Next in our current series of Meet the Team Q&As, we talk to Victoria, our Senior Designer, about her role.
Having been in the design field for over 10 years, Victoria has a wealth of experience from both a client and agency perspective, so she really knows how to take a client project from good to great! She loves digital design and enjoys utilising animation techniques to create that ‘WOW factor’ – and seeing her work in print never fails to put a smile on her face. Here’s what she had to say during her interview:
Q: What makes a design project interesting for you?
Being given a wide creative scope to find a solution that can be used across a whole range of marketing mediums. I love to be challenged and pushed as a designer and relish working on projects that I have never done before. I thrive on being stretched from both a creative and technical perspective.
I also enjoy looking at the bigger picture, whether it be a large branding project or specific promotional campaign, it’s always exciting exploring design options to see how they can help clients achieve their overall goals and objectives.
Q: What design project are you most proud of?
Alongside all the email, landing page, website and banner designs I produce, all of which I am proud of, one particular springs to mind, a Point of Sale (POS) project for global retail stores. Vendors were invited to propose ideas and submit planograms providing visual representations of shelving, counter and stand displays. After a rigorous selection process, ours was chosen above all others. It was great watching my designs come to life for the world to see!
Q: What’s the best bit about your job?
It has to be the variety, I get to work on lots of different and interesting projects – there’s never time to get bored. I also like the fact that my company, 1973 ltd, put a strong emphasis on personal development and regularly send us on training course to further enhance our skills. Something I value very much.
Q: What are the essential elements in your design toolkit?
It’s probably similar to every designer’s toolkit, but without these resources things could go drastically wrong and even grind to a holt.
Firstly there’s my pantone book, my go-to book for anything colour related. From new designs for startup businesses to creating assets for big brands, this enables me to see the true print colour to ensure I get it right. There’s no room for error when it comes to brand colours.
The Adobe Creative Suite is at the heart of everything I do. It’s the foundation on which I build all my ideas. PhotoShop is my favourite application, I have a passion for image manipulation turning something that isn’t great into something really creative using filters, effects and program tools – take a look at some of my recent blogs:
7 Natural photo-retouching techniques
Top 5 Adobe Photoshop tools and techniques
For artwork creation, it’s Illustrator. I use this to build my ideas from scratch. It’s great for creating and editing vector based illustrations such as logos and brand marks or other design elements. This is what I used to create the POS designs mentioned above.
The other application I use regularly is After Effects. Creating motion graphics and animations to use within emails and websites is a great way to engage an audience and stand out from the crowd. And if done well, delivers a quality experience to build a strong brand perception.
These are just some of the key items which sit within my current toolkit. I am always on the lookout for new technologies and new ways of doing things so I can make my designs even better. My goal is to ‘WOW’ my clients and their customers, there’s nothing more rewarding!
