Graphics manager
Pico
Total years of experience :29 years, 5 Months
I am currently working on an exciting and fulfilling opportunity as a graphics trade manager on a museum build project in Nizwa for the Royal Court of Affairs.
Duties include, but are not limited to:
Vendor management across the globe;
Solutions to mitigate challenges presented during the COVID pandemic;
On and offsite co-ordination with other trades;
Time management, scheduling and monitoring project milestone achievements;
Trafficking artwork submittals and obtaining approvals;
Facilitate solutions and negotiations when challenges arise to avoid potential delays;
Co-ordination with the vendor to manage client expectations;
Monitoring and ensuring contractual compliance;
Performance monitoring;
Customer relationship management;
Management of graphic exhibit construction;
Monitoring and facilitating mock-up/prototype production;
Prioritised requirements of projects to ensure completion of essential tasks.
PR and marketing agency creative manager.
Creating branding for prominent business figures in the ME region.
Social media design for marketing purposes
Re-branding for companies
Proposing and assisting in solutions for re structure of the internal filing and archiving system
Mentoring and advising on technical issues, software usage and creative direction.
Working in Dubai for SMC since the end of August 2017, previously working remotely from the UK. I assisted in the set-up and development of the company image, branding and developing processes and procedures for buidling a creative department.
My achievements and duties were as follows:
• Created and curated the brand identity and brand style guidelines documentation making our company stand out and be complimented by clients and prospective clients
• Designed the company website and worked collaboratively with a web agency (see surfacemobility.com)
• creation of social media posts working collaboratively with the marketing manager
• Designed all internal documentation using research of competitors and current trends ensuring SMC stood out against them visually
• Created corporate branded proposals and presentations on short turn-around with impactful results and positive feedback from clients creating more revenue opportunities by offering a design service to the client as well as SMCs core services
• PowerPoint presentations, notably, one which was presented to the Sheik and received praise for not only content but design and engagement
• Managing stakeholder expectations regarding artwork delivery timings with 100% on time
• Devised an artwork tracking system for future expansion of the department.
Received a promotion after interview due to my performance in my previous role. I was assigned a team to manage and two Coca-Cola account regions - Germany and Nordics:
• Lead a team which encompassed the following: art-workers, creatives, retouchers, production operators, quality control operatives (QC) and client services
• Encourage, lead, mentor, evaluate and carry out appraisals for my team
• Work with other leads providing support and absence cover effectively
• Liaise with the Schawk Germany and Schawk Copenhagen Coca-Cola account directors to ensure strong communication and that requirements were met realistically and on time whilst building a strong relationship that delivered outstanding results
• Arrange and facilitate weekly Skype meetings with each country to assist scheduling and also arranged and implemented feedback sessions on completed projects for improvement
• Managing expectations of senior managers and account directors with progress reports
• Leading and managing a project to assess QC procedures within the department on how, or if, they could be integrated into an artwork role to increase productivity
• Assess accuracy of Production and QC within the department documenting and presenting findings at a regularly occurring quality control meeting to various senior company stakeholders and making suggestions for process going forward
Contacted directly by Schawk about the role to work on Coca-Cola Account.
• QC repro’d artworks to the correct printers spec with all trapping, registration, color-space etc. for dry off-set, litho, flexo and gravure printing processes
• Checking regional specific regulations and branding was followed to provided guidelines
• Involved in the Food Information Regulations (FIR), regulations change as an FIR and Brand ambassador within the department due to being recognised as thorough
• Actively sought out to be part of a team analysing artworks from the eastern European region and making recommendations for FIR compliance
• Selected to be part of a small team creating new FIR compliant artworks for ranges from existing artworks and implementing latest branding changes due to my analysis above
• Volunteered to work on-site to advise and train the artwork and QC department at Schawk Chennai, India, on adhering to Coca-Cola brand guidelines and FIR regulations, and selected due to my contributions on projects. I created presentations and held Q&A sessions to ensure brand/FIR compliance awareness and made an impactful contribution
Designing, art-working and QC remotely and on-site
• Successfully sell myself as a brand in order to acquire clients and keep track of the life-cycle of projects and deliverables, so they are on-time and within budget
• Concept and design of a magazine for a special needs charity (involved research of suitable fonts and colours which were disability accessible and, as a result, was highly successful)
• Promotional flyers, advertising, pop-up banner design, hotel and restaurant promotional literature including wedding events brochures, general corporate identity and logo design
• Managed a repro department for a year, organising workflow procedure and hiring staff
• Worked for a signage company creating banners, signage, badges and swag
• Tax returns, paperwork, scheduling and time management
Team leadership, creative artwork and print ready design for the Direct Marketing Department at Damart.
• Design and repro promotional artwork for Sedagyl brand
• Produce print-ready artwork for UK Damart promotions
• Migration of French promotions to the English market
• Schedule the artwork traffic through the team
• Train and advise staff
• Researching and providing a sound business case to implement cost savings
• Overseeing technical and production issues directly affecting the Direct Marketing Creative Team including software troubleshooting and upgrades
Repro, artwork creation and management of the repro deptartment and training staff.
Senior Creative Artworker/Repro
Creative design, artworking, repro, mentoring. Implementing a major system software
transition. Tested and advised on workflow CTP system installation for cost savings and improvements.
Creative Artworker/Graphic Designer
Design to print ready artwork and imposition in the reprographics department of a printers.
Only graphic designer at the Huddersfield branch. Direct interaction with clients.
Working and being trained and mentored by the business owner, whilst studying at Kitson
College for my Graphic design and communication City and Guilds certification.
Graphic Communications & Graphic Design