About JIG Creative
Creative marketing designed around how your business actually works.
I’m Joanie Gorman,
I’m on a mission to make marketing simpler for small businesses. To help them see past the hype and to get the basics right.
I love working with small businesses that are great at what they do and committed to providing the best experience for their customers.
Often, the people running these businesses overlook marketing, not because they want to, but because it feels like too much – I get it – I’m a small business owner too, and a mum, daughter, auntie, and friend.
This website sat languishing for years; my family and client work came first. But I vow to stop preaching and to start practising. Just kidding, I don’t preach; I’m just super enthusiastic about encouraging businesses I love to promote themselves.
If you’re ready to lay the foundation for marketing your business, book a free call.
Who is the ‘we’ you sometimes refer to? I thought you were a one-woman shop.
Often, ‘we’ is me, including my clients, because projects are truly collaborations.
But sometimes I’m referring to trusted colleagues I work with. They include developers, editors, photographers – and an exhaustive list of suppliers. People who share the same ethos of delivering quality, simplicity, and value for hard-working clients.
Therefore, in honesty, ‘I’ am really ‘we’ without the expensive overheads that come with a design agency.
I’m Joanie,
I help small business owners with quality products and services, but little time to market themselves. I combine my design and marketing skills with teaching experience to create tailored plans to help move your business forward.
My background as an art director, marketing manager, and teacher – working in tiny startups and giant multinationals – has set me up well for the work I enjoy doing today.
The backstory
When I left University and the Academy of Art in San Francisco, with a heaving portfolio in hand, I was ready for the big bad ad world. That portfolio landed me an Art Director job before I even collected my diploma.
Later, jaded by the industry, I followed a career path that brought less ‘Mad Men’ and more practical marketing experience.
I worked in startups and corporate marketing, then ran my own design firm. I gained vast experience – managing huge marketing budgets and designing campaigns across all types of media. From giant billboards, to print magazines, TV, to digital media.
Later, after moving to the UK and starting a family, I began teaching art, blogging in the early days, and writing for national print and web publications.
My children were young, life was full, and lots of plates were spinning – but then, unexpectedly, they all came crashing down.
I suddenly became a lone parent, and desperate for a fresh start, I packed up my kids and our dog and moved across the country to Somerset. It was a welcome respite from the expense and clamour of the Home Counties – a slower pace, a warmer community, and room to breathe.
Around that time, I noticed paralysing confusion among friends who were entrepreneurs. The growth of social media platforms, an unending barrage of new apps, and constant noise left them overwhelmed and stuck – endless options that led to inaction instead of momentum.
While they were overwhelmed, I loved jumping into all the shiny new things. I was a beta tester for apps like Pinterest and Notion. And I was an early Squarespace user, realising it was a great fit for small businesses that found WordPress too tricky to manage.
It was at this time that I found my love of teaching and my marketing and design experience melded into what I do today. I design marketing for independent businesses and teach entrepreneurs who want to DIY it how to create and manage their own campaigns.
Ready to Start Your Project?
Fill out the short form and we’ll get back to you within one business day—no pressure, just a friendly chat about how we can help.