I am a focused, hard working individual with a keen interest in the design and new media industry. I thrive on challenging and demanding projects and have no trouble managing my time to meet the tightest deadlines. I have no difficulty integrating into a group and equally enjoy the satisfaction of completing a solo project. Throughout university I worked hard to develop my communication skills to the point where I am now confident in my ability to clearly deliver project plans, reports, presentations and ideas both verbally and also with visual aid. Since leaving university I have continued to develop my practical design ability and I am constantly looking for opportunity to expand my portfolio of skills.
In my spare time I enjoy playing rugby, at school I played for Regent House 1st XV and after leaving school joined Donaghadee Rugby Football Club where I played regularly for the 2nd XV and occasionally for the 1st XV.
My other passion is for all things automotive. I have just finished a project Subaru Impreza which I spent over year rebuilding, and when not in the garage I can usually be found watching some form of motorsport, usually F1 or the WRC.
I have recently taken an interest in photography and am currently attending a course aimed at developing my skills with the camera.
My main aim in the future is to gain studio experience within a prominent Web Design company. I have developed a strong base skill set throughout university and through my own freelance work and I am now looking for the opportunity to really drive my career forward and develop myself professionally within a dedicated design environment.
I feel my willingness to learn and my desire for success make me a promising candidate and I hope to find a place within a forward thinking modern company who can make the most of my current skills, help me to develop and learn new skills, and provide interesting and stimulating challenges from day to day.
| Markup : | XHTML | XML |
| CSS | XSLT | |
| Programming : | PHP | Java script |
| MYSQL Database | Flash Action script | |
| SQL | ||
| Design : | Adobe CS3 including: | |
| • Photoshop | • Flash | |
| • Illustrator | • Fireworks | |
| • InDesign | • Dreamweaver | |
| Software Packages : | Joomla | U-DO |
| CMSMS | E-CommerceTemplates | |
| Wordpress | OScommerce | |
| General Computing : | MS Office Suite including: | |
| • Word | Windows 98 / XP / Vista | |
| • Excel | Basic Networking Skills | |
| • PowerPoint | Outlook / Outlook Express | |
| Qualification | Grade | Subject |
|---|---|---|
| Bsc. Honors Degree | 2-1 | Interactive Multimedia Design |
| Diploma in Industrial Studies (DIS) | Pass | 12 month Industrial Placement during 3rd year of IMD |
| A Level | C | Computing |
| A Level | D | Geography |
| GCSE | B | English |
| GCSE | B | Maths |
| GCSE | B | Biology |
| GCSE | B | Chemistry |
| GCSE | B | Physics |
| GCSE | B | Geography |
| GCSE | B | Art |
| GCSE | B | R. E. |
| GCSE | C | French |
| GCSE | C | English Lit. |
Freelance Graphic / Web Design
Outside of work I have undertaken a number of freelance web and graphic design projects. I have experience developing E-Commerce web solutions using OScommerce and EcommerceTemplates and integrating secure payment processors like PayPal, SecPay and WorldPay. I have used web based content management systems like WordPress, Joomla and Mambo and most recently CMSMS. Where a CMS or E-Commerce solution is not required I design my sites in Dreamweaver using standards compliant XHTML styled with cross browser compatible and valid CSS. I have used JavaScript and PHP to add functionality to websites where necessary. Clients websites are constantly monitored using Google Analytics and can then be tweaked to maximize web traffic. I regularly provide freelance clients with web hosting, complete with email configuration (often onsite) and FTP access where required.
OCT 2004 – CURRENT
I am currently working for Balmoral Furniture, Moffett and Sons Limited in Dunmurry. I began working there in Oct. 2004 as an industrial placement student on my year out of university. At the end of the placement year, I was offered a part time contract where I worked 15 hours a week while in my final year. When I graduated in June 2006 I was offered a full time position within the company. In my current roll I am responsible for updating and maintaining the three company websites using the web based content management system U-DO. I also design the brochures, flyers and marketing / promotional material using the Adobe Creative Suite in particular InDesign, combining this with Acrobat Pro to supply print ready artwork to commercial printers. I have experience creating both vector and bitmap graphic artwork using Illustrator and Photoshop and incorporating these in engaging interactive Flash presentations using Action Script 2.0.
JUL 2005 – NOV 2005
When my placement year was coming to an end, before I had been offered a part time placement through final year, I took another job in Tescos, this time I was located in the Beers, Wines and Spirits department. I was responsible for maintaining shelf stock levels, advising and helping customers. I also made myself available as a "DOT COM" driver. I was responsible for loading the vans and making deliveries to customers who had placed an order at tesco.com. I resigned from this job to allow me to focus on my final year studies while keeping a part time job as a graphic designer in Moffett and Sons.
