Curriculum Vitae

PROFILE

A creative, hard working and innovative web designer with good organisational skills, I have 6 years experience in agency/industry environments and a 2:1 Interactive Multimedia degree from Staffordshire University. I have worked on both small and large web design and print projects, and I have the ability to plan time effectively and meet tight deadlines. I am used to working both on my own and in teams for external clients and internal marketing departments, taking briefs for a wide variety of media work. I have worked (either directly or through agencies) for clients such as the Carphone Warehouse, envirofone, Caudwell Children, NUS, Last minute, Tiscali and Barnardos and also papers such as The Mirror/Sun/Star and also a vast number of local businesses. I have the ability to solve complex design problems, usability issues in interactive design and have expertise with production for web and print mediums. My objectives are to produce optimised and accessible websites and quality design work in a creative environment.

I am currently a self-employed freelance web designer seeking either a contract or permanent position in the field of web design ideally with a level of SEO involvement to build on my current skill set in this area.

PERSONAL INFORMATION

Date of Birth: 11th December 1980
Place of Birth: Staffordshire
Nationality: British
Marital Status: Single
Driving License: Full and Pass Plus

SKILLS

Hand coding accessible WC3 compliant HTML / XHTML / CSS code
ADOBE CS4 (Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Illustrator, Fireworks, Flash, InDesign, Acrobat)
Flash animation
Document creation
Image manipulation
File conversion MICROSOFT (All Office Packages)
Graphic design including logo design and printed stationery creation
SEO Analysis & Evaluation
OTHER SOFTWARE PACKAGES (Quark Xpress, 3D Studio Max, Visual Studio)
Digital Illustration
Creating Vector graphics
Image Optimisation

EDUCATION

Degree (July 2003) Staffordshire University
BA (Hons.) Interactive Multimedia (sandwich) 2:1
Placement year (sandwich) E-Learning Graphic Designer 1st

Courses taken (placement year)
Team Building - Aug 2001
Professional/Personal Development - Sep 2001
Customer Care - Oct 2001
English Language - Feb 2002

'A' Level (August 1999) Biddulph 6th Form
Design Technology (B), English Literature (B), Geography (C)

GCSE (August 1997) Biddulph High School
9 (A-C grades) including Maths, English and Science

PREVIOUS EMPLOYMENT

Self Employed Web Designer (January 2009 to ongoing)
Pink Radish: 7 Dunnock Way, Biddulph, Stoke-on-Trent, Staffordshire, ST8 7UQ

Trading as Pink Radish to offer freelance web, logo and print design and also search engine optimisation services to local businesses.

Head of Creative (February 2009 to December 2009) contractor through Pink Radish
BB Solutions Ltd: Brampton Business Centre, Newcastle-under-Lyme, Staffordshire, ST5 1ED

Working in a small team of three; two web developers and myself being the only web designer, my role involves looking after the design (both web and print) side of the business also the copywriting and the search engine optimisation.

On the design side I created a multitude of web designs both for BB Solutions and for our client base. I was the main point of contact for clients regarding all aspects web design, from the initial concept to the final website. I designed all websites to web accessibility standards and if the website was content managed or eCommerce I would liaise with the developers during the process. I also designed the content management system (myCMS) which was built in-house by the developers as well as designing and building our sub-brands which were www.web-design-newcastle.com and www.quotedirectory.co.uk.

I was also heavily involved with the search engine optimization side which involved not only optimising the BB Solutions websites but also being the main point of call for Search Engine Optimisation on behalf of our client base. The process of SEO included keyword, meta-tag, heading tag review and amends, page content and structure reviews and link building. I thoroughly enjoy undertaking and managing the SEO side of the business almost as much as the design work. SEO as well as design work is something I continue to keep up date with by reading online forums and articles.

I also undertook all of the website copywriting for BB Solutions and its sub-brands, also for clients requiring copywriting services for their websites.

Software Used (PC Based) Adobe Photoshop CS4, Adobe Dreamweaver CS4, Adobe Flash CS4, Adobe Illustrator CS4

Web Designer/Developer (November 2006 to November 2008)
Eazyfone Ltd: Guildford House, Heather Close, Lyme Green Business Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire

Working within a mobile phone recycling company alongside a team of three designers my role involved maintaining and improving the websites for the five subsidiary brands which were envirofone (www.envirofone.com), fones4schools (www.fones4schools.co.uk), foneaid (www.foneaid.org.uk), envirocharities (www.envirocharities.com) and envirostudents (www.envirostudents.com) and the umbrella company Eazyfone (www.eazyfonegroup.com). Due to the vast improvements on the envirofone website (which include simplifying the trading process and improving user experience) and the increased TV advertising, the mobile phone trades rose from 800 per day (in November 2006) to around 4000 per day (November 2008).

