Trunk furniture sketches - update

I posted some illustration work I did while on placement at Wonder stuff studio, for a furniture company called 'trunk reclaimed'.

Happy to say they're live on the site now!

Here is one section -

Time plan 14/5/12

Monday - PPD file

Tuesday - Placement

Wednesday - Placement

Thursday - Hand in PPD

Friday - Work on portfolio layout

Useful advice on graphic design

I was browsing through youtube recently, and found a great channel all about graphic design. Tim from TM media shares a great selection of videos with advice on the graphic design world. I particularly liked this video about identifying what you want to be, a graphic designer or an illustrator. Tim states that he gets a lot of job applications from designers, claiming they are graphic designers, but their portfolio shows that they are actually more of an illustrator. Tim's advice is to choose one or the other, and be great at your chosen discipline. This is especially good advice for me considering I do tend to dip into both disciplines quite a lot. Certainly an interesting watch, as are his other videos!

http://www.youtube.com/user/tmmediainc

Portfolio Website

Portfolio Website

What I enjoyed about the project

I really enjoyed the designing process of my website. I am becoming more and more fond of designing flat visuals, and would like to try more.

What I didn’t enjoy about the project

I didn't enjoy the actually building of the website in dreamweaver. Coding was much more difficult than I anticipated. 

Problems I encountered

The main problem i encountered was building my website. I found dreamweaver really difficult to use and it took me a while to build my website, even though it looks quite simple.

What went well

I think the design process of my website went well, as I created a layout that complimented my personal branding, and displayed my work clearly. 

What didn’t go well

I had a lot of trouble with Dreamweaver, and kept accidentally changing my code, which completely changed the view of the site. It took me a while to get all the code right, and the website working.

New skills acquired

After a lot of trial and error, I feel that I gained new skills in Dreamweaver, becoming more comfortable with the program as the weeks went by.

New knowledge acquired

I gained a vast knowledge of current web design, as well as the importance of planning a website using wireframes and site maps.

Time management

I felt that I handled most of my project well and kept up to date with the research tasks and development. However, my difficulties with DreamWeaver slowed me down, but I still managed to hit my deadline.

Candy Room

At Wonder Stuff Studio, I am currently helping a client with a rebrand of her cupcake shop. She wasn't entirely clear on what she wanted for her shop, so I decided to make a research file full of potential routes that she could go down.

While doing this research, I stumbled across an amazing sweet shop design in Melbourne. The shop is called 'Candy Room', hence the reason it is a sweet shop. I was amazed by the interior design of the shop. Clearly they had carried the loose, hand drawn style across into the interior and created a simple, yet brilliant shop floor which made all of the colourful sweets look that more tempting!

Here are some shots of the shop to give a better idea of the design

Time plan 7/05/12

Monday - Portfolio module

Tuesday - Placement

Wednesday - Placement

Thursday - Hand in digital skills

Friday - RELAX

'Wonder-ing' what I'm doing?

I have been on placement at Wonder Stuff Studio for three weeks now. The placement has been exciting, but very challenging. My main problem is trying to get myself up to speed with the pace that Paul works at. I find myself spending more time than I probably should on designs, which Paul, through years of experience, can achieve in half the time. Having said this, I am slowly starting to become faster in creating my visuals.


I have also had the opportunity to use InDesign more, with Paul showing me bits and pieces on the program. I'm still not 100% confident in using InDesign, but I know that if I want to get a job once I leave University, I need to be able to use the Adobe Suite to a high standard. 


This week I had the chance to work on some illustration pieces for a furniture company. They wanted some perspective sketches of their furniture, so they sent me through some photographs from their warehouse for me to draw. Having never done a perspective drawing before, it was a challenge, but I think I managed to produce professional quality work, which the client was happy with, which of course is what matters in the end.


These illustrations were worlds apart from my usual illustration style, but I enjoyed doing them and I think the outcome was much better than I thought it would be.


Here is a screenshot of the illustrations.

Time plan 30/04/12

Monday - Continue Digital Skills file


Tuesday - Placement


Wednesday - Placement


Thursday - Digital skills file


Friday - Digital skills file

Typeverything

I was shown the Typeverything blog by a fellow student while at college, and I'm kicking myself that I didn't find it sooner! The website is amazing, an everlasting page of mind blowing typography designs from all around the world. I've already referred back to this site several times, and if you haven't already checked it out, I highly suggest that you do. 


Here are is a page example from the site, there is loads to discover!

http://typeverything.com/

Personal Illustration

I had some spare time recently, and I had just watched Dracula and really wanted to draw Christopher Lee, so I did! I used a similar illustration style to the one I used in my Little White Lies magazine cover. I'm really pleased with the pencil sketch, I think it turned out really good and I managed to capture his mad expression. I also like the combination with the textures. Really enjoying working in this style recently.


