About me

I am a designer and art director with over twelve years' experience in the creative industry. Until early last year, I was employed at Vivid Communications in Central London, an employer marketing agency. Unfortunately, my role had to be made redundant due to reduced client spend and I decided to go freelance for a while; I have established myself well over the last year or so, having been busy working for employer marketing, through-the-line (consumer advertising, retail packaging, graphic design) and technology marketing (b2b) agencies, as well as for some direct clients. I have also taken the opportunity to do pro-bono creative work for Hearing Dogs for Deaf People. My ultimate goal is a full-time position, but I've been enjoying the variety of freelance while I look for the right role.In my career, I've designed for a huge range of audiences, creating everything from brochures to ads to full body wraps for double-decker buses, and am used to working towards measurable communication and marketing objectives, both strategic and tactical. I am adept at creating, working with and evolving brand guidelines; for example, I have developed employer brand guidelines for the Civil Service Fast Stream and Marie Stopes International. I also created and implemented a rebrand for Reed Personnel Services, which included taking responsibility for the organisation and art direction of a £35K photoshoot.Highly self-motivated, I'm conceptually very strong, have excellent writing skills, enjoy solving problems and adding value, and care deeply about the quality of the finished work. I can bring plenty of genuine enthusiasm and creative flair, allied to a broad range of commercial experience. I have a cheerful disposition and good people skills, which I find serve me well when dealing with clients and colleagues at all levels. I have won awards for my work for the Metropolitan Police Service. My portfolio covers a wide range of well-known clients, public and private sector, large and small, across press, print, interactive, outdoor and broadcast media.My background in employer marketing has given me the ability to thoroughly analyse briefs and communicate complex messages simply and effectively to the appropriate audience. Over the last year, I have found that my skillbase and ways of approaching a brief and establishing the selling proposition translate extremely well to other sectors of design and advertising. For example, I recently developed a pitch concept for one of my freelance agency clients that helped them to win an influential consumer account for a tourism body. For a direct client, the Foundation for Essex Arts and Architecture, I created the well-received identity for their Our Basildon project from scratch, beginning with originating and selling in the name to the stakeholders and following through to the ongoing design and implementation of the logo and branding.I have a strong typographic and design background with excellent Creative Suite skills (Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign) and a real eye for detail, and am able to take work from initial brief through to final artwork. I also have plenty of digital design experience, including a good knowledge of Flash, and normally design sites in layered Illustrator or Photoshop before handing over to programmers to take live. In addition to my creative skills, I have an innate talent for organisation. As you will see from my CV, I had a very broad role at Vivid, taking responsibility for print buying and studio/production management as well as my 'day job' as an art director. I am able to plan a project through, liaising and working with both internal and external specialists, costing and scheduling the job from brief to delivery. An adept team-worker, I am used to co-ordinating with a varied range of colleagues: copywriters, photographers, illustrators, freelancers, printers, programmers, project and account managers etc. I am always conscious of any budget limitations and work within that framework to ensure that the creative work most effectively maximises the available funds.