Twenty-five years of design judgement. Still close to the work.
Skilld Design is Neil de la Harpe’s independent practice, shaped by 25 years of industry experience across design and practical implementation.
Projects are led directly from understanding the problem through the agreed production, implementation or testing stage. Specialist collaboration can be agreed and named where the scope requires it.
02 / 05Selected proof
Different formats. The same responsibility.
Explore commissioned work
03 / 05The useful difference
The judgement should survive the handover.
The foundation is graphic design. The work spans identity, packaging, product systems, websites, ecommerce and practical creative technology. Research, language, 3D, motion, code, production and testing are methods used when they improve the result.
The breadth is useful when one decision has to survive several formats. The responsibility remains precise: define the work, make the decision well, name the boundaries and hand back something that can be used.
“I have had the pleasure of working with Neil over several years across various businesses. He has consistently demonstrated a remarkable level of skill, creativity and professionalism. He is adaptable in developing his skill set to accommodate my requirements, has patience, exceeds expectations on his level of detail and creative input into my projects, and adapts seamlessly to different brand styles and project requirements. I highly recommend him and he has been instrumental in the success of many of my businesses.”
Jo Coburn / AVID Design Collective
04 / 05Working principles
Clear responsibility through the work.
- 01
Direct access
You work with the person making the key design decisions.
- 02
Proof in the work
Real constraints, decisions, artefacts and current status show how the practice works.
- 03
Implementation matters
Production, data, responsive behaviour and testing stay part of the job where agreed.
- 04
Built to hand over
Approvals, specialist roles, files, documentation and completion are made clear.
05 / 05For agencies & in-house teams
A senior pair of hands for a defined workstream.
A defined identity, packaging, production, catalogue, ecommerce or creative-technology workstream can be commissioned within an agency or in-house team. Scope, approvals, collaborator boundaries and handback are agreed before work begins.
Discuss a defined brief