About
WYSIWYG: What you see is what you get just about sums me up - no hidden agendas, no BS! I'm always honest (not good at sugar coating I'm afraid), value integrity in self and others, loyal, enthusiastic and boundlessly creative.
My story
Originally from the suburbs of north-west London and now located in the North East of England. 21 years ago my husband and I made a lifestyle choice to swap our 3-bed semi on a main road in Pinner for life on a farm in the North East. It's been an idyllic place to raise our three children and given us the work/life balance we hoped for.
Someone offered me a Muhammad Ali quote once that I rather liked, “it ain’t bragging if you can back it up.” So, after a successful thirty-year career as a creative director and designer – which I’ve been unashamedly good at it and got the t-shirts to prove it (see some portfolio highlights here) – I’ve chosen to close that book and return to making work that answers my own brief.
It’s a pivotal moment which feels a little like having to relearn how to ride a bike, with the uncertainty if I’ll remember how to steer or where the brakes are. But, I’m excited about the prospect of finally externalising the many thoughts I have rattling around my head, some of which I’m hoping will resonate with others.
Career summary
30 years’ creative direction, design, and team leadership in marketing, communications and digital. A track record of;
-
developing B2C and B2B award-winning creative projects, marketing and communications campaigns, and digital solutions delivering to customer strategic visions
-
shaping and managing brand identities for the likes of the Railways Pension Scheme – one of the UK’s largest pension schemes – and Railpen, responsible for investing £30 billions of pension scheme assets.
-
working with blue-chip multi-national brands and SMEs from a wide range of industry sectors, including; finance, education, councils and political parties, IT and telecoms, rail, and retail
Education
After receiving a BA (Hons) in Fine Art at Maidstone College of Art, I went onto a MA in Printmaking at Chelsea College of Art. A little later a Post-graduate Diploma in Computer Graphics at Central Saint Martins opened the door to a commercial career, and finally a CAM Diploma in Digital Marketing from the Chartered Institute of Marketing cemented my professional qualifications.
See my LinkedIn profile for more detail on qualifications and career history.
Professional skills
A design thinker, used to applying customer insight to deliver right-first-time solutions. Core strengths can be summarised as:
-
Bucket loads of creativity. Developing creative strategies, ideation, creative direction, quality-assuring output, and hands-on design
-
Resourceful problem solving. Thinking laterally and using what’s available + smoke, mirrors and a healthy amount of faith, trust and pixie dust to make great things on tight budgets or with limited tools
-
Building strong, consistent brands. Flexible to adapt to changing circumstances yet strong enough to stand the test of time
-
Focusing on outcomes. Showing customers what they really need rather than just giving them what they think they want
-
Seeing the bigger picture. Creative thinking that joins the dots (sometimes annoyingly, especially when others haven’t even seen any dots ;-))
-
Attention to detail. Detail is important. “Good work is the culmination of hundreds of tiny details.” ‘Diary of a CEO’, Steven Bartlett
Artistic practice
Unsurprisingly given my professional experience, my artwork doesn’t tend to be rooted in any single genre or artistic tradition but draws on a wealth of art and design knowledge.
Together with a versatile approach to medium choice, digital and traditional print techniques, and other methods of communication, my work is allowed technical and stylistic freedom to develop appropriate solutions for the messages I wish to convey.
Customers
Here's just a selection of the companies and organisations I've been fortunate enough to work with.