isobel.regan@dontpanicprojects.com

I am one half of the creative brain behind all of Don’t Panic’s, if I say so myself, amazing designs. I originally come from a design background which I studied during my teens, but for some reason, it wasn’t the career path I initially chose. Following, what I refer to as a midlife crisis – age 30, I decided to return to my passion and went back to college and retrained as a Graphic Designer. I quickly rediscovered my love for design and when I qualified Don’t Panic gave me the opportunity to get stuck in as a Junior Graphic Designer.

No day is ever dull at Don’t Panic, I have sales, marketing and events teams briefing me for designs from everything to social media animations to trophies, from event screens to social walls and from event brochures to branding. Now Head of Creative / Grand Creative Wizard I basically make sure everything looks brilliant.

I have to admit, I love nothing more than starting fresh! Seeing a blank piece of paper (computer screen) and having the opportunity to share my design ideas that begin with colours and fonts and finish with websites and live events, makes me a very happy man.

My favourite events to date have to be UK Dev Awards, UK Social Media Awards and the Northern Digital Awards. The Northern Digital Awards particularly hold a special place in my heart as it was the first award I attended where I got to see my ideas brought to life. Let me tell you, that was pretty cool!

On top of becoming a designer, home life became pretty busy too. I have two children, Eli (5) and Aoife (3), with my lovely wife Cathleen. So the career change worked out well after all, well, apart from all the extra grey hairs!

The last few years at Don’t Panic have brought me great happiness and I can’t wait to experience much more. Whether that’s taking a shot from a glass with my design on it or eating a giant chocolate coin branded with a logo I created, I’m sure there are going to be many enjoyable times ahead!

My Name is Isobel and just over one month ago I joined the amazing team at Don’t Panic as a content marketing apprentice!

My experience so far –

In just under a month, I have already had the opportunity to experience the magic of a Don’t Panic event, the Global Search Awards. Although the event was held virtually, it was a great experience. The team always try to be online when a virtual awards is taking place to interact with finalists and winners and to share in the excitement of announcements. It was my first taste of Awards and I can’t wait to attend my first live event, the UK Agency Awards, this September in London.

On top of this, I have gained more knowledge than I could have ever imagined within this short period of time such as, how to schedule content, use different social media platforms like LinkedIn and how to write social media copy for different platforms. Over the last two weeks, I have been working on uploading blog posts as well as writing my own such as the one you are readying through right now.

Recently, I have joined the Don’t Panic Culture club, where I will be helping out planning our team socials, including our Christmas party!

And… In addition to all this, I attend college at the Juice Academy in Manchester once every two weeks, where I learn new skills which support me in my job.

What am I excited about –

What am I not excited about is the real question! I am really looking forward to attending events within the next year and getting involved with helping out at them. I think the events will really help develop my knowledge and experience on my journey as an apprentice. From what I have heard the events are nights not to be forgotten, so if you are not attending one of our awards this year, what are you doing with yourself? There is so much more for me to learn and I can’t wait to develop my skills and knowledge at Don’t Panic!

A particularly favourite perk of my job is “Bring your dog to work day” – which at Don’t Panic is every day!

As much as I enjoy my job, I love my weekends too! Spending time with my friends, family and of course, my dog is important to me. My Saturday nights normally include at least one cocktail, usually an espresso Martini or a Strawberry Daquiri. When I’m not enjoying drinks with family and friends you will most likely find me in the gym looking as red as a tomato or spending my money on clothes that I don’t need!