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CAD For Fashion presents Blossom & Bloom

by | Nov 14, 2019 | Branding, Fashion Industry, Meet the team, Workshop

Immersive and supportive workshops for small businesses, independent brands and creatives.

About Blossom & Bloom

You may have designed the most gorgeous products, but in this noisy online world simply popping a snap on Instagram and hoping for the best isn’t enough. Your brand deserves to be seen and your message needs to be heard. Introducing Blossom & Bloom…  

In collaboration with expert marketing strategist Abi Rose, CAD For Fashion has developed a range of exciting workshops designed to help your business thrive in the digital age. From branding and product development to social media, PR and marketing, we’ll provide you with all the tools you need to inspire your customers, expand your influence and build your community. 

Choose your course

Each workshop can be taken separately to develop your skills in a niche area. Alternatively, you can take the workshops as a series to really give your brand a boost. Choose from:

  • Let’s Get Social – social media training tailored to designers, creatives and small brands
  • Off to Market – advice on product development and getting the most from events
  • Blogging & Branding for Business – learn how to become the ‘face’ of your brand
  • Blossom & Bloom: The Masterclass – marketing your brand beyond social media

If you need advice on which workshops best align with your brand ethos, email info@cadforfashion.co.uk for bespoke guidance and friendly advice. 

Meet your teachers

Erica Horne

An experienced fashion lecturer, designer and founder of CAD For Fashion, Erica is perfectly placed to help you take your brand to the next level. She’s super-excited to expand her offering to cover marketing, branding and social media which she believes are essential to any brand’s success. Follow Erica on LinkedIn and Instagram. 

Blossom & Bloom Workshops

Abi Rose

After providing social media and marketing training to household names, government departments and an internationally acclaimed artist or two, Abi is now thrilled to share her expertise with indie brands and small business trailblazers. 

Abi’s also written copy and developed marketing strategies for major lifestyle brands such as Lash Unlimited, Urban Apothecary and GB Labels. So naturally, she’s full of ideas on how she can support your brand too. Follow her on Instagram and see her website here. 

Register your interest

Ready to ace your marketing, add a little extra flair to your products and generate more sales? Subscribe to our new mailing list or follow us on Instagram to be the first to know about Blossom & Bloom’s launch. 

CAD for Fashion X Line + Dot Creative

CAD for Fashion X Line + Dot Creative

by | Mar 26, 2019 | Adobe InDesign, Branding, Event, Fashion Industry, Workshop

Adobe Indesign for Fashion Branding

CAD for Fashion is very happy to announce our collaboration with Line + Dot Creative! Creative director Alexandra Hardwick is going to be sharing her skills and expertise to help you develop your concept and execute your text-based, brand logo using Adobe Indesign.  

Alex is the driving force behind Line + Dot, with more than ten years’ industry experience working with brands including Adidas x Stella McCartney, Hugo Boss and Disney within a global fashion branding agency. She believes in insight-led concepts, creativity and thoughtful design. Her skills span across, website design, Logo and style guide creation, branding application and market research.

Why Adobe Indesign? 

Adobe Indesign is the industry standard for fashion branding. It allows you to create high quality, print ready artwork for your fashion promotional materials. InDesign provides the tools necessary to design pages and create visual layouts that can be used for both print and digital media. It bridges the gap between Adobe Photoshop and Illustrator with some fantastic applications within the world of graphic design and fashion.

Adobe InDesign for Fashion Branding – Beginner 27.04.2019

Would you like the power to realise your own vision? This Adobe InDesign for Fashion Branding Course will give you the skills to create and explore the potential of powerful mood boards and thoughtfully designed text-based logos for your fashion brand.

Whether you are a fashion startup looking to create a logo for your business or an established brand looking to refresh your look. This course will take you through the essential processes needed to produce professional and relevant branding materials. All we ask is that you have a brand name decided upon and that you have some idea of your market positioning. Not sure if you are ready? Or if this course is for you then please get in touch here, we would be happy to advise.

What will I learn?

In the morning Alex will take you through the basics of understanding your brand; defining your target audience and helping you to pick out key messages and aesthetics you want to carry through with your branding. You will then use Adobe InDesign to create moodboards portraying the direction of your brand. In the afternoon Alex will guide you through the software to explore and create a text-based logos inspired by your morning’s work.

By the end of the day, you will have a professional looking logo that represents your brand, that can be used across your print and digital materials such as your website, promotional materials, labels, and of course social media.

Head over to the Course Page for full details.

“I believe in insight-led concepts, creativity and thoughtful design.”

Alex – Creative Director of Line + Dot

Find out more about Line + Dot Creative and what they do over on their website and social media:

https://www.lineanddotcreative.com

https://www.linkedin.com/in/alexandra-hardwick/

https://www.instagram.com/lineanddotcreative/

https://twitter.com/linedotcreative

Fashion Goes Digital in Derby

Fashion Goes Digital in Derby

by | Jan 8, 2019 | Adobe Photoshop, Event, Fashion Design, Fashion Industry, Print and Textile Design, Workshop

There’s much more to being a fashion designer than having an eye for style and a flair for design. In an increasingly digital world a good working knowledge of CAD software is crucial but, unfortunately, it’s something that’s often overlooked on design courses.That’s why experienced designer, Erica Horne, has created an innovative new studio and training academy, CAD for Fashion, in Derby. Training can be hugely beneficial to fashion designers from students, to freelancers, to corporate teams and while specific computer aided design courses are popular in London there’s previously been little available in the Midlands.

