CV2010
Name: Stephen Constable
Address: 35 Lister Road Ipswich Suffolk IP1 5EQ
Mobile: 07939 229 212
e-mail: work@stephenconstable.co.uk
website: www.stephenconstable.co.uk
Positioning
The last 8 or so years of my career have been spent working as a freelance graphic designer, design manager and writer, and before that I worked with a number of creative agencies. The vast majority of my roles have been as a lead with responsibility for kick-starting projects, before managing both team and client expectations and ensuring a successful creative delivery. I am comfortable with clients, leading a creative team, or working on my own.
I have a wealth of experience in a number of different situations, which gives me the advantage of adaptability, and I have developed a great blend of management experience, design knowledge, and client know-how. I understand the concept of working to tight schedules and briefs, working with a multi-disciplined team and working within set brand guidelines - or indeed, setting them up in the first place.
I have worked with a number of different companies on both print and online projects, and I am currently employed by a screen-printing company to refresh their brand and kick-start an online marketing campaign. Before that I had a long-term commitment to another printers, including tidying up their brand, re-launching the website, encouraging local market PR activity, and looking after their print and online advertising. Both these roles utilised a number of skills, including; research, design, copywriting, writing and presenting strategy documents and a little technical input.
Key Skills
Creative
As a designer and a copywriter, I have worked on projects for clients such as Proctor & Gamble, B&Q and BT (as well as a lot of smaller clients), both as an individual and as part of a team. For the majority of these projects, I was the lead.
Management
I have had delivery and financial responsibility for teams and projects, as an employee and as a contractor, focused on delivering the right solution on time, and on budget.
Account
Client satisfaction has been a feature of my career both as a freelance and during my employed status, and I am comfortable mixing and presenting at all levels.
Production
I am up to date with current production software, including InDesign, Photoshop, Illustrator, Quark and associated PDF or MS Office products, and can produce upload or print ready artwork comfortably.
Work Experience
2006-2009 - Freelance Designer/Design Manager/Writer
I recently came to the end of a 6 month contract putting together a marketing strategy, brand document and managing the build and integration of a new website for a garment printing and embroidery company based in Earl Soham, Suffolk. The company had yet to launch an online presence, and had relied on old school word of mouth marketing methods. My role, working alongside a Sales Manager, was to promote a more up-to-date approach to promotion, and encourage better awareness of, the company's services using my experience in the online arena. The website will include a database driven catalogue, built in Filemaker, and is being developed by another company. This project presented a number of challenging issues in integration and education.
Other projects included helping to devise an online marketing strategy for a printing company by designing and managing the build of a new brochure website and two market specific e-commerce websites aimed at the gallery market and small businesses. I was responsible for controlling the developers and managing delivery and interaction expectations, as well as third party hosting and adword/SEO activity on a small monthly budget. During this period I also designed and project managed a new eCommerce website for a global health food company which required regional-specific information delivery. My wife and I also spent 6 months travelling, including visits to America, Mexico, New Zealand and Australia.
2004-2006 - Design Manager, Creative Company
Creative Company offered both traditional and new media skills to the market. My contract within the company was to manage all projects within their new media offering, called 'Squaremackerel'. Key responsibilities ran from initial client contact to project scope and costing, through to team management and financial control. Most projects would start with establishing requirements, providing the team with a design brief, constructing the written proposal and pitching creative ideas and costs before agreeing timescales, project deliverables and milestones. Once agreed, my task was to manage the team, the workload and the process, ensure deadlines were met and costs were adhered to. I managed outside suppliers, negotiated fees and submitted financial and project reports, but the main focus was to deliver a results driven, financially successful project.
2002-2004 - Freelance Designer/Design Manager/Writer
During this period I worked with a number of design companies, on projects such as marketing campaigns for Suffolk County Council (including writing and voicing radio ads), and exhibition design and management for companies like Mattel and Atco. I worked alongside B&Q on the branding and placement of products in stores for Binatone, and I also continued to write music related articles for the East Anglian Daily Times, and Word Magazine.
2001-2002 - Design Director, turQuoise/4eN
turQuoise was the design communications arm of 4eN, and initially, the role was to create a brand (both online and print) for both 4eN, and turQuoise. Design responsibility for projects in general followed - including art directing photo shoots; managing brainstorms and dealing with clients - and the role grew following the departure of the Creative Director to encompass line responsibility for four people.
1999-2001 - Lead Creative, Amaze Ltd
Responsibility for the graphic design and navigation of large scale projects, in parallel with a lead developer and a producer. Client facing, the role included attendance at pitches, presentations, running meetings and managing workload for designers assigned to projects. A lead also became involved in preparation of documentation for projects. Clients included Proctor & Gamble, Saatchi & Saatchi and the DfEE.
1996-1999 - Senior Creative/Project Leader, L&H Ltd
Provided creative solutions and managed the design and development process of new media projects for a number of clients including; BT, bgplc, BAA, and Government departments. The responsibility was all encompassing - from first client contact through proposal and managing the process, controlling the budgets and person hours and delivering projects on time and to budget. Projects included visits to clients in Houston TX and New York City.
1990 - 1996 - Freelance Illustrator/Graphic Designer
Provided traditional and new media design services for a number of clients including BT and Carat Interactive. Projects ranged from newsletters, brochures, exhibition stands, and branding communications to video direction and production, art direction, CD-ROM's and online projects for clients such as BT, Volkswagen and NatWest.
1987 - present - Freelance Journalist, East Anglian Daily Times
1988 - 1990 - Project Manager/Office Manager, ID&D Ltd
1986 - 1988 - Draughtsperson, Suffolk County Council
1984 - 1986 - Sales Assistant, Andy's Records
Technical Experience
I have 18 years experience of Apple Macintosh computers and all the usual bits of software including the Adobe Creative Suite - InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop, Quark, Dreamweaver and I use Microsoft Office products on a daily basis. I have experience of Flash, HTML and CSS. I understand the general technical, social and accessibility issues surrounding interactive development, including usability and architecture, and have managed a number of e-commerce projects involving Content Management Systems, database driven sites, and understand Search Engine Optimisation principles alongside Pay-Per-Click and e-mail based campaigns. I have a lot of hands-on experience with print preparation and print-ready artwork, including colour separation, and have experience of working in both a digital and litho print environment.
©2010 Stephen Constable
