Various Pre-2013
Between 2001 and 2012 my roles varied quite a lot. I started out as a web designer back in the early middle ages, as well as doing some design work. Mostly these were new logo’s for clients and leaflets. My big change came when I started out at Cisco Systems, getting into coding more, and user interaction. I ended up working as a Web Analyst there, over-seeing a team of off-shore developers who updated the Cisco website. I eventually left Cisco to go on a World backpacking trip for a year in 2007. Not because of the work, but as it was a life’s dream of mine and I had to do this while I could still shoulder a backpack. On my return I settled down for what was my work passion, front end development. The roles varied, from permenant to contracting.
Key Responsibilities
2012: eValue/Aviva - Frontend Developer
2012: Blackberry - Frontend Developer
2012: M&G/ Man Group - Designer and Frontend Developer
2012: Financial Express - Designer and Frontend Developer
2011: Dorset Cereals - Frontend Developer
2011: Peugeot 508 - Frontend Developer
2011: Kellogg’s Coco Pops - Frontend Developer
2011: Luna Di Miele - Designer and Frontend Developer
2010: Rated People - Frontend Developer
2009: Africasolo - Frontend Developer
2008: Rolls Round the World - Frontend Developer and Travel
2005: Cisco Systems - Designer, Frontend Developer, Web Analyst
2004: Diginuts - Frontend Developer
2004: Laura Carstensen - Frontend Developer
2003: PW Finlayson - Designer
2003: Football Mitoo - Logo Designer
2002: Edible Systems - Logo Designer
2002: L Jalley & Co - Logo Designer
2002: Supply Serve - Designer and Web Designer
2001: Nikkei NEEDS - Web Designer
2001: NHK Japan - Web Designer
2000: Portobello Festival - Designer and Web Designer
Key Achievements
My first ever foray into design and web design, creating the 2000 Portobello Festival site.
I enjoyed the simplicity of designing logos for clients. Simple in concept but probably more challenging than any other design as you have bring across a message with a few letters and maybe a graphic.
Producing graphics and websites for clients, which the clients' were very happy with and I was very proud of them as a junior designer
Working at Cisco Systems was probaly the most impactful role I've ever had, as I learned a whole set of new skillsets. This ranged from meetings etiquette to managing a team of remote developers, as well as real world frontend development within a very large corporation. The work here set me up until now. Also, in hindshight it was interesting creating vanilla CSS without the use of SCSS/ SASS or preprocessors, as this was before they were introduced globally.
Various Web Design | Web Analyst | Frontend Developer
The web work was very varied, as were the company's I worked for. Ranging from small, medium to large businesses. Thinking back,it horrifies me now as my first role at Supply Serve I relied on outputting html, css and javascript via Adobe's ImageReady. Sites and functions soon broke, so I very soon got into hand coding. I even got to be a dab hand at Macromedia's Flash & Actionscripting. The role at Cisco Systems was my big break. It was the basis of all work to come: great team, teamwork, lots of coding, big corporation, tight deadlines, regular client meetings, pixel perfect sites and varied web work.
The Challenge
The most challenging role I had was as a Web Analyst. I had to adjust my mindset from being hands-on, to managing a team and the client. The time difference between the off-shore team and myself was also a bit tricky, but easy to adjust to.
Proudest Of
Learning new skills after relying on Abobe's ImageReady too much. I learned the hard way and it had to be quick, so it was the best way to learn in the end.
Various Print and Logo Work
Most of my print and logo work was done while I was working for Supply Serve, and then Financial Express. I even managed to design and implement some van artwork. Quite a challenge as I had to adjust to using Pantone colours. Needless to say I had quite a few calls from the printers about colour discrepencies. The overall print work varied: van designs, logos, leaflets and sometimes business cards.
The Challenge
The biggest challenge for me, apart from using Pantone colours for van designs was trying to create unique logo's for clients. I'm my own worst critic, so it was quite a challenge.
Proudest Of
My favourite of all the print work is the Edible Systems logo. Somehow, I'd inadvertently created a logo that showed both the 'E' and the 'S' for Edible Systems as a plug. The client loved it. Although if I could re-work it, I'd change only the colours.
