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Info – Mike Stevens

Mike Stevens

Collaboratively developing ideas excites me and creating appropriate solutions fascinates me. I help people define, design and communicate ideas.

Combining product, identity and experience design, I create purposeful products and services, communicating them with idea-driven identities.

A big believer that creativity, imagination and design can contribute to making the world a healthier, more inclusive and sustainable place.

Mike Stevens

What I do

Define

Discussing people’s ideas and what they want to create. Imagining concepts to define solutions and develop strategies to bring them to life.

Product strategy
Brand strategy
Service structure

Design

Creating appropriate and purposeful solutions. Designing products and services with simple and consistent design languages.

  • Product design
  • Concept + prototype
  • PUI design
  • Service design
  • Design systems
  • GUI design

Communicate

Helping people identify and consistently communicate their ideas, products and services across physical and digital mediums.

  • Naming
  • Visual identity
  • Icons / Pictograms
  • Infographics
  • Animation
  • 3D Illustration

Who I've worked with

What people say

Client

Adam Stuart

thepotentialists - Director & Founder

Testimonial

Mike is fun to work with, responsive and professional in his approach. The identity is simple yet effective and precisely what I wanted. Mike’s technical skills in developing the website were excellent. I recommend Mike to others like me who are setting up their business and looking for someone to help their brand and experience.

Client

Sarah Conrad (1)

Monzo - CMO

Testimonial

Mike is an exceptional designer and brand thinker. When I’m working on a project that needs creative muscle, he’s the first person I call. Mike goes beyond being “a designer” and is a creative strategist who is thoughtful, precise, and inspiring while being incredible open and reliable.

Client

Dr Ashish Bhatia

Humble - Director & Founder

Testimonial

I’ve worked with Mike on Humble from the start and hope it continues for years to come. His friendly, professional manner and design and User Experience talents have been invaluable in translating my ideas into a brand. He has been receptive to ideas, grasping my humble vision and proactively guiding me when necessary.

Client

Kartini Sutoto

Relish - CDM

Testimonial

From the moment I got to know Mike I knew he was different to a lot of the design/creative agencies and freelancers I had worked with previously and that he had the right experience for the work I was trying to achieve. He not only understands every brief I put forward but also goes the extra mile to make it even better. I found he also has the right amount of patience without time wasting to help me understand and brainstorm creative ideas that are needed to ensure we produce the best solution.

Client

Mike Fox

CMO of MUD\WTR

Testimonial

Mike is a true talent for building brands and designing visual identities. We’ve worked with him on two startups for sports fans. He’s been integral in fleshing out our brand strategy and helped us with product development and consumer definition. His passion and deep understanding of how design functions make him an invaluable partner to our business.

Client

Suzanne Roelofs

Peritip - Director & Founder

Testimonial

I’ve worked with Mike on Peritip from the beginning. His drive has got the project from a standstill to up and running. As a dentist designing a product was new to me, but Mike took on the project with energy and commitment. Without him, Peritip wouldn’t have come to fruition. He designed the product and produced all the graphics, animations, packaging and website. Going beyond by assisting in getting the product on the market. He’s dedicated, reliable and funny, a joy to work with.

Client

Rebecca Crowder

Bluedots Design

Testimonial

I first collaborated with Mike back in 2019. Since then, we have worked on a handful of projects together. Mike is excellent at all things design, from consumer products to branding. He is also one of the most passionate designers I know. His infectious enthusiasm makes him a pleasure to work with.

Client

Dr John Sykes

Prime Wellbeing - Director & Founder

Testimonial

Working with Mike is great! He is creative and adaptive, bringing my ideas to life, visually appealing and easy to understand. The project changed several times. Mike was always good at communicating, which resulted in a fantastic identity and website. Mike’s expertise in design is evident, and I see him as an incredibly valuable asset to any project he works on.

Client

Jess Miller

Sefin - Co-Founder

Testimonial

Mike has helped us bring our business and ideas to life. The time he spent understanding our target market, their needs, and our value proposition meant his creations were spot on. It feels like Mike is part of the team as he’s often sharing ideas or “thought this might be of interest” ideas with us. Mike is reliable, enthusiastic and knowledgeable. I recommend him for all aspects of design and business.