A large part of my role also included liaising with marketing, business development and IT to create and design graphics for white label affiliates which were either commercial (i.e. Tiscali), charity based (Caudwell Children) or student based (NUS). During my time at eazyfone I set up and designed graphics for around 50 commercial affiliate white labels, 180 charity affiliate white label sites (for envirocharities), and 100 student affiliate white label sites (for envirostudents)

I also undertook print work such as magazine and newspaper adverts to promote the envirocharities and envirostudents campign.

White label affiliate clients include Tiscali, Scottish Power, Last minute, Missing People, Barnardos, Caudwell Children, Poundland, Future Publishing, The Metro, The Sentinel, NUS

Software Used (PC Based) Adobe CS3; Photoshop, Dreamweaver, Flash, InDesign, Illustrator and Visual Studio

Web/Graphic Designer (July 2005 to November 2006)
One Stop Phone Shop (part of the Carphone Warehouse Group): Datum House, Electra Way, Crewe, Cheshire

Working within a large company alongside two designers within the marketing team my role involved designing web graphics, email templates, affiliate banners, press adverts and flyers. All of which were the main marketing to increase sales of mobile phones for both OSPS and to the Carphone Warehouse Group.

The web design work included the creation of web graphics primarily for the OSPS website, however I designed a number of white label sites (re-skins of the OSPS site in the style of other companies wishing to sell mobile phones i.e. Woolworths). The web marketing campaigns included designing affiliate banners to promote OSPS which were shown on MSN, Yahoo etc and designing weekly email templates.

The print work included designing, creating and sending daily press adverts through Quickcut to newspapers i.e. The Mirror, The Sun and The Star. In addition, I designed and created flyers, which appeared in the weekend Sun and News of the World TV Guide. My achievements in this area were improving the design and layout of the adverts, which in turn led to increased sales.

Software Used (PC Based) Adobe Photoshop CS2, Macromedia Flash MX, Macromedia Dreamweaver
Software Used (Mac Based) Quark Express, Adobe Illustrator, Adobe Photoshop CS2, Quick Cut, Acrobat Distiller

Web Designer (March 2004 to July 2005)
Fired Up Marketing Ltd: Festival Way, Festival Park, Etruria, Stoke-on-Trent

Working with two other designers within a small team of marketing professionals I obtained a high level of design and client facing experience including the development of logos for new companies and the rebranding of existing companies. The rebranding involved web, logo and print design.

I was involved in the build of the websites in which I obtained a more in depth knowledge of web design including XHTML and CSS to comply with government accessibility guidelines. I also gathered research and wrote content for many of the websites. Within the print area I gained skills in Quark Express which I used to create flyers, newsletters, business cards and menus.

Software Used (PC Based) Adobe Photoshop CS, Quark Express, Adobe Illustrator, Macromedia Flash MX, Macromedia Dreamweaver

Designer (December 2003 to March 2004)
Triad Trade Textiles Ltd: Worrell Street, Congleton, Cheshire

Working as the main designer in a busy agency my role involved designing textiles (i.e. ties, waistcoats, scarves etc) and creating designs for a variety of promotional products.

E-Learning Graphic Designer/E-Learning Quality Assurance Tester (June 2001 to July 2002) placement year
Accenture HR Services: Yarnfield Park, Yarnfield, Stone.

Working as part of the graphics department (within the e-learning team) to create graphics to be used in training packages for BT employees. I also assisted the print department with posters and brochures. I also was heavily involved with the Quality Assurance of the BT training multimedia and assisted the Quality Assurance Manager with various tasks including testing for spelling, grammar and functionality (the functionality was tested on various platforms.

INTERESTS & HOBBIES

I enjoy all aspects of music, film, photography, socialising, reading fictional literature. I enjoy most aspects of computing and the internet including keeping up to date with the latest design trends and researching search engine optimisation through online forums and articles. I am interested in new technology such as mobiles phones and the latest gadgets. I keep fit by playing badminton and swimming.

REFEREES

References available on request

PORTFOLIO & URLS

Personal Websites
www.pinkradish.co.uk
www.gemmabutlin.co.uk

Websites I have created at BB Solutions Ltd
www.bbsolutions.co.uk (all websites on portfolio)
www.web-design-newcastle.com (all websites on portfolio)
www.quotedirectory.co.uk

Websites I have worked on at Eazyfone Ltd
www.envirofone.com
www.envirocharities.com
www.envirostudents.com
www.fones4schools.com