Nic Fitzgerald

Senior Digital Designer — UI/UX · WebAR · Web · Motion

I’ve been a digital designer since 1999. I started out in the BBC’s Creative Services department, where for six years I was Promo Director, designing more than a hundred promotional and advertising campaigns for BBC programmes right across the corporation, from Drama and Sport to CBeebies. Since going freelance in 2007 I’ve worked mainly on brand-driven campaigns for London ad agencies, games companies and broadcasters. Alongside campaign work I’ve specialised in storytelling through digital displays, and done a good deal of UI, UX and web design, most recently WebAR experiences at Blippar, Swedbank’s digital brand guidelines at Landor & Fitch and PizzaExpress’s digital redesign at Truant. My education is in fine art and illustration, but professionally I’ve always worked at the technical end of design: coding, motion and building what I design.

Experience

Jan 2024
London (hybrid)

Senior Designer, UI/UX & Web

Sportingtech

Sportingtech is a global B2B iGaming platform (sportsbook and casino) with several international brands. I design and build its websites and campaign landing pages, and own the UI, UX and visual assets from first layout to launch.

  • Design and build marketing websites in WordPress with Elementor, and lead-generation landing pages in Unbounce
  • Design the digital advertising that drives traffic to those pages, keeping message and visual language consistent from ad to landing page
  • Set up, test and debug conversion tracking so campaign performance can be measured reliably
Feb 2023 - Dec 2023
London

Senior Designer, UI/UX

Leo Burnett

Freelancing for Leo Burnett since 2017, usually on its more niche website and digital display projects.

  • Redesigned the UI and UX of leoburnett.co.uk and built a bespoke WordPress theme to deliver it
  • Designed and built a Ramadan campaign for Morrisons with time-aware ad serving: food ads were withheld during daylight fasting hours and served only after sunset
Feb 2023 - Apr 2023
London

Senior Designer, UX/UI & Motion

Tractable

An AI company whose computer-vision products assess vehicle and property damage for insurers. I raised the quality and consistency of the product UI and visual assets.

  • Designed product-suite diagrams and explanatory graphics
  • Created static and animated SVG illustration and iconography
May 2022 - Dec 2022
London

Senior Designer, UI/UX & Digital Brand Guidelines

Landor & Fitch

On the Swedbank account I contributed UI, layout and UX to the final stages of the bank’s digital brand guidelines, taking the existing site and guidelines to the next level.

  • Designed fintech UI assets, layouts and animation for Swedbank’s digital channels
  • Explored digital layout systems and expressive scenes for the layout briefs
Sep 2021 - Mar 2022
London

Senior Digital Designer, UX/UI & Concept

Blippar

At Blippar’s in-house creative studio I designed browser-based AR (WebAR) campaigns for brands in the US, Australia and the UK, end to end: pitch, ideation, proposal decks, user flows, wireframes, prototypes and delivery.

  • NatWest MoneySense: three AR money games for 5–8 year olds (Sell, Save and Spend)
  • Halo Elevate: a life-size AR dog and four-path content hub for a super-premium pet food launch
  • Fanta × Coles (Australia): a 60-second AR road-trip game tied to an instant-win promotion — game design, all visual assets and sound
  • Concepts and proposals for Hill’s, Conagra, Johnson & Johnson, Lacoste and Dan Murphy’s
Mar 2021 - Aug 2021
London

Senior UX/UI Designer, PizzaExpress Digital Redesign

Truant

Led the UI and UX for PizzaExpress’s first complete digital redesign since 2006, launched 21 June 2021 — in practice a design from scratch.

  • Led UI and UX across the whole estate: pizzaexpress.com and Milano, digital and online menus, Click & Collect, Order and Pay at Table, gift cards, HTML email and receipts
  • Designed end-to-end journeys such as Order at Table, from finding a restaurant to paying
  • Authored the Digital Consistency guidelines: navigation, logo placement, CTA hierarchy, modals, menus, headers and footers
Jan 2021 - Mar 2021
London

Senior Motion Designer

AKQA

Motion and graphic design for a World Gold Council campaign encouraging Gen Z to invest in physical gold.

