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. 

I'd love to work here

Researching into some top design agencies, I came across Hawaii, a london based design studio. The company was established in 2005 and is led by Paul McAnelly. They do a range of design based work, from branding, illustration, web design and interior. The work that Hawaii produce is outstanding, and and has recently been shortlisted for the impressive Design Museum/British Insurance Design of the Year Award.


Hawaii have such a wide range of work, that it was hard to choose some favourites, but I managed to make a short list of work that I loved.

My favourite project on the site had to be the Myspace rebrand. With the website being pushed into obscurity by Facebook, I think Hawaii totally revamped the brand, making it look much more modern, and personally, I think it looks more interesting than Facebook, but I doubt that will matter to many Facebook users. Either way, the branding is lovely!

I'd love to work for such a big company like Hawaii, their work is of such a high standard and I hope to able to get my work up to a similar level one day! 

Tyrsa

While browsing the net, I came across 'Tyrsa' which is the website of French designer Alexis Taieb. I found the site really inspiring, as a lot of the design was hand rendered based, which is the style that I like to do myself.

Here are some examples of Alexis' amazing work!

I hope to reach this level one day.

Kyle Steed

Stumbled across Kyle Steed's website while searching for inspiration for my own portfolio website. Kyle has some really interesting hand-drawn illustrations as well as a few font sets that he has created and sells. 
His style is very vector based, but I think it works really well, and some of his branding work, especially 'I live in dallas' works great with his style.

I'd recommend looking at his site if you get a moment!


http://kylesteed.com/

Mondo Blog

If, like me, you are interested in posters, especially film posters, then I would highly recommend going over to 'Mondo'. This site is dedicated the film poster work, and has some mind blowing illustrations from some of the best artists in the world. Being a collector of posters, I fell in love with most of the work on the Mondo blog instantly. Its a shame that they are an american company, because they offer limited edition prints of posters that go on sale for a limited time, but unfortunately the postage is a lot for a UK resident.


However, this website is still a huge source of inspiration for me personally, and I constantly check it to see if any new poster designs have been released!


Heres a link


http://blog.mondotees.com/


And here are some poster examples!