EXECUTIVE CREATIVE DIRECTOR
TURNER DUCKWORTH
SAN FRANCISCO CA
Chris Garvey has worked at Turner Duckworth for 16 years. He has been integral working with such major global clients as the award-winning (D&AD Yellow Pencil, Grand Prix at Cannes) Coca-Cola, Sprite, Kraft, Visa, California Pizza Kitchen, Google; and emerging brands such as Dripp Coffee Bar and Dollar Shave Club.
He’s also overseen the rebrand of Samsung across multiple product divisions and through numerous mobile launch campaigns, including a branding and environmental design project for Samsung’s innovation space in New York, as well as multiple activations at retail and events. More recently, he partnered with the leadership of The Brotherhood Sister Sol to oversee their new visual identity in conjunction with the launch of their new home in Harlem.
Turner Duckworth, with offices in London, New York, and San Francisco, creates unmistakable designs for the world’s greatest brands. The agency’s work is simple, playful, and inherently social. Turner Duckworth creates distinctive brand expressions to ensure that every touchpoint cuts through the noise and places brands top of mind across media and culture. The agency’s designs have won over 600 awards in ten years, and appear in the Clio Hall of Fame.
Looking forward, are you optimistic about the role of graphic design in business and society?
Very. Graphic Design is often mislabeled as the implementation of an idea versus the solving of a challenge. We need to think about how to make a brand timeless over years, while also relevant and dynamic day-by-day. This requires vision, patience, and nimbleness: all of which are skills that are relevant far beyond the color of your logo — and clients are seeing that.
Have the challenges of the past two years changed the way you approach your work?
Communication has to be intentional. To reach across faulty technology, various time zones, and different personal experiences is effortful: it’s not something you can half-ass. Also, pressures have urged people to say “I’m not okay.” In some work cultures, those three words could signal professional failure, but now there is an understanding. There’s emotional intelligence in the current dialogue, and I hope that being clearer and more empathetic communicators will generate clearer and more empathetic communication design.
