MY CIPP
Spotlight on... Design team
James Bartlett
Nicole Davis
Tell us a little bit about your careers and background. The CIPP’s design team consists of two members: James Bartlett, creative manager and Nicole Davis, internal designer. James Bartlett : I studied media production at both college and university. I initially found myself working as a freelance videographer and editor for a small production company, which included a stint as an editing assistant for a Greek cooking show. I realised it was the graphic design side of these productions I enjoyed. I started at the CIPP in 2009 as a part-time administrator in the marketing team, as the CIPP was looking at bringing design in-house. I applied for, and became, the internal designer in 2010, gradually absorbing design work from our external agencies. I hired Nicole in 2015 to support the ever-increasing list of tasks. Nicole Davies : I studied graphic design at university and started working at the CIPP as a temporary design intern immediately after graduating. I was later employed on a permanent basis. I began assisting with the day-to-day design tasks and then moved to producing Professional magazine as my main responsibility. What are your day-to-day duties at the CIPP? Most public-facing communications or materials from the CIPP pass through the design team at some point. Our day-to-day jobs can be small, like creating enrolment and bookings forms, certificates, stationery, promotional items and completing website updates. There are also bigger tasks, like our prospectus, all the collateral for our events programme, and, of course, the magazine you’re reading now. The design team is small and the CIPP has many departments and services to support so it’s always busy.
What do your roles mean to you? Payroll is a complicated subject and the CIPP offers many products and services with technically heavy content. We aim to design materials which explain these difficult areas in an understandable way so members and customers can stay up to date with what’s going on in the industry. Payroll is deeply misunderstood and criminally underappreciated. We all want to be paid for the work we do, and errors in pay can be distressing. Payroll professionals are keeping people across the UK paid while adapting to ever-changing guidance and legislation. For us to be part of an organisation which is shedding light on these unsung heroes makes us very proud. The CIPP is here to support members, and the industry in any way it can. It’s so rewarding to know we’re playing even a small part in that. You’ve been heavily involved in our #BePayroll and payroll careers campaigns. How do you think they both inspire the payroll profession? Both campaigns put a spotlight on payroll professionals on a personal level. The #BePayroll campaign asks, ‘ what makes a payroll professional? ’. We wanted to show real members and the attributes they, and other payroll professionals, possess. Our payroll careers campaign is about how people got into payroll, and what they love about the industry and their career. Roles in the payroll industry can range from payroll administration through to business strategy, and include many areas in-between, such as software development and sales. We wanted to get stories from a range of members, at different stages of their career, with different backstories
and reasons for being in the industry. Most people in payroll will tell you they ‘fell’ into it, but what made them stay? What goes into putting Professional together each month and has it evolved over the years? The magazine has evolved massively, and we’re constantly making changes to the articles we include, and the layouts used, to keep the magazine fresh. A small team produces the magazine each month, with the bulk of the work completed by our internal designer, Nicole Davis, and our editor, Lora Murphy. We have lots of contributors, both internal and external, who provide the articles our members love, but the actual production is done by just a few people. The articles are sent to the design team by the editor, and these go through an initial layout. These layouts are sent back to the editor for proofing. Once proofed, the markups are returned to design for actioning, and this cycle continues until both sides are happy. Once all pages are complete, the design team creates the ‘book’; which is an assembly of the whole magazine. This full copy is distributed to the editor, creative manager and marketing manager before production. Once all parties have signed off, the artwork files are sent to our printers. After a final proof from our printer, the magazine is approved for production and distribution. We then create the online version, plus all the banners, buttons and assets to support the online version, along with the magazine email that’s sent to members. It’s a lot of work to produce a 50+ page magazine each month but it’s worth it, as it’s so well received by our members. n
| Professional in Payroll, Pensions and Reward | September 2022 | Issue 83 10
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