In Your Shoes - Alastair Walker

Monday

We’re having our garden landscaped at the moment, so the first task of the week was to meet with the designer to agree solutions they’ve come up with for the steps and decking area. It’s a strange situation to be in the client’s shoes for a design project and experience things from the other side!

Work began by picking up an ongoing project, creating an accessible version of a report for a consultancy in England. Accessibility is rightly an increasingly hot topic in design and something I consider in all the projects I work on.

I’m in the early stages of a branding project for a new client and created two surveys as part of the ‘discovery’ phase. These aim to demonstrate how their staff and clients perceive their company, providing a wider perspective than that of the management team. The surveys closed on Friday, so I started reviewing the responses and putting the key findings into a workshop presentation.

I recently designed a new flyer for Dundee Cycling Forum and this afternoon I headed to Dundee City Library (by bus!) to join their June meeting at City Library, giving me a chance to meet other members with an interest in cycling and car-free journeys in Dundee. Interestingly, everyone there has moved to Dundee … locals, get involved!

To round off the day I head to The Fisherman’s in the Ferry to join my partner Fi and friends at the Fisherman’s, and we managed to win the quiz for the first time!

Tuesday

Tuesday started with a ‘Netwalking’ event at Camperdown led by Sarah Young, Outreach Team Leader at Business Gateway. We just about managed to dodge the June showers to enjoy a circuit of the park and it was a relaxed way to meet some new faces.

From there it was straight to the DCA to meet Sarah & Natalie from Starcatchers, along with local visual artist Louise Kirby. Louise & I collaborated for the first time on a project celebrating Starcatchers’ 20th birthday through a fold-out flyer and series of A1 posters. As always, it was great to meet in person and put faces to names. Hopefully there will be future collaborations to enjoy!

After heading home for some lunch and to catch-up on emails, I made my way to Invergowrie for the Chamber’s Summer Social at The James Hutton Institute. It was the first Chamber event I’ve been able to get to for a while, so it was a great chance to catch-up and meet fellow members and hear more about the amazing work that goes on at JHI. I joined the tour of Scotland’s first vertical farm, which was a real highlight!

Wednesday

I recently joined Monifieth Golf Links, so take the chance to start the day outdoors with a round of golf on the shorter Ashludie course. It wasn’t my greatest round, but at least I got to play all 18 holes … last week I got stranded on the 15th hole in a downpour and watched the course flood in front of my eyes!

I’ve a few emails to pick up and quotes to work on before lunch. During the afternoon I head to local charity Giving Back to meet Sakura Cafe Manager (and my partner!) Fi and CEO Pam to present some brand development work I’ve done for the community cafe they are working hard to open at Dawson Park. They need to be able to create designs themselves using Canva, so I’ve aimed to make sure things are as practical as possible for them, and provided a brand kit so they can try things out. They both love the proposed branding and example designs, so I head home on a high.

The rest of the day is pretty relaxed and I do some World Cup homework, listening to podcasts and watching YouTube to see who the pundits are tipping for success!

Thursday

The day begins with finishing off a quote for an existing Dundee client about a potential further project. It’s always a great feeling when people want to work together again.

Then it’s time to brave the rain (what happened to summer?!) and head into the Ferry to meet Louise. We find a booth in Gracies and are able to bounce ideas off each other for another phase of the Starcatchers project … while enjoying coffee and delicious scones!

The afternoon is a mix of things – I make some more progress on the upcoming workshop presentation and then head to Nicholson & Frames in Stobswell to pick up a new tyre for my bike, before heading for a haircut at Partners in the Ferry.

Friday

Friday and it’s the last working day before a week off! I get a quote together for my share of the Starcatchers project and send that off, then it’s a mixture of things for the rest of the day, but the most exciting part is meeting Fi at The Cheesery to buy some treats for our holiday!

There are a few other small tasks to see to and then I get back onto the workshop presentation for my upcoming meeting in London. The summer is shaping up to be a busy period which is really encouraging, with projects coming from different places and a mix of sectors. It’s just the situation I was hoping for when I became a freelancer, so hopefully things will continue in this positive direction!

I hope you’ve enjoyed reading about my week. It’s not been as hands-on with design as is usually the case, but then each week is always a bit different. Please say Hi if you see me at any Chamber events and get in touch if you’d like to discuss any design needs you have!