Todd Elliott Padwick is the Founder of award-winning Digital Creative agency, Function & Form, based in London.
Growing up in a creative household – with a sculptor and furniture designer for a father and a movement specialist and writer for a mother – design was always present, but it wasn’t a foregone conclusion. Todd gravitated toward graphic design because it felt purposeful: a discipline where ideas had to work, not just look good.
Decorationconcealsfunction.Design,ontheotherhand,commemoratesthebeautyinfunction.Todd Padwick
After studying at the London College of Communication and the Arts Institute Bournemouth, he began his career in print and advertising at Farringdon based creative shop, Clinic, working with brands such as Barclays, Network Rail, Madame Tussauds, the Premier League, Sky and Sega.
Those early years working with print, sharpened his eye for brand identity, detail and composition, but as an interest in interaction was growing, Todd became increasingly drawn to the web. Seeking a space where design could behave, respond and evolve he taught himself to code.
After a string of freelance clients, Todd took the leap and joined McCann as an interaction designer. But the industry wasn’t yet set up for designers who could bridge both design and development. Static mockups were still the norm, and multidisciplinary creatives had nowhere to sit.
After two years working internationally and realising that no environment fully embraced this blended skillset, he decided to build one himself. In 2015 he founded Function & Form with a simple premise: strategy first, purpose always, and no separation between how something looks and how it works.
Adesignerwhousescode,isenrichedwithanabilitytoprototype.Todd Padwick
Today, Function & Form creates interactive digital experiences and brand systems where creativity and technology are part of the same process, not separate stages. Todd’s work continues to centre on the belief that design should be functional, scalable and future-proof, and that the best digital ideas emerge when designers and developers think as one.
Last update 28 July 2023