–
A FEW WORDS WHO
I AM, HOW I WORK
& WHAT I DO.
–
I AM A DESIGNER
CREATIVE DIRECTOR
BRAND CONSULTANT
& ARTIST.
–

Nice to meet you! I’m Mike John Otto, aka BlackBeltMonkey.
A Hamburg and Berlin based Executive Creative Director, Designer, Creative Consultant and Visual Artist.

I describe myself as a Creative that stands in between the unseen narrative brand experience, culture and a tech-orientated approach. Most of my work emerges from the cross-application of common creative teams and collaboration with other inspiring minds from neurosciences, developers, data scientists, artists or film directors, always looking for the unseen narrative to tell, how to tell it and where to tell it and base my work on the methodologies of human-centered design, (pop)-cultural trends and purpose driven communication. I believe in Narrative Brand Experiences that convert humans into fans and I aim to change the way brands communicate: by putting the human in the center of all communication.

I am working as a Partner and Executive Creative Director at Artificial Rome and I am Founder and Part of the Blackbeltmonkey Creative Collective. In addition to my commercial work I am a Mixed Media Artist. Titles change quickly, that’s why I don’t care a lot about titles but more about roles, responsibilities and passion. My strength and passion lies in creating relevant, mostly digital brand experiences with a creative, technological and cultural driven approach in the field of XR, VR, Metaverse and Web 3.0.

No matter for which brand I am working, I believe that everybody should have it’s own purpose, a north star to follow. Mine is to help forward thinking brands to change by creating culture driven narrative brand experiences or services that convert humans into brand fans.

My creative personality was shaped in the digital design boutique scene, advertising agencies and global consulting firms, where I learned to apply my skills interdisciplinarily.
I like to work on a variety of thematic projects that stretch across disciplines, I am able to quickly adapt to the complex and ambiguous variables of a situation, identify insights and understand challenges to create a roadmap to a shared vision that generates value for the customer in alignment with ultimate creative and business goals. My work not only draws upon visual theories and user-centered research but also Data Visualisation, Cultural Analytics and fast changing cultural trends.

With more than 20 years of professional practice, I gained the experience and had the pleasure of building products, shaping brands and create narrative experiences for some of the boldest global clients. I worked for digital agencies such as razorfish, e7 and Interone, design boutiques such as Hi-ReS!, advertising agencies such as ACNE or Philipp und Keuntje and for creative consultancies such as Deloitte Digital.

You can find me as a speaker at Creative and Tech-Festivals discussing the newest technologies and cultural trends, labs to test out the newest XR / VR equipment and judging at ADC, Cannes Lions and many others the recent Metaverse Experiences and at the Factory Berlin to philosophy about newest urban experiences and how brands become sustainable.

What I am:
I am a creative thinker, creative consultant, visual engineer, tech lover, visual artist, storyteller and brand shaper. 

Let’s find out how we can work together to change the way brands communicate and how they stay ahead of culture.

Download my CV for additional information.

CV & Portfolio as PDF.

Follow me @mikejohnotto

Titles & Roles

Executive Creative Director
Creative Leader
Creative Consultant
Keynote Speaker
Jury Member
Design Teacher
Lecturer for
Culture Driven Creativity
Art Director
Artist

OFFERING

Creative & Art Direction
Creative Consultancy
Brand Strategy
Brand Building/Shaping
Purpose Based Marketing
Narrative Brand Experiences
Digital Campaigns
Styleframes & Epic Looks
Ideation and Workshops
Purpose Based Branding
Product Development
(pop) -Culture Driven Stories
Brand Experiences
Branded Content
AR/VR Experiences
Web 3 & Metaverses

Skills & Tools

I styleframe in Adobe Photoshop
I do motion in Adobe After Effects
I illustrate in Adobe Illustrator
I use Midjourney for visual research
I co-text in Holo AI
I do 3D in Blender
I layout in Sketch
I present in Keynote
If there is a need I can MS Office
I start in Visual Explorations
I use Brand Maps and Archetypes
I take Science Fiction Novels to inspire
I use Art for Industries
I have a Human Centricity Approach