  • Animation for HTML5 display and video in every format
  • After Effects, Adobe Animate and code-driven GSAP animation
Mar 2019 - Jul 2020
Cambridge

Senior Digital Designer, Creative Services

Jagex

Concepted and delivered player-acquisition and re-engagement campaigns for RuneScape 3 and Old School RuneScape, from first idea to final build.

  • Archaeology skill launch, Double XP, Slayer Safari, “Here’s to the Year”, OSRS app-install ads and Twitch Prime artwork
  • Combined hand-painted key art and in-game capture, brought to life with GSAP animation
  • Published HTML5 and AMPHTML across Celtra, Google App Campaigns and Campaign Manager; site takeovers and localised YouTube spots (EN, DE, FR)
  • Trained and mentored junior designers in campaign design, builds and campaign management
Jul 2018 - Mar 2019
London

Senior Digital Designer & Developer

Leo Burnett

Two contracts (Jul–Aug 2018 and Feb–Mar 2019): HTML5 display campaigns and site takeovers for McDonald’s, Škoda and Centrum, taking OOH and print campaigns into animated, interactive and video formats on quick turnarounds.

  • Led the digital side of the McDonald’s account in 2018
  • Node, Gulp, SCSS and GSAP build workflow
Sep 2018 - Jan 2019
London

Senior Digital Designer & Developer

McCann (Craft)

At Craft, McCann’s production arm, I designed, animated and built display campaigns from storyboard to delivery for Purina Felix, eBay (including its FFM ad platform) and Xbox.

Apr 2018 - Jul 2018
London

Senior Digital Designer (contracts)

Ogilvy · Wellcom · Design People

A run of short contracts.

  • Ogilvy: launch display campaign for VOXI, Vodafone’s youth brand, solved with SVG assets and SVG animation
  • Wellcom: standard and rich-media display for Citroën, Canon and HomeAway via Adform, plus Google dynamic creative
  • Design People: responsive front end for Centrica’s SharePoint intranet
Jul 2017 - Mar 2018
London

Digital Lead

WCRS (Engine)

Brought in to set up a digital design capability in a TV- and print-led agency. Responsible for all digital output, from DoubleClick display to DOOH motion.

  • Sky Broadband × Despicable Me 3: motion and static ads for digital TV, VOD, WeTransfer takeovers and rail, Underground and roadside screens
  • Bespoke animation and vector illustration for E.ON and Artemis
  • Digital work for Purina, NOW TV, the RAF, Santander, Nescafé and HMRC
Sep 2016 - May 2017
London

Senior Digital Designer & Front-end Developer

Freedman International

Hand-coded HTML5 rich media for Electronic Arts titles including Titanfall 2, UI and UX flows for Fitbit’s iPhone apps, and DOOH motion.

  • 2017: vector illustration and infographics on electric vehicles for E.ON, at Partners Andrews Aldridge
Apr 2011 - Sep 2016
London

Senior Digital Designer & Developer (own company)

Antiweb Ltd

Freelanced through my own company while online advertising moved from Flash to HTML5 — often the specialist agencies brought in to make that move.

  • Designed, built and managed brand-led rich-media campaigns through DoubleClick Studio, Adform and Sizmek
  • Flash games, 3D models (3ds Max), broadcast-quality video and vector illustration
Aug 2010 - Feb 2011
Knightsbridge, London

Head of Interactive & Principal ActionScript Developer

RMG Connect (JWT)

Creative and technical lead of an interactive department of up to 20 designers and Flash developers, mainly on HSBC across EMEA. Mentored the design and creative-development teams.

