Back To Square One

I know this is literally the final gasp of January 2025, and it’s a bit late for a ‘New Year, New Me’ sort of post, but here I am. Think of it as me arriving fashionably late to the party. Except that I’m not fashionable, and the ‘party’ is just the big ol’ anxiety inducing year of 2025!

I’ve not utilised this blog for a very long time. This is because I have been winging it over at Secret Industries for a while now, and to be honest it has become pretty exhausting! One of my aims for the ‘New Year’ is to make more of an effort in building an audience that isn’t tied to social media. That’s where this blog post comes in. Let’s start back at square one…

Secret industries is a graphic designer named Tim and a very good boy named Gary. I like to create art prints, t-shirts, merch and design solutions for people and small businesses who love being Northern. Gary likes to eat snacks and take naps. One of us wins ‘Employee Of The Month’ every single month… can you guess which one?!

In very simple but very ambitious terms, the aim of Secret Industries is to try and make Northern England a better place, which is guided by the mantra ‘The North Is Ace’. I believe that The North is, can and should be as creatively and culturally significant to the national dialogue as places like London & Bristol. The bulk of my creative output aims to make this obvious to everyone else too.

I try to do this in two ways; as a Print Peddler and a Pixel Pusher. As a Print Peddler, I produce artwork, prints and merch that celebrate our Northern uniqueness, aiming to instil a sense of pride, belonging and community. As a Pixel Pusher I work with other proud Northerners to develop their small business by providing logo, identity and graphic design services.

If any of this sounds cool or interesting that’s ace, let’s be mates! Why not follow me on Instagram or Facebook, or you could even be really cool and sign up to my mailing list. And if you have been fully taken in by my little spiel, why not visit my webstore and check out the prints and merch…

So there we are, consider yourself introduced to Secret Industries! Thanks for checking me out and hopefully we will see you back here again. Now I just need to not leave it another two-and-a-half years before posting on this blog again. Wish me luck!