David Lamothe

Group Design Director

As Group Design Director, David drives the agency’s design principles, methodologies, and processes. He joined AREA 17 in 2006 as an apprentice to Arnaud Mercier and soon became a lead designer within the agency. His key engagements include ALLI, Motherboard, Magnum Photos, ESPN, Google, Maison&Objet, and Opéra National de Paris.

Influenced by Swiss graphic design, his design signature is apparent through an absolute commitment to precision, practicality, and minimalism. While seemingly simple, his design systems are deeply considered ecosystems, complex in design but organic in form.

David has a deep passion for typography. In his pursuit of achieving high-quality typographic rendering online, in 2012, David created a tool that allows designers to upload any font to test how it renders on the web. ‘The Typetester’ is used by all designers at AREA 17.

Born and raised in Pau, a small town in the south of France, David studied graphic design in Bordeaux. Before joining AREA 17, he worked mostly in print design. With little digital experience, he was commissioned to redesign his University’s website, which gave him the digital bug. The rest, as one may say, is history.