Uncommon Creative Studio appointed Lisa Smith as its first global chief design officer. Smith’s arrival speaks to the studio’s expanding global design practice and its ambition to scale and evolve further. Uncommon has experienced rapid growth, particularly in the U., following the opening of its New York studio in 2023. Smith’s appointment builds on a string of design-led projects from the studio, including the comprehensive global rebrand of EA Sports FC, the bold new identity for SiriusXM and the recent launch of Vimeo’s REFRAME platform in North America.

Smith will work closely with Uncommon’s creative leadership across London, New York and Stockholm, helping to shape, scale and evolve the studio’s design capability as it continues to grow its influence internationally. She brings more than 20 years of experience to Uncommon, having transformed some of the world’s most-loved brands. She led the global rebrand for Burger King at JKR, using design to help improve quality and taste perceptions across the full brand experience. Smith also worked across Walmart, Nordstrom Rack, Mozilla, Impossible, Manischevitz and Paramount during her time at JKR.

Prior to JKR, Smith was ECD of Chobani where she was responsible for putting creativity at the heart of the company, overseeing a rebrand that transformed the business, expanding its product offering and increasing customer loyalty, directly translating to top-line growth. Smith was also head of design at Wolff Olins NY, focused on creating ground-breaking and commercially successful work for USA Today, Grubhub and The Met.

In 2021, Smith was named one of Fast Company’s Most Creative People for her role in delivering some of “the biggest redesigns of the decade”. In recognition of this, she has picked up notable accolades throughout her career including Fast Company’s Rebrand of the Year and a Gold Cannes Lion for Burger King, a Brand Impact Award in Culture for The Met, a Cannes Lions Silver and a Fast Company Innovation by Design Award for the rebrand of USA Today. She has sat as jury president for Design at Cannes Lions, D&AD and ADC, and is on the Board of Trustees at D&AD.

Uncommon has increasingly positioned design as a vital creative and cultural force, not simply to make brands look good visually, but to help them mean something. Design has played a key role in helping Uncommon build brands that people wish existed, the studio’s founding principle since its inception.

The agency has always treated design as a tool for creating cultural noise and embedding brands within contemporary conversation. From bringing art direction back to the forefront of the idea for outdoor and print design with industry renowned campaigns for British Airways and Instagram, to provocative experience design such as highlighting the cost of celebrity endorsements in the beauty industry through a unique installation for The Ordinary in New York City.

As well as visual identity design becoming a cornerstone of the studio’s offering, highlights include: CFC LDN — a new icon designed to show Chelsea football club as London’s true club with a new visual identity that came to life across the club, stadium and players throughout the season. As well as the first design system to incorporate resolution for the original video innovator Vimeo, ‘REFRAME’, the global rebrand of JD Sports across every touchpoint in-store to online, and the new visual identity to introduce the next chapter of the world’s game, EA SPORTS FC, launching with a global identity that’s been hiding in plain sight for the past 30 years named ‘the biggest rebrand in entertainment history’ by the BBC.

Uncommon’s design practice has also ventured into product design with projects such as RATBOOT, the unofficial boot of New York which went viral during Fashion Week; The Rewear Chair redefining sustainable living through design with a powerful message from Ecover; and a collaboration with leading architect, Thomas Heatherwick, feeding A.I. with 75 years of soulless development data to reimagine Britain’s most beloved buildings through the eyes of its most boring architectural trends in a bid to encourage the public to join Heatherwick’s Humanise movement to learn more about the consequences of boring buildings on our mental and physical health, as well as the environment.

Lisa Smith commented, “Uncommon’s belief in using design as a catalyst for cultural impact is what drew me here. The opportunity to build a global design practice that stretches far beyond traditional identity work into experiences, environments and conversations, is something I’m hugely excited about, as well as continuing to bring new thinking to the traditional principles of brand design.”

Nils Leonard, co-founder, Uncommon, added, “Lisa is a true force in our industry, someone who understands that design today isn’t about badges and guidelines, it’s about building brands that move people, create conversations and at its best establishes reference points. Her arrival marks an exciting next chapter for Uncommon’s design ambition globally.”