Hello. I’m Andy, a designer based in London, with over ten years experience designing for a range of disciplines and clients. Here you can learn a little more about me, and then go on to see what I’ve done for others, what I can do for you, or how you can contact me.
Having grown up, fascinated with art and drawing, rarely seen without a pencil, charcoal stick or camera in my grubby paw, I went on to study Art and Design for A level at Charterhouse, spend a year working for various online design agencies during the dot com boom, graduate with a degree in Computer Animation from Teesside University, one of the first universities in the UK to offer such a course, and am now second in command in the graphics department for a respected and well known firm of property surveyors. Also, since I left school, I have run SableDesigns, my own freelance design company which allows me to work with a range of clients in a wide range of media.
In my free time, as well as working on my own design projects, I’m a DJ for various clubs, and a big fan of music, cinema and books, as well as hoping to get back into fencing some day soon.
Welcome to my portfolio of clients I’ve worked for. Below are links to their sections, or you can just use the buttons to browse through them.
the irrepressible mr flay
The Irrepressible Mr Flay is a world reknowned magician and escapologist, based in London. I was asked to produce a site which reflected the vaudeville style of his act, so based the design of the front page and subsequent following pages upon an old poster of Harry Houdini. The site now acts as a resource of photos, videos and contact details for interested parties, is well known within his field, and has recently risen to the top of the Google search terms for his stage name.
See more about this project, visit mrflay.com, or return to the start
Website design for one of London's top vaudeville magic and escape acts.
To view examples in more detail, put your mouse and click on the previews
The entry page (first preview above) to the site uses images of the various handcuff routines with javascript mouseovers in his show to present the menu of pages to then navigate to. Subsequent pages (second, third and fourth previews) then keep the same heading, but allow for either right or left mounted images with text flowing around them, a gallery of promotional images (fifth preview), and collections of videos of his acts and appearances (sixth preview).
Despite Mr Flay also being a character in literature, the site has now risen higher in the Google Search rankings than the Wikipedia entry for the fictional character, due to the accolades received for the site itself, and the subsequent links made by other sites.
Go back to the main portfolio page, or visit mrflay.com, or return to the start
timeless visions
Fracture is a widely reknowned face in the world of gothic modelling, with her photos appearing in magazines, on leaflets and in clothing catalogues across the world. She asked me to create a site for her which showed off her work, as well as encapsulating the world of books and poetry she so loves. Using initial designs adapated from Jason Juta's work, built using stylesheets, allowing her to upload new material, and change the content as she pleases, while keeping the design intact.
See more about this project, or visit timeless-visions.org.uk, or return to the start
Designing an online presence for Fracture - one of the UK's top goth models
To view examples in more detail, put your mouse and click on the previews
Provided with illustrations from Jason Juta, I adapted these into a Flash introduction for the site (first preview), and then into a frontpage (second preview) for the site. The site comprises an introduction, galleries of the work Fracture is involved in, and a links page to affiliated sites, and is built using stylesheets, allowing Fracture to make changes to the text, build pages and add photos as she pleases.
Go back to the main portfolio page, or visit timeless-visions.org.uk, or return to the start
grosvenor search
Grosvenor Search is a new financial recruitment company dealing with senior figures within the legal and operations side of the financial markets. I was asked to produce a site that was functional across a range of different browsers, projecting a professional feel to the firm, underlining their mastery of the field, that would be easily readable and understandable to all who visited it.
See more about this project, or visit grosvenorsearch.com, or return to the start
Producing a website for a high-end financial recruitment practise
To view examples in more detail, put your mouse and click on the previews
Grosvenor Search wanted a site that reflected their professional nature, with a clean, sophisticated visual impact and a structure that made it easy to find information quickly. Using a combination of stylesheets, flash-based font replacement techniques and a design that gave a classic feel, I produced a site that would work across a range of different browsers and devices, with inuitive layout, ideally suited to the senior financial executives it was made to attract, and imagery chosen and adapted to subtly reflect the message of the firm.
Go back to the main portfolio page, or visit grosvenorsearch.com, or return to the start
voices of masada
The internationally reknowned goth band Voices of Masada approached me to design and produce promotional materials including flyers to promote the gigs they set up in London, with a score of big name bands on each night, t-shirts to promote their Australian tour, as well as a press pack to send to festival organisers and press to further market their look and sound.
