Today, September 4th, marks the second birthday of Three29Design which I set up after finishing college and deciding to take the plunge by starting my own business instead of going to university (I couldn’t handle any more sitting in a classroom) or finding work. So far so good!

I never planned to start my own business, or to work in design at all. It just kind of happened. I had always wanted to join the Army, go to Sandhurst to train as an officer in the Royal Artillery. Unfortunately things don’t always work out the way you planned, but when one door shuts another opens.

I had done odd jobs during college but it was just a small amount of money made. It’s all thanks to Myspace really, it may be forgotten and dead now but it did have it’s golden years, where artists would pay huge amounts to some of the designers I looked up to (like C-Le GFX who I was able to work with a few years later) and those artists would be getting noticed by the record labels. Just think about how many people learned to use photoshop and the basics of HTML & CSS because of myspace allowing you to customize your profile.

I still love working with recording artists, producers, DJ’s and labels, some of my favorite projects are music based, but within the past two years I have moved away from just doing music based design and have worked with businesses, both local and international along with other individuals like social media guru’s, motor companies and authors. I like to be versatile and have all sorts of different projects coming in – the same thing over and over again just ends up burning you out. The type of clients who aren’t afraid to try new things are the best. Whether they’re business owners or recording artists. The ones who don’t want to blend into the crowd with there overly done mixtape covers or traditionally boring marketing material. Those guys and gals are cool and great fun to work with You know who you are!

Over the past year I’ve met a lot of awesome people through the job, from other local business owners via Redshift Radio (the local radio station) – which I also appeared on as a guest, to art exhibitions, and other local businesses. I aim to carry on networking locally so I can do more work around my area as well as 1000s of miles away.

I’d like to say a huge thank you to everyone who has supported me. Whether you’re a client who chose to work with me instead of 100s of other options, or another creative who gave me valuable feedback on my work and portfolio or someone close to me who supported me when I needed it. I really, really appreciate it.

For the future I hope to get a nice office somewhere local and maybe employ a couple of awesome people to help build up my business. I’m also aiming to send off my CV to agency’s incase they need a freelancer to help out when they’re busy, and try to build up my name from there. But hey, let’s just go with the flow and see what the future holds because there’s a long road ahead of me. Just remember, take every opportunity that’s handed to you – but also make opportunities for yourself, don’t always rely on others.

Roll on year three!

- Liv

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