My work runs on a core principle: a brief is a set of assumptions, not a script. The most interesting outcomes emerges from interrogating those assumptions before solving them, and making something the brief couldn't have predicted. This means treating mood and intent as primary, and style as a consequence. It means asking what the work is for before asking what it looks like.
Most contemporary design is made for the instant of encounter. It's optimized to be seen, recognized, replaced. Trend cycles and reference stacks operate at the velocity of the feed. What registers fastest gets called best. I'm interested in the opposite mode. Identities that hold a decade later. Products whose quality reveals itself the second time around. Images that persist after the scroll has passed. Extreme Present, applied to practice: the refusal of velocity as a substitute for depth. Work that is placed, not posted.
I'm Savaş Ōzay, a designer based in Amsterdam. For over twenty years I've worked across identity, art direction, product design, and image-making, with clients including Nike, adidas, Givenchy, Volkswagen, and HBO. I've worked in everything from small studios to international agencies, across nearly every medium and surface. I've led teams of thirthy-plus and held stakeholder relationships on Fortune 500 accounts. I do my best work in two modes. Hands-on, with wide creative latitude. Or inside a strong group, where my job is whatever serves the work. I have no interest in winning the room. If someone has the better idea, I want it to land. When the team needs leadership, I lead.
Ideas are plentiful. Recognizing a great one is harder than having one. When I see it, I get obsessed with making sure it's executed at the highest level.