Profile
Email
david@arcadia.cx
Current Locations
London / Bangkok
Status: [ March-April 2023 ]
Available / Locked / Loaded


"As far as I'm concerned, it's a damned shame that a field as potentially dynamic & vital as design has been overrun with advertising dullards, corporate bums, wasted hacks; hag-ridden with myopia, apathy, corporeal complacence & generally stuck in a bog of stagnant mediocrity.


The Long ‘84: Radical Design & Reactionary 𝒶∂𝓿e𝐑𝔱𝔦ⓢเ𝐧g
BANGKOK | JAN 2564BE [ Heavily Edited, due a fresh rant … ]
NEW PORTFOLIO LAUNCH & INTRODUCTION
I’m David; a Graphic Designer from London. Not as pretty as this AI-generated masterpiece of deception here, apologies. But I am a spirit for connecting the dots around 21st-century economics, art x design & the third culture; also known as the edge. I come with a Planetary Ethos & Design Values for the 21st Century. My craft ranges from digital design to street action & experimental art direction + subvertising, rhyming. Please read on & get in touch! Cheers. David has been a multi-disciplined visual communicator for +15 years. Once it was for high-profile criminal advertising & service design agencies; the espionage days & unacknowledged legislation since; the burden became design anarchy, corporeal war, hexing the patriarchy on my short breaks; contributing disruptive works to art collectives, independent unions, workers’ co-ops & aligning with industry insiders who are working to reshape the creative field to tackle climate change & the corporatisation of everyday life – converging on radical design, cultural interventions, education, public awareness, conservation, social impact, fundraising, anti-profit, reclamation, journalism, information design & humanitarian aid. Committed to providing access to professional design for those who couldn’t otherwise afford it, but would benefit immensely from its application. Supporting unfunded activist groups, mutual aid networks & radical libertarian projects for Zerofee or Radical Exchange programs. I’ve been an activist all my life, but was drawn into a life of corporate crime from an early age, combating the apathy towards values in design that has previously dominated the industry, including a deep dystopic understanding of the impacts advertising & consumerist ideology has had on human, community & planetary well-being. Diverse skillset ranges: a history of ideas, leading design in cross-functional teams at once nobel innovation-led agencies, concepting, designing & delivering International Creative Campaigns & Multi-Platform Interactive Experiences. Now rejecting (or rewiring) briefs that fail to meet the challenges & championing projects that have a beneficial ecological impact. Using lasting & democratic forms of communication, holding wayward corporations to account & all-out metamemetic insurrection. Even wild visions, like a paradigm shift towards a #truecost marketplace of the future; where the price of every product tells the ecological truth
Join us as we take down Big Tech. Clean up the toxic areas of our mental environment. Reverse the upward flow of wealth. Punish every corporation that betrays the public trust. Hold corrupt politicians accountable. Wake up a thoughtless, complacent culture. Fight the psychological takeover of the all-seeing advertising–surveillance industry. Quit following & retweeting . . . start thinking, speaking & acting for ourselves. Our aim is to catalyze a sudden unexpected moment of truth, a stunning reversal of perspective — a global mind shift — from which the corpo-consumerist forces never fully recover. Join us . . . & fuck up every system that keeps you from living your dreams
Disruption is not about making loads of money from the newest, most ‘disruptive’ technology out there, it’s not about winning customers, clicks & clients.
& making radical change.
Expertise
Consulting & Collaboration
Activism & Climate Design
Visual Research & Development
Aesthetics & Visual Language
XR & Cross Reality Experiences
User Interface & Interaction
Service Design Thinking & Tools
Design Ops & Management
Brand Strategy / Creative Direction / Visual Identity Design / Print Design / Web Design / Infographics / Interior / Spatial Branding / Signage & Navigation / Packaging / Installations / Exhibition Design / Social Media / Photography / Editorial & Copywriting / Presentations Decks / Experiential
Campaigns, Partnerships,
Freelance History
& Rare Press
2006 – present
Only various honourable outfits more recently. But plenty of organised crime syndicates in the past & more than a few straight-up criminal corporations.