Client

Matt Hall

DEPT® - Senior Designer

Testimonial

Mike is great to bounce ideas off of and has great conceptual reasoning behind the ideas he brings to the table.

Client

Sarah Conrad (2)

Takecvr - Director & Founder

Testimonial

UK MIKE IS BADASS.

Client

Relish

Relish - Team

Testimonial

Having Mike onboard working with Relish has been a dream. He fits in very well with the team which is highly beneficial when creating work for us as he gets us, he gets our tone of voice and our personality as an agency. Because of this Mike has been producing amazing work for us for almost two years and is now currently helping us with a huge redesign project which we’re extremely happy is being led by him.

Client

Matt Furness

Click - Director & Founder

Testimonial

I’ve been impressed by Mike’s diverse skills in building a company’s brand and visual identity. I particularly appreciated how Mike challenged me so I didn’t settle for ‘good enough’ – instead, leading us to create something we can truly be proud of. Even after the project has officially ended, Mike continues to provide support to ensure that my company lands as it should.

Client

James McKeough

Narranomics - Director & Founder

Testimonial

Mike is a brilliant creative with a business mind and a disciplined focus. We started with a name for our process before it was a company or a product. Mike listened, learned, created, and iterated. We continue to grow together. He’s a pleasure to work with.

Creative credos

3D + 2D = MIKEiD

Raised in an inventive household and studying product design, my background is practical and 3D. Combined with my obsession with logos, especially how a logo can say so much with so little.
My innate interests combine product and identity design.

Spongelike curiosity

I’ve always been a “curious little bugger”, particularly fascinated by people and the products they use. Whether mechanical, digital or social, I always want to understand how something or someone works conceptually, if not functionally.

Whiteboards ≥ Artboards

As much as I like to make a coffee, put my AirPods in to tune out the world and get stuck into CAD. I prefer to solve problems with people in person as part of a multidisciplinary team. My favourite pastime is to create hypothetical (usually silly) solutions.

Beneficial not superficial

Passionate about designing things with purpose, I’m conscious about not just “making more stuff”. Call me a minimalist, but our modern lives are hectic, so helping people save time, purchase with intention and live more is important to me.

Less IS more

With a keen eye for detail and clarity, I’m always looking to simplify ideas to their most tangible size. If a kid can’t understand it, it’s not simple enough. This can’t always be done, but making an effort to organise and simplify things is something I take pride in.

Love words. Hate reading.

Lengthy paragraphs make me anxious. A believer in the benefits of succinct and personable copy, I enjoy working with people to scrutinise every word and see how fewer words can communicate an idea— even better if it can be done with wit.

Work

Experience

Independant designer

Freelance 11/2019 - current

Working with a variety of professionals, startups and businesses in; health, finance, education, sport and retail. Helping them to define, design and communicate their ideas. Combining product, identity and experience design.

CREW

Part-time 08/2020 - 06/2021

Defining a visual direction and developing unique ideas and experiences for a new sports fan-focused messenger. Creating an identity that worked seamlessly across product and communications. Also helping forge a brand strategy.

Relish

Freelance 04/2021 - Ongoing

Working on Relish’s identity, brand strategy and various design and illustration briefs. Developing our relationship to become design director, consulting on their offering and how to level up customer communications with digital experiences.

Superunion

Full-Time 06/2019 - 11/2019

Designing identities, creating campaigns and illustrating ideas for major brands. Focussing on ideas that champion a brand’s strategy, amplify its narrative and enable it to evolve. Working on projects for O2, Shelter, Nespresso, BBC, Equinor and WPP.

Monzo

Freelance 06/2021 - Ongoing

Consulting on Monzo’s identity-product relationship and brand strategy to help them continue to redefine banking. Also working on various design and communication briefs, including the narrative and design of the COO’s Wired Fest 2022 presentation.

Pearlfisher

Full-Time 10/2018 - 12/2018

Designing identities, packaging prototypes and creating campaigns for both existing and emerging companies in food, health and beauty. Working on projects for Wagamama, OTO, Nivea, and No7.

Inspirations

Design is an act of translation between business and consumer.

Henry Dreyfuss

A brand is not a logo, identity or product. It’s a person’s gut feeling about a product, service, or organization.

Marty Neuemeier

Design is really an act of communication, which means having a deep understanding of the person with whom the designer is communicating.

Donald A. Norman