Decades ago…:)
From an early age I'd always loved drawing and it was the thing I was known for being good at. I also liked sport and always did well in Sports day and athletics events. At about 12 years old I think I had a range of career ideas, from Art teacher, PE teacher to Astronaut (random one) to owning my own villa abroad somewhere! I didn’t actually realise what sort of jobs were out there at that point, (if you look in the careers library you will see the range out there). So anyway, I generally did ok in all subjects except history for some reason (even though I quite liked it!) but Design and Technology and Art were always my passion. 

 Year 9 Choices - GCSEs 
So it came to choosing my year 9 options, back then I had to do my Sciences, Maths and English Lit/ Lang but DT and Art were of course my definite choices, I also chose French, Business Studies (God knows why Business Studies) and IT.

 Year 11 Choices and College 
It transpired throughout year 10 and 11 that I loved design even more than art, I found the whole process of developing my ideas really enjoyable. I always knew I would do a creative course so didn’t really explore other options much, I did really well in Business Studies and my dad suggested I do that at college as it might be easier to get a job at the end of….of course I told him where to go! I’d always wanted to do a creative job!
I could either do 3 A levels or do a Btec National Diploma with one A level. I opted for the Btec as this meant if I wanted to go to university I could do this straight away, If I did A levels I would have to a Foundation year before going to uni. Plus the Btec gave you the skills and understanding you needed to be a designer. I really enjoyed my course as we got to explore all types of design and creative mediums.

 Choosing a Uni 
On the Btec I decided to specialise in Graphic Design, when it came to choosing a uni I visited quite a few, to name a few – Coventry, Leeds, Sheffield, Liverpool and Lincoln. I decided my first choice would be Sheffield Hallam Uni to do a Degree in Packaging Design. It was important to me to be close enough to my family to visit every now and then but also I loved Sheffield and the course seemed to feel right. I was a bit worried about finances as my parents didn’t earn enough to send me hand outs every month and almost opted to do a HND in my hometown (glad I didn’t now!) but I looked into student loans and knew I would get a part time job when I got there.

 At Uni 
So I arrived at Sheffield Hallam University all eager and got myself a part time job as a catering assistant at some student halls (dinner lady in other words).  There is a lot of people at uni who moan about not having money but also insist that they don’t have time to do a part time jobs (hmmm I beg to differ)
Anyway.. I enjoyed the course from beginning to end, one of the best things was working on live briefs with companies such as Thorntons and Masterfoods. I got to do a placement over the summer with Thorntons which was great experience – I definitely advise doing some kind of work experience if possible. The only thing I would criticise now is that the course didn’t give you much technical experience of producing graphics for ‘real life’ but did teach you great creativity skills which I think is key to becoming a good Designer.
I must admit that when I first got to Uni I found it a little difficult, moving away from home and living with new people scary. You can read more on moving out of home in the accommodation section. But I soon made some great mates who are still my best friends now and have a fair few stories about student nights out (which I wont go into detail about now).

 Working 
Well my first job was actually a placement with ‘Masterfoods’ – Company that makes brands such as Pedigree, Whiskas, Snickers, Galaxy, M&M’s, Mars Bars etc… The interview was quite intense! I had to do a group work task, a presentation and an individual interview. Definitely needed preparation! The placement lasted a year and they decided to take me on as a contractor for another year. This job was an amazing opportunity to see how things work in a big company – I had to deal with people in America and travel to offices in the Netherlands, Germany and Poland and even got to stay in the south of France. I got to work on some big brands producing ideas for packaging design concepts.
After 2 years I decided that I wanted to work on more fast moving design, packaging for such as big company took a long time to develop and could be years before you saw any of your work on the shelf! I decided to search for Graphic Design roles and got my next job working for a Students Union in Birmingham. Here I got to work on material that was aimed at the student market so I could be really creative and it was definitely fast paced. It was here I gained experience in working on website graphics aswell which was another string to my bow. This gave me the experience I needed to  gain jobs in other Graphic Design areas. Along the way I have also learnt more skills in new software such as 3D software, Video editing and Flash software – there is always something new to learn and it all improves your CV!

 Freelance Graphic Design
I decided to invest in my own Apple Mac computer so I could do some bits of freelance work. I enjoyed the variety of doing freelance especially when I got to do a bit of teaching graphic design to young people a local art centre. I’d asked to art centre if there was anything I could get involved in and to my surprise there was! I did find though that if I had a few clients at once that I would literally have to be on call any time if they wanted something doing. I did also find the financial side a bit overwhelming, I had to make sure I was paying taxes on the money I earnt, you can find more info on the money pages about being self employed.

So anyway, hopefully you can see how much I have enjoyed my journey as a Designer. In my experience, you never know what opportunities are around so always keep your eyes peeled and it never hurts to ask around! I wouldn’t say I’m especially loaded (in fact no where near loaded) but have really enjoyed each of the projects I’ve worked on – each one bringing something new and have had some great experiences along the way. And not to be too cheesy but…you never know what the future holds, I look forward to whatever else it might bring.:)

Please don’t hesitate to comment below if you have any questions…