APR 2004 – FEB 2005
While studying in second year at University I started a part time job with Tescos in the stock control department. This roll involved me doing stock counts, marking out of stock products and ensuring the electronic stock management system was kept up to date. I only resigned from this job as I was starting my full time industrial placement.
DEC 2000 – AUG 2002
During my A-Level years at school I worked part time as a milk man. I had my own van and was responsible for loading the deliveries at the dairy, and distributing throughout the run. I was also responsible for the payment collection on my run and noting any extras or special orders.
This is an inital website design for RES Fire Ltd. The revamp of the current page will drum up business and serve as modern and professional first point of contact for the company.
TheBrickys.com is the online presence for Adam Turkington Bricklaying Contractor. The site is built with XHTML and CSS. The logo and branding was completed a number of months previous and used for stationary and sign writing, the website is the latest development for the company to drive business forward in the tough enconomic climate. SEO will be a key priority with thebrickys.com the structure and coding of the site reflect this.
I began working with Custom Graphix about two years ago, when they approached me asking to have a flash template customised for them. I customised the Flash site as they requested and we were able to monitor it using Analytics. From the stats we could see the site wasn’t performing well and wasn’t ranking highly in the search engines. The site was rebuilt using XHTML and CSS, the gallery was built using the JQuery library. The new site is now ranked in the top five results in Google for the keywords "Vehicle Graphics Carrickfergus" and the company look forward to driving a lot more traffic to the site in 2010.
This is an initial design idea for a new site for John McGlaughlin. The client wants to be able to manage the content himself and also link directly to his YouTube Feed to give visitors direct access to his latest on board footage. The site will also offer the branded clothing for sale with paypal handling the secure payment.
This is the final layout design for the new N.G. Bell & Son Ltd. Website. The site will have full content managment facilites and will incorporate items sold in the companies E-Bay shop via. the Ebay API.
The Rocklyn Cottage website was designed with search engine optimization in mind. The site is designed using valid XHTML and styled using valid CSS. The site has been submitted to the major search engines and its progress is being monitored using Google Analytics.
Farm Mania is a new business based on the Ards Peninsula. The company specialise in farm toys for children. There are about 150 different products and in the future the aim is to do a large percentage of the company trading online. The layout of the ecommerce package was fully customised and then styled using CSS. The payment processing is securely handled by integrating the site with PayPoint.net . Hosting was also provided for Farm Mania.
Thomas Kellys is an independent wallpaper & paint shop established in 1941. The company requested a modern clean site which was easily navigated and provided all the required information to their customers.
The site uses HTML and CSS, I redrew the logo which was supplied as a very low res black and white .GIF, with the addition of some crisp vector graphics and a splash of colour the company have an online presence to be proud of.
Balmoral Furniture are having a whole new web presence developed by Belfast based Web Design Company Libertas, This was my design contribution of what the new site could look like.
This Draft Layout retains the look and feel of the Balmoral Furniture Site while incorporating the information relevant to the Balmoral Contracts part of the company.
The Slumbernight Company require a whole separate entity, the whole colour scheme will change with a totally different layout but common links with carry throughout all three sites.
Belfast imports are a relatively new Belfast based, Japanese car import and tuning company. They also run a ‘Drift’ team and are looking for a web site capable of showcasing all the different aspects of the company.
This is just a draft layout to be approved before the site goes into development.
The final site will use a PHP / mySQL based content management system, to allow the company to keep the site up-to-date in-house, while the front end will be styled using standards compliant CSS.
This will not only give the site powerful cross browser compatibility it will also mean it can be readily indexed by search engine spiders and should rank highly with the major search engines when it is complete.
Feminine Touch Salon is a beauty salon based in Newtownards. The site has recently undergone redevelopment to mirror a refurbishment of the business premises.
The site uses some simple PHP and valid HTML and CSS to create a light, modern catalogue site, showcasing the salons vast range of treatments and services.
I also manage the Feminine Touch Domain and host the site as well as administrating the email accounts. The design of the site means it can be easily expanded as and when the client requires.
The PioneerCM website is online presence for a computer maintenance business. For many of their clients the web is the first point of contact, so it was important that the site portrayed a professional image.
The site uses a little PHP along with HTML and CSS. The site has been designed with future expansion in mind and can be easily updated and extended as required.
