Aleks James

I have been building a close relationship with a number of clients over the years, building on my per- sonal abilities and offerings. I have strived to remain at the forefront of design, whilst engaging clients and audiences with industry relevant design and engaging content. This can be a difficult task as a free- lancer, steering clients away from comfort zones and existing preconceptions, or inappropriate ideas. This has given me a strong confidence and ability in relaying concepts and ideas. As well as allowing me, to strengthen and better formulate ideas and my ability to pitch them. As we all know, it requires a great level of self-discipline in order to meet deadlines and expectations. Whilst relying on transparency and exposure to all stages of a project, in order to maintain confidence and faith in proposals. Having followed this path, near full time for the past 5 years and prior to that, in my spare time ever since starting my 'bedroom poster service' as a teenager. To where I am now, notably building, managing and consulting remotely for a Craft Brewery, based out of Canada, has really cemented a cohesion in my abil- ities, practice and workflow to compliment.

I developed a lot at Apple. I took on the brave task of delivering numerous workshops on varying sub- jects both internally and to large audiences of customers, built confidence in my language skills helping Russian tourists in store, Developing in-depth understanding of client handling methods with the in- shore business team, whilst being constantly assessed through feedback have really built on a lot of transferable skills. I progressed to become a Technician, the real focus was on repairing relationships with customers. Managing heated situations and also working quickly, completing technologically diffi- cult tasks, requiring a lot of quick thinking and confidence in what your doing.

Upon return the UK, I decided to chase a personal love and applied at at Edinburgh Botanic Gardens, I learnt a great deal with regard to team work here. As well as obviously a large amount of botanical knowledge and experience (though unless you've a lot of office plants, maybe the knowledge is not so transferable). This role was also public facing, and required a good level of enthusiasm in tasks, convey- ing knowledge and general manners when approached. Mr. Aleks James www.aleksjames.com

Whilst in Australia I got talking at a party, portfolios were exchanged and before I knew it I was working for a great little agency based in Sydney's Northern Beaches, ended up extending my initial 3 month visa and extending my holiday. I Worked on some great projects and was entrusted with some tasks that were really challenging, I loved the creative freedom and learnt a lot.

Working as part of a three-person team I specialised in the maintenance and upkeep of trade- marks belonging to British American Tobacco worldwide. This was a responsible position ensur- ing that trademarks did not lapse. Any errors had the potential to cause significant financial penalties. I also developed their website and produced email HTML for the company.

I worked as Head of the design, overseeing two junior designers, as well as designing myself. The post required a high level of planning and organisation to ensure that projects were com- pleted and achieved to the highest design standards. I was responsible for pitching ideas to clients and ensuring that projects were followed through from inception to completion.

Being responsible for sales management., this role required a high level of responsibility and an ability to deal with situations quickly, decisively and effectively. * Key Holder * Accounting * Offsite Event Management * New practice/workflow innovation