My approach
Dream
I’ll work with your team to establish a brief with clear objectives, present an approach to how we might tackle the project, get agreement on project initiation and off we go.
I can facilitate or help shape the development of strategies or visions, or I can work with existing strategies and ensure the brief is anchored in these.
For brand and campaign work, we also agree what success looks like: the audience, the change we want to see and how we’ll know.
Discover
Whether it’s an exploration day or a complex mixed-method research piece running for a month or more, discovery is essential for getting a bird’s-eye view of the landscape or taking a deep dive into a particular issue.
I can employ a wide range of design research techniques, conducting research, leading or collaborating with researchers to uncover the insights needed for a correct understanding of the problem, of the users and the market.
I can synthesise and suggest opportunity areas or can facilitate collaborative approaches to find agreement on defined areas of action.
For brand and campaigns, discovery covers how audiences and the market see you today, so positioning and message rest on evidence.
Do
I’m just as much of an ideas person as a facilitator of ideation, nourishing creativity within teams or communities.
I then make prototypes, lead evaluation and help teams decide on the right solution(s) to be brought forward.
My delivery approach for products and services can range from working in build-test-iterate cycles to creating closed and open pilots or developing a programme of continuous improvement towards, and after reaching, specific milestones.
For brand and campaigns, I develop the identity or concept, produce the assets, test them with real people and hand over what your team needs to carry on.
My background
Sebastian Heroiu
Founder, Creative Director, Designer
I have 30 years of design expertise, spanning media, culture, tech, public services, education, FMCG, finance and retail.
I worked for Macmillan Cancer Support, John Lewis and the BBC, leading teams of up to 17 designers. I drove initiatives like Trust, Democracy and Elections reaching an audience of 97 million, co-led the BBC News identity refresh, and helped launch a new online shop for John Lewis, contributing to 9.9% year-on-year online sales growth.
I established Heroic as a design agency back in the early 2000s, leading a team that designed websites for Pizza Hut and KFC, and identity and print materials for startups and educational institutions like the Open University.
I sold my first logo design in 1996, when I was 16 years old.