Meet our founder, Gareth Davies

Often described as an ‘intensely passionate design leader’ who’s record for delivering business impact and visual beauty consistently, for clients across multiple continents… is evident through the sheer volume of his work. ‘I don’t do this for a job, design is in my DNA, I couldn’t do anything else’.

He was the first creative director from the North East of England to work across 4 continents with pioneering work in digital, retail and aviation. He is the Founder of ACID_WORKS and supports ambitious, digital centric clients across the US, UK and UAE. He oversees 2 office locations, he is a regular speaker at design schools and often the host of leading design community events.

ACID_WORKS work is positioned at the intersection of brand experience, technology and design production, a blend that provides crucial insight and clarity into executing world class, end-to-end multi-layered experiences for the digital & physical world.

Early years
As a student, Gareth started designing public work in 1998, often for electronic music events in his home city of Sunderland. He was just 18 years old. In 2001 he moved to London for a placement year, working at a publishing company, where he immediately fell in love with the capital. hHis work would appear on magazine shelves and news stands across the country shortly after.

After graduating he worked as a graphic designer, then set up his own agency ‘Change Design’in 2005. Which aimed to bring his London design experiences back to his home town (where design agencies were rare at the time). At the age of 25 he was offered a part time teaching role at University of Sunderland. See one of his talks below. During this period he was prolific in the music industry, designing vinyl record sleeves and album covers and being a well known art director for music and culture in the region.

In 2007 he would visit America for the first time on a student trip. This experience would change his direction in life. The big city was where he felt most inspirited, and there would be few more exciting than  New York. He knew it was time for a bigger canvas to paint.

Flying the nest
In 2009, Gareth landed in Japan on the 18th of July, his 30th birthday. It was a homecoming to the centre of the video game industry, which since childhood he had adored. From the graphics, sound and latest console tech, to the box art and typography. It was an experience where everything mixed together and would  go onto inspire the next step of his career. Pixels, colour, sound and interaction, brought together in one experience. Tokyo was the epicentre of that intense neon pixel chaos,

Today
Gareth leads ACID_WORKS with his global team of multi-disciplined design and production talent.