PENTLAND BRANDS - MAKING IT IN YOUR CAREER IN DESIGN

Katie Greenyer, Creative Talent and Networks Director, Pentland Brands
James Benn, Senior Art Director, Pentland Creative Agency
Laura Bromley, Creative Talent Manager, Pentland Brands
Ed Forster, Graphic Design Lead, Speedo

Thursday 7 July, 13:00 - 13:45

Listen back to this talk using the audio player:

Katie and members of the Pentland Creative Team which includes ND Alumni discuss making it in your career in the design, from job interview skills, how to present yourself, and a broader discussion about challenges they have overcome in their careers. Giving insight into their day to day as designers and the success of Pentland’s internal Design Pool which turns 20 this year! Pentlands believe in the next generation of creative talent and warmly invite you to be a part of their session.
Pentland brands all panellists

PANELLISTS

Katie Greenyer (Creative Talent and Networks Director, Pentland Brands)

Katie Greenyer is a creative mind, business leader and producer of innovative design.

She believes passionately in the value of design education and is an ambassador for creative opportunity and new design talent.  Katie currently holds the position of World President of the Textile Institute, is a Cordwainer liveryman with freedom of the City of London and a mentor for Graduate Fashion Week.

After graduating in 1989 with a BA in Fine Art Printed Textiles at Liverpool School of Art, Katie went on to produce work for some of the most formative names in fashion, from luxury brands (Vivienne Westwood, Benny Ong, Paul Costello and Christian Lacroix) to high street (Next, Jigsaw, Dr Martens and French Connection).

Katie’s first steps into creative design for retail were taken with Red or Dead, the cult fashion footwear brand acquired by The Pentland Group in 1996. Now, as Creative Talent & Network Director at Pentland Brands, she works across the global portfolio to generate products & campaigns for some of the world’s best-loved sports, fashion, and outdoor brands (Speedo, Canterbury, Berghaus, Ellesse, Kickers, Mitre, KangaROOs and Lacoste to name a few). Her role has seen her deliver award-winning workplace environments, & consumer experiences that inspire performance, creativity, and collaboration in locations from London to Hong Kong.

Katie’s unique flair for identifying exceptional talent coupled with an ability to foster and develop new careers has allowed her to make her mark on the creative industry. As a trustee of the Saturday Club and an Honorary Fellow of Plymouth University, Katie uses her enduring relationships with educators and institutions across the nation to support young people with the ambition to achieve a career in design.

James Benn (Senior Art Director, Pentland Creative Agency)

James is a Senior Art Director at Pentland’s Internal Creative Agency.

He studied BA Graphic Design at Nottingham Trent University, moving to London after exhibiting at New Designers in 2009.

James started work as a Junior designer for ‘Social’ (later Ever After) in Farringdon, progressing from Junior to Senior Designer in 5 years. He has worked on a range of design projects from a global rebrand of Hilton Hotels, to print and environmental graphics for Capital FM, Nissan and Merrell, as well as film storyboarding and creating animations for Lego, Habitat and Empire.

James developed a love of Art Direction whilst working on album covers and music videos for Universal Music and Decca Records. His love of rugby, swimming and the outdoors drew him to the internal brands at Pentland in 2015.

His current role at PCA sees him creating and designing campaigns alongside internal brand teams at Speedo, Canterbury and Berghaus. This includes all stages of design from strategy to Art Direction, through to retail, digital and social executions. He also manages the team’s Junior Designers and is a visiting practitioner at LCC.

James has a passion for tracing a story and an identity throughout all channels – with a keen eye for craft, finesse and colour. He is passionate about encouraging the brands he works with to connect wholeheartedly with the communities they serve rather than treating them as consumers.

In his free time, James enjoys photography and you’ll often find him taking pictures locally on Hampstead Heath and seeking out water for swimming opportunities at the weekend.

Laura Bromley (Creative Talent Manager, Pentland Brands)

Laura Bromley is the Creative Talent manager at Pentland brands, nurturing & nourishing talent internally & externally.

From grass roots, primary education, and secondary mentorship &to charities such as the National Saturday Club, Laura supports education establishments across the UK to enable young people.

Laura provides young designers with opportunities to start careers within the creative Industries and shines a spotlight on the breadth of creativity within Pentland brands. 

She is at her best when she is breaking down the boundaries regarding diversity, social mobility & mental health.

Laura ensures that the right talent is working within Pentland brands and that they feel engaged, supported & loved.

Laura is not only extremely creative – she has formidable organisational skills too, working closely with the Creative Talent & Network Director across all of Pentland’s brands to get stuff done.

Laura studied BA Fashion Design at Salford Uni, graduating in 2006 and showcasing her work at Graduate Fashion Week. 

She lived in Manchester after graduating, working in retail and as a Junior Designer before returning to the South. 

On her return she secured a role at her local council working in Children’s Services and over the years worked as a Referral information officer and PA to the Head of Family Services before joining Pentland 7 years ago.

Laura is the shining example of don’t give up on your dreams and that if you work hard you will find the career that you love and that loves you!

Laura is extremely organised, passionate, caring, and damn right funny too.

Ed Forster (Graphic Design Lead, Speedo)

Ed Forsster is currently the Pentland Graphic Lead at Speedo. In this role it is Ed’s responsibility to manage a team of graphic designers to create and produce prints, patterns and trims that are used on all Speedo apparel and hardgoods products.

This is a crossfunctional role that involves working with multiple stakeholders across the business including Product Marketing, Brand and Product Development teams. This requires solid communication skills, organization and planning.

Experience with colour, print, illustration, leadership, and art direction are important to this role to lead and build the seasonal creative directions with the global design team. We focus on the brand graphic DNA that involves diagnosing colour, materials, Visual Brand Language and Branding research.

Ed’s team also manage the development of graphics at the factories. This involves creating the processes and systems for sending designs out and all communication with the vendors. Tracking, strike offs and sampling, colour management and understanding materials and print processes are essential to this.

Ultimately the objective of Ed’s team is ‘To be the Best Graphic Design Team in Swim in the World’. It is Ed’s role as manager to build and train and support the team to achieve this.

We discuss this goal and the key objectives to do so on a personal level with each designer. To achieve this, they are split into three buckets – Team, Process and Strategy. Team is the most important – how to empower and support each other. Process is the ways of working and improving efficiencies. Strategy is to do with understanding the Brand, our customers and business needs.

Ed studied Textile Design at Falmouth University and specialized in Print design. When he graduated he was offered a Sponsorship with Texprint (it became TexSelect) which was a platform to launch graduates into the industry. He won a colour award at Texprint with Jasper Conran and presented his University collection of Textile print designs at New Designers in London, Premier Vision in Paris and Interstoff Asia in Hong Kong.

Upon the sponsorship Ed was hired as a print designer at Liberty Art Fabrics where he designed their textile prints and patterns. He worked on special projects with special customers, developing new fabrics for brands such as Levis, AG Jeans and Nike. Ed briefly accepted a role designing prints for Nike based in London and then moved to Barcelona to design graphics for Reebok. After nearly two years in Spain he was transferred to Boston, MA, USA to design for Reebok in the WHQ. Here he designed the CrossFit ranges, Training and Running prints and graphics. After four years in the USA Ed was offered the role as graphic Lead for Pentland back in the UK where he has been for the last three years.