For 25+ years I've been a brand and creative director, and for most of that career the byline read "agency." Today it reads different. Mazar Design is me: one person doing the strategy, the design, and the work, without a layer of account managers between you and the person actually making the decisions. We of course work with specialists when necessary.

That's not my whole story though, so here's the arc.

I've built and owned several businesses, small (RedStapler) and mid-sized (Tenthwave), more than one of which reached an acquisition. Along the way I was the creative catalyst behind the Subway pitch (at Wire Stone, which acquired Tenthwave) that led to our agency being acquired by Accenture, where I went on to serve as Executive Creative Director. I've led creative for brands people actually know, from WB and Subway to tourism work for Jamaica, and for CPG names like Birds Eye and Duncan Hines. I've also spent plenty of hours across the table from a local restaurant owner, a family-run auto shop, or a golf club, solving the exact same problem: how do you get someone's attention and earn their trust.

Some brands I've been involved with over the years

I say all of that not to impress anyone, it's just how my career shook out. What I actually care about, and what I think you'll notice working with me, is trust, empathy, and approachability. Those are the things I built a career on, whether I was leading a creative team, sitting across from a client, or mentoring someone earlier in their career. Big-brand experience is real, but it never replaced the part of the job I like best, which is listening to what a business actually needs and giving it work that earns results, not just awards.

These days that same approach extends into how I think about AI in creative work. As Managing Partner of Design at ART X MACHINA and Lead Contextual Guardrail Architect at MeetSynthia, I'm as focused on responsible, well-governed AI use as I am on the design itself. It's part of the same value system: do the work honestly, and do it in a way people can trust.

Whether you're a small business that needs a brand that finally feels like you, or a larger company that wants senior-level creative thinking without the agency overhead, the approach is the same. You get direct access to the person who's actually going to do the work, and a career's worth of experience behind it.

-Mike