Employer: Axon

The Unfinished Masterpiece

Expect candor

Art Director Europe & Emerging Markets, Axon
I never applied for this job.
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One morning, a few months after Axon acquired Dedrone, I was an Art Director. No interview, no conversation, just a title, a scope, and the quiet implication that eleven years of brand-building for Dedrone had spoken for itself. Honored, surprised, and slightly overwhelmed, I said yes. Axon always felt to me like the Apple of public safety. You don't say no to that.

The brief was clear: 30 days for a design audit. 60 days to deliver a campaign. 90 days to become the creative go-to for Europe and Emerging Markets. We were three Art Directors globally, covering US, Commonwealth, and me covering everything from Amsterdam to Dubai.
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In week one, I lost my designer, who quit unexpectedly. In week two, I lost all project managers to a restructuring. The design audit became a myth. Instead, I worked through a relentless queue of Monday.com tasks, Tier-1 to Tier-3 booth builds, challenge coins, social media, brochures, event collateral, reporting simultaneously to a Creative Director in the US and a VP of International Marketing. In the first 90 days, I completed 60+ tasks. Ten to twelve hours a day, five to six days a week. And still completing almost all remaining design and website tasks for Dedrone on the side.
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What I saw clearly: markets operating without a shared visual language, branding that drifted from region to region without guardrails, and a structure where the Art Director operated like an agency serving internal clients. Event managers, marketing managers, regional leads were the customers, and the customer is always right. Final creative decisions rarely rested with the creative lead. These weren't complaints. They were problems worth solving. Bringing in a global agency partner to handle execution would free up the capacity to do what actually needed doing: building the processes, systems, and visual foundation that could scale. I had a plan.
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On December 4th, 2025, I was let go. Restructuring, they said. A few weeks after a strong review and a salary increase. I still don't fully understand it.
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What follows are the highlights of the work I completed across Africa, Italy, France, Spain, Germany, the Netherlands, Dubai, the UK, and Switzerland. Delivered at pace, across cultures and markets, with the quality the Axon brand demands.
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Welcome to my unfinished masterpiece.

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Art Direction

Strategic Design

Booth Design

Branding

Join forces

“Today, we are presenting an outstanding 180 sqm booth, where we are showcasing our full range of technical solutions.”
Christophe Thibault,
Directeur France Axon
at Milipol Paris 2025

Tier-1 booth

Rendez-vous à Milipol

Milipol Paris is the world's leading trade fair for homeland security and safety, held every two years under the patronage of the French Ministry of Interior. Over 30,000 visitors from 160 countries, covering everything from counter-terrorism to drones and cybersecurity. For Axon, it is one of the most important European events on the calendar.

I was on PTO. I came anyway, brought my girlfriend, and finally met the international marketing team in person for the first time. Somewhere between the weapons demos and the electroshock gloves, she forgave me for calling it a romantic trip to Paris.