We’ve been sharing our ‘Day in the Life of’ series for over a year now, giving insight into the working lives of the people behind our solutions, as well as sharing some of their personalities and how we all like to switch off. With each issue, we look at a different department, going behind the scenes of the wonderful developers coding our software, to the amazing people who answer some of the most distressing calls in our Specialist Call Handling Team.
This month, we’re focusing on the Marketing Team – the people who write the content, update our website and social media; share case studies, videos, and illustrations, and generally shout about the amazing work that our teams do each day, to make difficult transport easy.
An integral player within our team is Hannah Duell. Not just a Digital Graphic Designer but a general spreader of positivity and beaming ray of sunshine in our offices. Hannah is responsible for designing all of our graphics, illustrations, and animations, across our website, social media, literature, events, and internal communications. We hope you enjoy reading what
Hannah has to say about her time here, and if you think you might be a great fit for our team, let us know because we’re currently looking for a talented Senior Marketing Executive.
What experiences led you to this role?
“I always wanted to work in film. I’ve always loved film and wanted to be a cinematographer for most of my life. My love of visuals and narrations were the reason why I moved towards a career in design. Jessica Walsh was a particular role model of mine – she’s a successful graphic designer with her own studio, based in America. I really enjoy her creative and abstract design style.”
Hannah studied Graphic Design at university to enable her to progress with a creative career, a move that was only slightly halted by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Two years into her course, she took the decision to take the theory and skills that she had learned and apply them to a role at 365 Response. From the moment we said ‘hello’ at interview, we were pleased to have such a positive and enthusiastic personality join our Marketing Team!
Prior to joining us, Hannah had excelled in roles providing fresh designs, videos, narration, animation and filming interviews for KLTV and the National Railway Museum. Hannah has used her experience and talent to take the 365 Response brand through a considerable growth stage, constantly updating and adapting it to represent the customers that we serve.
Why 365 Response?
It’s a question that we ask everyone as part of this process, but it often has the same answer. This is because the drive and determination of our Founders (Sarah and Brendan Fatchett) inspires us all to do our very best and contribute in our own ways to making difficult transport easy for those that need it most. Heartened by the very personal stories of many people within 365 Response, we can genuinely feel that we work for a cause and we are able to see the impact that our solutions bring, daily.
As for Hannah’s story – after being approached on LinkedIn to fill the new role, Hannah took part in a rigorous application process, where she was challenged to create an intro and outro for video animations. Hannah was able to share her personality, and this came across in the designs and ideas that she brought to the process.
“I was excited about the role at 365 Response because it was brand new. I knew that I would have the opportunity to really get stuck in and thrown in at the deep end – Laura (Head of Marketing) already had a list of requirements that she wanted me to get started on and I had the chance to really make it my own. I could tell even from the first interview that we had a good rapport and that I would be able to progress here with her support.”
“Now that I have been here for a year, I can say that one of my favourite things about 365 Response is that we get to use technology to make the lives of vulnerable members of the community easier. We help the NHS and Councils to save money and improve safety and care – it is not just about making money, it’s a mission to help people, which I love.”
General duties/day-to-day
There’s no typical day for the Marketing Team at 365 Response; we work across a multitude of projects, with multiple departments for a truly collaborative approach. Hannah works closely with the Commercial Team to understand customer needs and brings this into her motion graphics work – putting together short, explainer videos that enable us to tell our story and share how our solutions can help clients, parents, patients, school children, etc.
Producing Content for 365 Response
A natural-born people person, Hannah enjoys talking to customers and colleagues about their different experiences and uses animation and illustration to improve communications. “I like to start with a plan and know that with each piece of work that I produce, it can feed into more than one project. I really enjoy how one graphic can spark an idea for a social media video or how it can support a blog or case study.”
Working on a variety of projects, Hannah has recently branded our Head Office with indoor and outdoor signage that perfectly presents our brand to visitors and colleagues. Our company values are shared clearly for all to see on our walls, and our staircase features a giant customer map with posters showing our latest achievements. Want to come and see for yourself? Get in touch – we love to host!
Speaking of the video animation process, Hannah shared “I really enjoy creating motion graphics as a large part of my role. We follow a methodical process of planning the idea and working with the right team members to inform the story. I then start with storyboarding and script planning, before building out the illustration assets and visually showing how we provide solutions to our customers.”
In her role, Hannah has also taken on the task of improving elements of our system to enhance the customer experience and provide a visual appeal that is also highly functional. Hannah works closely with our developers to incorporate our brand into our dedicated reporting suite and she has also worked with the 365 Flexiroute team to completely rebrand their systems and test environments.
Discussing some of her favourite projects, Hannah shared “I really enjoyed reworking our website recently. Working with our external agency, we were able to incorporate all of our new branding to update and refresh our website. The opportunity to bring new visitors through illustrations, videos, and brochures that I had worked on was a nice achievement.”
“I particularly enjoyed working on our Home to School suite of explainer videos as it allowed me to really take a look at the challenges faced with Home to School transport and share the ways that we can help with our software.”
Logging Off
An exceptionally hard-working and driven person, it feels like Hannah never really switches off! If she is not working to conquer the Spanish language then she is physically working hard at the gym.
Hannah commented “I have a strong passion for communication – it is great both personally and in business. Spanish is the third most spoken language in the world, so I have spent the last two years speaking to people who can help me to learn it.”
“I love to learn and I enjoy setting myself new challenges such as reading a new book each month and absorbing as much as knowledge as I can through podcasts.”
For the final part of our interview, we asked Hannah for her top 3 book recommendations:
- Gang Leader for a Day – Sudhir Venkatesh
- Fight Club – Chuck Palahniuk
- The Chimp Paradox – Professor Steve Peters
