Design is something I have always been interested in and from a very early age it was something I could see myself doing once I "grew up"... well once I got over the obsession of being a Racing Car Driver! I always found an excuse to get the pencil crayons and felt tips out and my love for all things creative hasn’t wavered one bit. When I left school at the tender age of 16 my passion for art and design led me to enrol at one of the local colleges on a BTEC National Diploma in Design. I loved the course, made some very good friends and really felt that I had developed my design skills... as well as using an Apple Mac for the first time, which was a real eye opener!
I left college in 1998 and went to university at Blackpool and the Fylde College of Art and Design to do a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design. The course, tutors and the whole university experience were absolutely amazing and I loved every second of it. It gave me a real chance to develop not only as a person but also to really hone my design and creative skills ready to take on the "real world".
Upon my graduation I gained employment at North Lindsey College in Scunthorpe as one of their in-house Graphic Designers. It was an opportunity I was very grateful for and once again gave me some very good opportunities to develop. I learned a lot from the other members of the design team at the college and in 2005, I accepted a position as Head Graphic Designer at New Media Choice, a Design, PR and Marketing Agency based in Lincolnshire. I loved my time at New Media Choice and gained a great deal of insight into the commercial world of Graphic Design. It was also the first time I had really had the opportunity to have face to face contact with clients which was (and still is) something I really enjoy and find invaluable to the design process.
In September 2009 I got a position as Senior Graphic Designer at Marksman International based in Grimsby in North East Lincolnshire as part of their design team. Marksman was a much bigger agency than I had previously worked at and again I gained a lot of valuable experience during my time there. Unfortunately in March 2010 the company ceased trading, since then I have been using the experience and contacts I have gained over the years using my skills as a Freelance Graphic Designer.
I have handled and worked on a very broad range of projects and briefs for both print and web. These include: logo/brand identity, letterheads, business cards, compliment slips, advertising, flyers, corporate folders, leaflets, brochures, large format graphics, posters, exhibitions, promotional merchandise, websites, html emails and animated web banners/adverts.
I am proficient in the major desktop publishing programs including InDesign, Illustrator, Photoshop, Flash, Dreamweaver, Acrobat and Quark.
If you would like to find out more about my qualifications and experience please send an email to: designerstrand@googlemail.com, to request a pdf of my CV.
