Sam van Straaten

Head of Design

Cape Town, South Africa
I’m a lateral thinker with a great eye for detail and 10 years experience working both in print and digital. I enjoy creating beautiful, immersive and captivating stories. Telling them visually gets me excited.

I was born and raised living the simple life on a commercial grain farm near Caledon in the Western Cape of South Africa.

Once just a hobby and a form of creative expression, design and art direction has become my full time occupation. I studied at the University of Stellenbosch where I finished my BA honours degree in Visual Communication Design in 2009 and this has formed the basis of my professional career.

I currently work full time as Head of Design at Arc South Africa, a member of the Publicis Africa Groupe, with 35 Arc offices worldwide, employing over 1500 people. Arc is an intelligent brand engagement agency that engineers sales for clients. While at Arc, I have been partnered with great and exciting brands such as Capitec, Telesure (FirstForWomen, DialDirect, Budget Insurance, Auto&General), Adidas, Reebok, MARS (Royco, M&M’s, Whiskas & Pedigree), Nestlé, City of Cape Town, Virgin Active, BMW, MINI, Toyota, Protea Hotels, Philip Morris International, Direct Axis and Sanlam.

I never want to stop learning, growing and mastering new skills and that is why I encourage creative collaborations of all kinds.

Work Experience

Flame Design

Digital Designer

June 2011 - June 2013 South Africa

Arc Worldwide

Art Director

July 2013 - September 2016 Cape Town, South Africa

Arc Worldwide

Senior Art Director

October 2016 - July 2019 Cape Town, South Africa

Arc Worldwide

Head of Design

August 2019 - Cape Town, South Africa

Education

University Of Stellenbosch

BA Visual Communication Design

Graphic Design, Illustration, Photography, Information Skills, Art History, Philosophy, Theory of Art, Drawing, Industrial Psychology.
January 2006 - December 2009 Stellenbosch, South Africa

Languages

Afrikaans (Native),
English (Fluent),
German (Conversational),

Skills

Art Direction, Graphic Design, Illustration, Layout, Logo Design, Photography, Publishing, UI/UX, Visual Identity Design, Web Design,