Graduating in 2008 from the University of Derby with a BA (Hons) in Graphic Design - with a focus on design for print, I have worked for a range of design agencies across the East Midlands and worked independantly on a range of freelance projects.

In May 2010, I was offered a position with a small web design agency in Coalville named Internet Essentials. Hungry for success we felt that the existing identity, was not a true reflection of the creative and technical ability the team had to offer - so we packed up our things, moved into an open plan studio in Leicester city center and rebranded the company Shape Creative and as they say - the rest is history.

The transition from print to web

When I first started working for Shape its fair to say that I was more than a little bit wet around the ears - when it came to designing for digital applications. I'd had my fair share of designing brochures, magazine layouts - that sort of thing, but in terms of web experience I was green and what little experience I did have dated all the way back to 1999 when I learnt HTML and in 11 years a lot had changed (bye bye tables).

Although initially in way over my head, thanks to the technical ability of my co-workers and a studio culture that understands and the importance of good design - I've been able to transpose my print design principles into a whole new format, but that's not to say I don't get to do print work too!

It's not all about design though...

As the internet is an ever changing environment - it's important to be as flexible as possible and over the last two years I've picked up a fair few new skills along the way. I've really honed my copywriting skills - which have been a real asset - especially for SEO, as I've got a real knack for writing keyphrase rich text, without compromising the quality of the copy.

I've also honed my front end web development skills - it's taken some time, but I'm quietly confident in my ability to mark up websites in XHTML and CSS 2/3 and I'm getting pretty good at plugging websites into the SilverStripe CMS platform too!

Fast forward a year...

Fluent in a wide range of front end development platforms, building websites has now become second nature. Following my spell at Shape I joined Derby based creative agency DE22, where I enjoy a healthy balanced diet of branding, print and web development projects. In this new role I've also learned how powerful WordPress can be as a content management system and blogging platform - which has opened a world of possibilities when it comes to developing dynamic websites for customers.

I've also learned some other new tricks too including php, MySQL foundations, responsive design techniques and soon I'll be learning jQuery too!

Thanks for taking the time to read my bio, if you have any queries - or like my work please don't hesitate to get in touch. I'm always available for a coffee (or beer if you prefer) and a chat - I look forward to hearing from you.