Work history
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Graphic Designer / Creative Artworker / Art DirectorCathy McKinnon Design
London, United KingdomFreelance
As a graphic designer and creative artworker, I have a background in both agency and publishing environments. I drive design projects from concept to final stage delivery to strategically articulate campaign stories.
I work within existing design guidelines maintaining a consistent aesthetic; creating work that is visually appealing and on brand. I create design assets across social media platforms with a firm understanding of marketing and advertising and also have experience creating packaging, labels and merchandise for products too.
I am skilled using InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop and am comfortable using project management systems, particularly Click Up and Miro along with the workplace messaging program Slack.
I am an experienced stylist and art director and have worked with many photographers to shoot product, fashion, interior and portrait images in editorial and commercial, having more recently moved into art directing video and film.
I am skilled in magazine and editorial design having worked as an art editor with publishing companies including Iceberg Press, Future, Immediate Media and BBC Magazines.
I understand the importance of planning and prioritising work — working with immovable monthly print deadlines, long lead times of up to 12 months and within demanding design studios with often very short and ever evolving deadlines.
I have best practice knowledge for colour specifications, resolution, file types and resizing across print and digital platforms and have a broad knowledge of paper stock, print finishes, spot colours, varnishing and embossing as well as the most appropriate paper folding methods and dye cut options for print.
Clients include:
Playne Design
Implementing brand designs across digital & print platforms for clients including Lambeth and Southbank, Barnet Council, Good Data & Balfour. Design of reports, research books, marketing brochures and exhibition signage for clients including Charleston House, Dukes Education, De La Warr Pavilion and Koestler Arts.
Netflix
Design of interactive moodboards for Netflix show Astrological Guide for Broken Hearts to give a clear and robust visual reference to the Heads of Department for each season of the show.
Iceberg Press
Responsible for creating the brand identity, templates, page layout, furniture, colour palette & overall visual tone for The Simple Things and Oh Comely magazines. Commissioning photographers and art directing home, fashion and lifestyle shoots for compelling content. Working alongside sales and marketing teams to deliver successful campaigns across both print and digital platforms.
Wildscreen Festival
Designing the brand identity for four consecutive festivals to deliver a cohesive campaign story across all exhibition signage, literature, posters, programmes and event spaces.
NaturalxLab
Creating the brand identity, merchandise and press kit for the NaturalxLab fashion brand online store and Islington pop up.
The Travel Foundation
Designing interactive manuals for tour operators incorporating clear and simple infographics.
Mind
Design of a brand campaign tackling loneliness including poster, postcard and leaflet assets.
Abergavenny Food Festival
Collaborating with the festival organisers to produce and design consecutive festival programmes including securing sponsorship and advertising.
Greenpeace
Designing their annual report featuring a fold-out concertina design to reshape how the information is received.
Neal’s Yard
Photography art direction involving prop hire, location research, styling and shoot scheduling for a new product range.
Immediate Media
Working across multiple titles within the craft market including cover and feature designs following existing brand guidelines and stylesheets.
Skills
- Graphic Design
- Art Directon
- Adobe Indesign
- Adobe Illustrator
- Adobe Photoshop
- Styling Shoots
- Artworking
- Editorial Campaigns
- Brand Assets