Whitespace is a creative agency based in Edinburgh, Scotland. Whitespace proudly promotes individuality, hard work, and kindness. Their motto says it all: “work hard and be nice to people”. Whitespace provides branding, content marketing, and everything in between and they are widely known as a creative hub for all of Scotland. This Edinburgh-based company also maintains location elsewhere in Europe such as London, Manchester, Leeds, and Newcastle. The agency has won a plethora of awards, including but not limited to 2nd place in the Drum UK Design Elite Census (2014), 7th place in the Drum UK Digital Elite Census (2014), and the Scottish Design Agency of the Year award (2010, 2013, 2016). Their incredibly talented creative team is made up of twenty-five members, the head of which is Chris Davey.
His official title at Whitespace is Creative Director, which means that he is a man of many hats at the company. Essentially, he is in charge of the creative vision of all of the projects that Whitespaces takes on. Some of his various responsibilities include making sure all content flows well, meets aesthetic ideals, and aligns with the overall creative vision in mind. He also establishes and communicates budgets, builds timelines to ensure that necessary tasks are completed in a timely manner, and handles client relations and satisfaction. He works with designers, artists, copywriters, and others of the like to bring creative visions to life. Davey provides guidance for the people that work under them and has the ultimate say and final approval of the projects which they oversee.
Chris is a very well-rounded creative professional. He has a diverse list of specialties, including creative/design/art direction, digital experiences (VR/AR), web and digital design, user experience/user interface/wireframing, amongst many others, which makes him incredibly versatile and an important asset of any team. Davey joined Whitespace in 1997 after working “a lot of different projects for a lot of different people”.
Davey is a prime example that your beginnings and your past do not define you or determine your potential; the only thing that can define or determine those things is you, your work ethic, and your passion. When Chris reached the ripe age of twelve years old, he was still unable to read. By the time sixteen rolled around, this setback became difficult enough to influence the decision to drop out of high school for the time being. Unbeknownst to him, a popular science fiction game known as Dungeons and Dragons that he developed a strong interest in would eventually provide him with the motivation and literary and creative skills that were necessary to earn a First Class Honors Degree in Graphic Design at the University of Northhampton in Northhampton, England.
He started at The University of Northhampton in 1996 and graduated in 1999 with a First Class Honors Degree in Graphic Design. Shortly after his graduation, he got a job as a designer at a company called Engine Creative where he worked for one year’s time. After his year-long stint at Engine Creative, Davey spent the next seven years working all kinds of different jobs as a designer and as a creative until he found his true home at Whitespace. In November of 2007, he started his career with Whitespace as a Digital Design Director, a position he would hold for the better part of seven years. After his time as a Digital Design Director, he was promoted to the position of Creative Director, a position he holds today. In June of 2017, Davey took on the role of Head of Creative on top of his Creative Director responsibilities, another position that he holds today.
Along with learning about how Chris Davey jump-started his career and how he made a name for himself in this competitive, ever-changing field, we were taught about his creative process, something that is different for every creative person, but is imperative to the uniqueness of the company and makes them stand out. He begins the process by first creating a brief for the project. This is the foundation of all creative projects. After perfecting the brief, he begins the long pre-production process which may include anything from planning to pro-sourcing. After pre-production is complete, the actual production of the project can begin, which is of course followed by post-production.
I really enjoyed this media visit, and even more so enjoyed hearing from Chris. His story was incredibly moving and inspiring, and his passion and creative drive are qualities that I admire. This visit, along with Chris himself, assured me that with dedication, passion, hard work and kindness, there is room for me in this competitive field.