Hayley Parle

Ste Owen - Love creative

2010-04-27T05:28:00.000-07:00

On Wednesday 28th April myself and Amy organised a visit to see Ste Owen at Love creative. We were aware that at Love a lot of advertising work is done and as we have previously been told our work is very advertise based we thought this was a good idea.

We were greeted by Ste at the door of Love and then went and sat down around a table n began speaking about what we were up to at the moment and as it is close to deadline we spoke about that and how we were getting on. We then began to speak about the lorry show that is being organised at the moment - he found this very interesting. As Ste is an ex member of Stockport College he knows a lot about how the college works. He assured us that he would come down to the show we have at Stockport to see the work. I thought this was great.

Eventually we began to show Ste through our work. He pointed out that although a lot of the work is advertising a lot of design work has gone into it so he told us not to concentrate on just advertising. He also pointed out that it is best to keep a portfolio clean and with nice space. This includes the writing at the bottom. On my current portfolio I have a description on the bottom explaining each brief and how I went about solving it. A good point Ste made was that this is not needed if you are there to explain as the person looking at it sometimes ends up reading it instead of looking at the work. Obviously for a digital portfolio the explanation should be put in.

Ste liked aspects of our work and said it was a great portfolio. He has passed us on a contact for dinosaur who I am to be in contact with.

Ste then took us on a small tour around the studio - it was a lot bigger than I expected. Love has recently taken on a new member of staff who had been working there on placement.

Snowman/Irn Bru

2010-04-15T15:13:00.000-07:00

This advert really made me laugh. I really like when two things come together to make one. The snowman really makes me think of when I was a child and christmas time, so there is nothing better than using this to try and sell Irn Bru as this is also something that I enjoyed as a child. The music has been kept the same but the lyrics altered. This is very clever. It is not easy to do but has been done really well.

Clorets advert

2010-04-15T14:47:00.000-07:00

I came across this advertising on Just creative and it caught my eye straight away. I think that is because of its shock factor. Sometimes having a shock factor idea in advertising doeswork work but I find in this instance it does. It does make you cringe, but by making you cringe is better than you not seeing the advert and passing right by. One thing I like about the campaign is that nothing drastic changes throughout the series.

The use of white space is used really well in this, that is something that I find as a designer should not be scared of. White space sometimes compliments an idea. As shown above.

Swiss Design

2010-04-15T14:16:00.000-07:00

Whilst researching Swiss design I came across this blog.

HowdyHeidi is powered by Switzerland Tourism and swissmiss, it is a visual archive containing all things swiss. When on this website the first thing that caught my eye was the wooden cow, apparently this cow is a childhood memory of many. It has real leather ears and horns. For a swiss person to look at this cow would bring back so many memories. I love memories, especially happy ones. Now I know the story behind this toy I find it to be such a great product.

Looking at different countries outlook on things can bring new ideas to design. I think it is very important to keep all research varied as it can open a world of new routes.

Landmine Ketchup

2010-04-14T10:05:00.000-07:00

I came across this piece of design by Publicis Mojo on the Die Line.

"Using a ketchup sachet, we demonstrated the horrific nature of living in a land mine affected country and how much a part of everyday life that horror is. The idea is simple: as you tear open the sachet you also rip through the child's leg and the ketchup inside pours out like blood."

This idea is so simple and has now become famous all over the world. The reason this caught my eye is not only the great idea but how it is using an everyday product to advertise or make aware something so severe. They have gone away from using poster after poster and have thought about something differemt to do that will have a shock factor and this does that perfectly. The first solution considered is usually a poster and I am becoming more familiar with people pushing their idea one step further and this proves how effective that can be.

Colour Box

2010-04-14T03:08:00.000-07:00

Colour Box is an independent design agency based in Liverpool. It was founded in 1993. They do corporate identity, packaging, design for print, illustration and web design. So they work over a variety of different medias.

Illustration is not something that a design and advertising company usually get involved in. It is different with colour box. This is something that they actually enjoy doing. On their website I found something they had said which I found very interesting and true.

