Professional Recommendations
“I've been lucky to manage and work with Noel Barnes for the last 5 years. He has been the Creative Director for a global business that markets a purpose-driven, premium technology brand in 100+ countries around the world. He managed internal creative team members, as well as relationships with external vendors. We worked together on a broad range of projects, from brand development, anthem videos, case studies, channel and sales enablement, campaigns, international event marketing and digital sales tools - to name a few.
Noel is an exceptional visual storyteller. He has an uncanny knack for finding the best angle - whether with a camera or through an untold story. He has expressed the SunPower (and more recently Maxeon Solar Technologies) brand since 2015 by finding unexpected ways to add depth, humanity and differentiation. His creative professionalism has been a beacon - he is able to manage creative exploration while keeping the "run the business" creative moving. Teams internally and externally genuinely enjoy working with him on projects. And so do I!”
— Mike Tonsing
Senior Director of Brand & Product Marketing at SunPower Corporation
“I had the opportunity to learn from witnessing Noel's ability to lead a team and inspire great work - across photography, advertising, branding, web/UI, and events. He is a master at directing carefully pointed questions to make creatives think more deeply about their work and expand their current thinking. This, and his ability to pinpoint great work makes him an amazing leader that everyone wants to work with.”
— Tommy Lynn
Apple Digital Experience
“There’s “agency quality” and there’s “in house” quality. If you’re in the business, you know what I mean. In my years working with Noel, I would regularly marvel at the work coming from him and his in-house team. I felt incredibly fortunate to have that kind of creative fire power under our own roof.”
— Rob Lewczyk
Sr. Content Strategist at Google
“In the years that I have worked with Noel , he has continually proven himself to be a creative visionary, influential collaborator and effective on-the-ground tactician as he is passionate about visual storytelling and designing elevated brand experiences. As either Creative Director or team contributor, Noel will always deliver an impeccable and well-designed creative experience.”
— Melissa Cohoon-Neece
Director of Marketing at SolarEdge Technologies
Project experience.
Brand Identity
Corporate Brand Guidelines
Customer Storytelling
Case Studies
Product Launch
Events and Tradeshows
Presentation Materials
Photo and Video
Product Rendering Animation
Sustainability and Annual Reporting
Global Web Development
Ecommerce UX
Localization
Sales Collateral
Digital Sales Enablement
Social Campaigns
HR Recruitment Campaigns
Experiential displays
My creative values
Understand your audience.
Sounds obvious, but the best design solutions will fall flat if the audience and their needs are not clearly defined and understood.
Design solutions that scale.
Don’t reinvent the wheel. One of the benefits of in-house creative teams is their ability to see across complex organisations, repurpose and refine.
Creative teams are 80% chemistry.
OK, somewhat of an exaggeration. But finding the personality blend between creative catalysts and worker bees enables the creative environment to be fun, challenging and successful.
Build consensus and create excitement internally.
Your in-house creative team should be visible and respected. It should surprise and delight, energize and inspire employees throughout the business.
Identify and deploy enough tools to allow the creative freedom to do great work
Over use of tools and processes can overwhelm a creative team. Ensure that tools are integrated and make life easier at every step for your team and clients.
Build relationships and bridges beyond the office space.
Being able to build relationships with your local communities builds your brand, uncovers new hires and opens up rivers of creative thinking.
This visual provides an elevated view of my creative leadership experience over the last 15 years, working in a variety of roles at Dell Computers and SunPower Corporation.
Finding that one moment where energy and opportunity come together. This image is from a commercial campaign for Dell, highlighting product CAD capabilities in the product design and engineering of surfboards and wakeboards.
