Designing for a Decade

It dawned on me that 2025 marks the year that I’ve been designing for a decade. I started university studying Graphic Design in 2015 and haven’t looked back since!

Back when I was in sixth form writing my UCAS application and deciding what to do with the rest of my life I can remember the penny drop moment for me when I knew that design was my true creative calling. During an open day at my local university I got talking to one of the course leaders who explained to me what Graphic Design entailed. Up until that point I had known I wanted to study a creative subject but was told by my school art teachers that I wasn’t good enough to go to art school.

Which naturally (being a stubborn Taurus) made me want to prove them wrong and do it anyway.

So, I did.

Instantly, I fell in love with design, with ideas and with taking something from concept to creation. During that time I also won 2 awards for my work, including a D&AD pencil which gave me a bit of self-belief towards the end of my third year that maybe I was okay at this.

Fast forward ten years and I’ve been working for myself as a brand designer for seven of those years, and have built myself a business that enables me to work with incredibly inspiring clients and collaborators every day. It’s safe to say that without the people I’ve met along the way, I wouldn’t be doing a job that I love that also supports me and my family - for which I feel very lucky.

Before that fortuitous conversation with the course leader back in 2015, I wanted to be a teacher. There’s always been something in me that loves sharing and helping people which I get to do with my clients now. Last year, I got to lean in to that part of myself, partnering with The Seed to host a branding event helping small business owners to think differently about their visual identities. Teaching what I know and love to a room full of inspiring business owners - magic!

Hosting this workshop sparked something in me (the aspiring teacher part) that I LOVED. It felt great to share what I know and the experience I’ve gained after years of working with countless businesses on their brands. Seeing how the guests had their own lightbulb moments and sparks of inspiration about their brand in just the couple of hours we were together really inspired me to create something bigger that could help more people build an identity for their brand that they feel proud of.

So, what’s next?

I don’t know about the next ten years but for the next few months my focus is on hosting more workshops in the same vein, as well as the first cohort of my online training The Design it Yourself Toolkit (spaces are now live for March enrolment and I will be sharing more info very soon!)

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Upcoming events

I will be running periodic IRL half day workshops to help business owners and freelancers to think about their visual brand more strategically. I will guide you through exercises to uncover unique insights about your brand that will help to inform your design decisions moving forwards.

The next event will be run in Norwich on February 19th 2025 in collaboration with The Seed and The Yard Coffee

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A big thank you to the people who have been here and supporting me from pretty much day one, you know who you are! I’m excited to see where this next chapter takes me and to hopefully see some of you join the next event or training course.

All the best,

Maddy

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👋 Hi, I’m Maddy

A creative designer living and working in Norwich. I’ve been working in the industry for over 7 years and I’m passionate about helping businesses to connect to their brands’ spirit so we can show the world who they are through thoughtful and courageous branding. I work with founders, brand strategists and team leaders to create new brands and reimagine existing ones.

You can find out more about what I do here.

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