The benefit of a bigger team means more skills, more talent and more ideas! As part of Muckle Media’s acquisition of Spey, Designer and Art Director, Patrick Jordan, has joined Muckle’s Head of Studio, Jill McPherson to bolster our studio capabilities.

Here we speak to Jill and Patrick to hear more about their creative backgrounds, what most inspires them and how they bring creatives to life for our clients.

Q: Tell us about your design experience 

Jill: I have over 15 years’ experience as a graphic designer, working in creative roles both in-house as part of marketing teams and in integrated full-service design agencies.

My diverse experience across a variety of sectors, including food and drink, sport and leisure, education, not-for-profit and public sector, helps me to easily adapt my style for different brand identities, target audiences and digital and print platforms.

Patrick: After college I built up my credentials as a freelancer working across the public, private and third sectors before joining Spey to lead on the development of creative for top-tier brands. I still design, but I now get much more involved with campaign development and art direction.

Q: What’s a typical day like for you?

Jill: Being a designer at a Muckle is all about variety and creativity. One day, I might be sketching out ideas for a new brand identity or developing visual guidelines, and the next, I’m deep into creating layouts for an impact report or designing advertisements. I work closely with the wider team, and even the clients themselves – to bring our bright ideas to life.

There’s always a mix of brainstorming, designing, and refining, with deadlines keeping me on my toes. It’s a fast-paced, ever-changing role, with a mix of creativity and problem-solving, no two days are ever the same and I absolutely love that!

Patrick: Some days I can be out on a shoot, some days picking through budget trackers and tenders and others so deeply immersed in InDesign that the outside world may as well have disappeared. I’m not sure this job comes with typical.

Q: What design elements can you support clients with?

Jill:. We can bring your ideas to life whether your design project is large or small. From logo design, brand guidelines and visual identity, marketing collateral or visuals to support your digital presence, we can support brand development to ensure a strong, recognisable, and effective brand presence. We regularly design using existing brand guidelines, but can create new ones and design for a variety of platforms, including print (annual reports, signage, promotional materials) and digital assets (adverts, social assets, web assets).

Patrick: I’ve worked on new and refreshed identities, documents large and small, social content, packaging and merch as well as digital and print OOH. I’m also a dab hand at planning and directing shoots, fixing things in Photoshop and can stitch together a video with simple motion graphics.

Q: Where do you get your inspiration from?

Jill: Some of my biggest sources of inspiration come away from art, music, the everyday, my friends, fellow creatives and taking photographs of things I like. I’m always on the lookout for new and diverse sources of inspiration, so I can keep my creativity flowing to develop fresh and innovative ideas. I think it’s important to keep an open mind and to look for inspiration in unexpected places.

Patrick: Inspiration hits me when it hits me, so I just try to keep my eyes and mind open, maintain a curious mindset and try [a lot] of different ideas.

Any big trends we should be watching out for?

Jill: As environmental concerns grow, sustainability in design will become more even prominent. Designers will focus on eco-friendly materials, energy-efficient processes, and designs that promote sustainability and social responsibility. As certified B-Corp we fully support this and commit to improving our environmental performance across all our business processes and try to encourage our business partners and those in the wider community to help support this effort.

Patrick: Styles now come and go so quickly it has never been more important to stick to the basics whatever is trending: understand the problem you’re trying to solve then communicate your solution clearly and consistently. This is how we separate our clients’ signal from the noise.