ModRed Design is the creation of myself, Scott Bowen, a Freelance Designer based in Swansea, South Wales, UK. This article gives you a little background information on my career experiences & education. I am fortunate to have worked all over the UK with several companies, big & small, from which I have gained a lot of technical knowledge & some niche skills.
What I do now…
Freelance Designer at ModRed Design : 2010 ▸ PRESENT
I have been providing freelance design services via ModRed Design since 2010 – designing all kinds of marketing material for various clients. I have a number of regular clients who need material designed on a daily / weekly basis – I also take on other random jobs for customers seeking one-off design projects.
I work for a number of companies in a Freelance role, basically acting as their graphic design, web development & marketing department.
Most of my work is local & gained by word of mouth – or natural visitors to my website, but I have worked for clients all over the UK & further afield – in the USA, Germany & France for example.
Graphic / Web Designer at Clinical Marketing : 2015 ▸ PRESENT
Clinical Marketing is a partner business of ModRed Design, which was set up while working for Chromogenex, who provided equipment to medical & aesthetic clinics. Several of their clients required ongoing design services, so I developed Clinical Marketing to manage these clients.
This continued to be necessary for Cosmeditech clients, many of whom require websites & regular marketing or design services.
Clinical Marketing now generates interest from all over the globe, from other random clinics & medical businesses that require a clinical style website, print artwork, marketing material & brand development.
Visit : clinical-marketing.com
Graphic / Web Designer at Cosmeditech : 2016 ▸ PRESENT
I currently work for Cosmeditech on a freelance basis, as their Marketing Manager, where I design, produce & manage all of their marketing material – including all printed material, websites, digital / promotional graphics & email marketing.
I created their brands – the corporate (Cosmeditech) brand and a number of product brands. I designed, built & manage all of their websites – including a number of client websites, which is a major part of their marketing support.
I produce all artwork for their exhibitions, creating large format graphics, along with all of their printed marketing material, like brochures & corporate material. I also manage all digital marketing campaigns, including Google Ads (PPC), Facebook & Instagram adverts.
Visit : cosmeditech.com
Graphic / Web Designer at Welsh Brew Tea : 2015 ▸ PRESENT
Welsh Brew Tea is an iconic Welsh brand who sell their products in most supermarkets in Wales. They wanted their website to be an advert for their products & brand identity, to gain new retail partners. But they also wanted it to act as an e-commerce website, so customers can buy tea products directly from them.
I built & manage their e-commerce website, creating the overall look & feel. I created all product photography, which is a rewarding process as I get to keep the tea!
I oversee the SEO set-up on the website & help to improve their digital marketing, by generating blog articles & product landing pages. I manage their email marketing platform. I also provide occasional graphics & posts for their social media accounts.
Visit : welshbrewtea.co.uk
Graphic / Web Designer at Natural UK : 2020 ▸ PRESENT
Natural UK provide a range of innovative, environmentally friendly services to companies across Wales, including wash-room equipment, waste collection & waste processing. I have worked with Natural UK since 2020, when they asked me to rebuild their company websites to modernise their online presence.
This involved rebuilding their main Natural UK website, alongside their partner company websites including NappiCycle and Natural Environmental Ltd. I continue to work alongside Natural UK to regularly update their websites, creating news articles and blogs.
Visit : naturaluk.co.uk
Artworker / Graphic Designer at Blackbox AV : 2011 ▸ PRESENT
BlackBox AV produce audio signs & software, mainly for museums or nature reserves. I have worked with them for a number of years, designing many of their installations.
This involves large format printing design – they usually give me a detailed design brief, along with a sign template… I then create a design & supply them with a print-ready PDF, such as producing signage or an illustrated map or a 2D building plan.
In this work situation, my experience in large format printing is very useful… as I know when I provide a PDF it will print 100% accurately. After witnessing the compatibility issues with certain RIP software or printing equipment, I always ensure that I produce artwork that is absolutely fool-proof – no matter how large the artwork is.
Blackbox AV Team : blackboxav.co.uk
My Career Experiences…
Graphic / Web Designer at Glitter Body Art, Bridgend : 2012 ▸ 2019
Glitter Body Art produce temporary tattoo stencils & accessories, selling their products through their online store.
I worked with Glitter Body Art on a freelance basis, where I created their brand identity – I also designed, built & maintained their e-commerce website (along with all other business websites). I created all product photography (sometimes with traditional photography, sometimes digitally created).
I designed all of their tattoo stencils – using Adobe Illustrator to create EPS / Vector graphics for vinyl cutting. I created all digital / social media graphics & printed marketing material (such as posters, flyers & large format exhibition banners). I also designed all of their product packaging.
Graphic / Web Designer at Chromogenex, Llanelli : 2014 ▸ 2015
Chromogenex produced laser equipment for the medical / aesthetics / bio-tech industries, with operations all over the world. I worked for Chromogenex on a part-time basis, where I was brought in to update all of their websites & marketing material, making the websites responsive & modernising the marketing style.
I also created & maintained all of their PPC campaigns, email marketing material, exhibition graphics & printed marketing material – such as magazine adverts.
They had offices in the USA, Asia, South Africa & Europe, and I had to work with the staff at each location to provide exhibition designs & other marketing material, keeping the brand identity consistent. Chromogenex also offered comprehensive marketing support to their customers, so I was responsible for creating websites & other marketing material for various clinics & practices who used Chromogenex equipment… many of whom I still work with to this day.
Artworker at Funky Pigeon, Bristol : 2008 ▸ 2009
Funky Pigeon are an e-commerce company who sell personalised products via their website. My official title was Artworker, but as a part of a small design team, I took on lots of responsibilities. I was basically the technical guy.
