Freddy Mills
How graphic designer Freddy Mills turned paper cutouts into paid work
For graphic designer Freddy Mills, one of the biggest challenges is making time for personal work outside of a full-time role at Somerset House. His signature style is marked by playful and colourful paper cutout types and designs, often transformed into joyous animations. Below, he talks getting to grips with the type of designer he aspires to be and securing freelance work through Instagram.
What I do
My creative practice
I am a graphic designer for Somerset House, working within the marketing team, creating material for our many events and exhibitions. My personal stuff, which is mostly typographic paper cutouts, usually happens in the evenings while I’m watching TV.
Influences and inspiration
My biggest inspiration and fave designer of all time is my younger sister, Anna. I hope to one day be half as good as her. If you don’t know her already, definitely check out her work!
My training
I did a two-year art diploma and then went on to study graphic design at Bristol UWE which I highly recommend. I loved my time there so much.
Favourite recent project
It wasn’t super recent, but the tour poster for Remi Wolf was definitely my favourite project of all time. My dream job would be to design tour posters nonstop.
Remi Wolf tour poster design
A day in the life
At Somerset House, every day is different; we are constantly trying to push the brand's identity to be the best it can be in all areas. This ranges from exhibition posters to wayfinding systems and everything in between.
“Almost all of my paid design work has come through sharing my work on Instagram. I find that the more I post, the more people seem to get in touch.”
How I got here
Starting my creative journey
I wouldn’t say I’ve necessarily found my feet. While I have been working as a designer for about eight years, in many ways I feel like I’m just starting out. Only now am I just getting to grips with the type of designer I want to be and where I want my career to go.
I found my paper cutout style by way of a birthday card I made for my sister in January 2024. I built the number 27 using various shapes cut out from some coloured sugar paper I found in my family home. I was immediately drawn to the cool, unexpected results you could get and the satisfaction of moving the individual elements until you find a composition you're happy to glue down. This quickly evolved into stop-frame animations where the designs started to move.
Landing my first few jobs, clients and/or commissions
Almost all of my paid design work has come through sharing my work on Instagram. These commissions range from tour posters to event branding, digital flyers, logo design, online art store prints and magazine spreads. I find that the more I post, the more people seem to get in touch, so I guess that is my approach! I’m trying to be better at reaching out to people, but it can be quite nerve-racking.
I would absolutely love to have an ongoing club night that I designed posters for – essentially something similar to what Braulio Amado does for Good Room, if you’re reading this and need that, please hit me up!
Biggest challenges along the way
I had to do some really corporate design jobs before Somerset House that I did not enjoy at all, but… I wouldn’t be where I am without them, so I guess it’s sometimes a necessary step. The biggest challenge at the moment is finding the time outside of my day job to create my personal work.
My social media and self-promotion vibe is…
The more you put in, the more you get out. But I do need to listen to my own advice as I often go months without posting a thing.
Three things I've found useful in my career:
- Sketching until an idea comes
- Journalling
- Asking for feedback
Courses, programmes, initiatives, access schemes or job boards I've found helpful
At Somerset House, we run a creative development programme called ‘Upgrade Yourself’, aimed at getting young people into the creative industry through all sorts of workshops, mentoring and networking events – check it out!
My greatest learnings when it comes to making money and supporting myself as a creative:
What works for me is having a day job to ensure I can pay the bills while making sure to assign time for my personal stuff outside of that.
“Create work that you love to make just for the fun of it, share it and see what happens!”
My advice
My most useful career tips
Create work that you love to make just for the fun of it, share it and see what happens!
What I'd say to someone looking to get into a similar role
Get some paper, scissors and a scanner and start cutting some letters out / scanning them in. Better yet, do it a few times and make a GIF!