Colin Lamberton, Creative Director

Colin leads the creative work at Dark Arts and is the person a client deals with from the first conversation to the last file. He started the studio in Amsterdam after more than twenty years inside large international agencies, on the view that most of what those agencies charge for sits between the client and the work rather than in it.

He works on every project the studio takes. On a naming or positioning job that means he writes; on a campaign it means he directs the idea and brings in the specialists the job needs. Dark Arts is four people and a standing group of collaborators, which is deliberate. It keeps the person who sold the work on the work.

Before Dark Arts

Work he is known for

Earlier, inside agencies, he worked on Uber, Heineken, Volvo, Eurostar, Jack Daniel's, the UK government and the Council of Europe.

Earlier, inside agencies, he worked on Uber, Heineken, Volvo, Eurostar, Jack Daniel's, the UK government and the Council of Europe.

How he works

Three things decide whether a piece of communication does anything: whether it gets noticed, whether anyone remembers who it was for, and whether it changes what somebody does.

Talking to him

Colin answers enquiries himself at