Freelance Graphic Designer
& Artistic Director
What I do...
CREATIVE GRAPHIC DESIGN FOR PRINT & ONLINE
THEATRE PUBLICITY AND PROGRAMMES
BROCHURES, POSTERS & LEAFLETS
JOURNALS & NEWSLETTERS
CORPORATE ID, LOGOS & BRANDING
DISPLAY BANNERS & EXHIBITION PANELS
ANNUALS & BOOK COVERS
COPYWRITING, PHOTOGRAPHY & ILLUSTRATION
WIX WEBSITE DESIGN
Things I've done...
Below are links to just some examples of my work over the past few years for a huge range of clients, both nearer to home as well as internationally. Simply click on the graphic panels, and a new page will open featuring some examples of my design work in these areas. Please take a look!
Who I am...
Hi there!... my name is Nick Sample and I'm a freelance graphic designer based in Cheshire. I've been working in the creative sector since the early 1980s, and although the technology may have changed dramatically since then, my own ethos of going the extra mile to create and deliver just what the client wants remains exactly the same.
Having played an integral part in establishing a theatre on Wirral, I subsequently worked as the in-house designer of a Liverpool-based screen-printing and sign-writing company, whose clients included many theatres, museums and Arts organisations, as well as all of the local major Advertising and Design Agencies. Anything went, from bus sides to banners, posters to point-of-sale displays, huge signboards to full-scale exhibitions, and even some advertising...
The next move was across the Mersey to a Wirral-based design agency who majored in work for the industrial and technological sectors. After a couple of years, following their relocation to Runcorn and subsequent (unfortunate, no fault of their own) demise, I was head-hunted back to the same Birkenhead building to be Creative Director of a family-run Advertising Agency. I was responsible for the complete creative output of the organisation, leading a team of designers in producing a wide range of mixed-media solutions for a diverse collection of clients in many fields.
In the late 1990s, when that Agency sadly succumbed to one big bad debt too many, I decided to take the plunge and strike out on my own and, like Johnnie Walker, I'm still going strong! I offer in-depth project management of design commissions, from the initial client's brief through to the finished products. My creative graphic design is supplemented by photography, illustration and copywriting, and when necessary I work alongside a partner network of professional experts in web, AV and print.
Clients include...
From architects and accountancy practices to Home and Garden Show promoters, football clubs and theatrical organisations to estate agents, local councils and motorbike retailers to quangos, publishers and private businesses to the prison service, my design work has included a wide range of commissions for an extremely diverse selection of clients. They include...
There are many advantages in choosing a freelancer over a large, corporate design agency. WYSIWYG - who you see is who you get. Everything is done by the same person, so you get a personal one-to-one service keeping you up-to-date at every stage, and don't have any 'middle-people' delivering mixed messages either way. Like many other freelance graphic designers, I take pride in the work I produce because "I'm just trying to keep my customers satisfied", to quote Simon and Garfunkel. And if they're happy, so am I. Additionally, in the end, I'm also able to offer a much more competitive rate for the same job. What's not to like?
When I'm not designing, one of the things that I continue to love doing is being involved in theatrical productions – both onstage and off. This stems from my first appearance onstage, at the age of 5, as the second wise man (typecast at an early age) in a Nativity play in Australia. Since then, beside having portrayed some fabulous roles onstage, I've apparently gained a bit of a reputation as a director, having helmed everything from musicals to Open-Air Shakespeare. One of my directorial traits during rehearsals is to let the actors go through a whole scene, and then ask them to "do it again – but, this time...". The same thing applies to my creative graphic design work – I'll always want to continue working on something beyond the original parameters of the job to achieve the right results. It's worth it in the end.