Portfolio & CV
This is the material used to support my career up to now and moving forward.
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Portfolio
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Socials and Professional Networking
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Marketing Material
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CV & Personal Statement
Portfolio
Below you can scroll through my a version of my current portfolio. This is a dynamic document, which is continually changing to suit the audience and situation that it is required for.
Photo taken in Alicante in July 2023
Freek Decaf Coffee - Challenger Brand Project, 2024
Logo Design for me
Photo taken in Alicante in July 2023
Socials and Professional Networking
Below are screens of my social media presence. Many of my profiles straddle personal and professional. I always keep a mind that my personal posts are something I would be happy for anyone to see and show me in the best light for potential clients and employers. I could keep multiple profiles, however, I currently choose not to as my freelance work is very much who I am, it is important to sell my full self (as much as any of us do on these things). There is also, another reason for this, much of my work have come from unexpected places, and people. It is important that I share with as many people from as many factions of my life what I do, as anyone could be making my next important introduction.
Instagram is currently my app of choice for sharing work (and life), it is a visual platform allowing me to share photos and videos with followers. The algorithms also make it possible for unrelated people to discover me based on their interests. Instagram also offers features like stories and reels for sharing more dynamic and ephemeral content. It is the prominent platform for visual storytelling, influencer marketing, and connecting with a global audience.
I have a presence on LinkedIn that I do need to start engaging with more as this is a purely professional platform and i cultivated a decent network when working at Arnolfini. LinkedIn has a jobs feature which could prove useful when I come to look for a position in earnest. However, on a recent perusal 2 of the organisations I was interested in for work don't have a present here.
My next step for improving my online presence will be adding work to my Dribble profile, and looking at creating a Behance profile. These platforms are much more specific to the filed I am interested in and are both great tools for touting for work.
Marketing Materials
Business Cards
The first cards pictured are my current cards - designed by me and printed with Moo. I have two types, an premium card with silver foiling, front and rear, to give it a real pop, I always get a wow or ooh when I hand one of these over. The second card was much cheaper and I keep these for networking events where you hand out a large quantity of cards with little or no expectation of anything in return.
Here is my Tessell8 card which is for work done with the agency I do much of my freelance work with. I had little to no input on designing these cards, it is the same format as everyone else's in the company. However, it does have a fun feature of a caricature we each had done for the website and email signatures. Not my personal style but they do stand out.
The next cards are my first attempt with Moo cards, I was very pushed for time when organising these as I had a networking event I needed them for, so I used a Moo design. In retrospect I don't think they look that great, the text on the pattern gets lost - the font is too thin on the busy pattern and there was a set of 4 colour ways, most of which were not high enough contrast. These are about 8 years old, I don't think they have aged well aesthetically. Clear info on the rear though.
These final cards are still a favourite, unfortunately the website is no longer my domain so I cannot use them. They are reasonably simple grey board on the front with clear spot UV for my name and black and white on the rear. These were done for my Degree show in 2008, but still quite relevant design wise.
Postcards and flyers
Here are this year and last years end of year show cards. Both designs chosen to sound out from the crowd but also representative of the work I am producing. I was really pleased with Splurt, it was quite a nice little stand alone bit of art, Brainy is fine, however was done in a rush and feels to me it has more of a limited appeal due to the simplicity of the work and childish, cutesy cartoon aesthetic. Out of the context of the WhatsApp sticker pack it was produced within i feel it looses a little punch.
These next selection of flyers and cards were all done is 2008, for my degree show and then I organised a show for shortly after I graduated to keep the momentum of producing work up.
CV
I have attached the last CV I produced in approximately 2012, possibly earlier. This was put together before I gave up my role at Arnolfini and became self employed, in 2014. I have not had need of a CV in the past 14 years. But this feels like a good starting place.
There is a great deal I feel needs changing about this document to make it relevant to me now, not just in terms of content but also visually it does not reflect me.
Changes...
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Strip out all the work roles prior Arnolfini, there is quite a lot missing anyway. The transferable skills can be summed up within the profile. And reduce info on role at Arnolfini to a line or two.
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Include detailed information about my freelance work for the last 10/11 years.
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Unsure whether to retail Qualifications section, there is much that is transferable skills wise, however I might be better focus the limited real estate to relevant current skills such as Software competence (InDesign /Illustrator /Photoshop /After Effect /XD /Figma /MS Office /Web design)
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Include HND/HNC in Education
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Interests have changed a great deal since having a family.
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Referees need to be asked and updated to more recent roles.
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Visually needs completely rethinking as it is currently very information heavy and while legible it's go no personality. It was created in Word so needs to be moved into InDesign for a start. I hope to remove a great deal of text, however 28 years of working, learning and living is hard to condense into just one page!
I looked at a selection of creative CV's on Dribbble for inspiration this first one by SlideCo Designers appealed to me for the layout, it's laid out beautifully, however it's quite faint and really doesn't stand out in any way. It would not be a representation of me and my style if this was my CV.
The next two (both by Resume CV) definitely have a more appropriate vibe and could inspire a much more representational piece of work. The only thing with designs like this is there is much less space for written content and I would have to consider them taking 2-3 sheets.
This final example (another Resume CV) really appealed to me, it has that Swiss design feel about it, very elegant and striking. Although I may take elements from each to produce a CV that is unique to me and my style. Either way It really needs to stand out and if I was doing a speculative mail out to a number of local agencies I would consider getting them printed professionally, so i could utilise so fancy print techniques, maybe spot UV or I'd love to get some neon on there, I can also take advantage of the full bleed - that really makes something look professional.
Current Personal Statement