Alex Redgrave: Founder and Owner
The Directory originally started out to help the residents of a village called Red Lodge, and was created when Alex moved there, and has lived there since May 2015. Alex has always worked within the customer service arena, working in many different business areas including retail, accountancy and, for the majority of his career, the insurance market place. With a passion for customer service and going the extra mile to ensure he does the right thing, for the business and the customer, his attitude and professionalism shine with everything that he does.
Private life Alex is married and has two children and so any time he is away from work and running the Directory is firmly spent with his family which involves playing in the garden, cooking and spending the evenings with his wife. When he does have time to himself he loves watching Netflix and is a keen film buff – a massive Superman fan. He tries to play golf when he can, and likes to pursue the great outdoors and looking after his daughters’ two gerbils – this wasn’t the deal when he agreed they could have them at Christmas!
Education After completing his GCSE’s, Alex went on to study for a GNVQ in Business Management and IT at Suffolk College and from there he also passed his Degree with a 2:2. More recently he studied to achieve and pass (at aged 37) his Diploma in Insurance, which he states is one of his proudest achievements. Feel free to contact Alex anytime if you’ve a question about him or the Directory via Facebook Messenger or our contact form.
Soo Smart: Creative Director
Soo has joined Alex in the creation of the new Red Lodge Business Directory website. She has over 25 years in creative design, initially as Senior Designer at Guardian Royal Exchange (GRE) and then onto manage the design studio at GRE and then AXA Insurance. Soo has a reputation for creating original design themes for websites and printed materials. She has previously worked on contracts for Willis, AXA, Ipswich Buses and Suffolk County Council including Suffolk Connexions working on projects involving young people, working directly with young people and getting them involved in the design process.
Brand Design: Soo has experience in creating brands from the ground up and developing established brands, including the Vetstream and Berridges Jewellers online and in print. She created the new brand for Eastern Savings and Loans and more recently worked on new product branding for Hizzy Property. Soo has devised many brands for local small businesses often tailoring the budget to suit the expectations of smaller enterprises. She is equally used to working for larger companies and organisations such as AXA Insurance’s Exhibition design and concept for Airmic exhibition.
Public Sector work:
Suffolk Connexions
- A Suite of educational documents and information leaflets
Suffolk County Council
- Rising High Suffolk – website for work placements for graduates, interns and work experience;
- Local Hero Campaign pack for teachers in Mildenhall area
- P4I a growing learning resource for young people and their parents and carers.
Ipswich Buses
- Bus Vehicle livery for standard single deck buses and the gold 100 anniversary double deck bus
- Bus Advertising materials
- Promotional gifts
Employment History Worked on ‘The Snowman’ animated film in London and on many other TV animated adverts, children’s programmes and films as cell painter, tracer, renderer and assistant animator. Senior Designer at GRE Creative Services from 1988 and later managing the design studio for Williams Lea, GRE office and Willis in-house studio. Freelance work in Ipswich and London for a variety of design studios including Marriott Howard and Fish in London. Health Media in Ipswich and London as Senior Web designer and project manager from 2001 – 2002. Set up Double S Design in 2002.
Teaching and learning: Teaching Web Design, Image Manipulation and Animation at Colchester Institute from 2003 – 2012 part time at BTEC National Diploma level. Gained a high level Diploma in Graphic Design with Illustration at Suffolk College (equivalent to HND) on leaving 6th form at Sudbury Upper School. A Levels and O Levels gained at Sudbury Upper including Russian. Continuous improvement in SEO, web technologies, design trends and skills. WordPress Theme Creation, PHP and CSS, Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign. Visit Double S Design
