I’m 36 and based in Glasgow, Scotland where I work as a freelance designer and sell handmade and illustrated products under the name Asking For Trouble. I’m inspired by my surroundings, music, japanese culture from traditional chiyogami patterns to modern kawaii (cute) and computer games, maps, old books of diagrams and teenage girls’ magazines.

Achievements

» Self-published a full colour paperback book including writing, photography and illustrations from my three trips to Japan.

» Invited to create a signature line of rainboots with my illustrations for international distribution by Plueys.

» Commissioned to create web icons for the UK handmade marketplace Folksy.

» Involved in the design and development of websites, email newsletters, web and print advertising for dining and events website 5pm.co.uk

» Advised on marketing to creative designer-makers to Shopify, the leading hosted ecommerce solution.

» Designed my own range of digitally printed fabrics, available on-demand from Spoonflower in the USA.

» Co-founded Super Cute Kawaii, a blog and shop featuring handmade and Japanese products, gaining an audience of 25,000 visitors a month within its first year and 40,000 visitors per month after 18 months.

» Invited to create Prettify, an original template design for use by customers of Shopify, the leading hosted ecommerce solution.

» Work included in Gifted exhibition at the National Museum of Scotland and in smaller galleries throughout the UK.

» Elected Chairperson of the Glasgow Craft Mafia, a collective of independent artists and designers dedicated to promoting handmade crafts both locally and internationally.

» Started my own business, Asking For Trouble, selling handmade and illustrated accessories, art, stationery and gifts.

» Major role in the design and development of websites in the iomart Group including Easyspace and Netintelligence. Key role in the design of templates and Web 2.0 integration of iomart’s web builder software EasySiteLive.

» Completed design work on websites for Unicef, the Home Office and a Save the Children/UNHCR joint initiative while working at The University of Glasgow

» Created a successful music resource on the internet, hosting over 20 websites and attracting over 40,000 visitors a month

» Writing and photography featured in a number of websites and magazines including the BBC Music website, Channel 4′s IdeasFactory careers website, New York based periodical The Morning News and UK arts magazine The Illustrated Ape.

» Awarded Adobe Expert Certification in Photoshop 5.0

» Completed a degree in Fine Art (Printmaking) at Grays School of Art

Skills

» Extensive experience using a range of design programs including Photoshop, Illustrator and InDesign (CS5).

» Advanced use of HTML and CSS  with understanding of PHP, JQuery and Javascript.

» Extensive knowledge of Liquid coding for Shopify. Almost unhealthy interest in researching and developing new features and tricks for Shopify stores.

» Innovative user of Web 2.0 services including WordPress, Flickr, Twitter, RSS etc.

» In depth understanding of search engineering techniques for all major search engines.

» Practical knowledge of database integration using Access, SQL and ODBC

» Advanced user of Microsoft Office suites

Further Information

Please contact me for further information or visit my Elance portfolio.