Biography

Hamish SymingtonI'd always had an interest in design and communication, and started producing posters, flyers and brochures when I was an undergraduate at the University of Cambridge. After graduating with a First in Natural Sciences (specialising in Biochemistry) I worked for a time at my old College, St Catharine's, before moving to work as a print and web designer for a department of the University for a year and a half, whilst taking a course in design at the London College of Communication. I then moved to become first a designer and then manager in the Marketing Design Department at Cambridge University Press.

Whilst at the Press, I designed over a thousand pieces of marketing material, ranging from postcards and flyers to the Press's Annual Report. In collaboration with Gary White, another talented designer at the Press, I developed and coded the Press's intranet news service ('e-xpressions'), which won a Gold award for 'Best online news service' at the Association of Communicators in Business Awards in 2008. Since then it has also won 'Best online news service' again in the Institute of Internal Communicators Awards 2010. Additionally, in collaboration with a FileMaker consultant, I also developed an internal system for the Press, which transforms data from several databases into print-ready PDFs for book catalogues. The process previously took six weeks; we got it down to around half an hour.

After having built up a freelance portfolio over eight years, I started my own studio full-time in November 2009. My clients include universities such as UCL and the University of Cambridge, international journal publishers and award-winning architects, as well as a number of smaller organisations and charities. You can find more about my work in the blog & portfolio section.

Along with the fantastically talented London and Cambridge wedding photographer Tom Catchesides, I am also Director and co-founder of Light Blue Software, which designs and markets business management software for photographers. Our product, Light Blue: Photo, won 'Best private sector solution' at the FileMaker CubeAwards09.

I am based in Cambridge, England, where I live with my wife Carrie. When I'm not designing I can be found in the garden, attempting DIY projects which nobody has told me are too ambitious, and singing with the award-winning Cambridge Chorale.