Freelance

This page shows a selection of the freelance projects I have worked on.

Clients Index xx Contract Work

Freelance, as opposed to contract work usually means working from home using your own equipment and to your own schedule. For freelance work I prefer short projects so that I can integrate them with other freelance projects I may be doing at the time as well as getting on with the things one wants to do when at home.

Quitting Hollywood, Basildon, Essex
September 2003
Copywriting for greeting cards.

Quitting Hollywood web site

Emotional Rescue, Cheltenham, Gloucestershire
June and July 2003
Copywriting for greeting cards.

Emotional Rescue web site

Arabic Translation Services Stockton-on-Tees
June 2003
Editing web site copy for an arabic translation service.

Arabic Translation web site

Freeland Haynes Marketing Communications
August 2002
Copywriting for booklet on behalf of their client the Automobile Association. This was a book to be issued to AA members to allow them to understand 'mechanic speak' when dealing with technicians or mechanics at garages.

The scenario envisaged was one where an AA member might be told, "You hear that knocking noise? That means your big end's gone," imagine much sucking air through teeth, "it's gonna be expensive!" The unfortunate AA member would at least be able to look up 'big end' in the booklet to get a description that a non technical person might understand.

The Freeland Haynes web site does not appear to be active any more

AA web site


DHL World-wide Express, London
March to December 1999
Copywriting for DHL's Operations Newsletter distributed to all operations staff throughout Europe and Africa and to senior managers across the world. This publication is used to inform operations staff of coming technical developments within DHL's systems and organisational structure. My work involved receiving a monthly batch of copy instructions with details of contact names for people within DHL, both locally in the UK and in their Global Co-ordination Centre in Brussels, as well as in other European and African countries. I had to make contact with the individuals concerned, explain the purpose of the article and prepare copy to the editor's requirements including number of words, content and deadline.

During my time with DHL I covered a wide range of assignments, such as short articles about the latest version of a piece of DHL software on beta test, or informational pieces on departments such as the role of business modelling within the organisation. On one occasion I was asked to travel to Brussels to interview Graham Davey, the recently appointed Chief Operating Officer for the Europe and Africa region.

DHL web site

Heitman S.A.C., Warton, Lancashire
April to May 1998
Engaged on an on-call basis as one of a list of previously approved contractors for British Aerospace for various publications work from bid proposals to in-house company newspapers.

I also worked on a set of procedures for a utilities subcontractor involving street works from tarmac laying to junction box building and cabinet erection.

Leigh Environmental, Redbourn, Hertfordshire
April to November 1997
Various occasional days out with tanker driver assessing and researching procedures and techniques for vacuum clearance of interceptor pits, sludge tanks and road gullies. Research compiled at home and submitted for transmission to head office. Final procedures to be compiled by authors at a national level.

Sunday Mart, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
June to July 1994
Complete typesetting and design of adverts in an Exchange and Mart clone for free distribution to local households. This was a publication produced by a local entrepreneur who believed he could cash in on the success of the Boxmoor News but with a slant towards advertising only rather than content. Although the design and layout was successful including use of spot colour produced on a mono laser printer, problems with the business plan meant that the Sunday Mart folded after four issues.


Westminster Collection, Watford, Hertfordshire
April to May 1994
Copywriting a set of short descriptive articles about aircraft of the Royal Air Force to accompany commemorative stamps from commonwealth countries for the 75th anniversary of the RAF in 1994.


Boxmoor News, Hemel Hempstead, Hertfordshire
November 1992 to December 1993
Monthly creation of all artwork for A4, sixteen page local newspaper, along the lines of a Picture Post type publication. Here I typeset all the copy and designed and typeset all the advertising, from small box adverts to full page extravaganzas. This was a private project set up by a local photo journalist who wanted to produce a newspaper serving his home village. The Boxmoor News ran for a year, selling up to 1200 copies per month from local high street newsagents. Advertising sales alone reached just under £1000 per month. This was quite impressive for a publication produced by three people, at home on early DTP software, with the artwork produced on a 300 dpi, mono laser printer. In the end the project folded, not due to a lack of support from readers (people in Boxmoor were very sorry to see it go) but, because even at these levels of revenue there was not enough cash left over once payments had been made to the printer, myself and advertising sales commission.

At various times since 1992 I have also been involved in numerous community development projects which led to DTP work and Copywriting for local charities and community groups. In between times I occasionally get requests for small freelance DTP jobs such as design of leaflets, flyers or brochures for small businesses etc. I also have a small client list of individuals who have come to me over the years for professional CV composition. Some of these people return to me each time they need an update for their CV as they find that a high quality introduction usually guarantees an interview.

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