Graphic Designer
Northend Creative Print Solutions

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Lee H

0.00.00 My name’s Lee H. I’m a Graphic Designer and I work in Northend Creative Print Solutions. The main responsibilities are taking briefs from customer services or their clients directly and turning that brief into a piece of creative artwork suitable for print. The thing I like most about it is seeing the end result from what began as a blank piece of paper and also seeing the satisfaction the client gets from me turning their brief into something that looks good.

0.00.30 I’ve been interested in art and graphics from being about 11 or 12, from senior school age really, drawing, painting, everything really. It wasn’t until a bit later that I started to like the graphic side of it more and then I got really into technical drawing and it took off from there really. At an early stage I wanted to be an architect but soon realised that I wasn’t very good at maths so I did graphic design as an alternative to that.

0.01.00 My art teacher at school will always encourage me and told me I’d got the talent for art. From school I went to college and did A level art and A level graphics and also at the same time a BTEC national diploma in graphic design. And then from there I got a place at university to do a degree in graphic design. I think for me personally going to university helped me grow as a person and it certainly helped me get a job here.

0.01.30 My dad worked in packaging. He did virtually every job in the packaging factory and ended up as a Planning Manager and there was printing involved in that as well. My parents didn’t really have the chance to go to university but they were very supportive and wanted me to go and do well and gain a good career from that and I came out of it with a first class honours degree which I’m very proud of.

0.02.00 Although my parents weren’t involved in arty or creative jobs or backgrounds, I’ve got a lot of friends that were from school age so I’ve always had people that I could chat to about art and design. I think it is important to have people to talk to about your interests and what you want to do as a career. If there’s someone doing a similar thing myself, then that’s great because you can bounce ideas off each other and it gives you more confidence just having spoken to someone who’s in a similar position.

0.02.30 When I left university I applied for about 80 jobs I think. I got about ten letters back, 70 no replies and I got about four or five interviews and I got a job here at Northend from that interview. I got a trial job for two weeks and then I was taken on after that. This is my first and only job since leaving university.

0.03.00 When I started at Northend I was the first new starter for ten years plus, so it was quite daunting coming into a place where everyone had been here for such an amount of time. The birth of my two children has had a big impact on my life. They keep me very busy at all times. And also it gives you purpose to your life to support them and help them grow. I like to spend time playing with the family, taking them out.

0.03.30 I enjoy all sports particularly football and hill walking. Do as much of that as I can but not as much now as I used to because of the kids obviously. I’ve not really wanted to do anything different because I’m happy doing what I’m doing. It’s always what I’ve wanted, being what I wanted to do. I would perhaps like to be a hill walking guide, maybe when I get older just spend more time outdoors in fresh air, or that’s perhaps just a dream.

0.04.02

Lee H is a Graphic Designer at Northend Creative Print Solutions. He says “When I left university I applied for about 80 jobs. I got ten letters back, 70 no replies and I got about four or five interviews and I got a job… I’m happy doing what I’m doing. It’s always what I’ve wanted”.

More information about Graphic designers

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£31,200
average salary

The UK average salary is £29,813

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38
average weekly hours

There are 37.5 hours in the average working week

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62%  male 
38%  female 

The UK workforce is 47% female and 53% male

Future employment

Future employment?

Description
? Graphic designers use illustrative, sound, visual and multimedia techniques to convey a message for information, entertainment, advertising, promotion or publicity purposes, and create special visual effects and animations for computer games, film, interactive and other media.
Qualifications
Entrants have usually completed a foundation course, a BTEC/SQA award, a degree and/or postgraduate qualification. NVQs/SVQs in Design (in various disciplines) are available at Levels 2 and 3. Portfolio work is also important for entry.
Tasks
  • Liaises with client to clarify aims of project brief, discusses media, software and technology to be used, establishes timetable for project and defines budgetary constraints;
  • Undertakes research into project, considers previous related projects and compares costs of using different processes;
  • Prepares sketches, scale drawings, models, colour schemes and other mock-ups to show clients and discusses any required alterations;
  • Prepares specification and instructions for realisation of the project;
  • Liaises with other parts of the production team to ensure graphic design fits with other elements, processes and timescales;
  • Produces or oversees creation of the final product.
Employment by region
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Top 10 industries for this job
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Employment activities 50390
Libraries, etc 12593
Office admin. 10103
Computer programming, etc 9486
Printing & recording 5315
Gambling 5044
Publishing activities 1014
Employment status
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