Daniel England, 38, has been creating flyers, posters, artwork and zines since he was a teenager. At first, he made them to promote the bands he played in. Later, for his full-time job producing and promoting comedy. Latterly, he’s been making them for his new pursuit as a radio DJ and presenter.
In that time, technology and tougher competition for people’s attention have meant that the quality and format of flyers have evolved dramatically. Visuals have become an increasingly important part of his efforts to gain audiences and traction.
“The way creatives share work is predominantly visual, because people tend to hear about your work through social media,” England says. “There are now so many producers, musicians and DJs trying to get across their work, so you need to sum your brand up really succinctly via an Instagram post people can instantly connect with, which is where visual branding comes in.”
It’s also one of the most rewarding aspects of his work, whether he’s focusing on his day job or his radio show: “I really enjoy creating artwork and visuals to go with my work. I’ve been in bands since I was 15, when I’d make posters and flyers for gigs and in comedy, there are so many opportunities to make artwork and branding to get your work out there. It’s not just my industry either – most people’s social media feeds are now an extension of the ‘thing’ they make and it allows you to really build on what you do and shape the identity of what you’re doing.”
Speed is often essential, especially when promoting comedy events at festivals, when he can find himself literally having to produce flyers on the fly. He uses Adobe Express, an intuitive app to help create anything. “It’s great for those professional jobs that need to get done quickly. It makes my workload easier, especially when it comes to promoting events, such as the Edinburgh festival fringe, which can require such a quick turnaround time.”
As with many people, England found himself exploring new creative outlets during the pandemic lockdowns. “My nine to five is working as a comedy producer – I’ve worked in comedy for more than a decade now, but the radio side of things kicked off during the pandemic,” he says. “I’d noticed friends sharing mixes and DJ sets on Facebook or Instagram Live as a way of connecting during the lockdowns and having always been the ‘go-to’ DJ at friends’ weddings I thought: ‘OK, I’ll have a go at that.’ Soon I was streaming weekly radio shows on Twitch, with friends playing my shows at home when we couldn’t all physically be together.”
When “normal” life resumed, England found himself missing those DJ sets and set about finding regular radio gigs instead, landing the first at a South African radio station. “The job – one show a month – meant I’d record it and send it to them, with the station sending me assets which I’d edit at home using Adobe – pictures and videos for social media or their website, to create things such as tracklists, show artwork or information about the music I’d played. Using Adobe meant I could quickly repurpose artwork or extend backgrounds and cut out imagery, cleaning up assets neatly to share online.”
England now presents The Damn England Breakfast Show every other Sunday on London-based Voices Radio. “I produce all the artwork and promotional material for my show myself. Having access to quick and easy platforms to edit assets is essential,” he says. “We have a lot of creative freedom at Voices – the identity of the station has been built up through the people with shows there, which allows us to really experiment with things like our visuals and branding.”
His advice for other budding creatives hoping to utilise today’s visual design tools to make their own mark doing something they love? “For anyone still trying to figure out what their ‘thing’ is, don’t be afraid of trying something new. My ethos is ‘You don’t need to be an expert, just have a go!’.”
Beyond the creative sector
However, it isn’t just the creative industries harnessing the power of today’s intuitive design tools. Dr Thuva Amuthan founded a skin and aesthetics clinic DrDerme.com, and says good visuals have been essential. “Branding and visuals are key in healthcare, as consumers are, quite rightly, trying to determine your credibility and trustworthiness, so that first impression matters a huge amount,” he says. “It means our branding has to give an immediately fresh, clean, professional appearance – people want to visit a reputable clinic because they’re trusting you with their health.”
Using Adobe Express and Photoshop, Amuthan designs his own website and social media content. “I use Photoshop for critical content such as logos and banners – assets I want to use repeatedly, for example. I’ll then use Adobe Express for faster jobs to produce lots of content in a series, like sharing reviews of our clinic on social media. I’ll make a template, which enables me to change the text each time with different feedback, rather than redoing it from scratch. That way it’s consistent and fast to turn around.”
The software is as enjoyable as it is intuitive, he says. “I’ve always been artistic and interested in tech, and started messing around with design as a teenager, but I think what programmes like Adobe Express do well is they keep it simple. Sometimes perfectionists like me can get too bogged down in fine-tuning elements to make everything ‘perfect’ but this makes it easy to produce content in bulk without too much difficulty, which makes a huge difference to productivity. After all, ‘done’ is the new ‘perfect’, right?”
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