HI!
I’m Sam and I wanted to introduce myself as the face behind SK Design Studio. I love my business and I love my work so I thought I’d tell you a little bit more about how it came about, about me and about my love of all things teal.
Make yourself a brew, pull up a seat and join me for a little story…
ONCE UPON A TIME...
There was a girl called Sam – that’s me!
OK, Nutshell time. I grew up in Cullercoats, a beautiful village on the North East coast of England, not far from Newcastle (you know, The Toon). I did school, I did growing up, I did hanging around the coast as all good teenagers do…
And then I moved to Leeds for University. Oh yes, I’m fully qualified, you know? After gaining my degree in Graphic Arts and Design I came back home for a few years before moving down south to live and work. While I had fun and learned loads in my job down there, the Toon was never far from my thoughts and I was over the moon to move back again in 2017.
SK DESIGN STUDO WAS BORN!
It was the summer of 2014 that I registered SK as a business. I’d been asked by a then colleague to design his wedding invitations. Nutshell again, I had a very happy customer but ended up out of pocket after totally underestimating the time it would take and the cost of quality paper stock and printing.
I won’t do that again. But I will, and do, design wedding stationery. In fact, it’s still one of my favourite projects to work on. Who doesn’t love a good wedding?
TYPOGRAPHIC PRINTS CAME NEXT...
I absolutely love typographic prints and I wanted to provide a service to allow personalisation of prints for really unique, thoughtful gifts. As a result I made loads of framed prints as gifts for friends, family and work colleagues, for weddings, newborn babies, birthdays, anniversaries and celebrations. They were really popular and helped me to grow my fledgling business brilliantly.
Hundreds of personalised prints and handmade wedding stationery suites later, I realised my enjoyment in being a Graphic Designer lay in variety. I loved working with different, interesting people, helping customers and clients with their sticking points and ultimately giving them designs they wanted to show off... Aspects which working in an in-house design role didn't present at the time.
TAKING THE FULL-TIME LEAP OF FAITH.
It was only in September 2018 that I finally took the plunge to leave employment and go full-time with SK Design Studio. My aim was (and still is) to do quality design for clients I wanted to work with, and ones who chose to work with me too, exploring different ways of working and creating. I love dealing with people and helping them solve problems creatively. I love designing and producing actual, tangible products in print and developing brands and values that represent my clients and their businesses. And I love all things teal – you may have noticed!
WHAT I'VE LEARNED ALONG THE WAY...
Gosh, I’ve learned loads. From my days as a Graphic Design student to my life as a freelance Graphic Designer, I’ve never tired of picking up new skills, doing a spot of training and developing my portfolio of services for my awesome clients.
I used my time working for marketing teams to really understand the importance of consistency in branding. Creating a set of brand guidelines is ingrained in my approach to every piece of design I do and I love flexing my creative muscles to understand a problem and find the perfect visual solution to communicate the message effectively and of course be aesthetically pleasing too.
Manners cost nothing and I’m a great believer in kindness, patience and professionalism. Although those qualities are always surrounded by teal, colourful clothes, biscuits and a good bit of banter too.
So that’s me.
I’ll be writing more blogs about my values, my services and my take on all things graphic design so please keep checking in. Oh, and if you’d like a spot of design talk and general chit chat to drop into your inbox on a monthly basis, why not sign up for my newsletter – you’ll find the link at the bottom of my home page.
I promise not to spam you – I just want to keep in touch with all the happenings at SK Design Studio and let you know when new stuff’s happening. Deal?
Thanks for reading a little more about me and my business!
Laters,
Sam.