STMKTSBVTR
Street Market Subvertiser
Propaganda Brigada / Tee Merchant
Campaigns:
Coke #ZEROPROGRESS #TRUECOST
D&AD x Burger King: HYPE
TED x Shell: #STOPCAMBO
Nike: #PAYYOURWORKERS
McDonald’s x DDB
Burger King x D&AD
Press:
Topia / XR Lambeth / Badvertising / Hyperallergic / DesignBoom / Fanpage.it / Euronews
Guardian / Independent / Mirror / The Drum 1, 2 / Campaign 1, 2 / AdWeek / It’s Nice That

Brandalism
STMKTSBVTR ( Official Artist )
Brandalism is an international collective of artists and activists that confront the power of big business and their public relations advertising. Intervening into ad spaces that usually celebrate consumption
Campaigns:
TOYOTA & BMW GREENWASH // 2023
The & Partnership x Toyota
#BeyondZero #BanFossilAds
#BrusselsMotorShow
AIRLINES + AIRPORTS // 2022 (Amsterdam)
Omnicom x AirFrance / VCCP x EasyJet / Dentsu x KLM / Ogilvy x British Airways
AD AGENCIES 2021 (UK Wide)
Ogilvy x BP
BARCLAYS #FOSSILBANKS // 2021 (UK Wide)
BarclaysAGM

Arcadia.cx
Reactionary Advertising Consultancy
Landlord / Creative Art Director
Recent Projects:
XRSM2 / the subvertising manual [Demo]
Meaning Guild / reclaiming the streets
Corporation Killers / brandalising recruitment

AA
Field Op. / Lead Rapscallion
Advertisers Anonymous is a revolt against the corporate control of the creative industry. A non-attributed drop for advertisers by subvertisers.
Subvertising / Strictly Post-Corporate
Radical Exchange & Zerofee
Brandalism / Meaning Guild / AA Advertisers Anonymous / Adbusters / AdFreeCities
Rebel Alliance & Family Affairs
Ready to kick corporate arse / Fight Club / Old Friends
Don’t Cry Wolf / Art Disrupt / Comms Declare / Fossil Ad Ban / TFMedia / NoSweat.org.uk / Clean Clothes Campaign / Coral Sea Foundation / Sobah & Good Beer Co. / Aspect Works HK DL / OOH (Indept. NTKB) / The Planet Calls IRE CAD / MWA Moving Water Alliance SA CAD / PACS Animal Care For Strays TH / Oikos Ecological (Volunteer) IN / Kamala Healing Centre TH / RealRootsRadio PTR / Cardboardboss Collective
Various / post-espionage & ex-pat years
Off-grid deals & unacknowledged projects
WeAreNativ DL / Nimit Nation (Metaverse) TH / Tula Developments TH PT / Community Finance NZ / Dark Horse Empire TH PTR / Mesoestetic Pharma Group (Dermalink) (Indept.) TH DL / Amed Clinic (Indept.) TH DL / European Bartender School TH / Siamese Projects TH DD / Autotech TH PTR / Thai Red Cross Society TH / John Lowin DL / Manything DL / Bootleg Brothers Brewing Co. TH DD / FFSI Foundation For Sports Integrity DD / Neptune PR DD / Rover Travel AUS PT / Glenelg Golf Club AUS / First Contact WW PTR / Numadic / DCCPER IN&CA DD / WeAreREP DD / Archipelago Brewery (Heineken Asia Pacific) (Indept.) DL / Elements CBD PTR / Lockdown Festival / Kitty’s Kombucha / Gaping Void (2014 Email Feature)
F-list Advertising & Service Design Agencies, Multinationals & Dirty Dozen Brands
Freelance Contract, written in blood …
TheTin / Sky Creative (Indept.) / COPA90 (Indept.) / Volkswagen Financial Services (Indept.) DL / Fjord & Accenture / iD Experiential (Indept.) / IncrediBull / Weapon7 (Indept.) DL – Campaign / Hometown (Truant) (Indept.) DL / RGA / Isobar Dentsu / AKQA / RKCR Y&R (VMLY&R) DL / Saint / Saatchi & Saatchi / Publicis Chemistry / Holler / McCann Erickson / TBG Digital / CNN (Turner Broadcasting System) (Indept.) DL / Langland (Fulltime) / FRUKT / Myspace (Indept.) / Lycos (Indept.) / Rainmaker (Indept.) / Momentum Worldwide (Fulltime) / Universal McCann Runner / Mother Runner
Adidas / Alamy / RedBull DL / Nike / Uber / Heineken / Etihad / VW / Lloyds / Rekorderlig / Severn Trent Water / Marks & Spencer / Unilever / Skype / Swatch DL / Kopperberg DL / Bacardi, Bombay Sapphire & Grey Goose DL / Vodafone / RAC / Christies / Orange & T-Mobile (EE) / Pfizer / Bayer / AstraZeneca / Novocure / Windows Mobile / Eurosport DL / Castrol / Converse / Coca-Cola / Boots / Microsoft / Nestlé / Ministry of Sound / Various Others
Key: Design Partner PTR | Creative Art Director CAD | Design Director DD | Design Lead DL | Visual Designer
Tech Stack
Core stuff I use most days & nights









