the skills I have to offer ...
I design my jobs with a pencil, paper and an engaged brain. Novel idea you might think, but design is usually a exercise of problem solving. When the plan is ready to put to electronic media I use CorelDraw X5 and PhotoShop. I love using CorelDraw. It is a powerful vector program with a stable interface which allows huge page sizes, multiple pages and layers. I have used it for nearly 20 years and find it very satisfying compared to other software.
I find a maturity in my work these days. I use my instincts to create solid work that has balanced layout, pleasing colour design and a feel for the clients needs. A respect for classical form and a practical old-fashioned approach to completing the brief will drive my work.
I enjoy working with Photography. I can make composites from professional photos or source material with realistic and futuristic effects. As art director on your campaign I can supervise a photoshoot for you, I can hire the most suited photographer in town to work with you to shoot your products, people or locations. I have a directory of experienced photographers to select from, both in Wellington and elsewhere in New Zealand. I have worked with lots of NZ photographers over the last 25 years. I can be in the studio with the photographer, supervising the shoot in order to get the desired result for the client. I have become conversant with the means of achieving the quality of light needed. I also have access to on-line library resources such as Photolibrary, Andris Apse, and NZ Picture Library. Over the years I have taken a few sweet shots myself on my trusty Nikon and more recently on my DSLR camera and the constantly on the iphone. Often these shots find their way into my work.
30 years of print management has taught me to a thing or two about print. Print broking can be fraught with danger for the innocent. Some important things to do are obtaining detailed quotes, planning time lines, building models, testing stocks, trying new materials, matching inks, supplying accurate proofs and turning up for machine passes. There is not always the budget to get fancy with gold foil edges, but each and every job deserves 100% attention to detail. Getting the job designed and built is only half the fun.
Production these days is much easier than in the dark ages of early digital systems and beyond that in the cold type years of my youth. Today I send a high resolution PDF off to the printer and check the final proof with the client, then they go direct to plate, using all that hard earned knowledge of trapping, overprinting, bleed, imposition, dot shapes, resolution quality etc.
My history is a simple story. Small town girl from Canterbury Plains wants to be a commercial artist from the age of 8. I was bored with school in the 7th form so Dad said I could leave school if I got a job in the commercial art field. In the May holidays I got a job as a junior in a graphic design company in Christchurch with a great mentor. I learnt lots in the next two years, was head hunted, had a series of jobs over the next 5 years, one took me to Wellington and the glamorous world of politics and advertising in the 80's. After a year at Victoria University in 1983 studying for a BA, I got the confidence to set up my own business as a freelance graphic artist. There weren't many in the phone book in those days and I had some busy years in the heady boom of the mid 1980's.
A steady application to the work and general persistence has kept me in business over the last 25 years. I really enjoy what I do and although I have no formal qualifications in design, it no longer matters, as experience and maturity guide me through the work.
Recently I completed a BSc majoring in Geology at Victoria University. It took 6 years steady part time work to get through all those labs and exams, but I learnt some brilliant things, made loads of lovely friends and can now look at the landscape with knowledge. Crazy mid-life crisis!
My personal interests include art, watercolours, reading, astronomy, geology, skiing, gardening and baking. All my work is observed by two black cats and cheerfully supported by four chooks.