Feb 2007 - Jun 2010
London

Interactive designer, ActionScript developer & 3D specialist

Digitas · Imagination · Dare · BORN · Y&R · Proximity · Pod1

A run of agency roles building Flash sites, interactive TV, 3D and installations.

  • Imagination: gesture-controlled and motion-tracking installations and an AR video wall for Shell
  • Digitas: ActionScript frameworks for Shell and Nakheel; Dare: Flash display for Barclays
  • BORN: sites, 3D and interactive experiences for Reiss, Kurt Geiger and Uniqlo
  • Proximity: Flash sites for P&G, the British Council, RNLI and NME
Jun 2006 - Feb 2007
London

Senior Interactive Designer

Wunderman

Interactive TV and online display for Land Rover and Microsoft.

May 2001 - Jun 2006
London W12

Promo Director

BBC Creative Services / Red Bee Media

Led the digital promo team, designing, building and managing brand-led campaigns across online and interactive TV.

  • Trained and mentored junior designers in interactive design, animation and campaign production
  • Flash and Director games and promotions for bbc.co.uk: BBC Three launch, Walking with Beasts, Blue Planet, Wimbledon, Winter Olympics
  • Led all BBC display advertising for Radio 1, BBC Sport, CBBC, CBeebies, BBC Three and BBC Four
  • Worked on early BBC iPlayer prototypes, and designed and modelled the BBCi remote control used in BBC footage for a decade

Education

Jan 1992 - Jan 1995
Critical Fine Art Practice

Central Saint Martins, University of the Arts London

BA in Critical Fine Art Practice
Jan 1995 - Jan 1998
Fine Art, Studio Painting

Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Arts in Belgrade

MA in Fine Art, Studio Painting
Jan 1989 - Jan 1991
Fine Art, Sculpture

Faculty of Fine Arts, University of Montenegro

BA (Hons) in Fine Art, Sculpture

GPA: First

Skills

Design

UIUX flowsWireframes & prototypesDesign systems & guidelinesArt directionTypographyIllustration

Motion

After EffectsAnimateRiveGSAPSVG animation3ds MaxTouchDesignerWebAR

Build

HTML5CSS/SCSSJavaScriptWordPress/ElementorUnbounceHTML emailConversion tracking

Tools

FigmaAdobe CCGoogle Web DesignerDoubleClick Studio / Campaign Manager 360CeltraAdform

Leadership

Team leadershipMentoring & trainingCreative directionClient presentations

Projects

Jan 2021

PizzaExpress — Digital Consistency

UI and UX for the brand’s first full redesign since 2006. I wrote its Digital Consistency guidelines.

Jan 2021 - Jan 2022

NatWest MoneySense — WebAR money games

Three AR games teaching 5–8 year olds to sell, save and spend.

Jan 2022

Fanta × Coles — AR road-trip game

A 60-second WebAR game tied to an instant-win promotion. I did the game design, the assets and the sound.

Jan 2021

Halo — Elevate

A life-size AR dog and content hub for the launch of a super-premium pet food.

Jan 2017

Sky Broadband × Despicable Me 3

Motion and static ads for TV, VOD, WeTransfer and rail and Underground screens.

Jan 2018

McDonald’s — Digital displays

HTML5 display campaigns and site takeovers.

Jan 2019 - Jan 2020

RuneScape — Twitch Prime & Archaeology

Key art, HTML5 display and a full site takeover for the Archaeology skill launch; Twitch Prime artwork.

South Western Railway — 40-foot OOH video

Motion for a 14:1 digital screen, plus escalator panels on the Underground.

Awards

Best Interactive Promo — Gold

BBC Creative Services / Red Bee Media

For an interactive online promotion produced for the BBC.

Best Online Interactive Promotion — Silver

BBC Creative Services / Red Bee Media

For an online interactive promotion produced for the BBC.

Certificates

DoubleClick Studio HTML5 Certification

Google

Google Web Designer Fundamentals

Google

Languages

English — Full professionalSerbian / Croatian — Native or bilingual