"At Colour box we see it differently. Like everything, Illustration has it's place and should only be used when necessary. Used correctly however it can add interest or humor to an otherwise boring document." I really like this as it is really true, I know at college myself and other students use illustration sometimes but we are scared to do so, and more often than not it is not used for our final piece.
Illustration is not 'normally' singled out to be showcased on the majority of Advertising & Design companies websites but it's one of the aspects of Graphic Design that we particularly enjoy being involved
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Liquid Solution - Liverpool

2010-04-14T02:30:00.000-07:00

Liquid is a creative communications agency based in Liverpool, working with big name national clients. As they are one of the leading creative agencies in Liverpool and the Northwest they work on a variety of medias, including advertising, branding, creative design, digital and multimedia, strategic marketing and web design.

This agency caught my eye as they have a variety of different clients. For example they have done some great advertising and website design for Radley, I see these as a really big company, they are aimed at high class weathy people. They have created an integrated advertising campaign to launch Onitsuka Tiger's new store in Liverpool; built a website for Liverpool John Moores University; designed internal communications logos for Warburtons; working on a rebranding project for Medicash and produced powerful and effective direct mail for Fujifilm. These to me stand out as great pieces.

Liquid was asked to launch the new series of the highly successful Fujifilm Frontier Minilabs and develop an integrated campaign which targeted independent retailers and pharmacies who offer self-service photo labs.

Liquid were chosen by Radley to help launch the brand in America. The expansion into the US market, initially through department stores, marked the continued growth of the Radley brand internationally. I really like this work, they have played with the idea of English.

Truck Advertising

2010-04-13T06:53:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at different ways to advertise. Instead of the normal posters and billboards. I came across these delivery trucks. I think they are fantastic as they would definitely make people look and talk about them.

Nutri Balance

2010-04-13T06:39:00.000-07:00

These are a series of adverts advertising under the slogan “Bad food, bad dog. All the vitamins, all the flavor.” They were done by Prolam Y&R Santiago .

These adverts show the funniest, and desperate situations your dog can get you into.

I find humor to be a great way to advertise. It catches people's attention and also gets people talking. I know if I see an advert that makes me laugh I will ask people if they have also seen it. So it means it also works like a viral advert in a way.

Confused.com

2010-04-13T05:24:00.000-07:00

The new Confused.com advertisements really have caught my eye, not in a good way. I like the tv adverts, as they make me laugh but the posters that work along side really do not do anything for me - just my opinion.

Toasters

2010-04-13T05:00:00.000-07:00

When I came across the website, Toxel I couldn't stop looking around it. They show everything from rugs to toasters. I know they dont sound very design based but you would be surprised. For example the toaster below works like a scanner and can scan absolutely anything onto it. Why would you want to do that? I don't know either but wow its cool.

The one below has a real purpose. Tea and toast. Great.

This idea is based on a transparent heating glass technology. It is only at its idea stage at present but everybody wants to watch their bread being toasted. Right?

Creative alarm clock

2010-04-13T04:44:00.000-07:00

One thing I enjoy looking at is everyday things with a creative twist. These alarm clocks really caught my eye. Getting out of bed is difficult for many people. These alarm clock help you to interact with them so you get up easier. I found a selection on toxel.

The first alarm clock I am showing is called "Smash" visualizes the daily usage in form of deformations on the top surface of the device. The alarm is switched off by punching on the top of the alarm clock. This deformation becomes a sign for the individual daily usage.

This alarm below is very clever. It is based on digital paper, so to turn if off you simply scrunch it up.

The alarm shown below is my favorite, it jumps 3feet from yours bedside table and then runs around the room beeping.

This alarm clock only turns off when stood on.

The alarm above works by the pillow using an LED fabric substrate below the surface to wake the user using light. This substrate also functions as a display, showing the time on the surface of the pillow.

The pig alarm below is the most unusual one and not only it's looks. It wakes you up with the smell of bacon.

Bus stops

2010-04-13T04:07:00.000-07:00

I was looking into advertisements that you see around the streets, billboards, bus stops ect and I came across a website called Toxel. There was some great bus stop advertisements that have a real twist on them I have never seen anything like this is the street before but I found these very interesting as they all have an idea behind them.

