Tom Banks

1 week ago | thedrum.com | Tom Banks

When BBC Brand director Charl Bassil started in-post in March 2024, those around him had warned that the organization is “an ivory tower institution that is very British and very institutional,” but what he is found is that it’s run by “down to earth” people willing to embrace change, he says. The role was conceived by director general Sir Tim Davey and chief customer officer Kerris Bright.

2 weeks ago | thedrum.com | Tom Banks

Every now and again in this line of work, you meet someone with a creative energy that is applied to unrelated endeavors as broad as animation, music and product design. Gavin Strange has taken a largely autodidactic learning approach to most of what he’s picked up. Outside of animation studio Aardman’s commercial and film work, he finds an unbridled outlet for his own ideas under the name Jamfactory, sometimes for the fun of it and other times as part of a commissioned gig.

3 weeks ago | thedrum.com | Tom Banks

When Le Masurier started at Skyscanner in 2021, “there wasn’t a ton of belief in brand and brand investment and the team was mainly production oriented,” he says. Today, a blended in-house creative sub-team consists of around 12 designers, four writers and three motion designers who work together and Le Masurier is building further capability in strategic and conceptually focused creatives so it has “less reliance on external advertising agencies”, he says.

3 weeks ago | thedrum.com | Tom Banks

For all the hype surrounding former Apple chief design officer Jony Ive joining OpenAI, his position does present a level of personal influence that will likely shape the product development and associated services of the company. The direction these products will take falls tantalizingly beyond speculation, yet when we look at Ive’s career trajectory and, in general, the power of placing a designer at the heart of a business, it’s easy to see why the news amounts to something.

1 month ago | thedrum.com | Tom Banks

“We are so excited to take our programming to India, to Mexico, to Shanghai and many places in Africa including Nigeria, South Africa, Ghana,” says D&AD president Taylor-Hayford. I’m speaking to him at the D&AD Festival. He’s the first US president of the organization, which started in the UK in 1962 to promote excellence in design and art direction.