Graphic Designer
Northend Creative Print Solutions

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.

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