1.
Biography

Childhood

I probably took my first steps into the creative industry with out even realising it. Since being a little kid I was obsessed with logos such as the mortal kombats dragon and even fashion brands although I was far too embarrassed to admit that then. I used to have scrap books full of logos and stories which i suppose accumulated later to creative story boards. I also started earning money from the age of 6 or 7 whereby I would spend my time after school drawing pictures of Sonic the hedgehog and then sell them on for 20p you would be surprised by the size of the waiting list hehe.

Teen years

To be honest I hated school, didn't like many teachers, although when It came to art I was always excited to to go to class. It was the one subject where I would be asked for advice and often highly credited for my work. After school I would look forward to riding my dirtbike or BMX and now and again hitting the local skate park to let loose.

Working life

Well! I have worked in a pizza factory, Mc'donalds, manual labour construction and as a bar tender. Basically I've been around a bit, I got to the point where I was thinking is this it. It was then that I really started to think about careers and finally set my sights on architecture. I was put off by the 7+ years of education needed. not to be put off I enrolled at college to study art at A-level and graphic design which at the time I thought was graphical drawing as back to my school days this was what graphic design was. On my first day of at college I was a bit confused as to what the hell I was doing we were asked to design a magazine cover when I was still under the impression I would be drawing shapes! The class was very shallow and in my opinion did not not go into enough detail. None the less I got through with flying colours.

The Gap

After college I set out to do my life long dream and become a pro freestyle moto x rider I worked my ass off and did just that. I ended up riding for one of the most well known teams in Great Britain and performed in front of thousands of people.

Back to school

I decided it was time to get serious again and apply for university I was still set on architecture until one day asking a friend about the best choice of uni to go to he told me about his course on design and advertising he showed me the work he was producing and in a second I was hooked. Things started to make sense this was the course and career I wanted to be in. I enrolled at the university of Bolton completed a BA Hons in Graphic Design/Visual Communication, freelanced in my spare time and landed a permanent job at an agency before I graduated

Carees

I worked as a freelance designer from being at university up until the present. I love freelance work and the freedom it offers I had the pleasure of grabbing my own clients from small new business start ups to large business such as Varsity Bar and MMU Manchester Met University. I still continue to do freelance if my employment & contract allows me to.

Industry experience has so far been good I started at a place in Manchester city called Angle Creative which was a small advertising agency with some pretty big clients. I had the joy of working on some really good branding getting involved in pitches and gaining field experience of advertising.

My second agency I worked for was called IMPL again in Manchester and was fully focused on digital marketing this was a great experience and opened my eyes to the hole world of digital media I perfected skills in CSS, HTML and learnt a lot about UX user experience and digital marketing.

After deciding to leave IMPL I was offered a job I could not refuse working for JD PLC which would lead me to work on main in house brands such as JD,SIZE, BANK, Scotts, Canterbury plus the chance to work on retail brands and campaigns such as Nike, Adidas, Fenchurch, Lipsy and many more top level brands. My role at JD was middle weight designer for digital I have worked across all there main sites worked on digital advertising campaigns built mini sites re-branded and designed mailers and got the opportunity to art direct photo shoots for multiple campaigns. Later on I was also given the responsibilty to take care and direct digital for Canterbury, BANK and Scotts individually through out the year

2.
Skills

Creative

• Photoshop
• Illustrator
• Indesign
• Flash

Code-Languages

• HTML/XHTML
• CSS2 CSS3
• Javascript

Specialised at

• Grid Layout
• Information Architecture (AI)
• Composition
• Typography

3.
Education

University of Bolton

2005 - 2008

BA/Hons

Graphic Design

Bolton College

2003 - 2005

A Level/Btec

Art & Design/Graphic Design

4.
Experience

JD Fashion

2009 - Current

Position

Graphic Designer
Middle Weight

Responsibilities

I am responsible for creating Digital Strategies for digital campaigns such as micro sites and Email campaigns. Sticking to strict brand guidelines such brands include Nike, Adidas, Pretty Green, Red or Dead, Timberland and a whole lot more...