Head of Design
HS Ad UK (Creative studio for LG Electronics UK)
Total years of experience :17 years, 8 Months
Managing and working alongside the design team, I am responsible for ensuring high standards of creative work in multiple channels (Physical in-store builds, Printed, Digital) and overall design project management. I am involved in, and responsible for some of the highest priority projects for LG Electronics UK and have become the mentor to the design team - teaching them and improving their skill sets for the benefit of the business. Client confidence in our studio improved greatly after my arrival due to my high standard of output and the speed at which I produce results while ensuring that the client is involved or at least feels involved at every step of the way.
Following is a list of tasks and projects that I am responsible for. This is not all-inclusive and I often jump in on projects far removed from design.
• 3D Design / Technical development
• In store concept design - In run designs, shop-in-shops, experience zones
• Point of purchase stands design (Technical structure designs and final artwork)
• Digital content development for web (Design and HTML / CSS)
• Some video editing and motion graphics
• In store marketing materials design and development
• Creative concept development and implementation
• Studio project management
• Employee mentoring, training and improvement
• Setting up workflows, processes and procedures to improve productivity
• Meeting with clients for briefing sessions and creative feedback
• Setting up brainstorming sessions to foster creativity and improve employee buy-in with particularly difficult projects.
A private label FMCG company specialising in beauty & cosmetics, I worked with a team of designers on multiple brands for multiple retailers across various channels and I took ownership of the largest and highest value brands, projects and clients and delivered highly creative results from initial concepts to final deliverables that impressed our clients and engaged shoppers. I designed products, their branding, packaging, point of purchase stands & display boxes as well as marketing materials.
Following is a list of tasks and projects that I was responsible for within BMT. This is not all-inclusive and I often jumped in on projects far removed from design.
• Product branding & manufacturing finish design
• Product packaging design (Folding carton packaging, Acetate packaging, etc.)
• Special or limited edition packaging design (Gift sets, special campaign packaging)
- I design both the die/cut lines as well as the final artwork for packaging
• Point of purchase display stands and boxes design (Technical structure designs and final artwork)
• Creating new and engaging sales concepts for retailers
• Creating impactful and impressive brands and branding for new products & ranges
• Designing visualisations to showcase new brands & marketing strategies
• Designing marketing materials and campaigns used in stores
• Client presentation design (Booklets, presentations, magazines and email presentations)
• Sales catalogues design (Products and pricing catalogues)
• Visiting suppliers and manufacturers to ensure our products are being manufactured to our standards and maintain consistency
• Sitting in on client meetings to provide design input at all stages of product / campaign development
A very popular and incredibly busy national retail chain of stores selling shoes & accessories, I worked at the head office providing systems and database support for all mission critical systems in both the head office and the retail stores. I was responsible for maintaining systems uptime and ensuring all retail support systems were healthy. Towards the end of my term here I began taking on more marketing related tasks such as email campaign design, magazine adverts and in store marketing designs. That, coupled with my previous experience with freelance design projects led me to changing career paths into a permanent creative role.
Following are some of my tasks and responsibilities;
• Server planning, implementation, configuration and administration (Mail servers, File servers, Point of Sale servers, Domain Controllers, DNS Servers, Web Servers and SQL Database servers)
• User workstations, laptops and mobile devices configurations, maintenance and administration
• Network administration (Hardware, routing, VPN’s, security)
• Data & backup management (Planning, deploying and maintaining comprehensive data management, backups, disaster recovery and data synchronization services)
• Working with planners and sales managers to manage and mine sales and trend databases
• Custom development of smaller scale front-end applications to expedite stock taking procedures and manage IT assets
• Helpdesk implementation and management (Implemented a ticket based helpdesk system used by all head office staff and retail store clerks)
• Point of sale systems and networks management and administration
• Ensuring high availability and performance of all mission critical systems & services. (POS systems, database systems, credit card processing).
• Writing and enforcement of Information Systems policies and procedures.
• Marketing database management (SMS & Email marketing databases)
• Network and systems asset management
• Software licensing and compliance management.
BSmart Communications was a business data and voice services provider. I worked alongside another systems administrator here for some time, after which I became the sole admin and support person. I supported both technicians and clients and was often at client's businesses sorting out the more technical issues and rolling out bigger projects.
My tasks and responsibilities included:
• 3rd Line support for on-site technicians and clients.
• Server support, configuration and administration (Exchange server, file servers, Domain controllers)
• User workstations, laptops and mobile devices administration.
• Network administration, configuration and maintenance.
• Client relationship management (On-site visits to particularly difficult or complicated clients and sites)
• VoIP support (SIP accounts, VoIP networking, device configuration & quality testing and tuning)
• Simple stock management system development (MS Access)
• Helpdesk system implementation and management.
• Systems and network installations for clients.
• Researching new VoIP developments.
• Some PABX configuration and support.
• Software licensing compliance.