Millie Tomlinson-Naylor
Hi, I’m Millie, a designer exploring culture and communication through thoughtful, interdisciplinary design.
milliejayne.design
WORK
- The Northern Star Newspaper
- Rough Around the Edges
- ON x The Everyday Athlete (D&AD)
- Re[*}frame Industry Talks at UAL
- Kindness Across Borders Documentary
- Photography Side Hustle
Experience
Project Leader and Designer for Reframe Talks
October 2024-March 2025
Dresser at Fashion and Knitwear Textiles Salon Show
May 2022
Nottingham Trent University
Education
University of the Arts London
Chelsea College of Arts
2022-2025
BA Graphic Design Communication
- First Class Honours
Nottingham Trent University
2021-2022
Certificate of Higher Education
Fashion Communication and Promotion
Blackburn College
2020-2021
UAL Level 3 Art and Design Foundation Diploma - Distinction
©2025
Rough Around the Edges is a magazine shining a light on the voices of northern women navigating life and creativity in London. It’s a sort of “big sister guide” meets creative showcase, it brings together honest conversations, shared experiences, and creative work for those starting out, rooted in the kind of advice passed down on car rides home or over pub pints. This first issue follows on from my dissertation: a newspaper exploring the North-South divide, class, social mobility, and what it means to create from the outside in. That work laid the foundation for Rough Around the Edges, a space that challenges the idea that creativity only belongs to the capital. There’s power in being a bit rough, in holding history, and in showing up exactly as you are. This is for those with one foot up north, one down south.
Manifesto
This is for the North.
Where the tea’s strong, and the voices stronger.
For the ones who grew up with nowt, but made something anyway.
For the towns that don’t make the headlines, but have stories worth telling.
For the creatives shaping culture from the back rooms of pubs, the corners of shared studios, and kitchens with the kettle always on.
Rough Around the Edges is a platform for real voices and regional stories.
We’re here to celebrate the unpolished, the honest, and the proudly Northern.
This magazine is a space for Northern creatives, Northern women, working-class perspectives, local histories, and the food that raised us.
It’s about where we’re from, what’s shaped us, and where we’re heading.
Through interviews, essays, photography, and recipes, we’re building an archive of Northern life, shared with pride and without filter.
This isn’t just about nostalgia.
It’s about visibility, connection, and proving that great work doesn’t only happen in London.
It happens in spare rooms, greasy spoons, and late-night phone calls home.
We’re not polished.
We’re rough around the edges.