Anyway, here is the finished illustration!

Ministry of sound - I wish I'd thought of this!

While considering my live brief options (eventually choosing Little White Lies), I looked at a brief for 
Ministry of sound, which would have been my second choice for the brief.


Looking on the Behance network, I came across a student who had completed the brief, and I was really impressed by the idea and the finished outcome!


The posters themselves are really nicely structured, but the actual 'saturday' feature on each poster is an amazing idea. She achieved the design by threading cotton around nails, which represented sound wave structures. The posters also glow in the dark, which suits the brief because some of the posters would be on the walls of nightclubs, which are generally dark.


Here are the posters, and some examples of the glowing effect. I wish I'd thought of this!

Week time plan 23/4/12

Plan for this week


-Monday - College / discuss final show ideas / lookbook update


-Tuesday - Placement / start digital skills essay


-Wednesday - Placement / gather final show ideas 


-Thursday -  College / Show final show findings 


-Friday - Continue with digital skills essay

How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul

After many recommendations, I recently picking up Adrian Shaughnessy's book, How to be a graphic designer without losing your soul. I have only read the first two sections of the book, but so far it has some very insightful advice for every young designer.


One point I picked up on was that joining industry is like learning graphic design all over again. Plus on average, it takes 6-18 months for a junior designer to start contributing to a studio consistently.


I found this re-assuring considering I will be looking for a job in the coming months!


So far the book is a great buy, especially for £8, so I highly recommend it!

Website Re-think

I have been working on my personal branding recently, and a portfolio website to display my work on. I thought my original website design worked well but during the easter break, i have been looking through a lot of portfolio websites and decided i should re-think my original idea.

Here is my original idea. I do like the layout and i think it works well, but i think i overcomplicated the layout. From my own experience, looking at a designers website, i would much prefer the interface and layout to be very clean and easy to navigate through. Having too many things to click on, to me, is really annoying when i want to get straight to the work. 

While i think this layout looks nice, i do think it could be much easier to navigate through and slightly overcomplicates things. I also think that since there is quite a bit to look at, it would distract from the actual work on the site, which is obviously what i want to be the main focus.

Taking this into account, i re-worked the design of the site, opting for a much cleaner, simpler layout. The image above shows the 'about' section of the site. I tried a few fonts, but i decided that 'georgia' worked really well with my logo, and was nice and easy to read. I listed all the sections on the left of the website, highlighting the selected section in a black, and taking the dot from the logo to sit next to that section.  I did keep the photograph of my desk from the previous website, as i really liked that and i think it sits nicely with the rest of the new layout.

This is an example of how the work would be displayed on the site. Again, i went with a very clean layout, with a short descriptor of the work at the top. The user would then scroll down to view whichever work has been selected, with the text at the left hand side staying stationery. 

I also designed a contact page for the site.  Looking at a lot of portfolio websites, quite a few of them didn't have an easy way for a potential client to contact them. A lot just listed a hyperlink to their email, which then would open up a new window to compose the message in. Taking this into account, i added in a simple contact section so the user could state their name, email and the enquiry. I'm not sure how hard this would be to code, but i think it would work well on my website.

Finally, I thought it would be a nice feature if i linked in my blog with the website. This image shows the blog open on the website. I would need to change the style of my blog to fit with the rest of my website (text, colour), but i think this could work well and it would be better having a built in blog, rather than having an external link opening a new window to blogger.

Overall, i am much happier with my layout. I think it will be very easy to use, and will help the user to flick through my work much quicker than my previous design. I also think this will be much easier for me to code, which was is always a worry with my inexperience in web design. While the look of the site isn't spectacular, i think it does what it needs and looks professional at the same time.

Now to make it!

-gulp-

AKFX - Watermark

Just a quick update on the AKFX logo. After creating it, i thought it would be a cool idea to give Abigail an option to add a watermark to her photographs that are on her facebook. I decided just to use the head as i think it would work really well just as a symbol.

Here is the photoshop brush i created:

And here is the watermark in use!

You can never have too many books

I love to buy books as i find them a great source of inspiration when i'm working on projects, or just wanting new ideas to look at. I've built up a decent collection recently, but i'd have to say the following are my favourites at the minute!

For love and Money

This book is a great source for inspiration for illustration, as it contains a huge range of modern illustrators including one of my favourite Zac Johnson!

Hand Job

Probably my most used book, in a sense a bible for me, contains a mass amount of inspiration for hand drawn lettering, as well as being printed on really nice paper!

Monsters in the movies

While this book isn't based on design, it does have a huge selection of amazing old movie photography, as well as old horror posters which themselves have some beautiful colours and are very inspiring. 

James Jean - Rebus

One of my favourite artists, James Jean, brought out this book containing a lot of his fine art and illustration pieces. Beautifully put together and mind blowing detail, one of my favourite books to look through when i'm struggling with work.

