About

I’m Rhona — a senior graphic designer with a passion for using creativity for good. 

I love working with like-minded people; using design to bring their ideas to life, and have the strategic vision, experience and trusted suppliers to help them achieve their goals. I have been fortunate to have worked with some incredible organisations such as the UK for UNHCR, Breast Cancer UK, the Fair Education Alliance and the Woodland Trust — working together to tell stories, build communities, empower, advocate and create impact.

I’m also a part-time Senior Lecturer in Graphic Design at the University of Lincoln, where I’m proud to work with some ridiculously talented young creatives in their final year of study. I lead a module focusing on ideation & strategy, social design, branding & packaging and employability. Through teaching I aim to foster greater confidence in my students, alongside clarity, determination and optimism for their next steps after university particularly through an externally recognised, student-centred employability project. I also have research and scholarship interests, particularly in fostering creative resilience and empowering women in design.

In 2022 I became a Trustee of The Cameron Day Charitable Trust, set up in memory of one of my students to help support young creative people in the East Midlands achieve their potential. I’m proud to work with six universities and some of the best design studios in the country to continue Cam’s legacy and support young creatives. In 2024 a project I managed and delivered for The CDCT was a finalist in the MarketingWeek Awards within the Talent Trailblazer category.

Since 2017, Breezign has been producing high quality design for print, web, illustration, packaging and editorial use, across a variety of sectors; with a further 10 years’ prior experience in design studios. I am proud to have signed up to Design Declares and pledged to try to make design as sustainable as possible.

Please get in touch if you'd like to discuss working together in the future.

Why Design for Good?

The short answer is: Why not? 

The long answer is quite a bit longer…

Back in March 2020 I was juggling Breezign with lecturing and being a mummy to 6 and 4 year old girls. I had left my job in a busy design agency in August 2017 and taken the leap of faith to start Breezign, and since then I had been blessed with a continuous stream of work and new clients, alongside lecturing part-time. By March 2020 Breezign was continuing to go from strength to strength: life was very, very busy. And then we had that press conference.

Initially, life got even busier as homeschooling was added to the mix, and for a few weeks the only way of getting deadlines met was to not sleep much. But then projects began to be put on hold, and lockdown life and online lecturing took over, and I slept a bit more again. 

In the midst of the chaos — the highs and lows, the online family baking sessions, the art stuff strewn all over the kitchen, the clapping, the tears, the laughter, the grief — there were occasionally times (usually when out for a run), where I had enough headspace to think ‘What Next?’. 

I hadn’t felt I’d had a moment of downtime since setting up my business, and in these rare moments I started to wonder — what do I want for Breezign?

It wasn’t until Autumn 2021 when I knew for sure. 

A few things inspired me: Firstly my sister, a cancer nurse working for the NHS, inspired me — what did I want my legacy to be?

Secondly: Grief. My grandma placed such a value on kindness. Her death in April 2021, and the death of one of my students later in the year, reminded me that life was too short not to do what you love. I re-evaluated my favourite projects throughout my career and discovered many of them were for charities and NGOs. I also taught an inspiring social design brief at university, of which nine students were recognised internationally. 

So I made a conscious decision to align Breezign closer to my values. Not that I had ever been selling fags to kids; over the years I had been drawn to charities, positive brands and more ethical suppliers; but this headspace was a revelation:  Ultimately, I want my legacy as a creative to be as positive as possible. And with this decision came clarity, optimism and excitement for the future — which in these times was pretty marvellous.