References
Nice things mateys said

Network / Education Systems Comparison
The Good.

FTFM Manifesto
Republished three times in an effort to combat a complacent industry & probably the most important document in modern design history
1964 2000 ‘14 ’20

Creatives for Climate
Activist creatives practicing radical collaboration to drive meaningful change.
2022 – Present

Adfree Cities
A network of groups resisting billboards & corporate outdoor advertising
2020 – Present

Clean Creatives
Bringing together leading agencies, their employees, and clients to address the ad and PR industry’s work with fossil fuels
2021 – Present

Activism
Past, Present & Future
2021 – Present

Climate Designers
Providing the knowledge, skills & professional network for designers to take climate action
2021 – Present

Dog Section Press
Book Thrower
2018 – Present

DOPEⒶ Newspaper
Reader / Patron
2018 – Present

Adbusters Media Foundation
Reader / Writer to
2001 – Present

Brandalism
α яєνσℓт αgαιиѕт тнє ¢σяρσяαтє ¢σитяσℓ σf ¢υℓтυяє αи∂ ѕρα¢є.
2021 – Present

Advertisers Anonymous
Field Op, Skittles Collectorrr.
2022 – Present

Industrial Workers of the World
So why did the ad industry never unionise? and what does it mean for subvertisers everywhere …
2009 – Present

Black Cat
Craven Ⓐ … it all started at a cigarette factory.
2013 – Present
тнє νєяу вα∂ & υgℓу.
D&AD
Judge Dread: Olde Blood
’07 – Present [ Unofficial & Luvin’ it ]
Advertisers should be banned from creative education. But Design & Advertising Direction hand out speculative briefs celebrating consumption to students from the biggest polluters out there, Burger King, Disney, Volkswagen you name it & Devils & Advertising Directors have been their advocates. They award the most toxic brands & advertising agencies in the lands multiple times, sticking pencils up their arses for corporate targets while claiming to be some kind of respectable charity. Mateys, they are about as charitable as a nail in a f’bankers coffin. The leadership at D&AD must be challenged & drop their commitments to celebrating consumption, stop awarding corporate criminals & quit focusing their program on briefs from big polluters. Burger King became the most awarded brand of 2020 thanks to D&AD. They champion filthy rich multinational companies instead of solidarity with the financially challenged across the world who need creative support. They are loaded with advertising agencies who work with fossil fuel monsters & clients who invest in weapons. They endorse the corporatisation of design instead of holding corporations to any kind of account. They consistently fail to answer the call to help those who actually need support from the creative community & they have plugged the corporate capitalist agenda since 1962. They are a disgrace to the whole design industry. They bloody hand out golfer’s glass to the corporate creative class like random apple tarts.
“I hate to advocate drugs, alcohol, sex, or insanity to anyone, but they’ve always worked for me”. — HST

