Fee Sheal fell into Edinburgh Napier’s graphic design course by chance. It was during her initial months of studying for a dual degree in Creative Industries at the University that her passion for graphic design was ignited.

After initially not knowing what course she wanted to study, her newfound love for typography and aligned grids had persuaded her to transfer over to the dedicated graphic design course; and she has not looked back since.

After graduating in 2013, she worked freelance for around four months before getting her start as a motion graphic designer with Systech International. After two years of designing apps and motion graphics videos for construction clients, she moved to a digital designer role at Wyoming Interactive.

Alongside progressing her career, the 26-year-old has also set about using design to make a difference.

Fee is the host of the Edinburgh chapter of the worldwide initiative Ladies, Wine & Design. The brainchild of Jessica Walsh of Sagmeister Walsh in New York, Ladies, Wine & Design wants to foster female creativity and help get a better representation of females in director roles across the industry.

Under Fee’s guidance, the monthly night in Edinburgh has continued to go from strength-to-strength, and regularly welcomes female illustrators, graphic designers, developers, jewellery designers, interior designers and more from all corners of the city.

For Fee, bringing together the amazing female creative talent from throughout the city has been one of her biggest and best achievements since stepping out of Merchiston as a fresh-faced graduate in 2013.

She said: “I’m Edinburgh born and bred so always knew I wanted to stay in Scotland for University. I chose Edinburgh Napier over others as it seemed to have the most creative courses – and once I got onto the right path (graphic design) I knew it had been the right choice!

“It was when I was working I found out about Ladies, Wine & Design. It was open to any city and I just assumed one of the big Edinburgh agencies would be all over it. I sent off a haphazard email and the next day I was sent the logo and materials needed to start my own chapter. One and a half years down the line and we are doing pretty well!

“My intention for LWD Edinburgh is to create an inclusive community of badass creative ladies from all walks of life. My ideal is that women will come to the LWD nights and make friends/familiar faces to it is less daunting to go to bigger events in the city.

“The hope is that with groups like LWD, we’re not only highlighting the amazing female talent our city has to offer, but we’re promoting women into higher positions, helping them come back into the workforce after children and just generally helping make the creative sphere a lot more female friendly!

“The design world is a thriving, exciting sector to work in, full of friendly, helpful people. You just need to have the guts to go for it.”
Learn more about graphic design at Edinburgh Napier