Arran Macdonald taking projects
The personstill answers his own email

I build stuff for businesses.

I know that sounds simple. It's meant to. Here's the longer version.

Arran Macdonald
actual photo · no headshot studio involved
ManchesterDesigner · builder · drummerDyslexic, first-class, top of class
How I got herescaffolding at three · expelled at fifteen · first at twenty-one

I've been building things since I could walk. I was up scaffolding at three thanks to my architect grandad, hammering nails and laying tiles on the houses he flipped. My dad's a web designer who handed me his Lego collection and taught me to code and design before I really knew what either was. When that Lego ended up in one giant pile on the floor, I didn't rest until every piece was sorted — by type, then part, then colour. I took apart every appliance in the house to see how it worked. Turns out that's just how my head works: see the pieces, see how they fit, build the thing.

School and I didn't always get on. I was the kid drawing comic strips in the back of his books, headphones in, drumming on the desk. I got expelled for making fake school-branded posters — a series I mocked up for a laugh that the librarian, thinking they were real, proudly put up around school. They hung in the corridors for months until a parent spotted them at parents' evening. Even my dad admitted he was secretly proud of how well-produced they were.

I didn't find out I was dyslexic until my GCSEs — turns out re-reading every question three times wasn't normal. Once I knew, things clicked. I went to the University of Salford and came out the other side with a First, top of my class.

Along the way I was Creative Director of hearNprotect, where I led the brand and marketing as we won Social Media Excellence, North West Company of the Year, and Best Overall Company (Young Enterprise, 2022), then Innovation of the Year at JA Europe — the European final. We were invited to Parliament to speak to the Institute of Leadership & Management. After that I ran the marketing at North West Fire Doors (the following went 72 → 1,500+, and rival firms assumed an agency was behind it). Now I'm Creative Director at Garage Conversion Gurus, where I’ve helped develop the brand and built the website, the CRM, the cost calculator and the quoting systems behind a £4m enquiry pipeline.

Arran Macdonald explaining hearNprotect to HRH The Princess Royal, Princess Anne
event photo · explaining hearNprotect to HRH The Princess Royal
First brand commissionTechnically the school posters. Unpaid, and it cost me a school — but the production values held up.
I was always the one quietly building the thing while everyone else did the ‘real’ work.
the pattern, basically
One head, instead of three contractorsthe diagram — drawn once, meant everywhere

Most projects mean juggling a designer, a developer, and someone for the "tech stuff" — none of whom talk to each other. I'm all three. I see how the pieces fit together, which means you don't have to project-manage anyone. You tell me the outcome you want; I work backwards from there and build it.

Fig. 02 — the bridge
design — brand, layout, taste
build — the site itself, by hand
automate — crm · quoting · the hours-savers
the diagram · one arm, many functions — this is the job description
What I've actually doneno agency · no team · just this
  • Best Overall Company (Young Enterprise national final), and Innovation of the Year (JA Europe)
  • 2× Garage Conversion Company of the Year (Prestige Awards, 25/26 + 26/27)
  • Built the systems behind £4m in organic enquiries — no ads
  • Grew a following 72 → 1,500+, in-house
  • First-class degree, top of the class
  • Spoke at Parliament; judged Young Enterprise; lectured on pitching at Salford

No agency. No team. Just stuff I've actually built and won. The receipts are on the work page →

How I workfour rules, no exceptions

Everything for a reason.

No random choices, no filler. If it's there, it's there on purpose.

Straight talking.

I'll tell you what I actually think, even when it's not what you want to hear.

Built properly.

It works, it lasts, and it's got a bit of personality. Not perfect — right.

I act like you're trusting me.

Because you are. I treat your business like I treat my own.

Arran Macdonald upside down, larking about with his band FLOK
actual photo · off the clock

When I'm not building things.

I'm a drummer. I play in a Manchester band called FLOK and do its artwork and brand — same instinct as the day job, honestly: take something good and make it look and feel like it should. I think the best work has a bit of that in it. A bit of personality. A bit rough around the edges, on purpose.

Sound like your kind of person?

Tell me what you're after. I'll tell you straight if I can help.

Let's talk