Damien Girardi // Group Design Director

Team leader and designer working across product, brand, and experience with an emphasis on clarity and craft.

A young man wearing a trucker cap, gloves, and a jacket sitting at an outdoor table with a bottle of water, a smartphone, and napkins, with a scenic landscape in the background.

I lead multi-disciplinary teams to build digital products and brand experiences that feel as good as they function. As a Group Design Director, I bridge the gap between business strategy and high-fidelity execution—transforming complex client ambitions into precise, scalable realities.

My approach is rooted in asking the critical questions that define a project’s success before a single pixel is moved. From driving new business and executive-level presentations to mentoring the next generation of design leaders, my focus is on stripping away noise to find the sharpest solution. I foster the systems and culture where high-standard work is the only output, ensuring the team stays inspired and the vision stays intact from kickoff to launch.

Overview

Experience

Group Design Director // Dentsu Creative + Merkle // ’21 - Present

Leading the vision for complex digital products, activations and platforms while staying hands-on with the craft.

  • Scale: Architecting design systems and e-commerce platforms for global clients like Intel and Leading Hotels of the World.

  • Leadership: Mentoring cross-disciplinary global teams to maintain clarity and quality as projects grow.

  • Future: Integrating AI into the creative workflow to help teams explore, iterate, and deliver faster.

Creative Director // Isobar // ‘15—‘21

Directed the creative vision for a wide range of digital products, platforms, and global campaigns.

  • Range: Owned the visual thinking for everything from core digital products to early-stage VR and AR experiences.

  • Partnership: Bridged the gap between strategy and technology to turn early concepts into rigorous, functional design systems.

Associate Creative Director // Rosetta // ‘09—‘15

Brought in to strengthen conceptual thinking and raise the overall design bar across the agency.

  • Standard: Focused on high-level idea development and hands-on design to set a new benchmark for visual quality.

  • Growth: Mentored designers while contributing directly to the work, ensuring the "big idea" survived the production process.

Art Director // FCB // ‘00—‘09

Focused on the intersection of concept and execution for integrated digital and campaign work.

  • Systems: Translated complex ideas into clear visual systems and layouts across digital and traditional channels.

  • Collaboration: Partnered closely with writers and strategists to bring brand stories to life through clean, functional design.

Key Clients

Alliance Bernstein
American Express
Cisco
Dannon
Diageo
Enterprise Holdings
Gevalia
General Motors
Haleon
Honda Powersports
IMAX
Intel
Chase
Leading Hotels of the World
Lovesac
Merrick Bank
Metlife
Nickelodeon
Royal Caribbean
TDS Telecom
VF Corp.
Wells Fargo
Wyndham Hotels
Zildjian
Zwilling J.A. Henkels

Connect

Recharge

We all have things we do to fill our batteries back up. Here are a few of mine.

A person surfing on a wave in the ocean at dusk with a large, orange full moon in the sky.
Two hikers with backpacks standing on grassy field, overlooking mountains, waterfall, and cloudy sky.
A drum set with black drums and cymbals, an electric guitar leaning against the drums, a smaller orange guitar nearby, and sunlight casting shadows on a patterned rug.
A dog running and creating a splash in the deep snow, surrounded by snow-covered trees in a mountainous winter landscape.
Solid blue background.