Coenraad Sutton is a brand communication designer & educator based in Johannesburg, South Africa.
Since 2014, Coenraad has been a partner at UNKNOWN Design Agency, helping B2B companies and startups build brands through brand strategy, visual identity & communication design, and website design & development.
Creative portfolio below from UNKNOWN Design Agency.
1985 – 2003
Early life
My high school years were completed at Upington, whereafter I moved to Pretoria for my studies. I have fond memories of my curious childhood in Namibia and quiet teenage years at Upington.
2004 – 2007
Tertiary education
BA Information Design, University of Pretoria
Although the decision to study in Pretoria at 18 was daunting, it changed my life. During this time, I particularly enjoyed and excelled at projects focusing on typography, illustration and animation. I chose to complete two internships in Johannesburg at Vinyl animation studio and web design agency Trigger Communications, respectively.
Notes
I was the proud recipient of the award for the highest marks in Design for the class of 2007. This opened many doors and made the design industry even more accessible, connecting me with creatives I keep in touch with to this day.
2008 – 2011
Digital agency
After a brief stint in animation, I was asked to join the digital agency Trigger (now Isobar), and stayed for 3 years.
I was fortunate to work with an amazing team and contributed to work that won numerous awards, including Grand Prix and Gold Loeries. Under the mentorship of Gustav Greffrath (now Futura Agency), my experience at Trigger helped form the groundwork for my design thinking process.
Responsibilities and gained experience
Starting as a junior designer, I focused primarily on campaign collateral rollout across digital and print environments for the first two years. This taught me to work fast and efficient. I was given more design responsibility in my third year at the company, which I enjoyed immensely.
Notable work
Coca-Cola 2010 website design, various Nike and Nike Women campaign work, Cell C website design and design maintenance, Woolworths Ecommerce website design for launch, Jägermeister SA website design, Estée Lauder social campaign design, Red Bull campaign design and video production.
I also contributed to Nike and iJusi Magazine in private capacity as illustrator during this period.
2011 – 2013
Advertising
DDB & Hellocomputer
I joined DDB in 2011 as digital art director and moved to Hellocomputer as senior designer in 2012. Advertising connected me with exceptional creative talent like Stephan Zimelka, Sarita Immelman from Fresh Helga and Kerry Friend, all contributing to my creative growth in different ways.
Work done for Toyota won, amongst others, Loeries, Bookmarks and Webby awards, as well as FWA Site Of The Day.
Responsibilities and gained experience
My time in advertising taught me that the onus is on you to know where and how to focus. Whereas I was quite sheltered from clients at Trigger, DDB and Hellocomputer forced me out of my comfort zone. I was responsible to conceptualise and create work for campaigns, and in certain cases present to client as well.
I quickly figured out that my experience gained in advertising would benefit me greatly in personal capacity, and I decided to start freelancing with Linel Louw (late 2013).
Notable work
Toyota website campaign work for Etios, Converse website design, Honda website and app design.
2014 –
Unknown
Design Agency
After freelancing with Linel under alias ‘Claudia’ for a year, UNKNOWN Design Agency was registered in 2014. Linel and I are the participating director / designers today and outsource work we cannot accommodate in-house.
The studio specializes in branding and website design and development, but offers a wide range of other design services as well.
Responsibilities and gained experience
The partnership between the directors produces a unique skillset that assists clients with creative requirements from conceptualization to execution. Our focus in the last few years have primarily been on building quality relationships with clients who are open to good design, and trust that the design process can help their business.
Notable work
Wayfinding for FirstRand; Facebook campaign design; Investec digital brand guideline design; Wits RHI website design; SLOW video campaign design and production; website design for South African furniture designers like Tonic, Dokter and Misses and Joe Paine; environmental graphics for Design Joburg 2019.
We have been featured in Visi and House and Leisure.
