Christopher David Appleton
designer & developer
Freelance website and graphic designer since 2010, with a degree in Architecture (BA Hons). Front-End Website Developer for Kent Union, the University of Kent Students' Union, since May 2019.
Website Development
My first website was built using Yahoo! Geocities back in 2004 when I was only 11 years old. Of course, it was terrible! But the experience of starting a blank Notepad document, opening HTML tags and following the guidance of W3Schools began me on a path through web design to web development.
Starting professionally as a freelance in 2010, I created a series of websites for various clients such as a charitable organisation, multiple NHS practices and a dance studio. I was then fortunate to begin a full-time career position as a Front-End Website Developer in May 2019.
Website Development
Graphic Design
Often as part of a wider branding creation project, I have utilised my graphic design skills. In recent years this has lead me to learn a wider portion of the Adobe Creative Cloud than just Photoshop, including Illustrator, InDesign and Lightroom.
Through my love of photography, I gained an eye for composition and I translated this into logo making, layouts and user experience.
Photography
Seldom without my camera in hand on a trip out, I've taken close to 200,000 photos since my 16th birthday when I received a Fujifilm Finepix S8000fd. Upgrading to a Sony Cyber-shot DSC-H400, I have been known to capture more than 1000 photos on a day out.
Normal subjects are landscapes like beaches, especially with depth of field on a point of foreground interest, and architectural features, with more focus being on the details than the overall form. I've even been hired as a wedding photographer for a very happy couple.
Photography
Projects
Most of my work falls into the previous three categories, but this section focuses on some of the more abstract and each project in detail.
I was fortunate to have the opportunity to design a well-being garden for Rolls Royce Plc on behalf of their Materials Engineering Livewell Team, re-purposing their surplus turbine crates into fitting planters. Also, during August 2020, I embarked on a solo project for Kent Union designing a "Virtual Campus" map that I've packaged as a small product I hope to use elsewhere.
