A passion for design.
Head in the clouds, feet on the ground.
A dreamer & a doer. Lancashire born, London based.
Hello!
I’m Marie - a confident, creative, lateral thinking, print & digital graphics expert, with over 20 years experience. Effective visual communication is my passion & attention to detail my forte.
It all started in 1992 on an Atari ST when I was just 10 years old, when I got my hands on a floppy disk containing a program called ‘Canvas’. As you can imagine, it was a relatively basic piece of design software - but all of a sudden I could use my artistic talents in a whole new exciting way (goodbye paint & pencils!). Things would never be the same.
Fast forward a few years (& software packages) - after designing collateral as a bit of a hobby for school events, family & local businesses - I got my degree in Graphic Design at Salford University in 2003.
My first corporate job was at Brother International (global electronics), where I gained invaluable experience & developed my skills. Since then I've worked full time in large organisations including; Senator International (the UK's largest furniture manufacturer), Antler Luggage (the UK's largest luggage manufacturer), Soulmatefood (leading food home delivery & sports nutrition) working alongside Virgin Active and most recently, the boutique marketing agency IM London, where I worked as Creative Director for 3 years. My freelance projects have continued throughout my career - I am a workaholic -truly passionate & 100% committed to what I do. I absolutely live & breathe it!
"Content precedes design. Design in the absence of content is not design. It's decoration."
My creative approach has always been to consider business objectives and audiences - it's not just about creating pretty pictures. It’s visual communication that works to deliver a message & serve a purpose. It's not just graphic design - it's content creation, art direction, creative copy writing, photography working to marketing strategies within various budgets.
What’s with the name ‘dumb blonde’?!
When I was about 21, I was sitting in a waiting room for a job interview at an agency near Manchester. At the time, I could basically be described as ‘Barbie’ - blonde hair, high heels, pink portfolio folder, pink lipstick - pink everything! The interviewer, who was the CEO of the company, invited me into his office for the interview. The meeting went well.
At the end, as I was walking out the door he said “I have to be honest, when I first saw you in the waiting room, I thought you looked like a bit of a dumb blonde, but you are obviously not!”. He went on to say how impressed he was with me and my work - although in the end I didn’t get the job. The conversation stuck with me and ultimately inspired my business name - which reminds me to always be disruptive, by challenging the norm and people’s expectations.
#challengetheexpected