Current Employment and Activities

I have been working at Live Active Leisure Head Office since November 2008. Live Active Leisure is a not for profit, charitable leisure trust and social enterprise that operates 14 Leisure Venues and promotes 'Living Active' in Scotland.

My current role is as a Marketing Coordinator and my responsibilities include working within the small marketing team to plan and implement the corporate communications plan in order to promote brand awareness, innovative service initiatives, promotions and sales.

I also write for the green design blog Inhabitat.com, which includes covering events such as The Milan Furniture Fair 2010 and The London Design Fair 2010.

In my spare time, I am working towards a Chartered Institute of Marketing Professional Diploma in Marketing, as this enables me to broaden and improve my knowledge and skill base.

Research Project

I received a European travel scholarship and completed an independent research report under the title of "“An exploration of the cycling culture in Europe."

My journey started in June 2008 in France, I then travelled through Belgium, the Netherlands and completed the research in Germany in September 2008. During this time interviews were organised with members of the public and representatives from leading cycling organisations. This included the founder of the European Cycling Federation, the president of the European Union’s employee cycling group, the founder of Vélo Mondial, and representatives from Mieux se Déplacer à Bicyclette, Pro-Vélo, Fietserbond and many smaller organisations.

In addition, I attended the Cycling Action Plan for Scotland conference. The outcome of this study is a photographic study and a report, as requested by the Peter Kirk Memorial Fund and an increased passion for cycling.

Education

I completed a five year course in Product Design at The Glasgow School of Art in June 2008. During my studies I tried to explore design within a wider context by completing projects and courses that included product design, service design, graphic design, marketing, strategic design, sociology, brand identity, studio photography and languages.

I also had the opportunity to spend my 3rd and 4th years on exchange and I completed my 3rd year at the Köln International School of Design in Cologne, Germany and my 4th year at L’'Ecole Nationale Supérieure de Création Industrielle in Paris, France.

This experience of living and working abroad allowed me to improve my foreign language skills and increase my knowledge of different design cultures and international perspectives on design.

Work Experience

During my studies I completed a range of independent projects and projects in partnership with organisations such as the RATP (Parisian Metropolitan Transport Network), 235 Media, BBK - Bevölkerungsschutz (Federal Office for Civil Protection and Disaster Assistance) and Gulliver (a survival station for the homeless). I have also participated in a number of short strategic and service design workshops with representatives from organizations such as Frog Design, RED and IDSA and HK Polytechnic and attended the MEDes International design workshops for 4 years, in Sweden, Germany, France and Scotland.

In addition to university studies, I completed a range of work experience, for example:

• As an AutoCAD designer for an engineering consultancy; improved CAD, technical drawing and administration skills.
• As an exhibition and showroom assistant for high-end luxury designers, I liaised with the studio and customers, which gave me experience of the commercial aspects of design.
• As a volunteer within a youth centre where I designed artwork and illustrations for the center walls and managed a group of people to complete painting tasks. Improved teamwork and communication skills.
• As an intern at a design consultancy where I assisted the principal designer in the creation of models. This acted as an introduction to design industry and design process.

Attitudes Towards Design and Business

I hope to provoke people to reconsider their values towards products, their environments and lifestyles. I find qualitative research to be an invaluable design tool and enjoy projects that work from a live research base, whether this is in relation to designing services or products or planning strategies and marketing plans.

My personal view of good design is that it should facilitate meaningful dialogue with its user, to captivate them with a story and provide them with an alternative means of interpreting the role which products and services play within their lives. I believe that these principles offer great potential with regard to the design of products, services and systems that create new perspectives.