Profile
Bio
30+ years experience in the design and brand identity industry. I have worked on both sides, corporate, in-house and on the agency side. My experience has transcended through graphic brand identity to digital and social narrartives on projects in technology, fashion and lifestyle from start-ups to long established brands.
Central Saint Martins College of Art - Master of Arts
Ravensbourne College of Art - Bachelor of Arts
1982 - 1986
My early days were spent in growing up in London. At Art college studied graphic design and was particularly interesting in the growing phenomenon of Global Design as a new design thinking on the global homogenisation of products and designing for cultural differences. Graduating with a B.A Honours degree I joined Philips Design in the Netherlands.
Philips Design - Graphic Design Manager
1986 - 1990
I joined Philips Design in 1986 in the Netherlands, working internationally in the Communications and Packaging department. This job took me to many part of the world understanding the diversity of customer needs and desires.
Advertising Art Director Two's Company Vienna
1990 - 1995
In 1990 I moved to Vienna to start up a new agency. As Art Director worked on accounts for Ahold (Manna) Hungarian Tourist Board, Austrian Olympic Committee and Philips.
During this time I was introduced to Interactive Media and started producing deskop interactive presentations. Returning to Eindhoven I developed a number of award winning CDi interactive presentations for Philips, Werndl and the ABN AMRO Bank.
Cool.nl - Creative Director/Founder
1995 - 1999
At the beginning of the internet age I co-started my own Internet design company, one of the first in the Netherlands called Cool.nl - Communication online. With a small team we built the first generation sites for sports fashion brands such as O'Neill. Swatch and Adidas while also created the first ever ABN AMRO bank site.
In 1999, the company was sold to Twinspark in a move for growth and technical support.
Twinspark/Agency.com - Creative Director
1999 - 2001
As Creative Director for Twinspark, and then Agency.com I managed a creative team within the internet agency while winning pitches on corporate scale internet projects for KLM, ING Bank, Praxis and Intergamma.
Lost Boys - Executive Creative Director
2001 - 2002
I joined Lost Boys as Executive Creative Director. Lost Boys grew fast to 600 people in the internet boom years. It was one of the most well known internet companies in Europe with offices in Amsterdam, Berlin, London, Paris and Barcelona.
Philips Design - Digital Creative Director
2003 - 2005
Returning to Philips Design in 2003 to assist on the first Sense and Simplicity Philips Global website while managing all internet related projects for the division Consumer Electronics.
Creative Director/Founder
2005 - present
Started CMK1 with Marjo Kranenborg in 2005 with a focus on content and branding for the fashion industry. As a boutique agency with knowledge on fashion marketing and the early days of online shopping CMK1 worked for well-known high street brands as well as start-up dutch fashion brands. Fashion was not the only focus also working across many different sectors such as wellness, food, online privacy, downloadable design and upcycling that made CMK1 a strong creative and strategic partner for startups and brands looking to innovate. In 2013 Marjo Kranenborg left CMK1.
In 2014, CMK1 went virtual. No office, no location. Working in the cloud together with a core team of specialists. This has continued to this day working with the best creators from all over the globe.
In 2020, cmk1.com merged in cathalmckee.com - after a few years of development and testing I am proud to offer independent creative director services with a cloud team of specialists.
