Personal Profile
A motivated, disciplined and multi-skilled individual in software design, coding and product development specifically focused on: digital art, typography, print and web publishing, personalisation, and creative studio production. I have been building workflow automation solutions for over twenty years.
With strong creative and coding skills, supported by excellent people skills and a wealth of experience, I have a good intuitive understanding of group dynamics and work well to enable and catalyse ideas, people and causes in the promotion and execution of software projects. I can work and communicate effectively with all stakeholders within an organisation without losing sight of the end-user. Quality ‘fit-for-purpose’ products demand quality listening and researching skills, effective communication and negotiation skills, diligent planning capability, attention to detail, awareness of unfolding (implicit) opportunities and an approach that squares with a customer’s perspective and satisfies their perceived needs. Modern methodology with rapidly reiterative prototyping and development demands a flexible approach and a need to regularly test and feedback as well as to recursively review and test any assumptions.
Having a proven track record in singlehandedly creating & delivering successful and profitable (£ Million +) e-publishing production and workflow solutions, the ability to rapidly create and iterate ‘bespoke’ Apps and Scripts off the back of an initial ‘manual systems’ analysis ensures the rapid, efficient and cost effective development to final release of a product. Establishing an automated production workflow often requires integration into existing management teams, tools and methods.
Skills & Achievements
- Full stack (XAMPP) development focused on WordPress solutions: using PHP, CSS, JQuery, Javascript, HTML and MySQL . I have created, managed and continue to develop over 50 plus commercial CMS websites with e-commerce for UK and North American clients.
- Designed, coded and managed Artwork Production Automation systems in Point of Sale for SuperDrug, Co-Op Pharmacy and Threshers/Wine Rack. A week’s manual ‘artworking’ for two people could now be done unattended in 2 hours.
- Implemented packaging artwork solutions for Syngenta, including managing and maintaining the internal CMS and the creation of Turkish Fonts for the Macintosh.
- Designed various artwork pieces for Guerlain, Oliver Goldsmith, Simplon Orient Express, Viasys, Mattel and Laura Ashley.
- Product managed and led development team on ‘TCP-IP XT’ and ‘Personalizer-XT’ (plug-ins for QuarkXPress automation), at TechnoDesign b.v. in Zoetermeer, Netherlands. Developed B2B business by creating developer tool sets, training courses and support materials as well as providing assistance to Third Party developers throughout mainland Europe. Managed team personnel.
- Designed and managed software development of Elateral’s ActiStudio web based design automation tool, along with writing the user guide and training production teams within associate organisations in Paris, Hamburg and London. Recruited and managed support and training team personnel.
- Responsible for implementing, resourcing and managing an in-house multilingual design studio for Freedman International plc. Created a PC to Mac character set translation tool for 29 European languages and created hybrid fonts for Acrobat to simplify and speed up ‘in-country’ multi-language text proofing and studio publishing productivity
- Wrote and delivered (pre-sales) seminars, road shows and keynotes on colour printing, colour matching and Tektronix colour proofing technology. Created printer downloadable Colortron based bespoke colour profiles for PostScript RIPs and used these to colour manage the proofing of Kent Messenger Group Newspaper Press (Alresford) and McCorquodale Card Technology Press (Lewes) using Tektronix Solid Ink and Dye Sublimation proofing printers.
Equipment.
Career Summary
Owner & principal developer
at Menantol | Vilnius, Lithuania
– since August 2017 Vilnius,Lithuania
– since January 2015 Westminster, UK
– since September 2012 Bookham, Surrey UK
Web Developer, Graphic Designer and Programmer – building a broad range of clients in the English speaking world. Specialising in concept, design, construction and delivery of CMS based websites and ecommerce solutions as well as building Macintosh based automated publishing workflow solutions, scripts, apps and creative designwork for web and print. A prominent aspect of this role is the provision of consultancy services as well as complete project management and ongoing website support and development for a portfolio of over 50 international clients.
Web Developer, Graphic Designer & Programmer
at Crankpin | London & Cornwall
– November 2009 to August 2012
Working in partnership with an SEO, Social Media and Content Strategist offering a complete one-stop web design, build, launch, maintenance and SEO/Analytics service as a Web Developer, Graphic Designer and Programmer – building a broad range of clients in the English speaking world: specialising in concept, design, construction and delivery of CMS based websites using WordPress and PHP code; designing and producing Macintosh based publishing workflow solutions and creative design for web and print. A prominent aspect of this role was to provide consultancy as well as project management and ongoing website support and development for a portfolio of over 50 international clients.
Applications Analyst, Developer & Product Manager
at APS Group | based at Superdrug and FQR, and from home
– February 2008 to November 2009
Researched, designed, developed, deployed and managed bespoke commercial Macintosh automated workflow products and supporting solutions for the pre-press artwork production workflow in point of sale (POS) print.