Graphic Communications
BA Hons. [ 2:2 ]
UCA
2004 – 2007
When I was there the course was rotten to the core, like hanging around a corpse at lectures. Turning creative folks into an industry hoax, sending designers to polluted advertising factories like D&AD. An expensive & badly delivered design education, I got a sweet as fuck 2:2 degree classification diploma in Graphic Communications. My final major was called ‘Wish I Was Green’ & in the end I was, I wanted to vomit all over my project but they took a liking to my typography & entered me into D&AD. Memories of endless debts & a bankrupt student union while the government continues to bail out banks & renew trident every year. But I got smashed, high as a kite & met the best mates of my life. One night I even got nailed by my course leader the same day she had given me an [ F ] – was it the guilt or the cocaine, maybe both. I didn’t attend the graduation ceremony & moved to London with a clear understanding of why the corporatisation of everyday life has poisoned the education systems of young creative tribes.
Skillset / Agenda
Ethnography & Empathy
Philanthropy & Critical Thinking
Research & Creative Strategy
Service Design Thinking
Personas, Identities & Source
Information Architecture & Flow
Memetics & Cultural Evolution
Treasure Trails, Guide & Cryptics
Graphic Identity Development
Design Systems & Patterns
Digital, Printed & New Media
Rapid Prototyping & Devices
Narrative, Grid, Layout & Escape
The Lost Logos, Words & Symbols
A History Of Ideas & Connections
Future Realities & Spiritual Techno

Travel


Artifacts
Videos of Night
Critical Theory

For many centuries and in many cultures, jesters recited tales of heroic exploits. But they did more than simply recount past events–they amused, cajoled, and spun tales that transported listeners to the edge of mysterious, unmapped territories. Through the transformative power of play and the imagination they reworked what was already understood, and created from it new realities that transcended the established order. The author maintains that such imaginative play is vital to creativity in any medium and is fundamental for optimal human development. She explores possibilities for cultivating creativity through the playful, paradoxical stance of the jester–a serendipitous and purposeful, strange and familiar, disruptive and productive figure. Her discussion, grounded in a visual-arts practice that leverages uncertainty and randomness, considers the role of play in light of its wider implications for knowledge and creativity.
At What Cost?
By Adfree Cities — June 2021
The impacts of advertising and consumerism on human, community and planetary well-being
Despite the advertising industry’s increasingly desperate efforts to distract us from the reality behind their shiny slogans, more and more of us are waking up to the colossal damage being done by the cult of consumerism. We are realising that far from being a benign or even neutral presence in our lives, big brand advertising has profound and far-reaching consequences for our individual, collective and planetary health. Advertising claims to help us to make choices. But in truth it does the opposite of that, using highly sophisticated techniques to manipulate us into buying more and more stuff. We’re all affected by advertising, whether we like it or not. By accepting this we can start to find ways to address the hold that advertising has over us, and steer ourselves onto a better path. At What Cost? will prove to be an essential companion on this path. Elizabeth Harrop’s thoroughly researched and meticulously referenced guide tackles the big problems with advertising in a new and bold way, using the framework of international human rights law. Harrop brings together evidence on the multiple rights violations perpetrated by advertising and associated excessive consumption, and shows why we should all be paying much more attention to the pervasiveness of advertising in our lives.
Do Good Design
By David B. Berman FGDC, R.G.D. — January 2009
With a foreword by Erik Spiekermann
How Designers Can Change The World
How does design help choose presidents? How has design thinking positioned the world’s most valuable companies? Why does the U.S. economy struggle to compete? Why do we really have an environmental crisis? Design matters. Like never before. Design creates so much of what we see, what we use, and what we experience. In a time of unprecedented environmental, social, and economic crises, designers must choose what their young profession will be about: inventing deceptions that encourage more consumption – or helping repair the world. This book alerts us to the role design plays in persuading global audiences to fulfill invented needs. The book then outlines a sustainable approach to both the practice and the consumption of design. All professionals will be inspired by the message of how we can feel better and do better while holding onto our principles. In a time where anything has become possible, design thinking offers a way forward for us all. Today, everyone is a designer. And the future of civilization is our common design project.

