This November, Design and Marketing Executive Charlotte Baxter, celebrates a year working for successful Norwich-based marketing agency Full Mix Marketing.
We sat down with the digital and graphic design specialist to hear about her experiences working in a growing agency.
Congratulations Charlotte on your anniversary! Tell us about yourself and how you began with Full Mix Marketing?
As a child, I was always the creative type, drawing and designing things whenever I could. Originally from the Wirral, I studied design at the University of Derby before moving to Norfolk with my partner. I’ve worked exclusively as a graphic and digital designer, first in a busy digital creative agency, then a national photography brand, before joining Full Mix Marketing.
Despite being a young company, Full Mix already had an impressive client list and a growing reputation. Our Managing Director Sarah West is really passionate about marketing, delivering results and doing things right. I saw an opportunity to work for varied clients, use all my skills and develop new ones. It’s been great to be an important part of something going places!
What does your role entail?
We have a number of clients for which we provide ongoing marketing and others for whom we deliver individual elements or projects. Naturally, my role is creative, I build websites, design print materials, create ad campaigns and provide artwork for social media etc. As so much modern marketing is digital, I’m also an experienced coder, constructing websites so they not only look great but function well too. However, everything we do is a team effort, playing to the strengths amongst my colleagues.
What’s been your most enjoyable project this year?
We recently rebranded a luxury travel group, which I thoroughly enjoyed. We really got to know them and their customers so we could create a strong design brief from which I worked. I got to be very creative with my concepts and the feedback from the client was excellent.
As a Graphic Designer, branding is one of my passions. Whatever the business, it can be incredibly powerful. It was my main focus at University and my first job in Norwich was working on small branding projects.
What has been the biggest challenge this year?
Probably the most challenging and rewarding aspect has been developing new digital skills. It’s such a vital part of marketing and design now to understand how things work online. For example, search engine optimisation has to be considered right from the start with website design.
Fortunately, Sarah is very big on learning, keeping up to date and developing new skills, so we always find time to do so. As our own marketing says, we really want our client’s businesses to shine online!
What are you most looking forward to in the year ahead?
Full Mix and the team are growing. I’ve some really talented colleagues. We’ve exciting new clients and many more we’ve delivered great results for. It’s nice to be part of something which is not only developing but I feel we can all influence where it’s heading.
Personally, I just want to continue honing my skills and learning new ones. Over this past year I’ve really grown as a designer. At the centre of everything we do is effectiveness and I’ve learned how to think like a marketer whilst creating like a designer. Other than that, I’m looking forward to planning my wedding and finally finishing our garden landscaping!