Hey guys! I hope you’re all having a cracking week so far! I’ve been working hard on new illustrations, traveling up to Coventry as I’ve been commissioned for a sketch job, and conducting interviews like today!
Every month I publish a blog post to help you with illustration, design and freelancing, and have recently published a new post about how to create your own illustration website.
Following from this, I thought it would be a great idea to conduct a mini designer interview on this blog, giving you outside knowledge (and not just my own) about these topics!
I talk to the fantastic Nik Jones (Hello I’m Nik Design) about what it’s like to be a freelancer, the world of design, and discovering eye opening knowledge into her processes. I connected with Nik a few months ago, and feel in love with her branding, design work and great marketing services! It’s a privilege to have her on his blog, and I hope you guys get a lot from it, I certainly did!
Hey Nik! Tell us about yourself and give us an introduction to your work
Hiya, my name’s Nik I’m a Freelance Marketing & Brand Designer and work for myself at Hello I’m Nik Marketing & Design
You create a lot of flat graphical designs, how has this style developed?
I’m a self confessed minimalist, I like to keep things as simple as possible and believe to communicate with visuals the same should apply. When I first started out I found myself creating things that were actual versions of what I was drawing, which ended up ruining each piece. Then over time I stripped away a lot of the detail and my style was born.
You offer both marketing and design services, how do these two work together?
Marketing and design work so well together and I’d say there aren’t any negatives for me – design is a way of communicating effectively with the least amount of detail and marketing needs to be communicated quickly to grab attention.
To separate between the two is fairly easy, design uses the creative side of me and marketing, although needs some creativity, involves a lot more practical thinking – they do come as a package and I love the way they marry together so well.
What inspires you and influences your work?
When I first started as a designer I found most influences were other designers, now I’m 5 years in, being away from a computer gives me the most creativity energy. I’m heavily inspired by my nephew and niece, kids have a wonderful way of thinking ‘as it is’, you get such truth from them.
Also, I love binge watching awesome films and tv shows, anything with grit, horror and drama. One thing I’ve been developing over the last year or so is my love of retro gaming, I used to play video games back in the day and just love creating art based around this.
What is the best and worst things about working for yourself / freelancing
The best thing is the freedom it gives you, prior to becoming a designer I spent 19 years working in admin for various companies and there’s nothing quite like not answering to anyone, being able to take a break when you need to and working the hours you choose.
However, for me, the worst part has probably been working on my own, alone – I do really miss the camaraderie of an office environment, as well as the occasional hard-to-please client and maintaining a positive frame of mind.
It can be tough when it’s just you, but you just have to roll with the punches and keep on keeping on.
What advice would you give yourself before setting off on your freelancing adventure?
I think I’d definitely warn myself about the alone times, make sure I had somewhere to go when things get quiet.
How do you take yourself out of your comfort zone?
I find networking quite hard to do, as well as selling myself face to face, so I try to do this every so often just to remind myself it’s not all that bad, after I’ve done it, I’m exhausted but it isn’t actually as bad as I thought it would be.
At the moment, I’ve got a couple of ideas for the future, but I won’t talk about them quite yet, not until they’re a little more in place.
Who’s your favourite character from The Walking Dead and why?
It has to be Rick Grimes, who’s played by Andrew Lincoln. He’s British, which I’m proud of, he went to school in Bath for a bit, his character is unrelenting, has a no nonsense attitude and he’s very nice looking too!
I think if I could choose another character as a favourite, it’d have to be Michonne, she’s also a no nonsense attitude, is a very strong lady – and I think if we had a zombie apocalypse, I’d definitely do what she did with her two zombie friends and cart them around with me on chains.
Tell us one thing people might not know about you!
I have a huge collection of Lego minifigs, which is growing by the minute, I’m a huge fan of the tv and film inspired ones like Star Wars, TMNT and superhero ones.
I’ve even got my 4-year old nephew into them, he’s now growing his collection and can’t get enough of his new Iron Man fig.
Thanks For Your Great Designer Interview Nik!
This mini interview has been a great insight into the world of design and freelancing, and I hope you got a lot from this great blog post!
If you’ll like to see more of my previous tips and tricks on freelancing and illustration, do check them out. These blog posts are very similar to this designer interview, and I feel confident there’s something in there to help you!
Many thanks to Nik again for her great designer interview. If you’ll like to see more of her great design and marketing services, do check out her website, it’s cracking!
I’m going to be showcasing some more illustration commissions with you soon, so keep your eyes peeled for that! For now, enjoy this designer interview with the brilliant Nik Jones!
Many thanks for listening and visiting my news page today. You can follow what I’m up to on my Twitter, Facebook or Google + pages, I’ll really appreciate it if you do, and don’t be afraid to say hi to me! Many thanks again, and have a great day!
25th April 2016
