Creative Direction, Design and Visual Storytelling

From subtle stubble to epic wizard beard, your brand needs its own style.

Beard Strokes is the creative practice of David Starke, a Chicago-area Associate Creative Director with nearly 20 years of experience building brands, campaigns, digital experiences, events, and visual identities. From defining a brand's visual direction to bringing integrated campaigns to life, David combines strategic thinking with thoughtful design to create work that connects with audiences and moves businesses forward.

Capabilities

  • Creative Direction

    Big ideas. Clear direction. Stronger brands.

    Creative direction brings strategy, design, and storytelling together. David leads creative development from initial concept through execution, establishing visual direction and design systems that create consistency across every touchpoint.

    Services include:

    • Creative direction and art direction

    • Campaign concept development

    • Visual storytelling

    • Creative strategy

    • Design systems

    • Brand standards and guidelines

    • Cross-channel creative development

    • Creative team leadership and collaboration

  • Brand Identity

    Build a brand people recognize.

    A strong brand identity creates a consistent visual language that can grow with a business. From developing a new identity to evolving an established brand, David creates thoughtful systems that work across digital, print, environmental, and experiential applications.

    Services include:

    • Brand identity design

    • Logo and visual identity systems

    • Brand refreshes and evolution

    • Typography and color systems

    • Visual language development

    • Brand guidelines

    • Art direction

    • Brand implementation

  • Campaign Design

    Turn a message into an idea people remember.

    Integrated campaigns need more than a strong visual. They need a flexible creative system that can communicate a message consistently across channels. David develops campaign concepts and visual identities that extend from a central idea into digital, social, advertising, events, video, and more.

    Services include:

    • Integrated campaign design

    • Campaign concepts and visual systems

    • B2B and SaaS marketing campaigns

    • Advertising and paid media

    • Social media campaigns

    • Content and editorial design

    • Campaign toolkits

    • Digital campaign experiences

    • Environmental and event applications

  • Events and Experiential Design

    Bring the brand into the real world.

    Events create opportunities for brands to become tangible experiences. David develops visual systems and creative experiences that extend brand identities into conferences, trade shows, sponsorships, corporate events, and immersive environments.

    Services include:

    • Event branding

    • Experiential design

    • Conference and trade show creative

    • Environmental graphics

    • Sponsorship creative

    • Event campaigns

    • Signage and wayfinding

    • Presentation and stage graphics

    • VIP and executive experiences

  • Social and Content Design

    Create content built for attention.

    Brands need to communicate quickly and consistently across an ever-growing number of channels. David develops social and content systems that translate larger brand and campaign ideas into engaging, platform-specific creative.

    Services include:

    • Social media design

    • Content campaigns

    • Paid social creative

    • Organic social creative

    • Digital advertising

    • Editorial and report design

    • Infographics and data visualization

    • Content toolkits

  • Motion and Video

    Give ideas movement.

    Motion can make a brand, campaign, or story more engaging and memorable. David combines design, typography, animation, and visual storytelling to create motion experiences that bring static ideas to life.

    Services include:

    • Motion graphics

    • Animation

    • Video art direction

    • Brand motion systems

    • Social video

    • Campaign videos

    • Event and presentation video

    • Kinetic typography

    • Storyboarding and visual storytelling

From Strategy to Execution

We keep every detail well-groomed.

The strongest creative work connects the big idea to every detail. Whether developing a brand identity, launching an integrated campaign, designing a digital experience, or bringing an event to life, David works across disciplines to create cohesive visual experiences that are strategic, distinctive, and built to perform.

View the work

Let’s Create
Something Together.

Whether you need creative direction, a refreshed brand identity, or design support for your next big launch, David Starke can help bring your vision to life.