dds|design

dds|design was set up to allow us each to pursue our respective skills and to provide these creative services on a freelance basis from our home-based, purely digital fully equipped studio using both Mac and PC. We have several regular clients with whom we work, who regard us as their 'marketing department' as we ensure continuity of their branding and look after all of their marketing materials and requirements.

Advertisements we have created, from concept to delivery, have been published in a number of trade and professional journals in the UK and as far afield as the USA, Australia and New Zealand. Our designs have been used on exhibition stands at Birmingham NEC, ExCel Centre, Olympia, Earl's Court, SECC in Glasgow and many other venues in the UK as well as at exhibitions held in the USA and in Europe.

We enjoy what we do and will consider any creative project. We are also happy to offer consultancy services wherever required to include project managing advertising campaigns and exhibition presence.  We work on the simple concept that if we provide a good personal, reliable and friendly service which gives value for money, our clients will come back - and they do. Usually as friends, phoning us or calling in for a coffee over which we discuss a new project.

denise

Denise started using a computer for page layout, design and typesetting in the mid 1980's when it first became possible to do so, initially using a 286 desktop computer, a Postscript printer and the first ever version of Aldus Pagemaker which needed a runtime version of Windows 286 to work. This was the start of the Desktop Publishing revolution which forever changed the way printed materials were produced. Pagemaker was subsequently bought by Adobe and later evolved into In Design.

Gaining considerable experience designing and producing brochures, leaflets and various other marketing materials for a travel business she then ran. This expanded and developed over time and as her career progressed Denise was soon designing and creating advertisements, producing page layouts for newsletters, writing copy text and articles on a freelance basis. A move to the Northwest and a job in sales and marketing with a software company in the healthcare market provided opportunities for designing and co-ordinating advertising campaigns, project managing exhibitions and planning marketing campaigns so that by the time she had become Marketing Director,  it was a natural progression into software user interface design and then into web design and a variety of internet related marketing activities.

The decision to once again become self-employed and offer design and creative services on a freelance basis came about in 2001, when a change in lifestyle became desirable and necessary for medical reasons and co-incided with the company she was employed by being sold. The new owners retained her and Daniel, who had also been employed there as a graphic artist, on a freelance basis to continue working on the advertising and marketing and so dds|design was created. Still a client to this day, dds|design have attracted other clients for whom they have provided a wide variety of creative services. Some of these clients are small local businesses, individual artists and charities where the personal visits and friendly service are appreciated yet others are large, international public companies with whom all contact is electronic.

A keen photographer for many years Denise was an early adopter of digital photography and with years of experience in digital imaging, she has been able to combine a love of photography with a love of design and creative work. This means she is able to provide clients with a huge selection of images in addition to providing a freelance photography service with professional digital equipment. Her own personal image library holds thousands of images, some of which are available through online libraries such as the Science Photo Library, Arcangel and Alamy whilst others are available to license direct. Denise has won several awards for her pictures and is fully qualified as an Associate member of the British Institute of Professional Photographer. Some of her editorial and commissioned work can be seen here and her personal work which is of a more artistic nature, is here.

daniel

Daniel learned to use a computer at a very early age, becoming fascinated in computer graphics by watching Denise using various graphics software applications. He learned Paintbrush, Corel Draw, Photo Finish and then later Adobe Photoshop, which he taught himself how to use, and created some fine work. Over time he became more adept and often created images and designs for Denise to use in various projects she was working on and was given projects himself by the company she was by then working for. After spending two years on a foundation Art and Design course at Runshaw College on leaving school, Daniel subsequently was offered a job at the same software company where he finally had the opportunity to work on a number of design projects himself and learn new skills whilst gaining valuable knowledge and experience of IT and digital imaging hardware..

Daniel is a creative digital artist with commercial experience in creating graphics, illustrations and animations for a wide range of projects from marketing materials and exhibition displays to advertisments, application software, icons, web sites and computer games.  He is highly skilled at image enhancement and manipulation, with a thorough understanding of the technology. His recently acquired skills include 3D modelling and animation and dynamic website development using the latest technologies. Using a graphics tablet he draws digitally the art and designs for the projects on which he works. Advertising projects very often call for a combination of one or more of Denise's photographs from which Daniel creates a new image to suit the client's brief. This combination of talent allows great flexibility and creativity and also provides clients with a highly cost-effective and unique service.

With an avid interest in computer games, Daniel was for a long time more interested in the graphics than the actual games but this has progressed and has combined with an interest in programming which he has also largely taught himself to a high level of competence, aided by his knowledge of IT. His free time is now spent working a big Internet project with which he is involved in programming, designing and creating the graphics for a new game. This is an interest he is currently pursuing by studying part-time to degree level.

This in turn sparked off another area of interest and that was in designing and writing dynamic websites for which he has now gained significant experience and has been responsible for specifying, writing and maintaining a large, healthcare community website. This project is an ongoing one.

david

Although not actively involved on a daily basis, Denise's youngest son David has been involved in some projects. He gained his degree in Media Studies at the University of Central Lancashire and has experience in digital film making, script writing, storyboard creation, digital video editing and sound dubbing.  He also has some commercial experience in shooting and editing short films which are currently in use for training and demonstration purposes by one of the dd|design clients. David is currently working within the televsion industry.