Hi Col!
What do you do here at Pixels Ink?
I am a graphic designer. I do a lot of logo design work and I deliver brand strategy workshops as well. So I help businesses to figure out their core values i.e. why they do what they do. Then I look at ways I can reflect that within design through colour and typography, and I build a logo and branding around that.
It’s just me in the business at the moment but I’m about to bring someone else in on a part-time basis.
Who are your clients?
I mainly work with businesses. However, finding the right types of clients can be hard sometimes. It can be difficult as a designer to get people to see the full value of what you’re doing. A lot of people think you simply draw a picture and that’s it, but that is not the case. There is a whole process involved. So it’s important to know the worth of your services.
Do you have any partnerships?
I do some design work for a company called the Profitable Firm. They are a creative marketing agency for accountants, and I am on their website as their “head brand designer”. I’ve also done a few workshops for the students at Abertay university and I am going to be doing some more with that later this year. I also did a similar thing with Elevator UK for their Accelerator programme. All of these workshops are good to do because you start to get referrals off of the back of them for logos etc.
Can you tell me more about the brand strategy workshops?
The brand strategy workshops are directed at people who are struggling with marketing and their consistency of message. For example, sometimes when someone is doing their own marketing every advert ends up being different. The wording is different, the tone of voice is different. One advertisement is happy, and another one is playing on fears. That kind of marketing just doesn’t stick with customers. So in the workshops we go over all of those areas. We discuss their brand and come up with a strategy to make everything more fluid.
I do also have a videocall service where you can book out an hour with me to discuss specific elements of your brand, and I’ve done a few of those with people in the Sates, the Netherlands, and Australia.
I see you have a microphone set up, do you create videos as well?
I do some YouTube videos. There is a book called “They Ask You Answer” by Marcus Sheridan and it speaks about content marketing. So that’s what I try and do in my videos. I have like 6 videos on colour and how that can influence your brand. Essentially I want to be as helpful as I can so that when someone decides they need a certain service they come to me because they see me as being knowledgeable.
You can check some of my videos out here.
How did you get into the creative industry?
I’ve always loved art and I’ve always loved drawing (although I’m rubbish at it!). So I knew that I wanted to go to art school. I studied Graphic Design at Dundee College and got my HND in that. Afterwards, I didn’t feel ready for a job yet so I applied to DJCAD and got a degree in Animation which I haven’t used since…
I started doing more Graphic Design work again towards the end because design software was becoming more readily available, and I really got into that side of things. I did some website development and over time started working at various places doing Graphic Design jobs. Eventually that lead me to start up Pixels Ink in 2005 and here I am now, still going!
Come say hi!
You can find me on the 4th floor of the Flour Mill, or learn more about us on our website.
