Art Direction & Design

Updated: Oct 21

I've called this tab 'Design' but that is just an economy with letters. It is much more than that, it always has been. I have been creating a wide variety of work as an independent and prior to that as part of some of the region's most successful and pioneering agencies. Agencies that have shaped my way of thinking and creating. For me it has always been 'ideas first', I need to explore what direction I may want to take a project, whether it be a simple press ad or a fully integrated campaign. It is also the way I work, it gives a rationale to the project at hand, a positioning in the market, an understanding of the audience and what message needs to be delivered and how it is delivered.

Below are just a few examples of work I have created in the past. They include campaigns, one off fads, communication design, promotional ideas, publications, flyers, prospectuses and many more. All with a common theme, they started with a concept and a variety of initial ideas presented to the client. I need to understand the client, the audience and what we collectively want to say, it is then I can think of a tone of voice through the look, feel and copy content. I have always used other professionals to add to the outcome; illustrators, photographers, copywriters, printers, mailing houses... As an Art Director it is my job to bring all these elements together and manage each project from brief, through quote to ideas, artwork and delivery.

Auto Trader. ‘I Love AT, New York’ campaign. Initially Over 33,000 Mailers and T-shirt mailed out with Glass’s to the trade, supported by a launch campaign to the trade and support documentation. This was followed up by a response campaign where responders sent in hundreds of images of themselves wearing the T-shirt in all sorts of weird and wonderful locations and situations.

Auto Trader. ‘Relax’ campaign.

25,000 mailers with heat-sensitive cards, distributed through Glass’s and the regional centres.

The cards, when heated, revealed that ‘everyone was a winner’, from Dubai holidays to free ad spots. In addition to this x6,000 Inflatable chair sent out to the trade via reps. This was all supported by trade press and online web banners.

Auto Trader. ‘Big Number’ campaign.

A trade press and mail out campaign. A set of six mailers sent out to the trade over a six week period supported by full page press ads.

Auto Trader. Die-cut mail out for Truck & Plant Trader.

Auto Trader. 'No-one remembers who was second’ campaign.

Trade press and mail out campaign.

Auto Trader. 'If you’re not with Autotrader.co.uk...’ campaign.

Press ads.

Reepham College. 2024 Activity.

The main item used to promote the college is the 64 page prospectus, which details the experience of spending your time studying for your A Levels alongside all the enrichment activities, support and subject details. This is supported by posters that are sent out to schools and a postcard campaign that promotes the forthcoming Open Evening, Taster Day and Drop in Evening. This all starts in the spring when I present conceptual ideas as to how we might approach the project for the year and continues through until the summer when everything is printed and ready to target the next year's potential intake.

Reepham College. Various Prospectus Covers.

Above is a selection of some of the covers I have created for the Reepham College Prospectus over the years. It has always been important to keep it fresh but more importantly relevant to message and tone of voice the college wants to use to talk to prospective students and their parents. It has been commented on how the prospectus has always had a university prospectus feel and that's great to hear as it is the approach we, as a team, have always sought to achieve. We want it to be aspirational but also approachable and when I am considering concepts for each cycle I want to try and encompass everything the college stands for and offers.

Reepham School. Diversity Campaign.

I was originally asked by the school diversity lead to arrange a display on one of the main walls in reception. I came back with a series of concepts and accompanying straplines to underpin the campaign, that I thought would work better and could be displayed throughout the school, spreading the word of diversity and inclusion. This also lead to a second set of more detailed explanations of the key words, using dictionary definitions and phonetic soundings, that were felt worked best in a display area for visitors and guests to see in reception. These are shown below.

As part of the process I also created the logo which has the Reepham 'R' on top of the pride flag, this has also become an enamel badge that is worn school wide.

Reepham College. Awareness Campaign.

For this project I was asked by the leadership team at the college to create a set of posters and headers that could be used within the college highlighting some of the many aspects of college life, enrichment, opportunities and next steps. These are all part of what makes Reepham College such a well respected place to the current and past students and the team wanted to look at way that these could be visually present.

Reepham College. pop-ups.

When the college attends careers events they use a couple of pop-ups to flank the table containing the information, postcards, prospectus, etc. These pop-ups were designed to be able to last a number of years and using the wording; Grow, Flourish, Prosper, Develop, Thrive, Achieve, Mature, Celebrate as a way of encompassing life at Reepham College. This concept came from one of my annual spring time initial idea presentations that has been used in a variety of ways to underpin the Reepham College journey by their students.

Anglia Railways.

Improved service posters with illustrations by Rowan Barnes-Murphy

Shadwell. Annual Stud brochures.

A high-end publication detailing the Shadwell stallions on offer each breeding season. An illustration was used for a number of years to provoke an image rather than rely on one photograph to depict the variety and quality of the stallions. A competition was run one year to choose a cover. There were over a hundred entries and the winner not only was used on the cover but the original was purchased to be displayed at the Shadwell office.

Shadwell. Stallion advertising.

A small sample of the advertising used to promote the stallions using the industry press. I also created a series of mailers, promotional campaigns, open day campaigns and success ads that appeared with the press reflecting progeny wins and success at the sales.

Floranova Creative Plant Breeding. Vegetalis Catalogue.

Cover and spread example of seed catalogue.

The Open University. Tone of Voice. Quick Start Guide.

Guide to the 'Tone of Voice'. Working with a copywriter I created this full guide detailing how anyone creating documents, literature or programmes for the Open University should communicate with their potential clients. created a light, open and colourful option that gave the copy space to be read and understood without it becoming too standard and cramped.

The Hunny Bell. Various activity.

As well as recreating the identity for this client I then took this on to a number of items, some of which are shown above. Promotions, events, signage, beer mats, bar runners, press and online advertising as well as posters. Clear core branding but with the ability to develop for special events.