Amanda Crane

ABC - Affiliated Business Consultants

April 2008 to February 2011

Advertising & Marketing

Sole in-house designer for advertising and marketing. Laying out the ABC Business Opportunities Magazine that is published and sent out around New Zealand quarterly. Keeping the ABC, Real Commercial, NZ Trucking Association and NZ Shores websites up to date with the latest ABC businesses for sale. Creating advertisements each week for the New Zealand Herald, Dominion Post and The Press. Liaising with account managers from newspapers and printing firms. Laying out profiles for each business. Tracking client advertising payments. Creating flyers.

During my time at ABC I improved the layout of the magazine, making it easier to read and giving it a consistent feel with the rest of ABC’s advertising. I also standardised the newspaper advertising templates and business profiles across the business so that it had a unified and consistent look. In addition I improved the admin staffs understanding and use of InDesign. This along with the standardised templates allowed admin staff at remote sites to produce some of their routine advertising in local papers independently. Overall I improved the visual appearance of the companies advertising through the use of high quality photographs and layout to give a more crisp and professional look.

Freelance - 2003 to Current

Sixty One Solutions | Auckland Logo Design - July to September 2009
My client was confident and satisfied and believes the logo represents the idea behind their business.

Rotary Club | Hamilton Booklet - January to March 2007
Design a print ready booklet for a charity dinner including adverts for each chef’s restaurant and the sponsors which represents their brand identity. The Rotary Club was extremely happy with the final product and impressed with the care, consideration and closeness to detail presented, all the way up to printing the booklet. I created a print ready document that the printers were happy with.

Manna House | Marvellous Manna Catering Brand Identity - 2003
Combine two companies under a single unified brand identity. Liaising with the client to identify the new identity of the company. Design included a logo, business card and letterhead.

I designed a simple and effective brand identity under the name "Manna House" with the caption "catering, events and venue", making it broad enough to be used to describe the combination of the two companies. I worked remotely with the client who was in another city and came out with a result that they were very happy with.

ABC Photosigns

Layout real estate signs, brochures, flyers and window advertising for real estate agencies around NZ. While I was there I created relationships with real estate agents who only wanted to deal with my work. I redesigned the company’s brand identity including a logo, business cards, letterheads and compliment slips.

Waikato Institute Of Technology

- 2004 to 2006
Student and on the Exhibition Committee- June 2007 to April 2008

I studied at Waikato Institute of Technology (Wintec) from 2004 until 2006. While studying I became proficient with design programs from the Adobe Creative Suite and was taught skills that could be applied to design situations in a business environment. I also had the opportunity to work at the design company The Church, in Auckland, for three weeks. At the end of my final year at Wintec, I got an opportunity to present my best work in the End of Year Student Exhibition. I was on the exhibition committee and created a website that reflected the exhibition and showcased the students and their work to the world.