Howdy, I'm Jimbo – a Visual Creative Director at Skyscanner. I'm passionate about creating engaging brand experiences that connect people with products (and having fun whilst doing it).

I specialise in visual direction for global brand performance campaigns, brand design systems, and content/product experiences, ensuring consumers get value at every stage of the brand funnel.

As a hands-on leader, I guide multiple teams, using design and conceptual thinking to drive innovative solutions, developing craft and grow talent.

Awards

• The Drum DADI Award

• The Lovie Awards

• W³ - Gold

• Weeby Awards – Nominee

• 3x Marketing Society Star Awards

• Rising Creative Star Finalist, Marketing Society

• Awards MISTD

• Young Glory Advertising Awards – Bronze & Finalist
  

Core Skills

• Design and Creative Leadership

• Art Direction

• Principal Designer

• People Management

• Conceptual & System Thinking

• Strategic Thinking

• Customer Experience

• Team Coaching

• Production & Roadmaps
  
  

Location

Daily reach into Edinburgh and Newcastle. Frequent/monthly reach into London.

Ross Mawdsley,
Global Head of Visual Design – Skyscanner.
Ex BBH, AKQA, Portas, AmazeRealise.

“If your actions inspire others to dream more, learn more, do more, and become more, you are a leader.”

Since joining Skyscanner nearly six years ago, James has naturally become an ‘unofficial’ leader of the Brand Design team. He has consistently embodied our core values—simplicity, collaboration, and genuine care. His empathetic, thoughtful approach has been the cornerstone of our team's dynamic. After being promoted to Creative Director (Design), James seamlessly transitioned into a formal leadership role, maintaining the same values while adapting to the company’s rapid growth. As Skyscanner has expanded, the design team has had to move at an accelerated pace to deliver high-quality projects, and under James’ leadership, they’ve consistently exceeded expectations. His compassionate leadership style has enabled the team to elevate their craft and manage an increased workload without feeling overwhelmed.

Over the past four years, Skyscanner’s demand for Brand Design has skyrocketed, necessitating a modern, consistent, and user-friendly brand identity. James played a central role not only in shaping and defining this aesthetic, but also in ensuring its effective implementation across all touchpoints. He led numerous workshops and training sessions, while also introducing systematic templates that significantly accelerated delivery times. His approach allowed the team to handle the surge in output with confidence and maintain a consistently high level of craftsmanship.

James is a remarkable design leader and mentor who lives by the belief that it’s not just about what you do, but how you do it.

Remco Graham,
Global Head of Concept, Skyscanner.
Ex BBH, Denstu, Crispin.

I've seen and worked with many brilliant creative people in my time in the industry. James is a brilliantly rare creative person. A creative leader that leads with compassion. A creative leader that isn't afraid to get his hands dirty in a Figma deck when everyone else has signed off for the night. A creative leader that has the total and utter trust of his team and a creative leader that refreshingly is without ego.

If you ever get to work with James you'll see just how rare his talent is.

Andre LeMasurier,
Sr Director, Global Head of Brand & Creative at Skyscanner.
Ex Google, R/GA, 72andSunny, AKQA, Saatchi.

Jimbo does a brilliant job at pulling teams together and leading from the front on really significant and important projects. Projects with loads of moving parts and required a strong work ethic, craft, passion, dedication and seeing through ambiguity. He rallies the team, works hands-on and really stepped up to the plate.

Fantastic work Jimbo! Keep killing it.

Andy Culbert,
Freelance Principal Designer.

Over the past six months, I've had the distinct pleasure of knowing and collaborating with James. His multifaceted role involves brilliant design work and encompasses leading and managing a design team with efficiency and grace.

James' ability to combine meticulous attention to design detail with the broader perspective needed for team leadership is truly commendable. His approach ensures that both individual tasks and collective team goals are achieved with excellence.

Beyond his professional acumen, James radiates a warmth and kindness that is a foundation for building trust and camaraderie within his team and with collaborators like myself. This nurturing environment he creates encourages everyone to offer their best, fostering both individual growth and collective success.

Moving forward, I'm genuinely excited about the possibility of collaborating with James. His blend of design talent, leadership prowess, and authentic warmth makes the prospect of teaming up once more truly compelling.

Kim Lehult,
Principal Design Operation Manager, Wise.
Ex Skyscanner.

James, known as Jimbo across Skyscanner, is one of the best Art Director’s I've worked with. Not only is he a true creative, he is also a teacher who shares his knowledge and advice with junior team members. He does so in his humble and approachable way, always helping people around him grow. He is a true professional and his brain is a never-ending source of ideas and creative tweaks. Combined with his great energy and positive vibe (he can make any situation joyful) he is a person I would highly recommend! I cannot wait to see what he and his team dreams up for Skyscanner going forward. This guy is someone to keep your eyes on.

Dee Woods,
Head of Creative Technology at Twitter (X).
Ex Digitas and Critical Mass.

Recently, I worked with James directly on a very complicated, tedious and challenging piece of digital work, and I'm glad to have had the pleasure.

James is a passionate designer with an eye for craft, a collaborative spirit, and an unending capacity to learn.

His acuity in design, ability to communicate the details and his drive to always push the work further makes him a valuable person on any team.

Gav Gordon-Rogers
ECD at World Heaquarters
Ex ECD at W+K, Digitas, Agency Repulbic, Karmarama.

James is quite simply a superstar. In his time at DigitasLBi and Lost Boys he has developed his skills in a multitude of different ways to which his nomination as a Rising Creative Star at the Marketing Society of Scotland Star Awards attests.

James is the best kind of designer: he's thoughtful, takes on board feedback graciously but also knows when to push back. His determination to ensure that his output is top quality has culminated in an excellent and varied portfolio. His colleagues admire him and love working with him.

This lovely chap has the talent, the passion, the team spirit and the focus to go very far. You should probably meet him as soon as possible.