Responsible for project management and coding from concept through to implementation and training. Clients included design and production studios at APS customer locations: Superdrug Stores, Co-op Pharmacy and FQR (The Local, Threshers and Wine Rack retail stores). In addition, I developed automated content creation and image manipulation solutions in many areas of day-to-day graphic design studio operations. I wrote and deployed data conversion, data manipulation and data integrity checking utilities to minimise errors in customer supplied data as well as to bridge to the existing data processing /handling techniques currently used by APS Account Management staff. My role was to introduce automation to maximize performance of all studio based artwork production.
Designer / Artworker / CMS Administrator
at GQ Design/Assetlink contracted to Syngenta in Guildford
– September 2006 to January 2008
Designed and verified ‘press ready’ packaging, labelling and instructions-for-use artwork, print templates and logos for a multinational. Responsibilities included: development of recommendations for the management of artwork and digital assets using various Web-based content management systems to maintain corporate identity, ensure quality and availability throughout the supply chain.
In addition the role required the provision of Mac OSX and pre-press expertise, training and support as well as the development of application usage skills in QuarkXPress, InDesign, Illustrator and Photoshop. One notable point was my creation of a set of functional Turkish fonts for western latin computers for use within our distributed in-country design agencies.
Studio Manager / Web Developer / Graphic Designer
at Guild Eidetic Design | Gomshall
– August 2005 to September 2006
Responsible for the design and production of corporate identity, web site creation and maintenance, packaging design and artwork, 3D rendered artwork, concepts and animation, traditional typeset brochures, instructions-for-use manuals, product data sheets, technical illustrations and exhibition panels.
Notable client work included: concept and design of Guerlain lapel badges, Simplon Orient Express carrier bags, and Oliver Goldsmith spectacle case.
Sabbatical
– August 2002 – August 2004
Software Product Manager
at TechnoDesign B.V | Zoetermeer
– June 2001 to August 2002
Product Manager for a software / web solutions development company in Zoetermeer, The Netherlands, overseeing QuarkXPress automation Xtension development for 3rd party developers which included: TCP-IP XT, a TCP/IP enabled scriptable Xtension that provided remotely (web) driven real-time automated document construction/production, and Personalizer-X, a variable data personalisation XTension. Responsibilities included product design and development, sales and technical support, product training, seminars and exhibitions, writing and producing training materials, user documentation and software coding demos using Ruby, AppleScript and mySQL.
Software Product Manager
at Elateral Limited | Farnham
– June 1999 to June 2001
Responsible for specification, design, testing, European wide end-user training and formal documentation for ActiStudio, a real-time content creation application (QuarkXPress XTension) for Elateral’s ActiBrand, a Web B2B channel marketing product. The solution depended on the client design agency having the programmatic skills in addition to graphic design skills to create the automation for the ‘variable’ design content within marketing campaigns. This required effective campaign content design and user training, which were critical to the product’s success.
Electronic Publishing Manager
at Freedman International South Bank, London
– February 1997 to June 1999
Managed multilingual typesetting and production support across 40 users in 30 production languages on Mac and PC platforms. Designed and implemented digital workflows and technologies based on client needs to speed time-to-market and increase efficiencies. Improved proofing and language validation across all European regions, and brought design and development fully in-house by establishing a multilingual production studio.
Designed and implemented a PC to Mac font character translation utility into the production process,along with a simplified workflow using existing PDF technology in a better way, allowing a markedly reduced time-to-market and securing a £4m contract with Xerox to produce their European sales and marketing literature.
Applications Specialist
at Tektronix (UK) Ltd. | Marlow, Buckinghamshire
– March 1994 to January 1997
Pre and post sales technical specialist for corporate and key accounts. This role required the provision of full support and training to an extensive UK reseller channel, along with preparation and delivery of product presentations at seminars and exhibitions. An important aspect was to liaise at the reseller director level and client user level ( mainly creative design agencies) to resolve any technical issues with printing such as: issues with application drivers and network configuration, resolve Pantone colour proofing and SWOP Euroscale Press simulation issues. Mainly my role was to catalyse the sales process, train staff, and further promote the Tektronix brand and customer relationship within resellers and within London’s top creative design agencies.
Technical Support Specialist
at CalComp Limited | Twyford, Berkshire
– June 1987 to January 1994
Responsible for the UK technical hotline for CalComp digitiser, colour printer and plotter products. Also responsible for testing digitiser and printer product performance with a range of 3rd party ‘graphics’ software applications and their drivers, and liaising with development teams in Anaheim CA and Scottsdale AZ. Responsible for promoting and supporting Calcomp driver development to development teams of unsupported 3rd party products.
Developed skills in a wide range of applications software such as QuarkXPress, Autocad, Painter, Freehand, Illustrator, Photoshop.
Education
University of Sussex – Brighton, Sussex: 1983-1986
BSc.(Hons.) Neurobiology and Experimental Psychology
Brooklands Technical College – Weybridge, Surrey: 1981-1983
3 A levels – Biology, Mathematics and Statistics
1 O/A level – Applied Mathematics
Howard of Effingham School – Bookham, Surrey: 1978-1981
10 O levels – Mathematics, Additional Mathematics, English Language, English Literature, Biology, Physics, Chemistry, Economics, Geography, Art
