Graphic Designer at Tool Connection - Sept - Present

Graphic Designer, product photography, packaging, labels and advertising.

The Tool Connection brands include Laser, Kamasa, Gunson, Power-TEC, Connect and Eldon: Made in Sheffield.

Premier Tool Specialist brands that offer a full range of traditional high quality hand tools & products available through automotive wholesale outlets, motor factors, independent retails, hardware stores and van sales.
All our brands are well known worldwide and acclaimed for their quality, real value for money and backed up
by a technical service that is second to none. Starting in early September with Automechanika 2024 in Messe Frankfurt underway, first shoot in situ, product photography & 360° capture for online, then artwork the required packaging & labels, leaflets, catalogues, vehicle livery, monthly & bi-monthly productions, printed in the UK or over in Taiwan [China].

Senior Graphic Designer at Mannol UK - May - Mar 2024

Joining Mannol UK & Ireland marketing team driving business growth.

Based at Mannol UK & Ireland head office in Northampton, part of Mannol Global. In a new exciting role as Senior Graphic Designer, working in a marketing capacity to implement a refresh of content creation & social media and the ability to develop a brand that can implement growth in all channels. Solving day-to-day marketing challenges for Mannol UK at business events, for partnerships and a client base. I delivered creative brand design for events in June at Automechanica 2023, merchandise, video and in August at the Chamber of Commerce Business Event at Northampton Saints, MK Chamber in November and Wickstead Park in March. Some other projects, including the marketing and production of a 1:18 Porsche wrapped and video packaging, Chempioil 5L labels, Motorbike 4-Takt video and storyboards, moodboards, business cards, product advertising, print & digital artwork, even branding a novelty claw machine and racing simulator games.

2D Creative Designer at GH Display - Sept - Dec 2022

Creative design & large format graphics for innovative custom built exhibitions.

Providing B2B and B2C with creative artwork & design services on large format graphics & construction packs for clients and in-house build teams. Working with a 3D sketchup model to provide panel sizes and brand requirements for design and construct packs on innovative custom built exhibitions for large corporate brands or individual solo businesses requiring a roller banner or pop up store, in many formats & materials i.e vinyls, foamex, stretch fabrics, FOGA frame systems, MDF or stock panels. Pre-construction on site or at venues, such as Olympia, NEC, throughout the UK & Ireland and in Europe. Diverse range of client base from internal to cosmetic, electrical, industrial machinery, the Army, fire, health & safety, IT & telecommunications.

Lead Designer at Copart UK Ltd - Feb - June 2022

New design position developing the brand through digital channels.

A new hybrid role at Copart UK in digital marketing of salvage car auction & used vehicles. Lead designer B2C members, providing brand development and content for the marketing director and colleagues. Projects for the CEO i.e. carbon literacy campaign, data protection [GDPR] campaign for HR, x2 weekly posts including race team updates on LinkedIn, banner design for web campaigns and refresh of all contents, refurb the office presentation in two parts with research, mood boards in a powerpoint format. Sponsorship banners, support centre banner, survey e-mailers, service certificates, trade guides and miscellaneous poster, flyer & leaflet's and remote site signage. Implementing in-house photography & video content and supporting events with print.

Senior Motion Graphic Designer at Sytner Group - 4 years

New design position developing the brand in motion and digital channels.

A unique opportunity in the Automotive Industry at Sytner Group, the UK’s leading retailer of prestige cars. Based at Head Office in Leicester with state-of-the-art dealerships across the country. Firstly, refresh the internal branding used for business updates, L&D, Financial budgets, divisional conferences for Managers, Sales, Bodyshop and Colleague Presentations. Secondly,  working in Adobe CC suite, MS Office, creating & editing in Premiere Pro & After Effects, intro's, conference videos, and storyboards for Recruitment, Property. Brand Signage, IT screens for Sytner Group, CarShop & CarPeople. Vehicle Livery, AutoTrader and Social Media Imagery posts. Working closely for the CEO, HoB, colleagues and managers to present a clear vision.

Challenging with new ideas, improving processes and developing new skills.
Successfully designing for the UK's largest retail estates in the Leisure & Travel industry, arriving in 2009, just as Thomson and First Choice merged. Creating retail window displays, in store POS for products, destinations, tourist boards, hoteliers and overseas markets. Promoted to senior retail designer in 2011, managing a small team of two designers, for retail POS & marketing for UK & Ireland. Creative lead, inspiring other designers with integrated campaigns in the Content team across print & digital channels for yearly 'seasonal' launches. Also being involved in other projects such as the customer journey 'Project Phoenix', launch of the digital design stores in UK shopping centres and finally the transition to TUI Group plc.

Inspired by the brand, it's products and a great team, delivering creative design.
At Belkin, I worked with fantastic people that inspired me, especially when visiting the Netherlands office. Working with R&D products and brands from launch through to marketplace. Producing sales support material like manuals, brochures, product bulletins & cheat-sheets, advertising & catalogue pages, point of sale and product packaging. Even launching a distribution fleet of Scania trucks across Europe. Working on lifestyle products such as Networking, Surge, iPod, KVM, to brand guidelines for Argos, DSGi, Stanley and M&S. Concepts for pitches to JLP and PC City in Europe. Photo-shoots with models for NE bags, packaging, exhibition stands, product sketches, pop-up SAM stands and various instore POS and product FSDU's.

Thinking through the creative design process and having an 'eye' for detail.
Working in a large team of designers in the publishing department , initially designing UK mailing list product offers such as RS@Work, IT@Work, RS What's New , poly wraps, POS, posters and leaflets, printed in the UK with on press proofing. Taking on covers & intro pages for multi-lingual catalogues, packaging, digital versions following brand guidelines for UK, German and Austrian markets, I've had RS publications printed in New Zealand and Australia. Also litho-laminated multi-lingual packaging, as I developed good relationships with the product management dept. creating packaging concepts and print for ISOTECH and other RS products.