About me
I have always enjoyed creating Graphics
From my childhood days of using 'Paint' on an old BBC computer to make Christmas cards, to now with 15+ years experience working in the Graphic design industry - I am still excited at the endless possibilities of things I can create in the future.
I pride myself in listening too and collaborating with others to develop designs which are effective, efficient, beautiful and at times even fun.
Growing up in rural Somerset in a cottage next to the woods, I have always valued spending time outdoors in all weathers, to blow away the cobwebs and refresh my mind.
I now live in beautiful south Cornwall. Long walks along the coast or through countryside are often where my mind has space to wander and think up all the creative projects I would like to work on next.
My mission
After 15 years working in-house for companies I decided it was time to spread my wings and put into practice for myself all the experience I had gained in Graphic design and Marketing to create my own freelance business – HF Graphic Design.
The experience I gained from working in-house, collaborating with a vast range of other professionals in Design, Marketing, Production, Sales and Training has provided me with a valuable understanding of how and why Graphic Design is so important to all aspects of a company. As a Graphic designer you become a problem solver, gathering knowledge not only in the aesthetics of a project but how best to make a project efficient, have positive results and how to measure those results.
A company projects professionalism and quality if its branding and ethos are consistent throughout all the touch points at which a customer encounters them. My mission is to help businesses achieve that consistency whatever stage of growth their company is at.
Career
After leaving university I started work at Toy and children’s lifestyle design company, WorldsApart (Now Moose Toys). Here I spent 6 years developing concepts for Toys and Children’s lifestyle projects, taking them from concept through to production. Creating graphics and artwork and detailing material specifications for costing and manufacture.
I then joined Watson-Marlow Fluid Technology Solutions, a B2B FTSE 100 company who design and manufacture Pumps and associated fluid path technologies for many different industries, most notably Biotechnology and Pharmaceutical, Food and Beverage and Industrial Sectors. Here, whilst the company itself grew massively, so too did my Graphic Design skills. My work here juggled many projects at a time – Branding for new products, Design for print (brochures, flyers, packaging and exhibition graphics), Digital design for website use, Social media imagery and training materials as well as design for Internal communications and assisting in Photography.
I worked within a talented design team and alongside a large marketing department, picking up along the way many useful marketing skills and methods.
Recently, while sorting through a dusty box of my old schoolwork which had been stored in an attic for many years, I stumbled upon something unexpected; That very first piece of 'Graphic Design' I made as a child—a Christmas card. I vividly recall creating it, but I never imagined I'd see it again as an adult. It's an exciting discovery, a tangible reminder of how far my creative journey has taken me.
Throughout my teenage years I continued to follow my love of creative subjects and moved to Cornwall to undertake a Foundation art year and then a BA Hons degree in 3D design for sustainability. Whilst undertaking my degree I won a RSA Royal Society of Arts and Commerce (RSA) student award for my project based on wellbeing which not only meant I became a RSA Fellow but gave me the opportunity of a internship at Glaxo-Smith Kline in their R+D design department.