I am a creative, free-thinking, caring, productive, efficient, organised and resilient person who appreciates the solidity of routine but is creative enough to allow spontaneity to keep life exciting for myself. I’m a massive sports fan, football forms the backbone of my life through playing it, watching it, even down to discussing it in some of my social circles. I’m also a massive snooker fan and enjoy watching tennis and cricket. One of my slightly more obscure hobbies is aquarium-keeping, which I find relaxing against the stresses of life, as well as being enjoying the beauty of tropical fish.
My technical skills are sound. I’m very familiar with Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign, having largely taught myself Photoshop through experimentation from around the age of 10 when the limitations of Microsoft Paint started frustrating me. My weaknesses in a technical aspect are my inability to use motion graphics software and lack of coding skills. However, having proved a quick learner of Illustrator and InDesign, I believe learning such skills wouldn’t be too difficult in the right surroundings given my general technical competence, persistence, and motivation.
I have varying experience in terms of work having worked with Square.One, a commercial design agency in Sheffield City centre, so I’m familiar with the industry, as well as having volunteered for a local Branch of Boys Brigade for 2 and a half years which is reflective of my caring nature. As well as this I also did a part time stint as an administrator in a Doctor’s surgery, a task where organisation and efficiency are of utmost importance. In terms of working with clients, I’ve worked on live briefs for clients including schools, bands, and film producers, so I have a fairly broad history in terms of working on cultural projects.
When working independently I tend to find my thought process works to it’s full potential such as in my dissertation and my WWF app proposal, as I’ve found that no two people think the same way, and so when thinking collaboratively certain things are inevitably overlooked. This is something which I find greatly irritating given my organised personality. That said, my ability to work in a team has been proven numerous times such as in my Duke of Edinburgh award, my extensive spell volunteering at Boys Brigade which was heavily reliant on the teamwork of the staff, the project proposal for Barbered Design, and the WWF Condom packaging.
My communication skills are generally very good. I find it easiest to express myself in writing, where I can properly structure and plan my thoughts into an eloquent message. I’m a very capable reader, as proven by my ability to write a dissertation around a subject as academic as philosophy, and know the importance of being able to listen to the opinions of others having grown frustrated at not having my thoughts taken seriously when I was younger. I occasionally struggle talking in front of large groups, but this is generally not an issue when I’m talking about something I’m knowledgable about or a design/product that I’m confident about.
In my opinion, graphic design is best summed up by the old ‘life is a box of chocolates’ metaphor. No two projects are the same, and naturally you’re drawn to the ones that you know you like, and are more apprehensive about newer ones, but that’s not going to stop you from trying them. The main difference between the box of chocolates of life and the box of chocolates of graphic design however, is that the latter will be much prettier.
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