I am a designer, art director and web developer with an exceptional range of hands-on experience, from web design, UI design, UX, standards-compliant coding to brand identity, print, packaging and POS. I developed an in-house design and web development team from scratch to become the leading design and web development group in a multinational corporation. As a designer and mentor in the team, I produced and ensured the highest quality of output for massive international online communities in multiple languages; I work quickly and efficiently, have an exceptional eye for detail and a passion for typography and type design.

Key Skills and Facts

• Exceptional attention to detail
• User interface design, user experience, usability , typography
• Experience designing for and maintaining online communities
• Adobe CS3 (Photoshop, Illustrator, Flash, InDesign, Dreamweaver, Premiere)
• Front end web development (XHTML, CSS, JS, PHP)
• Qualified Scrum Master (Agile)
• Management and leadership of creative teams
• Design and production for a multilingual audience, French and German linguistic skills
• Clients include the Foreign and Commonwealth Office, Barclays, Bank of Scotland, British Airways, Virgin Atlantic, Channel 4, UK Parliament, TUI and BOC
• Projects include game websites, Aion, Guild Wars, City of Heroes and City of Villains; packaging design for Guild Wars Complete, Collector’s Edition and individual releases and City of Villains Collector’s Edition; booth and merchandise design for the Leipzig Games Conference.
• Runs a successful typography blog: http://ministryoftype.co.uk

Work Experience

2008—present: Senior Designer, Cubeworks Ltd.

In this fast-paced agency role I designed and developed sites and branding solutions for a wide range of clients, including the NHS, Breakthrough Breast Cancer, the NSPCC and Kent Police Authority. My work involved identifying user types, understanding requirements and developing user journeys to producing wireframes and visual comps, finally producing standards-compliant HTML, CSS and Javascript template sets.

My work methodology is strongly influenced by the Scrum/Agile philosophy, employing continuous testing and interations to ensure flexibility and high quality output.

Working with the MD and the Cubeworks design team I expanded and updated the Cubeworks brand, and have started work on rethinking and updating the website and marketing materials. I also created and presented designs for pitches, helping win various contracts large and small and openings for further work for Cubeworks.

2006—2008: Design Manager, NCsoft Europe Ltd.

I created the role of Design Manager, continuing to develop the team as an in-house design agency and taking on the responsibilities of Creative Direction for publishing at NCsoft. I was responsible for producing and strategising the highest quality of design and production work for branding, advertising, point-of-sale, merchandise and online.

As part of a global organisation, and producing work for more territories than any other part of the company, I made the European creative team the best in the company, renowned for the exceptional quality of its design and online output. I provided design and development services to the whole company, and my work provides inspiration and a high bar for other teams to reach.

I updated and developed brand guidelines for the European publishing arm, freshening the brand and making it more compatible with the needs of producing work in multiple languages and territories.

2004—2006: Web Development Manager, NCsoft Europe Ltd.

I was the sole design and web development resource for the company, defining and establishing its creative direction and technical and quality standards, and producing websites and marketing material, in five languages, for all NCsoft’s games available in Europe.

After the launch of Guild Wars in Europe and the increase in marketing activity for other games, I built an entire design and web development team to fulfil the increased volume of work and act as an in-house design agency.

Epic Group plc

May 1996—Oct 2004

During my career with Epic, I have held many roles that have given me broad and deep experience of all aspects of practical graphic design, user interface design and corporate branding.

2003—2004: Art Director, Education Division, Epic Group plc.

I was the primary contact for all creative design requirements in the team, as well as for branding and marketing design experience to the company as a whole. Using my experience of branding I developed and extended the identities of key clients to the online and e-learning format, including work for NHSU, Barclays, Lloyds TSB, Virgin Atlantic and the Cabinet Office. A major part of my role was to support the Sales Team by providing and presenting designs for pitches. I was the first choice for sales staff for any creative design work needed to win work, and I enjoyed the pressure and variety this work provided.

I support all my design work with practical and useful material from standards-compliant, accessible XHTML and CSS to hard-drawn sketches and guide layouts.

2001: Creative Consultant, Solutions Team, Epic Group plc.

I took on a more senior consultative role within a new team established to provide a central point of contact for excellence to the company. I provided the art direction and creative design consultancy on all of Epic’s high-risk projects, including those for The Cabinet Office, Channel 4 and a complex video scenario-simulation for the then Department of Social Security. I was the art director and design consultant on the redesign of the UK Parliament website.

In tandem with the newly established Marketing Team at Epic, I produced a full set of consistent branding collateral for the company. The website, intranet, all document templates, proposal graphics, posters throughout the company and guideline documents followed a consistent identity developed by me. At this time a full brand was established for the testing division of Epic, Epicentre. This was based on Epic’s brand to capitalise on the company’s reputation in the industry, but different enough to identify it as a separate entity.

1999: Web Development Manager, Epic Group plc.

This role was specifically created for me to focus more fully on all aspects of web and internet-related design. I continued to develop Epic’s brand identity, expanding it to include the testing division, Epicentre. This time was a period of great expansion in the online delivery of e-learning, and I further developed my technical and design skills to be a central source of excellence and knowledge in the company. I produced the art directions for Epic’s key projects at this time, including that for Planet Britain 2000, a government flagship project to promote Britain in Asia, delivered in a hybrid web and CD format.

1996—1998: Graphic Artist & Senior Graphic Artist, Epic Group plc.

In this role I produced art directions for all Epic’s web and intranet work, and many e-learning programmes. I took an opportunity at this time to develop a consistent unified branding for Epic.

1995: University of Sussex, Accounts (contract)

Education

University of Sussex, School of Cognitive and Computing Sciences

1993-1995

Morecambe High School Sixth Form

1991-1993

Carnforth High School

1986-1991

References

Stephen Reid
(manager, NCsoft Europe):

http://www.linkedin.com/in/stephenreid

Jen Bolton
(colleague, NCsoft Europe):

http://www.linkedin.com/in/jenbolton