What I do here

I lead identity and packaging projects from the first workshop to the last press check. Most weeks that means three clients, two junior designers and one very patient printer.

• Run discovery workshops and write the creative brief
• Design identities, packaging systems and guidelines
• Art direct photography and illustration commissions
• Prepare print files and attend every press check

Who I work with

Founders of small food, culture and craft businesses, usually without an in-house designer. Inside the studio: a creative director, a copywriter who joins for naming, and two junior designers I mentor. Outside it: Corran Print Co. and two illustrators we commission often.

What changed

I introduced a one-page brand sheet that clients print and pin above their desk. On smaller projects it replaced forty-page guidelines, and handover calls got noticeably shorter.

What I did

Nineteen organisations were making their own posters in nineteen different ways. I built them a shared toolkit, then spent the time it saved on the campaigns that needed a designer.

• Built templates for posters, flyers and social posts
• Ran monthly drop-in sessions for volunteers using the toolkit
• Designed the annual fundraising campaign two years running
• Art directed the Tidewater Sound Festival

Who I worked with

Volunteer coordinators across the network, a communications lead who became a good friend, two local printers and a lot of volunteers who folded more leaflets than any of us could count.

What changed

Once the toolkit landed, requests for one-off posters dropped to a trickle. The member organisations kept their own voice, and the network finally looked like a network.

What I did

My first full-time job. I designed covers, typeset interiors and produced two catalogues a year, and I checked every proof as if it were my own name on the spine.

• Designed eighteen covers across fiction and essays
• Typeset interiors to the press’s house style
• Produced the spring and autumn catalogues
• Prepared files for offset and checked every proof

Who I worked with

The managing editor, Abena Clarke, who taught me to read a page before designing it. Also authors, a freelance illustrator and our offset printer, who let me stand at the press on publication weeks.

What changed

I rebuilt the interior templates so a new title could go from final manuscript to first proof in two weeks instead of three. The press still uses them.

The brief

The market had a logo nobody used and eighty vendors with eighty different chalkboards. The board wanted it to look like one place, without asking farmers to learn design software.

The idea

Instead of a logo lockup, a set of six rubber stamps: leaf, sun, wheat, drop, crate and the market’s initials. Vendors combine them on kraft price cards, so every stall looks a little different and the market still looks like itself.

Making it

• Six shapes carved by hand, then cast in rubber for every kit
• Price cards, tote bags and a stall banner in two colours
• A one-page guide glued inside every kit lid
• Car park wayfinding, painted by a local sign shop

What I would change

Thicker card stock. The first batch curled in the rain, and the vendors were right to tell me so.

The brief

The festival raises most of the collective’s yearly budget. It had to feel bigger than a community fundraiser and still be cheap enough to print in small, local runs.

The idea

Twelve posters built from the same four shapes: wave, sun, gull and stage. Each poster uses two of three inks, so the screen printers could pull the whole set in one long afternoon.

Making it

• Twelve A2 posters, screen-printed in three inks
• A 24-page programme and woven fabric wristbands
• Stage titles and short loops between acts
• A volunteer kit for the ticket tent

What I would change

I drew the stage loops too late. Next time motion starts on day one, next to the posters, instead of in the last fortnight.

The brief

Mossline sold loose tea in two cafés and wanted to move onto shop shelves without losing the hand-made feel their regulars liked.

The idea

Brush-drawn waves, ripples and dots tell the blends apart. One navy ink per label keeps the collection coherent, and the olive tin stays the same for every blend, so restocking is simple.

Making it

• Twelve tin labels from a single die line
• A three-tin gift box with a sliding sleeve
• Sample sachets and a tasting card
• A pattern guide so new blends can be added in-house

What I would change

A shallower lid rim. The second version opens more easily, and I should have tested the first with cold hands.

The brief

I keep every marked-up proof. I wanted to know if other designers did too, and what their margins said about how they think.

The idea

Nine designers sent me one proof each. I redrew their margin notes as shapes, never as handwriting, and printed them in fluorescent pink and blue, the two drums the riso shop had in that week.

Making it

• Collected nine proofs by post and email
• Redrew every margin note as a shape
• Printed, folded and stapled at a community riso shop
• Sold at two zine fairs, the rest posted to contributors

What I would change

A heavier cover and a proper colophon. I forgot to credit the paper, which is a very designer mistake to make.