My main duties were to design & prepare products – greeting cards, calendars & posters – using Adobe Creative Suite & Direct Smile. We used Photoshop or Illustrator & InDesign, the personalisation was implemented using Direct Smile.
The finished product would then be imported into InDesign to produce a print-ready PDF for digital printing – this was done automatically using synchronised templates, which were compiled ‘on the fly’ using XML files – synchronised using Direct Smile variable data printing software.
When a customer personalised a card on the website, their design would be output as a high-res JPG, which would then be used to populate a synchronised InDesign template – along with other elements – to create a print-ready PDF.
I also built & oversaw the print production process – creating hot-folders which took live orders from the website & imposed the PDF files for digital printing. During my time there I also gained certificates to operate HP Indigo printers 5000 & 5500, so I could take over production if necessary.
As I had a bit of web design experience, I took on other responsibilities like building the HTML email newsletters, and building the front-end content of the website. I worked with the .NET programmer to ensure my HTML was compatible & SEO friendly.
Pre-Press Technician at The Evening Post, Swansea : 2002 ▸ 2007
This was my first real job, and one of my fondest career experiences. My job was initially a Pre-Press Technician, or Page Production Operative – which basically meant I prepared newspapers for print.
We used various methods to create newspaper pages – using Quark Express, Acrobat or specialist editing software to create PDF files, which would then be printed onto CMYK negatives for the press.
We would ordinarily have a list of publications to print each day, with a flexible schedule. It was also my job to keep tabs on each publication & advise the Press of which job would likely to be ready next.
After about three years I was moved to the planning dept., which obviously involves planning each publication. This basically entailed calculating the size of a newspaper taking into account the booked advertising space. We would devise a plan which satisfied the advertisers & the editorial team, ensuring the Press were capable of printing the colour requirements. We would then place each advert onto the specific page & let Editorial fill in the gaps. If there was ever any space unfilled, we would place a generic advert in the empty space.
The job required a broad knowledge of desktop publishing & basic computer / networking / printing knowledge – because if a problem arose, it would be up to me to isolate the problem & fix it ASAP, to ensure every newspaper met it’s deadline. It was a high pressure job, but I loved it!
Web Designer at Team Tours Direct, Swansea : 2013
Team Tours Direct provide sporting holidays & organised tournaments via their website. I worked with them on a part-time basis for around six months to re-build a number of their websites.
They had previously outsourced the web design / management to an overseas company, but decided to bring it in-house so to give them more control over their content. I re-built their websites using WordPress, so they are now able to log-in & easily update information.
Artworker at TMT Digital Print, Swansea : 2010
TMT Digital Print provide large format printing services. My job was to prepare artwork for digital printing using Adobe Creative Suite. Using a variety of printing / copying equipment – including a large format plotter, A0 copiers & laminating / finishing equipment – this job gave me a great understanding of how to produce artwork for large format printing.
Read more about Large Format Print Design
Artworker at Inky Little Fingers, Gloucester : 2009 ▸ 2010
Inky Little Fingers are a commercial printing company based in Gloucester, they acquire all orders through their website. My job was to prepare all customers artwork for print – along with the odd custom design request.
The set-up was very professional, with state of the art printing & finishing equipment. They used various digital printers for small jobs – including Konika Minoilta & Kodak digital presses – along with a brand new Litho press for larger print runs. They also had every finishing machine imaginable, for cutting, binding, folding & stapling products. 90% of my job was to prepare the artwork for printing, but I was trained to use every bit of equipment, so I could take over production if necessary. This gave me a better understanding of why they had such strict proofing rules – & dramatically improved my Artworking skills.
They had perhaps the strictest quality checks I have ever witnessed. Using professional pre-press proofing software (PitStop Pro), they would analyse the resolution, colour profiles & dimensions / bleed areas of each job – ensuring every print job was absolutely perfect before sending the artwork to print (reducing any customer complaints).
Seeing this kind of attention to detail has given me an appreciation of good practice. Because if you do it right first time, you avoid any come-back!
Pre-Press Operative at Skanem, Cardiff : 2007 ▸ 2008
Skanem are a large printing company who produce labels & stickers for many large, well-known companies. They use various flat-bed, rotary & digital presses to print the labels. It was my job to prepare artwork for press which involved splitting a design up into Pantone colours. This job gave me a great insight into flat-bed / screen printing & how to produce artwork for this printing process.
My Education…
HND – Design Technology : 2000
Main areas of study…
- Multimedia Authoring : Director (Shockwave), Flash & Icon Author.
- 3D Studio Max : Modelling complex shapes, texture application & animation.
- Internet Technology : Cysco Systems, HTML, ASP, SQL & CSS.
- Audio : Digitization, quantisation, acoustics & sound studio operation.
- Video : Compression codecs, camera operation, editing & producing videos using Adobe Premiere.
- Computer Technology : Studying memory, CPUs, motherboards, graphics cards & monitors / screen resolutions.
- Product Design : Product solutions, ergonomics & working with materials.
BTEC – Graphic Design & Illustration : 1998
Main areas of study…
- Design Process : Brain storming, story board usage & typography.
- Printing Technology : Studying CMYK / Spot colour usage & different printing techniques.
- Design Software : Photoshop, Illustrator & Quark Express – using Mac & PC.
- Photography : Operating SLR cameras – developing analogue photographs in a dark room.
- Technical Illustration : Isometric, perspective, orthographic & planometric drawing techniques.
- Art & Design : Life drawing, clay modelling, painting & art history (movements from 19th Century onwards).
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