About me

Hi, Im Tina and Im a Middleweight Graphic Designer.

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A highly creative person with a passion for beautiful design, I taught myself Photoshop and HTML at 13, and messed around with concepts in my spare time.

In high school, I took design, and was fortunate enough to be able to sink my teeth into projects involving designing of business cards, letterheads, logos, posters and so on. I was hooked. My favourite aspect was being able to combine art and music, and I did a series of designs for the punk movement as my Grade 12 final project.

So, it was only natural that I pursue an education in graphic design. In 2006, I started studying at Vega The Brand Communications School (*). I chose Vega, as they are the industry leader in design qualifications, being certified with the The Independent Institute of Education, which is registered with the Department of Higher Education and Training as a private further and higher education and training institution. At Vega, in First Year, I was introduced to the creative fields of Copywriting, Multimedia Design and Visual Communications (graphic design & art direction). Upon entering Second Year, I was required to choose one of these creative specializations (I chose Visual Communications) and explore the chosen discipline in extensive detail throughout Second and Third Year, whilst expanding on and applying my theoretical knowledge in brand communications (with subjects including Creative Deveolpment, Critical Studies, Applied Brand Marketing and Business Economics). In 2008, I graduated with a BA in Creative Brand Communications with a major in Graphic Design.

After graduating, spent some time doing flyers and other designs for bands and venues, before landing a job at the Maverick Publishing Corporation in February 2009.

I was the designer for Fitness Magazine, a role I took on gladly, as every day, I found new challenges. From concept to finished execution, I put together Fitness every second month, while focusing on maintaining the website (*) for the rest of the time, and doing promo videos.

At Maverick, I also taught myself Wordpress and Joomla. Having done basic html for fun as a teenager, CMS was a little foreign to me, but I managed to gain understanding. I also taught myself iMovie and created videos for Fitness, Bluff Magazine and Muscle Evolution Magazine (both Maver-ick's publications). Another important part of my job at Maverick was putting together the Fitness online magazine, published bi-monthly.

In August 2009, I started working on a side project - a non-profit online magazine for alternative girls. Think Cosmo with an edge. I worked on this after hours, dedicating all my spare time, and VIXXEN launched in November 2009, to rave reviews.

In Februarty 2011, I left Maverick Publishing, to relocate to London. Later that month, I completed a course in Final Cut Pro through City Varisty and a course in Adobe Flash through Inscape Design College, to further expand my knowledge.