About…
With over thirteen years’ digital experience, I have been able to build up a comprehensive list of skills which help facilitate the whole life cycle, spanning from producing, concepting, UX, UI, development to testing. This breadth of knowledge enables me to quickly identify and resolve any potential obstacles at an early stage as well as integrate well and provide insights within a team.
Projects tend to fall within websites of all nature (responsive, static/dynamic, framework based, etc.), custom YouTube channels, social & native mobile applications and multi-platform display advertising.
Over my career, I’ve been fortunate enough to work with a large variety of brands, including Cancer Research UK, Dell, EA Games, Nokia, Shell, Skittles, Skoda, Sony Mobile and Universal (Music & Theatrical).
Skills
Key Attributes
- Fully versed in Adobe CC (primarily Photoshop, Illustrator, inDesign, Flash & Premiere, and with experience in the others), Windows & Mac OS X.
- Creative, often developing new or building upon existing concepts when required.
- Projects are treated holistically to add own experiences (such as the UX, design, development, SEO, social, etc.) to improve deliverables.
- Good level of technical knowledge, including capabilities and limitations of modern web technologies and standards.
- Passion for design and digital technologies.
- Excellent problem solver independently or within a team.
- Calm under pressure and will endeavour to find the best possible solution with the resource available.
- Comfortable at working in a fast-paced environment whilst simultaneously handling multiple projects and tasks.
- Adaptive and strives to learn more and better oneself from research, experiences and feedback.
- Ability to liaise with technical and non-technical colleagues and clients at all levels, using a friendly manner and appropriate terminology.
- Good report and documentation writing skills, e.g. design briefs, technical specifications, instructional documentation, business cases, etc.
- Understands own limitations and works with relevant colleagues to ensure the deliverables are the best possible.
- Ability to identify and nurture talent to build a successful team.
History & Inspiration
I’ve been a bit of a geek and fascinated by science, engineering and technology since I was a kid. When our family got a ZX Spectrum in the 80s, I discovered a whole new love for computing. Over the next few years I played a lot of computer games, but also took an interest into how they worked so started learning the fundamentals of design, development and hardware. That interest continued into my mid-teens where I started focusing efforts on graphics and animation; teaching myself Photoshop and 3D Studio Max. Although this was my passion, I didn't entirely know exactly what I wanted to do career-wise within the field, so undertook a generalist degree: BSc(Hons) Computing Science.
Working Life
My degree and industrial placement year confirmed earlier interests of sticking with the more visual side of things, despite enjoying elements of development and hardware. In turn I accepted a Multimedia Designer role within the UK's largest Media agency, MediaCom, where I spent most of my working life. I had a hybrid role nine or so years, covering Senior Designer/Art Director to Account/Project/Technical Manager and Creative Tech. As I became more senior, I generally became less hands-on with the design. This led me to found Nutbot, where I could offer non-competing clients a full range of design and development services. It was one of my creative outlets but also allowed me to become better in my full time job. I also had a short stint at DigitasLBi as a Senior Project Manager, and although I learnt a lot, I quickly realised that this role wasn't for me.
Lucidity Mobile
"Neel provided an extremely professional and flexible service catering well to our needs."
Penguin Random House
"Neel was highly recommended to me by a trusted media contact, and exceeded my already high expectations throughout the project lifecycle. He delivered an exemplary, professional service from start to finish, with particular strength in planning and scoping the project out from the start so we had a focused and realistic timeframe, and clarity over the key deliverables. I can confidently say he added value throughout the process in terms of visual design, SEO and general best practice, and demonstrated a high level of expertise in multi-platform solutions. Communications were excellent throughout - he always responded promptly to any queries, and corresponded regularly both by email and phone. The project was fulfilled to both a tight timeframe and budget, and key stakeholders were thrilled with the end results. I would recommend Neel and will definitely be working with him again on future projects"
MediaCom Beyond Advertising
"Neel is a big talent. In the 8 years we worked together, he was loyal, dedicated and ambitious and he was popular with both his colleagues and his clients."