC flagship retail store with environment and evergreen design and graphics, visual storytelling, wayfinding, collateral design and much more. • Flagship store ground floor product “launch zone” design including experiential installations, premium window displays and consumer journey. • Laid a firm foundation for the global workplace design guidelines during his last few weeks with the brand. • Created creative direction directive for Running category. • Ideation for Basketball, Training and Women’s categories’ campaigns.
Art Director
Oregon Business Magazine2014 – 2016
• Owned creative direction and design of the company’s flagship magazine, Oregon Business, and its products and channels. • Rebranding to improve positioning and increase consumer appeal and respect in the marketplace. • Build materials for digital, events, print and marketing in those spaces. • Hire and lead creative staff and contributors. • Keep everything under budget.
Art Director
GrindMedia2010 – 2013
• Redesign and art direction of the California-based Snowboarder Magazine and its various channels from events to video. • During this time, the magazine was the only one in the sector defying the print magazine downturn.
Director, Creative Director
4130 Publishing Ltd1994 – 2007
• Co-founding and -ownership of the company and all responsibilities that go along with that, from finances to hiring to basic logistics. • Ownership of company-wide, multi-brand creative. • Award-winning art direction and design for some of the magazines all of the time, and all of the magazines some of the time. (The magazines ranged from life/style to sports.) • Ownership of marketing for all brands including print, video, retail, digital, events and influencers. • Day-to-day running of the company, hand-in-hand with co-owners. • Building the company from a bootstrap to a world-renowned, market- and genre-leader. • Leading a hand-picked and happy creative team. • Leading creative projects for third-party clients, from eateries to fashion. NB: In 2006 Chris and the other owners got an offer they couldn’t refuse and sold the company.
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