Growing up
I’m a strong believer of the James Victore saying “The things that made you weird as a kid, make you great today”. Having spent some time with him mentoring me, I’ve put a lot of work into realising what makes me great and how I can give that to you in the work we do together.*
My school report always read something along the lines of “bubbly child, plays wells with others, keen to learn, always willing to help”. Yours probably did too. It isn’t want makes me great but it is what makes me approachable, hardworking and dedicated to providing you something valuable.
Having spent most of my career working with charities and NGO’s to help them with their graphic and digital design needs and the last three years managing a design team, strategising and learning all about ISO standards, risk management and processes. I’ve found I also really enjoy this side of business. Trying new things, measuring the changes and seeing the success rates rise is actually pretty fun.
It’s also the fundamentals of any design process, to make something which solves a problem, first you need to understand the problem, make small changes and monitor the changes to see how well you’re addressing the problem.
I use these processes in my life as well as with work, because I believe in them. When it comes to growing vegetables to be that little bit more self-sufficient, I’m always planning, doing the work needed to sow the seeds, acting promptly when outside factors get involved and checking just below the soil to see if that carrot or potato is growing as it should be.
The things that made you weird as a kid, make you great todayJames Victore, Artist & Mentor
Growing forward
*my love for radishes made me weird as a kid, and they are a big part of my life today.
After attending New Adventures conference the past two years and looking back over the projects I’ve enjoyed working on, I’ve realised that my heart, the things that make me weird as a kid, is in nature and our connection with it. Today that means preserving it as best we can. I want to help people who feel the same way.
The internet is responsible for more energy used than all of air travel. So as a web designer, I have a duty to make websites as light, as fast and as useful as I possibly can.
I am a zero waste web designer.
Growing for all
The people who gave me my love of nature are my grandparents. Especially my grandads, they both had vegetable gardens which I’d always want to be in, talking to the sunflowers and stealing radishes or peas.
One of my grandads had one arm. He lost it whilst repairing a fork truck apparently. He was also a successful mechanic with his own business up until he retired. He could do everything, with just one arm.
Then, when my first niece was born my sister text me to say she was going to be left handed (just like me) for a second I thought, how clever it was they know that so early on. Then the photo loaded and it was clear that she was born without fingers on her right hand. My reply to her was “She’s going to be so strong, like Grandad”. She is.
At least 1 in 5 people are permanently disabled in the UK, and many more of us have varied levels of ability. So when it comes to websites, which are more and more the preferred way people interact or consume information, doesn’t it just make sense that we make websites for everyone?
What do I want to achieve from Whoopee?
- Have a more sustainable and enriched life
- Make the web a little bit nicer for everyone
- Help people get real value from design
- Take the scary out of accessibility
- Make work that I’m proud of