Scripts

My most recent purchase, this book contains a vast amount of old-school typography, from old signs to elegant typefaces. Really inspiring book for anyone interested in typography.

AKFX - Update

So i posted about a Facebook contest that i entered, designing a logo for a special effects make up company. After 19 or so entries from different people, i'm pleased to say that Abigail (AKFX) chose my logo to use! I'm really pleased as i personally really liked the outcome of the design, and would have put it in my portfolio anyway, but at least now i can say that the client used it!


Here is the final logo, i tweaked the head a bit as i felt it looked too big compared to the text:

And here it is in use on AKFX's Facebook and Twitter account!

Finally, if you get a chance you should check out AKFX's stuff, she has some amazing work on her Facebook so go take a look!

Here's the link:

http://www.facebook.com/akfxmakeup

Advertising Trip - Edinburgh

I joined the Advertising students for a day trip to Edinburgh, to visit two studios and take part in brief tasks as well as portfolio surgery. We took an early train from Newcastle, and arrived in Edinburgh about 11am. From this, we went straight to the first studio, which was New Haven Communications.

The studio itself was amazing. It didn't look particularly special from the outside, but the inside was very inspiring, with several floors full of creatives as well as stacks of advertising awards scattered amongst shelves.  We were taken to the bottom floor, which had a pool table, table tennis, fusbal as well as a lounge area with a TV (very cool). Here the first year students were set an advertising task based on Tennents beer, in which they had to come up with a campaign. It was interesting to see how they worked, basing their pitches more on the idea, with rough sketches, rather than final outcomes, which is the way i'm used to working. While this was happening, the second year students, and myself and Corey from Graphics, met with Gareth for portfolio viewings. Me and Corey went up to his little office together, and talked through our portfolios with him. Gareth gave us some good advice on our work, saying what he liked about it and what he would maybe change, but i felt that he gave us his opinion from an advertising aspect, wanting to see initial ideas rather than final pieces. However, the experience was good and he seemed impressed with our work, even saying that we'd find a job with the quality of our work (which is always nice to hear!).


Following this visit, we took a taxi to the next studio, which was the Leith Agency.

While the Leith Agency had a big studio, we were taken to a very cool extra studio that they had set up, which was on a boat! Although it was very hot inside, it was a really interesting place. It was quite small, but had two floors and a big table which they obviously used for meetings, and a TV set up.
We were firstly shown several adverts that the company had created, some which were world famous! It was amazing to see some of my favourite adverts in the showreel, and we were even given a sneak preview of the new ALDI adverts that they had created, which were very funny. 


The process then followed the same as the first agency, the first years were set a task to do, while the second years showed their portfolios to Andy Archer, one of the head creatives at the agency. Myself and Corey both went to see him together again, and he was far more critical on my work than Gareth at New Haven was, which i prefered. He gave us his opinion on what he thought didn't work, and also what he liked about our work. He even said that he would try sort out one of their designers to come to our final show, as he thought the quality of our work was excellent, which was really nice to hear!
Andy then took us to the main studio where the rest of his team work. It wasn't as spectacular as the previous agency, but it did have some very nice rooms, especially where they kept the hundreds of awards that they had won!


After the agency visits, we had a long wait before our train which was at 9pm, so we went to a few pubs in the area and then had pizza before hopping on the train back home! The advertising students were all very friendly and made us feel welcome throughout the trip.


Overall, i felt that this was a good experience. While the trip wasn't exactly design based, it was still a good opportunity to get advice on my portfolio and to meet some of the leading design agencies in the UK.

Wonder Stuff Studio

I recently applied for a placement opportunity at Wonder Stuff Studio, based in Newcastle. I took my portfolio along with me and got some great advice from Paul and Kevin, who spent a long time looking through my work with me, as well as giving me tips on how to stand out from other graduates. They commented on every piece of work i had with me, giving their opinion and things that they would change. I found this invaluable, as i hope to constantly improve my portfolio through advice from experienced designers. 
I really enjoyed the interview process, and the guys at Wonder Stuff made me feel very welcome on my short visit. 


Thankfully, i received good feedback and will be starting the placement from april 17th. Can't wait!

AKFX logo design

I came across a contest on Facebook posted by a special effects make up student who wanted a logo design for her increasingly popular company 'AKFX'. While still a student, she was planning to open a salon so needed a logo that would represent the aspects of the company, being hair, makeup and special effects makeup. 


Looking through several of the entries, i noticed an increasing pattern in the gore aspect, as a lot of the designs had several blood splatters etc, surrounding or in the logo. I wanted to step away from this as i thought it would potentially put off customers that only want the hair or make-up aspect, not the gore. 

