Fusing together two creative journeys that I’ve been immersed in over the last two decades, I have a creative DNA which makes it hard to put into a traditional industry box and one that my clients see as a strength.

Firstly as a Creative Director at Getty Images, Nokia and most recently as Executive Creative Director at Microsoft leading the strategic brand development through to go to market campaigns, product launches and events for Microsoft’s consumer products including Windows, Microsoft 365, Microsoft Edge, Bing and Microsoft Surface.

In my Microsoft ECD role I thrived on connecting multi-disciplinary teams across complex organisations, inspiring stakeholders, collaborating with agency partners whilst leading and managing an in-house Creative Studio of 25 people. 

“Chris brings a powerful combination of strategic thinking, insight-driven creative expertise and aesthetic taste.” - Eli Friedman, GM, Microsoft Consumer Marketing.

Secondly as a sought-after designer creating alternative street culture work for brands and music artists - including the design of Ray Gun magazine, book collaboration with Michael Stipe (REM), music packaging collaboration with Gavin Rossdale for Bush’s greatest hits and recent commissions by Nike Tokyo and LA based Madre.

‘Ashworth achieved notoriety for his groundbreaking design approach at Ray Gun magazine, the influential LA-based ‘bible of music and style’.
Sleek Magazine

I fuse these creative experiences together to produce strategically sound brand creative with an innate focus on the aesthetic execution and continue to follow my foundational ethos that’s rooted in human craft and the power of handmade creativity.

Disorder: Swiss Grit Vol II The Graphic Design & Typography of Chris Ashworth

Coming Spring 2025.
Published by Thames & Hudson & Unit Editions
488 pages, Hardcover

Author, editor, designer: Chris Ashworth
Cover lyrics by Underworld
Conversation with Marvin Scott Jarrett
Afterword by Adrian Shaughnessy

From the publisher: 'Chris Ashworth is an independent designer who has fused a career as a creative director with a three-decades long passion for experimental graphic design.

His inimitable hands-on approach to graphic design, exemplified in his work on two classics of 90s music magazine culture – Blah Blah Blah in the UK (designed with Neil Fletcher) and Ray Gun in the US – has won him legions of fans. 

His creative approach – termed ‘Swiss Grit’, “is a blend of Swiss principles fused with a typographic street aesthetic that brings some soul,” he says. Recently, his expressive personal work has led him to design for a range of clients including New Order, Monster Children magazine, Nike and Bush.

Ashworth sees his work – craft-based, handmade – as a counterpoint to our screen-dependent digital culture. It’s the manifestation of an alternative view which argues that creative development away from the computer offers unique and precious merits. 

Disorder: Swiss Grit Volume II, the first publication to survey his work, celebrates this approach to graphic design over nearly 500 pages. Beginning with his influential work for Ray Gun and covering a wide range of printed and published work from 1997 to the present day, the book is concerned with the human craft of creativity and analogue design, the details, imperfections and serendipitous moments. An AI-free-zone.'