About
Leading the work, and the people who make it.
Christie Gray
Global Head of Brand Identity & Design, Arbex
Based in the South West, working globally
I build brand platforms, identities, worlds and systems, and the teams that run them.
My experience has been split between agency and in-house, and three of those years were spent co-founding and running my own studio. I've won and priced the work, and I've been the client buying it. Having seen it from both sides makes me a better partner to the agencies I work with and a stronger advocate for design inside a business.
I care about brave work, about the teams and systems that let it happen, and about whether it holds up commercially: strong enough to survive a boardroom, specific enough to sell through to retailers, and still meaning something to the consumer who picks it up.
I write Field Notes of a Creative Director on Substack, on brave brand work and the cultural fluency it takes to make it land. I studied at Falmouth University.
Point of view
When anyone can make the work, judgment is what makes it effective.
AI is changing how brands get made, but not what makes them matter. Tools are becoming abundant. Judgment, taste and a clear read on what will actually sell are becoming scarce, and that combination is what a business needs to make work that is commercially effective.
I write and speak about what changes for creative teams as production accelerates: how in-house studios keep the work coherent, where human judgment has to sit in the workflow, and what a brand system needs to carry when volume goes up.
Experience
The work behind it.
Arbex (Kimberly-Clark)
Global Head of Brand Identity & Design
Leading global brand identity and design for Kleenex, Andrex, Scott, Viva, Scottex and WypAll across the UK, EMEA, ANZ, Asia and LATAM. Joined as Head of Brand Identity & Design at Kimberly-Clark; the role became global when the Kimberly-Clark and Suzano joint venture launched as Arbex.
- Global identity strategy and design systems across markets
- Evolving heritage brands without losing what made them
- Breakthrough brand and packaging design across the portfolios
- Building and leading the design team
- Connecting design to commercial goals across marketing, product and innovation
OVO Energy
Creative Director & Design Lead
Brand-side Creative Director on OVO's rebrand, working directly with Wolff Olins on the identity and directing it against the platform we'd developed, then leading the team that built the brand world and rolled it out across every channel and market. Awareness and consideration rose by more than 30%.
The studio started with one designer supported by freelancers; I built it into an in-house creative studio, hiring designers directly. It went from executing briefs to producing work that held its own against external agencies: a 30% uplift in delivery, six-figure savings on external agency spend, and a shortlist for Campaign's Best New In-House Agency 2025.
FreshStudio
Co-founder & Creative Director
Co-founded an independent design and 3D moving image studio and ran it as Creative Director for three years: pitching and presenting, pricing and winning the work, how the team scaled, project management, and creative direction across design and CGI. The Air Jordan × Spider-Man: Miles Morales film was made there.
Alongside it, freelance senior art direction for agencies across the UK, Coca-Cola, Diet Coke, Sprite, Danone Nutrilon, Mondelez, Cadbury, Kellogg's, Pringles, Quorn, Dove, Aldi. Notable: Coca-Cola × Star Wars limited-edition packaging, the Nutrilon redesign and range architecture, and a new art direction for Aldi's on-pack food photography.
Taxi Studio
Creative
On and off-pack visual identity systems for FMCG brands. The Carlsberg København Collection: a D&AD Wood Pencil, a 6% sales uplift, and the longest-running limited edition in the brand's history. Minute Maid: a new design system rolled out across more than 1,000 SKUs, winner of the Canadian Packaging Awards, with interactive online guidelines that Coca-Cola then implemented across its other brands.
Clarks
Group Creative Lead, Kids
Creative lead for the Clarks Kids brand: coming up with the campaign ideas, leading the art direction, and applying them across every brand and advertising touchpoint, physical and digital. Wonder of Wisdom, the launch campaign for the new school brand, earned over 353 million impressions. Brand collaborations included Marvel, Disney and National Geographic. Managed and mentored the creative team.
Robson Dowry
Designer
Packaging design from brand creation through to final artwork for Accolade Wines, Diageo, William Grant & Sons and Felix Solis, alongside 3D structural concepts, trade stands, POS and annual reports.
Recognition
Eight awards.
Carlsberg København Collection
Limited-edition packaging designed at Taxi Studio, 2017. It became the longest-running limited edition in Carlsberg's history and delivered a 6% sales increase.
Kleenex × Mr Doodle
Artist collaboration across the Kleenex range.
Minute Maid
Global design system rolled out across more than 1,000 SKUs, with interactive online guidelines that Coca-Cola went on to adopt across its other brands.
Talk to me about brand.
christievgray@gmail.comSpeaking enquiries, collaborations, and conversations about the work.