Following this, i came up with an initial design for the logo. I used brushes on illustrator to create the letters, and put it in a circle, thinking this could be used the put on products she sells or just as stickers. However, i wasn't really happy with the final outcome of the logo, i felt that i had rushed it a bit and hadn't thought through the design as much as i could have, so i wanted to have another attempt.

So following this, i came up with a new design for the logo. My idea behind this was to represent the aspects of the company within one logo. I wanted to include the 'gore' aspect, but not make it off putting to potential customers, which is where the arrow through the neck came in. I was inspired by the schwarzkopf brand with the head as the logo, so decided to have a bit of fun with that idea, making my own version which was tailored to the AKFX brand. I made the type thin so that it would fit in with the lines of the head, then added in 'hair, beauty, gore' which AKFX asked me to do. 

I think this idea worked much better than my previous and i am really happy with the outcome, wether it gets picked or not! I've needed more logo design in my portfolio so i think this could be put in to add more varied work.

Jon Contino

I recently came across the work of a NY based designer called Jon Contino, and was blown away by his unique style of work! The vast range of design work he has on his website is brilliant, but what i loved the most about his work was the range of textures that he used, especially in typography. 

Looking through his blog, it is obvious that he studies old school typography, collecting old newspapers and magazine, taking inspiration from them. This would be a great idea for me to consider starting as i have recently become more and more interested in typography, using a lot more hand rendered type in my own work.


My favourite piece on the site would have to be the 'Can't look away' campaign for EMP Museums. Being a huge fan of horror films, i loved the styling of this and the colours used. I think the logo illustrates what the event is about, without being horrific and off-putting to viewers. I also loved the display that was used at the event!

Finally, i thought the posters that were used for the event were brilliant. The humour in them worked really well, and again the logo fit the design perfectly. I will most definitely be giving Jon Contino's site plenty of visits when i get stuck with design block in the future!

Dribbble

If I have designers block, which can happen quite often, usually I head over the Behance Network to fill myself up with inspiration. However, after being recommended in an IT lesson to visit 'Dribbble', I have found a brand new community to explore.


Dribbble is a fairly new website, but already has millions of members who constantly post designs that they are working on, which is the beauty of the site. Rarely you will see finished visuals, however you will find a lot of development work often with an eventual link to the final piece. This is a great idea as it allows designers to post something they are working on, and get opinions from other designers before taking the idea further.

I will be making an account on Dribbble, which will hopefully get my work exposed more and give me valuable opinions on my own personal designs.

4mations rebrand

4mations

What I enjoyed about the project

I really enjoyed researching into website designs, and getting the chance to design my own, as before this project I had never considered web design, but now I am keen to learn more.

What I didn’t enjoy about the project

I found the flash media side of this project really challenging, as I had didn't really understand the program very well, ending up with a simpler result that I would have liked.

Problems I encountered

My main problem was using flash media software, as it took me a long time to get used to it, and to build my animation.

What went well

I think my use of textures went really well during the process of my website design, creating a unique, modern looking site in the end.

What didn’t go well

I jumped ahead during my process, not building a plan for my site, when made it more difficult when it came to building the flat visual.

New skills acquired

I feel I have improved my photoshop skills during the project, as I built my site in photoshop, requiring me to edit a lot of scans and handle the layout.

New knowledge acquired

While I struggled using flash media, I feel that I did gain some knowledge in it, and after practice I am much better at using it than I was at the start of this project.

Time management

I hit my deadline for this brief, setting out targets for each week and staying behind extra at college to complete research tasks.

Stuntkid

Following my recent obsession with illustration, ANOTHER(yes, i know) illustrator I came across was Jason Lavesque. I found his work through youtube, as he has a few tutorials showing how he creates his work, which were really interesting to watch. 
His website is full of illustration work, mainly drawings of girls. I love his use of colour and how his highlights make the image pop from the page. 

I was so inspired by his work that I had to get my hands on his book, which was even better 

than his website!

Here are a few pictures from it, I highly recommend picking it up.

http://blog.stuntkid.com

Mister Hipp

I've been spending my time looking at a lot of illustration blogs recently. I came across 'Misterhipp' and illustrator who has a very unique, cartoon style. Being a fan of comic books, I could relate to his style and loved some of his interpretations of famous comic characters. I also loved the crazy colours that he uses in his work, and how he shades and highlights the features of his illustrations.


Here are some examples of his work!

And heres a link to his blog!

http://mrhipp.blogspot.co.uk

Girl with the dragon tattoo poster

I am a massive fan of the Steig Larsson Trilogy, and recently went to see the hollywood adaptation of the girl with the dragon tattoo. Visually, it was stunning, and on my way out of the cinema, I noticed the posters for the film, which were also beautifully designed, so I decided to look into the designs online.

I found this image, which I think is so simple, but is a striking use of a photography, depicting the two main characters from the film, but only using one photograph. I was very inspired by the film, and I'm sure I will refer back to it for interesting colour palettes, and composition inspiration.