Lithic Studio

Fractional Creative Director

Senior creative leadership.
Without the overhead.

Twenty years leading creative teams and agency partners, and still doing the work myself. Strategy, team leadership, and hands-on execution in one person, not split across two hires.

Selected clientsBeyondDistributeRivetz

The model

One person, not a handoff.

20+ years

Leading creative teams and agency partners across SaaS, logistics, and hardware, and still doing the work myself.

Player-coach

Strategy, team leadership, and hands-on execution in one person. Not a strategist who hands off, and not a pair of hands waiting for a brief.

Off your plate

Creative stops being something you manage on the side and becomes something you delegate.

What I own

The whole creative function, or the parts you can’t cover.

Most clients start with one of these and end up handing over the rest.

Creative Strategy

A clear creative point of view and direction the whole org can rally around. The website, the campaigns, and the sales deck all answer to it.

Agency Management & Selection

Vetting, briefing, and holding partners accountable, so you’re not the one chasing the work or translating between them.

Hands-On Design

Not just direction. Actual production: Modern AI-augmented workflows mean site imagery, campaign creative, and collateral get made here instead of queued with a vendor.

Website & Digital Product

From strategy to shipped site, with UX and brand working together rather than negotiating after the fact.

Process

How it starts.

Strategy first, then production, then it runs without you.

Getting started

I listen.

Audit what’s working, meet your agency partners, and learn what’s actually keeping you up at night. It ends with a creative and brand strategy that gives the website and every asset a clear reason to exist, before any design starts.

Go to work

I build.

Strategy becomes structural logic and tangible design direction. Assets get produced and iterated in-house, not queued with an outside vendor.

Keep it moving

I’m embedded.

Creative runs without you in every thread. Partners managed, work shipped, brand consistent, and you get your attention back.

Fit

When to bring me in.

  • You’re a marketing or product leader carrying creative direction on top of the job you were actually hired for.
  • You have agencies or freelancers, but no one senior briefing them, reviewing the work, or holding them to a standard.
  • Your brand and your website disagree with each other, and fixing it keeps sliding down the list.
  • You’ll need a full-time Creative Director eventually, and you want the role defined and proven before you write the req.

And when not to

If what you need is more hands on production, hire a studio. This is a leadership role that happens to also do the work. The value is in what stops landing on your desk.

Start here

What would make the first 90 days a clear win for you?

john@lithicstudio.io