Brand manager, senior graphic designer, service designer and illustrator, based in Cardiff, Wales. Solving problems with design for over 20 years. With experience agency-side, in-house, and freelance.
Brand manager, senior graphic designer, service designer and illustrator, based in Cardiff, Wales. Solving problems with design for over 20 years. With experience agency-side, in-house, and freelance.
A portfolio and CV can only say so much. My career covers a whole host of skills, attributes and experience and hopefully I can expand on it below.
OK so yes, this is my primary skill. Design for print and digital. All the usual print stuff:
I use a range of the usual software – the Adobe Creative Cloud suite (Photoshop/InDesign/Illustrator) every day for pretty much my whole career. When it comes to any other Adobe software for other uses, such as Premiere Pro for editing movie files, After Effects for animated bits and pieces, XD for web layout, I can get to grips with them quickly and use tutorials to find out how to do what I need to do. However, like muscles, without using it every day, it gets a bit weaker. I can also use Figma like all the cool kids these days.
Other things I can do, I know what decent photographs need to look like, I can take half decent ones using a DSLR or camera phone.
While I can certainly put together things in other software, I am of the belief that using someone specially skilled in a certain field is always the best option. Yes I can tangle with HTML and CSS but if we want a website, we should work with a developer. If we want professional photographs, hire a photographer, and so on.
I really enjoy good writing. I think brands should have at least one good writer working for them. I know this isn’t always possible for small brands and businesses so I fill in where I can.
When designing for brands I try not to use lorem ipsum for two reasons. Firstly, we can only design to actual content. The amount of wording will change how a layout is going to look, so I want to know what I'm working with. Secondly, if I'm working with a new brand that doesn’t know what they should sound like yet, I will come up with my own filler text, which would act as a suggestion to what could go in that space or how it could read. I’ll often insert a bit of personality into it that suits the brand.
I like the idea of writing like a conversation. It may be a bit of a cliché but it works. The kind of conversation you have depends on your brand’s voice. First you figure out what that is and how it speaks to people, then when you speak to them make it clear, use words your audience understands, and get to the point. Good writing goes hand in hand with…
A super important part of design, and something I could talk about for days.
I like this too. I'm not primarily an illustrator and so I don’t have a certain style. I do like to create things in various styles. If you’d like to see you more you can always get in touch ↗.
So when it comes to branding, I have organised and run small workshops with groups for their wants, needs and feedback. I can use this as an educational tool to help people understand what I think about when putting a brand identity or logo together, and it helps them to understand and take ownership of their brand. I have even successfully run some with some primary school children for their school crest redesign.
Being part of various teams throughout my career has taught me a lot about how to manage others. I have managed junior staff as a senior designer and I enjoy it. I like to think I can get good work out of people by finding out what they enjoy doing and building on that.
I know my strengths, and I know when there’s something I can’t do if we’re looking for the best results.
Wooshy, swirly animated videos with After Effects. While I’m sure I could figure it out, Yes! I have now figured it out! I can now do basic animated things, but still, I think it’s best left to a good animator.
I know my way around HTML and CSS, I put this website together from scratch – no Wordpress theme or anything. But many websites that need proper coding, a CMS, and top-notch security – which is best left to a web developer. When it does come to websites though, I can certainly pull together installation and customisation of a Wordpress (or other) theme.
Modern smartphone cameras let us take really decent snaps, but for really great photography is a step above and will really enhance a brand. Again, let’s use a pro.