About Elbow

Small by choice. Senior by default.

We're Craig Bowman and Julian Van Loxton. Two designers with over 50 years of agency experience between us. We set up Elbow in 2010 to do work we actually believe in, and we've been doing it ever since.

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Explore our work

2010

Doing this since

40+

Years of agency experience, from Conran to Saatchi

90%

Of new work comes through referral

12+

Not-for-profits helped pro bono

Who we are

You work with us. Directly.

No juniors. No account managers. No game of telephone between you and the people doing the work. When you hire Elbow, you get the two of us, start to finish. That's not a compromise. It's the point.

These days that mostly means charities, not-for-profits and purpose-driven businesses, plus a few long-standing commercial clients we're too fond of to let go. The common thread? Organisations doing important work that deserves better design than it gets.

Most of our clients have been with us for years. We show up, we listen, we deliver, and we stick around.

The founders

We don't just design for the sector. We volunteer in it.

[Portrait of Julian]

Julian Van Loxton

Co-founder

Julian has spent over 30 years in design, from London agencies to co-founding Elbow in 2010. He leads on brand strategy and identity, and is happiest when a knotty brief turns into something that works hard for the people it's meant to help.

OFF THE CLOCK

Trustee of the Air Cadet Charity

Sits on the Grants Applications Committee for The Ulysses Trust

Club Secretary of Lea Valley Cycling Club

[Portrait of Craig]

Craig Bowman

Co-founder

Craig has spent over 25 years in agency design before co-founding Elbow in 2010. He leads on reporting, and he has a knack for making a modest budget look anything but.

OFF THE CLOCK

Chairman of Dunmow Rovers Youth FC, a grassroots club

Between us we read grant applications, sit in board meetings and run Saturday-morning fixtures. So when you tell us the budget's tight and the team's stretched, we know. We've been on your side of the table.

Do good work. Be good people. The rest takes care of itself.

Who we work with

Organisations with real missions, real audiences and not a lot of slack.

Small teams

Your comms person is also your events person, your social person and, on a bad day, the person who fixes the printer.

Tight budgets

Every pound has to justify itself. We get that, and we make it go further than you'd expect.

A brand that sells you short

The work you do is brilliant. Your brand doesn't say so yet. That's the gap we fill.

We've got your back.

A chat to talk through a thought. A last-minute ask. A tricky budget that needs some creative thinking. We don't vanish when the project wraps.

"Elbow not only delivered two new great-looking brands and functioning websites, they also improved on our initial brief to deliver something better than what we had in mind."

Michael Brown / Commerical Lead / London Borough of Waltham Forest

How we work