Mark Bartram

Hello, I'm Mark. I'm from Chester in the north west of England and I'm an exhibition designer and project manager.

So most days I'll be designing exhibition stands, mostly for trade shows such as the Motorcycle Show, Spring Fair, Autumn Fair, big events like that.

First things first, I have a drink. So I'll have a coffee to get me started. Then I'll check my emails and usually there might be a brief waiting for me. So I'll read through that brief.

A brief is basically just the outline of the project. So the expectations and what the client expects me to do for the day. And then I might reach out and have a meeting to discuss that brief.

And from there I'll then start doing some sketches and just sharing some ideas and sharing that with my clients to see if they like the direction we're going.

And then from there we'll develop it a bit further using our computers to create some computer generated images.

Wow, I work with lots of different people. So I work with pharmaceutical companies, companies that make drugs for medicines and things like that. I work for automobile companies. I work for travel companies, telecommunications companies, lots of different companies.

So they all exhibit at different shows. So we all have a different type of audience who attend these shows. So each client's brief or request could be very different to the other so there's quite a lot of variety in the work that we do.

I love art and design. I always have loved art and design. So to be creative every day, it's such a joy to do something that you love doing and have always loved doing. It doesn't really feel like a job. It just feels like just a bit of fun each day. And that's what I really like about my work.

I also like that every day is different to the last as well. So there's lots of variety, lots of new challenges and it's always good to see something you started on to the completion as well, so it's nice to see it from start to finish.

Pleasing everybody. Design is very difficult to... Design is very subjective. So everyone has their own taste, everyone likes their own things. So not everyone likes what you like.

And so sometimes you have to design things you may not have designed if it was your choice. So that can be quite hard sometimes.

But when you get a good reaction, that's brilliant. That's the best feeling in the world.

I was particularly strong at art and design at school. My GCSEs in art and design were stronger than my maths and my English.

I've always been creative. Ever since, as far back as I can remember, I was making models and just drawing and painting at home.

So it just felt like a natural progression from school to go to art college. And then from art college, I got my first job in exhibitions and I've been in exhibitions nearly 30 years now and I still love it like I did the first day.

Design was quite important at school. Design technology and subject areas were really good at the school I went to.

So we were encouraged to explore how to use materials and to think outside the box. To think differently, to try and answer a brief rather than just doing what everyone else is doing, to try and be creative and think is there a better way to do things.

That was actively encouraged in my school and that's really stayed with me throughout my career as well. So when I receive a brief now, I'll always look at it differently or try to look at it differently to how other people may look at it.

And I think that's key to design is to try and be a little bit different to everyone else and not to do the same thing repeatedly.

Because I work from home, it actually works really well.

I have a deadline for most of my jobs. So as long as I manage my time, I have a young family, so I have that flexibility to do the school runs and things like that. As long as I meet those deadlines, we always, we always agree a schedule or a deadline for when the work needs to be completed.

And as I say, because I work from home, this, that makes it really helpful so that I can fit in all my family commitments around my work without anything falling apart at the end.

The biggest job I ever delivered... it still sticks with me now and it's quite some time ago, but it was an enormous stand. It was, it was a two story stand. It was almost like a, it was almost like a building within an exhibition hall.

It was, it was enormous, but the, only had three days to install the stand and there was about 50 different partners exhibiting on this stand as well. So it was a lot of time management, a lot of logistics and the design as well was really involved so it was a massive project to be a part of.

It was fairly early on in my career and that was probably my proudest achievement to deliver something so spectacular and so well received and it taught me so much as well that I always look back on it with fond memories because it really formed the foundation for my future development.

Believe in yourself. Have passion for what you do and believe in yourself.

You're always going to get knocks but if you remain true to what you believe in and work hard then any doubts that may crop up you'll overcome them and just learn from other people as well.

Always take on board other people's advice especially those that have been in the industry a lot longer than you, because you can learn so much from other people.

So just surround yourself with good people and just believe in your own abilities and have conviction in what you do.