I have worked in publishing for some 38 years, and my design experience includes marketing collateral, annual reports, books, advertisements, and training and educational materials for primary, secondary and tertiary levels. Prior to focusing on design, I was involved in journalism, and wrote for the Financial Mail, Finance Week, and the Sunday Times. I spent a number of years writing and handling print projects for public relations clients. This experience allows me to bring a useful breadth of process knowledge and understanding to a variety of projects. I am mindful of client budgets and my years in the publishing and related industries allow me to anticipate and avoid pitfalls that can derail or delay projects.
Experience
For the past 12 years I have been consulting as an independent designer. Clients during this period include:
- Konrad Adenauer Stiftung (KAS)
- Rhodes University (various departments)
- University of Texas at San Antonio
- READ Educational Trust
- Molteno Institute for Language & Literacies
- Social Innovations
- Early Care Foundation
Materials developed during this time include:
- yearbooks, annual reports, newsletters, marketing collateral and event programmes
- non-fiction books, including legal handbooks and recipe books
- learner activity books and educator guides for pre-school, primary and secondary levels
- readers and activity books for English, EFAL and non-English learners
Before starting my independent consultancy, I was the sole inhouse designer for an educational NGO and my duties spanned all corporate design required by the organisation as well as reader, workbook and teacher/trainer guide design in the Materials Development Department. I was part of the team that developed READ Educational Trust’s flagship New Heights programme, first in English and latterly in most of South Africa’s 11 official languages.
Before joining READ, I worked for various publishers and PR clients providing both editorial and design services.
Differentiators
I focus on faithfully transmitting the required message through my design and layout. This involves ensuring that the design is clear and easy for the intended user to understand and access.
My experience in journalism has made me highly aware of the importance of the text content of a design. The words are important – they’re not just something to fill the space between the pictures.
I have superior English language skills, so bring more than just a designer’s eye to a project. My work over the past 20 years has included all of the 11 official languages of South Africa as well as several international languages, so my eye has been trained to be alert for language pattern inconsistencies.
My years of using industry standard software and liaising with printers enables me to provide documents that progress smoothly through the print-production process.
I endeavour to solve problems that arise, so clients have a positive experience in getting to their desired end-product, be that printed material or documents intended for electronic distribution.
My extensive experience of working remotely from my clients – including our being in different countries – offers assurance that the limitations dictated by Covid-19 and similar restrictions do not compromise delivery of successful projects.