Erica explains: “I studied fashion at Derby University and always particularly enjoyed using Adobe Illustrator and Photoshop. It wasn’t really covered in depth on the course computer-aided but I got on well with the software and began helping friends with it. When I graduated 6 years ago and began working as a childrenswear designer in Nottingham I continued to teach people how to use the software. Eventually, this led to teaching short courses at Nottingham Trent University, visiting lectures at Derby, Birmingham City Universities, and offering tuition to people at home. The demand was clearly there – this software can play a huge part in a fashion designer’s role nowadays and knowing how to use it properly, understanding the shortcuts, and using it in the same way as colleagues so that you can collaborate effectively makes life so much easier – so that’s why I set up the Academy.”

Erica Horne – Owner CAD for Fashion Studio & Academy
One of CAD for Fashion Academy’s resident experts – each one highly skilled and still practising as a designer in the Fashion industry.

As well as running the academy, through the studio side of the business Erica still works as a freelance designer and product development manager with award-winning Nottingham designer Fazane Fox amongst other brands. It’s this continued hands-on, industry experience that qualifies Erica to teach CAD in the most current and relevant way.

“I’m up-to-date with the latest versions of the software; I know how it works and what fashion designers need from it. It’s not bespoke software and most generic courses cover Illustrator and Photoshop for graphic design. The fashion industry has specific uses and requirements, so that’s what I focus on.”

Erica Horne – Owner CAD for Fashion Studio & Academy
Erica Horne – At the CAD for Fashion academy Launch Event helping some guests with the Adobe Illustrator challenge.

For businesses, Erica can work with whole teams to ensure that they’re all using the software efficiently and in the same way, leading to slicker processes and easier collaboration, as she did recently with Nottingham based MotoDirect. Courses cover all levels, ranging from complete beginner to intermediate or refresher, with corporate courses adapted specifically to a team’s needs.

If you would like to find out more about how CAD for Fashion Studio & Academy can support you and your needs please get in touch!

Jess Priest at CAD for Fashion Academy

Jess Priest at CAD for Fashion Academy

by | Dec 18, 2018 | Adobe Photoshop, Fashion Industry, Print and Textile Design, Workshop

We were delighted to welcome the incredible talent that is Jessica Priest to the CAD for Fashion Academy recently.  Jess is a well-known and very successful artist and printed textile designer, whose stunningly effortless floral designs have been sold to Anthropologie, Vera Wang, Toast and Calvin Klein as well as numerous high street brands.  Having graduated from Winchester School of Art in 2000 Jess began working at a top London print design studio, and now works from her home studio in Buckinghamshire.  As well as designing, Jess teaches all over the UK so we were thrilled when she agreed to come and deliver a guest workshop at the CAD for Fashion Academy.       Needless to say, the session was a sell-out success, and those who were lucky enough to attend were certainly not disappointed!  Jess spent the morning teaching the group about watercolour floral painting as they created their own work, honing their individual style and technique under Jess’s expert guidance.  She was inspiring and knowledgeable, sharing her tips, artistic flair and industry experience with the group who all came away buzzing and eager to put their newly refined skills to good use. Jess’s freehand teaching was later complemented by an afternoon digital session run by our resident print expert, Stephen Rose, during which delegates were able to work in our Mac suit to clean up and translate their morning’s work into seamless repeat pattern designs using Adobe Photoshop.  From watercolour painting to professional textile design, all in a day!     This afternoon session was so popular we are running another in January for those who missed out on the day; Book Here if you are still unsure get in touch, we even have someone from another of Jess’s workshops joining us to learn how to work with their artwork in Adobe Photoshop. The course suited everyone from complete beginners with an interest in floral art, to those already working as professional fashion designers wanting to expand their skill set.  Feedback from all attendees was wonderfully positive… which is exactly what makes it all worthwhile!      
“…can’t find words to tell you how much I enjoyed yesterday’s workshop! For your enthusiasm, patience and hospitality thank you so much!”
“…Jessica Priest shared her beautiful talent for painting florals, Stephen Rose gave a brilliant photoshop workshop and Erica Horne hosted the event and was so warm and welcoming.  If you get the chance do check out this place; these people really know their stuff.  I promise you’ll leave feeling inspired!”
“Saturday well spent at CAD for Fashion with the incredibly talented Jessica Priest… it’s so good to learn new skills in the workplace both freehand and on Adobe to help enhance your role!”
  Due to the success of this session, another one is planned for May 2019 – in fact, there’s already a waiting list for those who are interested so, if you’d like to attend the next one sign up to our mailing list to make sure you don’t miss out on a place.  We’d love to see you there!