Design Evenings LDN: The New Era of In-House Creativity

Learn how Monzo built a world-class creative studio from within, establishing a clear creative vision & strong craft standards.

Great in-house creativity depends on strong internal partnerships. Coral shares how Monzo’s studio works across marketing, product, and external agencies, building trust, designing processes that protect quality, and navigating organisational complexity without compromising creative ambition.

Coral Garvey is a multidisciplinary Creative Director from NYC, now based in London, working at the intersection of brand, product, and culture. She is currently Creative Director at Monzo, a leading global fintech bank, where she leads brand strategy and creative execution across design, writing, marketing, and product. Coral has been instrumental in building Monzo’s internal Creative Studio, establishing global brand systems, and directing integrated campaigns, product launches, and experiential work, while embedding brand thinking directly into the product experience and supporting international growth, including the US market. Previously, Coral was Creative Director at Depop, helping scale the platform into a global Gen Z cultural force, and Chief Creative Officer at Playground, an experiential Web3 platform. Her work spans global brands including Adidas, Diesel, and Under Armour, with a practice rooted in culturally driven storytelling and bold creative leadership.

Event Overview

In this fireside chat, Coral Garvey, Creative Director at Monzo Bank, offers a candid look at building and scaling a high-performing in-house creative studio.

01 - Building a World-Class Creative Studio from Within

What it takes to establish the right foundations for an in-house studio, from defining creative vision and craft standards to designing talent architecture that scales. Coral shares how to move beyond a service mindset and build a team that leads creatively, not just executes.

02 - Making Creativity Work Across the Business

How strong in-house studios partner effectively with marketing, product, and external agencies. Learn how trust is built internally, how processes are designed to protect creative quality, and how to navigate organisational constraints without dulling creative ambition.

03 - Culture, Craft, and Scaling Without Losing the Edge

An honest look at the realities of growth, what breaks, what needs rebuilding, and how to maintain a safe, high-output creative culture as expectations rise. From early missteps to momentum-building moments, this is a behind-the-scenes view of creativity at scale.