Nicola Rowlands
Nicola Rowlands Creative
Based in Manchester, Nicola Rowlands runs a multi faceted business of graphic design and illustration. In less than a year of operations, Nicola’s company offers graphics for a variety of mediums, from designing websites to logos to magazine covers to wedding invitations.
The range of Nicola Rowlands greetings cards is now being stocked at an increasing number of retailers across the UK. Nicola also conducts workshops, freelances as a studio manager and assists with the creation of ‘Blanket’-an online magazine.
Business achievements:
- Designed posters for the BBC’s media lab and Powerpoint slides for the R&D department in Manchester.
- Won Don'tPanic poster competition in 2009.
- Nicola has recently begun leading workshops for the BBC 21CC (the BBC’s digital learning centre), working with young people to teach digital illustration and animation.
Nicola on how FlyingStart has helped: ‘FlyingStart has given me lots of ideas and a bit of perspective on my business. (At the Programme,) the sales and marketing especially made me think about opening up my market by creating a broader range of designs. I also realized the importance of treating my creative business as a business - setting goals each month which refer directly to my business plan will effectively help me focused and guide me towards my ultimate goals. I also really benefited from the time we spent visualising the future for our businesses and how they fit within our life plans. It helped me cement in my mind my reasons for wanting to be self employed.’