See more about this project, or return to the start
Design work for one of the UK's foremost goth bands
To view examples in more detail, put your mouse and click on the previews
Voices of Masada first got in touch with me to produce flyers for a series of concerts they were organising in London, bringing other alternative acts over from various countries. Unlike the usual style of flyer design in the alternative scenes, I made sure the typography was legible, giving plenty of space for each design to breathe, while keeping the visual impact that is common throughout - making sure each flyer would be noticed, and could even be read in the low light of a club atmosphere.
They then asked me to produce a t-shirt they could sell to promote their tour of Australia, for which I adapted their press photography to a monochromatic process, bringing down the production costs for each unit. I also designed a lightweight press pack - utilising a two sheet cover of thick gloss card encompassing a demo-cd, with examples of music and a CD menu designed in Flash, held together using a simple elastic binding.
Go back to the main portfolio page, or return to the start
betty ford clinic club
The Betty Ford Clinic club ran once a month in the famously luxurious SEOne venue, in the tunnels under London Bridge station, playing a mixture of alternative music. I was in charge of marketing - logo design, producing flyers, posters, credit card style membership cards and other promotional materials to help spread word about the club to interested parties offline, as well as a website and social networking presence to promote the club online.
See more about this project, or return to the start
A whole brand evolution, marketing materials and online presence for one of London's top alternative clubs
To view examples in more detail, put your mouse and click on the previews
Being responsible for the marketing side of the club, as well as DJing there myself, I took the club from its very beginnings, and fashioned a brand for it, utilising references to the natural medical theme and adapting them into an iconic identity that made all marketing material instantly recognisable. I then used this in producing a series of flyers over a period of time that worked further with the medical theme, each with their own style.
I also produced the famous "goth cards" - the membership cards for the club, which incorporated a credit-card style design with raised numbers, as well as large format posters to market them. Online, the club needed a presence, so I produced a stylesheet based website, a social media presence across facebook, myspace and other websites, that kept patrons updated with the latest information about the club night.
Go back to the main portfolio page, or return to the start
I’ve had over ten years experience of designing sites for both corporate and private clients.
All the sites I produce use W3C standards compliant XHTML code to ensure they work on all browsers, CSS stylesheets to maintain layout across the whole site, and make it easy for clients to adjust content themselves after delivery. Layout and user interface design are paramount in site creation, making sure visitors can find what they came for quickly and easily.
I’ve also incorporated extra elements, such as Javascript and Flash to give sites that little extra to set them apart from others, and my degree in animation gives me the experience to make sure that timing is everything on impressing the visitor.
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Despite the popularity of the web, print design still occupies a vital part in marketing communications - not only does it broadcast your message, but provides a tangible physical reminder to customers.
I’ve been working in print design for six years, and am experienced in every aspect of the process, from conception to design and preparing work to produce the very best results when sent to a print house, and have worked on all sizes of project, from short-run low quality through to glossy brochures produced for international clients, as well as being adept with Quark, Adobe Indesign, PDF, vector and colour processes and more, making sure the very best result is produced, and your message is read, loud and clear.
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Image manipulation – using software such as Photoshop, Illustrator and others to work with photos and illustrations and change them to suit your project.
3D modelling and animation – having studied this in one of the first university courses in the UK to teach this at degree level, I am now not only able to use packages such as 3D Studio Max, Character Studio, Lightwave and more to produce 3D illustrations and animations, but also my studies have taught me timing, lighting and many other aspects which lift my work above the average.
Video editing – video is becoming increasingly popular, and my experience using packages such as Premiere and Flame can utilise this to your project needs.
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Identity is the foundation for your company’s customer relations - it projects the standards and associations you want to project to the world - hence why it’s vital to set the right tone.
My experience in branding and communications means I can make sure that that right tone is set, with everything from the company logo, through to typefaces, colouring, stationery and even the languge used in marketing communications, both internally and externally.
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Making sure you have the very best presence online for your company or project is vital these days - and you wouldn’t believe how many groups get it wrong.
Online marketing is a mixture of enhancing your website’s presence using Search Engine Optimization, using social media and trade sites to advertise and raise awareness about your aims, and providing frequent communications to interested parties through email marketing and other messaging mediums.
Please note – all techniques used are legal and fair – no “black hat” work here – this is about making and keeping a relationship with your customers, not going for the quick fix.
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