About
I spent eleven years as the only designer at a global cybersecurity company. That's the part of my résumé that matters to you.
Most creative directors have run a department. I ran a company's entire brand alone.
At Trustwave I was the whole creative function for over a decade, concepting, designing, producing, and shipping somewhere around 700 projects a year. Campaigns. Four annual global threat reports. Trade show environments. Sales enablement. Web, email, social, print. Brand standards and the governance to enforce them. Three global rebrands, executed solo: an international asset consolidation in 2016, a parent-company alignment under Singtel in 2018, and a full brand refresh in 2022.
Then LevelBlue acquired the company and I led the brand integration across both organizations.
That experience did two things. It made me fast, genuinely fast, in a way that people who've always had a team to hand things to are not. And it made me fluent in a category that most creative people have to be taught from scratch: how security buyers think, why threat research is a marketing asset, what a report launch cycle actually demands, and why the fifth slide in a sales deck matters more than the cover.
Before that
Thirty years in, and the first twenty were agency and in-house work in Chicago, Frankle, Baum & Olsen, HG AdGroup, Manifest Digital, Jim Beam. Clients including McDonalds, Frito Lay, United Airlines, USPS, Shure, Wilson Sporting Goods, Macy's, Metra, Allstate, and Northern Trust. Fifteen of those years were spent deep in production, which is why I still care about file architecture, print vendors, and whether a system will hold up when someone else has to use it.
Pixel Factory has been my studio name since the beginning. It's the full-time operation now.
How I work
I ask before I design. The brief you send me is rarely the actual problem. Twenty minutes of questions saves two rounds of revisions.
I build systems, not one-offs. Anything I make is designed to be extended by someone who isn't me. Guidelines, templates, and file structures are part of the deliverable, not an upsell.
I'll tell you when I disagree. Respectfully, once, with a reason, and then I'll execute your call. You're not paying me to nod.
I don't need the brief explained twice. Especially in security. There's no education tax on this engagement.
Outside the work
I ask before I design. The brief you send me is rarely the actual problem. Twenty minutes of questions saves two rounds of revisions.
I build systems, not one-offs. Anything I make is designed to be extended by someone who isn't me. Guidelines, templates, and file structures are part of the deliverable, not an upsell.
I'll tell you when I disagree. Respectfully, once, with a reason, and then I'll execute your call. You're not paying me to nod.
I don't need the brief explained twice. Especially in security. There's no education tax on this engagement.
What people say
"There are two kinds of designers: the ones who make things look pretty, and the ones who actually make the entire creative process better. Todd is firmly in the second group. He's incredibly creative, has a sharp eye for quality, and somehow manages to move at lightning speed without sacrificing the work. When deadlines got tight — which was basically always — Todd was someone I never had to worry about."
Tracy Ahern · Co-Founder, Rogue Labs
"Todd was a vital partner on numerous initiatives. His strategic impact, cross-functional versatility, and commitment to bridging the gap between creative and business teams was impressive. What stands out most is his unwavering professionalism and consistency through multiple leadership changes."
Julie Nagle · Chief People Officer
"His work is a combination of keen insight and strategic direction, often providing our clients substantially more than initially required. His ability to cut through the clutter and provide clean, accurate, thought-provoking creative speaks to someone whose skill set is honed from years of solid work and quality execution."
David Walano · Sales Executive
"We've turned his name into a verb. When a project gets turned around with both precision and speed, we say it's been 'Todded.'"
Dan Conroe · CreativePro Network