The below image is for real hip hop, the translation reads : Real hiphop. Black music all the way.

The image below is obviously for McDonalds, it is advertising they are open all night. This one id very clever as it has just used the bus stop to make the the idea.

Below is another McDonalds billboard,I do not find this is as good as the above image, I personally would not see this advert and want to go to McDonalds as the most inviting thing about McDonalds is not the counter it is served on.

The image below is for quicksilver, this is one of my favorites as getting the audience to interact with the piece of advertisement is a great way to advertise.

Dieline awards

2010-04-12T15:22:00.000-07:00

The Dieline awards.

First Place. - Bath Health and Beauty.
Big juicy wedges of watermelon, lime and orange create the impactful Kleenex(R) brand Slice of Summer series.

First Place - Beer, Wine and Tobacco.

Second Place - Beverages

I love this Coca Cola idea, it makes me smile as it is something so simple but so nice at the same time. This would get people speaking, that is like free marketing - word of mouth. That is how you know a successful product has been produced.

Advertising without posters

2010-04-10T14:56:00.000-07:00

Advertising and awareness campaigns without posters. We see posters everyday, these guerrilla and ambient ads make more of an impression than many posters. When we see something everyday that has been altered to prove a point it makes more of an impact. This is the way to get messages across, as long as a great idea is present these will all be successful. Like the paper towel ad, becoming interactive with the design work makes an even bigger impact.

Ste Owen - Love creative

2010-04-09T05:52:00.000-07:00

When myself and Amy have been out on portfolio visits we have been told our work is very advertisement based. I emailed Ste from Love creative to see if he had any time to look through our work and give us some feedback. Love have advertised for Playstation, the BBC, Creamfields and many more.

Lego House

2010-04-02T05:38:00.000-07:00

Have you ever thought about building a lego house? Of corse not, these lot did. I found these images on an unusual blog.

Advertising.

2010-04-01T06:06:00.000-07:00

I emailed Stuart from thoughtful regarding advertisement agencies.

I am just putting the finishing touches to my portfolio then I am sending it over.

Gingerbread

2010-04-01T05:14:00.000-07:00

Gingerbread, usually made into men. Below are some images I found on Toxel.

2010-03-31T13:54:00.000-07:00

I came across this pakaging when looking on lovely package. It caught my eye as I wondered what was inside the bag shape, then I realised the watch was a handle. The product was designed by Liga design.

Here is the comment underneath the picture.

“This is a gift we created for our female clients for the International Women’s Day. The package was created to conceal a watch and look like a small bag, since we know girls love to shop. The copy goes like this: “Woman, a small gift for you who present us everyday”

I love the whole idea behind this product as it is fun, colourful and exciting, I think it is such a great way to package a gift.

How do you create a succesful design portfolio?

2010-03-30T07:20:00.000-07:00

One thing we have been encouraged to do throughout our degree is to design a portfolio, by making your work look as well as it can. Portfolios come in different forms, not just on screen but also in print. Showing your work is just as important as the work itself. So what makes a successful portfolio? This piece of work needs to impress and make you stand out from the rest.

Since contacting design agencies one thing I hear on a regular basis is “send me over some work” the majority of people who agree for you to come in for a visit have usually asked for a digital selection of work to be sent over first of all. So, having an online portfolio is essential. This is the first piece of communication between the student and the industry. This needs to make a big impact, having work displayed online removes the geographical restraints that traditional portfolios imposed. Although essential, it is also a necessity to have a printed portfolio. To show people face to face, what better way is there to show talents.

