As Director of the Creative Design Department at LBi Belgium (Brussels and Ghent) I built and sustained a team of 15 motivated professionals (designers, HTML-integrators and Flash developers) with an added number of freelance talents and interns. Part of the job was making sure projects were delivered on time and with the right quality. This means I am able to support and guide a team of designers if you feel your project would benefit from more (of my) involvment than the "mere" creation of a look & feel.
MY KEY TASKS AS TEAM LEAD (at LBi) INCLUDED:

	-	Supervising and supporting the team.
	-	Quality control (Art Direction).
	-	Writing and implementing workflow procedures.
	-	Hiring and firing.
	-	Yearly evaluations.
	-	Lubricating communication between the designers and other colleagues.
	-	Planning resources (time management).
	-	Deploying freelancers at peak activity moments.
	-	Coaching interns and junior team members.
	-	Time estimations for design jobs.
	-	Fireworks coach for junior designers.

PROJECTS ARE LIVING ORGANISMS

The added experience as Head of a Design Studio has taught me that projects are living organisms and that as a result a design will start to deteriorate, once it leaves the designer's control. Therefore a number of validation points (by the Art Director or Lead Designer) should be built into the project's lifecycle, also in the later phases. Art Direction should not be limited to the design phase, a fact sadly often overlooked by web development agencies and clients alike.RARE COMMODITIES

Another key aspect is communication. While this may seem obvious, good communication is in reality a rare commodity. No clever procedure or fancy flow chart can save a project if colleagues are not proactive enough in their communication. Also, it pays to look at a project from more angles than just a designer's. Understanding the desires and frustrations of other collaborators is just as essential to delivering a project on time and keeping its budget in check.