Designing Digital Experiences & Identities
The Design Practice of David McGillivray
The Nue Co
eCommerce
Visual Language
Americana
Visual Identity
Digital Product
Momentous
Visual Identity
eCommerce
Packaging
Offhours
Visual Identity
eCommerce
Physical
Usual
Visual Identity
Packaging
eCommerce
Format
Visual Identity
Website
Petal
Visual Identity
Website
Card Design
Clever
Visual Identity
Publication
Archive
Visual Identity
Publication
2008—2022
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Selected Projects
More this way
The Design Practice of David McGillivray
I’m a Creative Director and Designer based in New York, and have spent the last fourteen years helping to bring brands to life through strategic design.
I’m a Creative Director and Designer based in New York,
and have spent the last thirteen years helping to bring brands to life through strategic design.
I don’t like too much fluff or clutter; I aim to make things that resonate with people using an executional style which is honest and direct. In a digital context that means working to overcome the default distance, half-life, and impersonal nature of interactions, in order to create things that are able to sit comfortably in their digital skin whilst still being able to connect deeply with their audience. The result is something that often leans minimal in appearance, but is filled with nuance and care in all the right places.
Regardless of what’s being designed, I believe it’s vital to never lose track of the concept. The message and its context,  must be woven into the fabric of every artifact of a design. The bezier of the button, how hot the flash is, the weave of the paper stock. What goes where, how often it’s said, and in how many words. Each executed with intention; an unquantifiable amount of decisions layered on top of one another to form the silhouette of a story. All the while shaping a final product that feels so simple it has an air of inevitability about it.
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Who I am
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I’m David McGillivray, and Studio DMCG Inc is my design practice. I’m a Creative Director and Designer based in New York, and have spent the last fourteen years helping to bring brands to life through strategic design.
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Where I'm From
I have a traditional design education, with a B.A. in Design from Brighton University, England. After spending several years designing at small boutique design firms in England, I moved to New York, and led design in-house at a variety of startups.
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What I Do
My real value comes from years of hands-on experience at a Creative Director level, both leading design in-house, and working independently with startups; uniquely positioning me to provide the kind of holistic design solutions that are typically expected to require a larger design firm.

I work directly with my clients, who normally hire me for:

→ Brand Identity Design
→ Digital Product / Web Design
→ eCommerce Design
→ Photography Direction

I work hands-on with projects, and only work with one client at a time, so that means I tend to look for larger, well-defined scopes that run over multiple weeks. I’m a generalist by design, well versed in taking a founding team’s vision and helping turn that into a living breathing entity, from identity through to digital experience.
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Who Hires Me
My clients are people who need an experienced, holistic thinking, director-level designer capable of executing across all aspects of design on a project. 

They have the business model and strategy nailed down, and know who their audience is, but need someone to craft the visual language around it in a thoughtful, strategic manner, and turn it into a polished brand experience. It’s also normally people that are willing to invest their budget in good design, but perhaps not the overheads and baggage that often comes with a traditional agency format.
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My Approach
I charge a flat fee, nail down a detailed scope, and agree on an accurate timeframe. So my clients know what they’re getting, when they’re getting it, and how much they're paying, before I move a pixel.

At every stage I aim to be as direct and straightforward as possible. My approach is pretty fast paced, practical, and relatively organic – I try not to get caught up in unnecessary process. I prioritize getting designs to a place that feels 'real', fast. So you have the context you need to see what's working and make decisions as quickly as possible.

When I’m designing I won’t waste your time or mine showing you a folder full of different sub-par design directions for the sake of it – you don’t need to see the blooper reel or half baked work just to meet an arbitrary design direction quota. Instead I’ll move thoughtfully and efficiently in the most appropriate directions, and iterate on the most successful version until we both agree it looks and feels right, and will perform as intended. Sometimes that might mean I'll share just one or two initial design directions, sometimes it's five or even six; I don't promise a number, it's a creative process after all. But whatever I do show you in that first meeting, I'll promise you you're getting my best work.
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My Track Record
While the aesthetic of design is important, it’s just as vital that my designs deliver real results. While I can’t claim sole credit for the numerous positive outcomes my clients have seen, smart and successful founders continue to tap me for a full range of design needs, and I’m humbled to be able to contribute towards their journey.

I worked on the core digital experience and app design for Care/Of; acquired by Bayer for $220 million, designed a brand and web overhaul for Reaction Commerce; acquired by Mail Chimp, the full web experience and digital visual language for Backdrop; acquired by F. Schumacher & Co, and a full brand, packaging, photo, and web experience for Knix; acquired by Essity for $320 million. I also designed Petal's brand identity, which has seen massive growth and is now valued at $800 million. My work with The Nue Co contributed to 500% growth in the last couple of years, as well as increased conversion rate and an AOV increase of 20%. I also designed the brand and web experience for new Architectural Digest vertical, Clever, which helped contribute to record-high traffic; an 80% year-over-year increase for the parent brand.
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What I Charge
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I work on a flat fee basis for projects, so I’ll quote you a single project price instead of an hourly rate. We'll agree on a project scope, and I'll assign it a timeline and a budget. That way you know what you're getting, when you're getting it, and how much it'll cost before I move a single pixel.

Most of the works showcased on this site took somewhere between 4—8 weeks to complete, and vary in cost. The scope of work, complexity of the problem, and a host of other influences are factored into my pricing, meaning every project is different. But as a general rule of thumb, most projects tend to start at ~$10k per week.
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Getting Started
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If you're interested in working together, or learning more about any of the above, the best thing to do is send me an email to hello@dmcg.co and tell me a little bit about you and your project (including rough timelines) upfront. If you have a project in mind that you think I’d be a good fit for, let’s talk!