Experience

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  Curious Universe UK

  • Bath, England, United Kingdom

  • Senior Designer

    • Oct 2018 - Present
    • Bath, England, United Kingdom

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  Sarah Allen Design

  • Bath, United Kingdom

  • Freelance Graphic Designer

    • Nov 2011 - Dec 2021
    • Bath, United Kingdom

    • Children’s Book, Calendar, Greetings Card and Stationery design.• Logo, Corporate identity and Branding design.• P.O.S and presentation material design.• Art Direction ensuring design and art quality that meets the target market and brand consistency.• Liasing with printers on new technology, processes and schedules.• Mac Artworking including Photoshop work, clipping paths and die-lines.• Fluent in the latest Adobe Creative Suite and PR Pdfs. • Wields a vast knowledge of formats, processes and target markets. • Has a keen interest in all of the latest trends and influences that go into creating fresh ideas.Please contact me for more details.

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  Hometown World

  • Designer

    • Apr 2010 - Nov 2011

    • Joined this brand new, exciting publishing company to design local books for children including history, sticker, activity, fiction, picture books and jigsaws.• Clients include Waterstones, Sourcebooks, Barnes and Noble and WHSmiths.• Responsible for the Art Direction and briefing of Illustrators, Designers and Freelancers.• Managing art budgets and project deadlines to ensure they adhere to the schedule.• Developing new concepts and creating presentation material for meetings with clients.• Lead designer on new series looks and formats to appeal to the consumer and target audience including the new ‘Santa is Coming to...’ series which is currently a global success selling out in the UK, US, Europe and Australia.

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  Parragon Books Ltd

  • Designer

    • Feb 2001 - Apr 2010

    • Headhunted to work on a huge variety of formats for Marks and Spencer, Waterstones, Barnes and Noble and Tesco for example. • Formats include Novelty, Picture, Activity, Educational, Reference, Interactive, Fiction, Pop-Ups together with packaging, boxsets and POS.• Responsible for comissioning artists and photographers, directing photoshoots, managing multiple projects and mentoring the junior designers in the team. • Liaising with Editorial and Production departments to ensure the smooth running of projects and working efficiently so that deadlines were met in an extremely fast moving publishing house. • Experienced with working on License and non License product including Disney Pixar and Discovery Kids.• Developed new brand identities and ranges, keeping up with the latest trends and technology.• Created Parragon’s first range of product for Marks and Spencer and I was the lead designer of many subsequent ranges such as Discovery Kids and First Readers all of which continue to be a great success.

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  Hallmark Cards

  • Middleweight Mac Designer

    • Oct 1998 - Jan 2001

    • Designing greetings cards, diaries, calendars, gift bags and gift wrap for Clintons, Boots, Tesco and Marks and Spencer. • Working with a team or individually on various card ranges such as Country Companions and Funky Companions. • Keeping up with trends and developing new ranges to ensure product was always innovative and contemporary whilst building upon my experience of different processes and finishes.

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  Reader's Digest Children's Books

  • Middleweight Designer

    • May 1996 - Sep 1998

    • Starting out as a Junior Designer, my enthusiastic and pro-active approach to design and publishing led to a speedy promotion to middleweight designer.• Responsible for my own projects taking them from concept to print, managing art budgets, commissioning artists and photographers. • Projects included a huge variety of novelty and pop-up books for licensed and non licensed product such as Fisher Price and Play Mobil.