“Though PDF and web-based portfolios are becoming more acceptable, I still believe that nothing takes the place of a well-executed print portfolio that a potential client or employer can physically hold and flip through during a meeting.” (Nubby, 2009, http://nubbytwiglet.com/blog/2009/07/27/7-tips-for-creating-a-print-based-design-portfolio/)

Print portfolio

The first thing that needs considering before the design process of the portfolio begins, is the content. The main thing to remember is the portfolio should not be overloaded with too much work. Only the best pieces should be included. The old cliché, quality over quantity is the best way to describe this. “The better quality the work is, the more likely you will catch somebody’s attention.” (Anon, 2008, How to create a graphic design portfolio, [http://www.attitudedesign.co.uk/graphic-design-portfolio] No more than 6 to 10 of the best projects should be used. Something that should be considered is using different medias, where possible, this helps show capability of working across different medias as well as using different styles to communicate messages. Portfolios originally start with work produced whilst studying. It is important to replace that with professional work as soon as possible. The reason for this is clients work is much more impressive, it shows a level of expertise and professionalism. It proves to the designer that you are able to work in the real world and are happy working with real deadlines and budgets. After the content has been decided on, the next subject to be considered is the order. The way the portfolio flows is also a very important aspect. By considering this it should make it easier to speak about when presenting. The different pieces of work should contrast or compliment one another, this will keep people interested. One piece of advice I got from my is to start and end with a very strong piece.

There is many ways for the portfolio to be presented. One thing that is essential is for the book or case it is presented in to have removable pages. This ensures that it is easy to make changes to the portfolio. It is always important to keep your portfolio fresh and up to date. With having easily changeable sleeves within the portfolio it makes it easier to customize depending on each kind of job that you apply for. Mike Carter from Orchard creative recruitment came in to do a lecture, his lecture was on how to get a job, CVs and preparing portfolios. One of his pieces of advice was to change your portfolio for each visit. For example when applying at a packaging design agency the work shown should associate to this, so moving image and website design can be left at home. It is common to see leather black folders with work presented in. This year, many students from my college started to use boxes.

I found this to be nice as it was new and most designers I visited commented on how they liked it.

Obviously when a decision is made, the next step is layout. Simple layouts are good, the pages below I found on Nubby twiglet.

An emphasis is mainly on the typography; the reason this was done is because the person this was designed for had a great interest in typography. The one thing that is obvious is the grid system, it is very simple throughout with a few lines of type at the bottom. It is important to keep it clean and simple without the use of gradients, drop shadows or patterned backgrounds.

There is plenty of information about how to and how not to design your portfolio; it should all be taken into consideration and then designed in your own way.

“This is a bold statement, but building a portfolio is quite tricky because everyone seems to have a differing opinion on how it should be done. Building a portfolio is about showcasing your work and therefore, it should be an expression of your personality and design style.” (Nubby, 2009, http://nubbytwiglet.com/blog/2009/07/27/7-tips-for-creating-a-print-based-design-portfolio/)

Mike Rigby Vs Alun Cocks

2010-03-30T03:02:00.000-07:00

At our University we have many different lecturers take time out to come in and speak to us about different aspects of their jobs. I have referenced different parts of their talks and then chose two different lectures to compare. Not all designers work the same, never mind speak about their work the same. Some ways appeal to myself more than others. On the 26^th Novemeber Mike Rigby came in to speak to us and on the 9^th March Allun Cocks came in to also show us how he works. These two really stood out to me as they presented very differently.

Mike began his talk by speaking about his education, how he studied at Preston for 4 years on a Graphic Design course, he had a one year placement between the 2nd and last year and finally graduated in 2002. Since graduating he has worked for Imagination London, Chase Manchester, Landor Sydney, Moon Design Sydney, Pentagram, Mark Studio and True North. He continued on about this – his past work experiences. I was extremely interested to hear about Mike's experiences whilst working aboard. He advised us that taking a break is really important , as whilst he did this it resulted in him finding work abroad. Instead of showing us through his work he spoke more about his experiences. Mike had put together some of his pictures he had taken whilst on his travels, I was amazed. The beginning part of this lecture really got me interested as travelling is something I have always wanted to do. I think the importance of speaking to a group of students is to keep them all interested. I found that how he began the lecture got me engaged straight away, which is key.

Alun Cocks is a former student from Stockport College who later went on to study a Graphic Arts BA at Leeds University. He is one of the founders of Dust, a small company that was established in 2000, due to it being such a small company it is quite hands on. He began his talk telling us about the different actions the Dust team take from starting a project to finishing it. He started with a project he had worked on for Manchester United - this was a very illustrative piece using mainly mark making, figures and facts, this included goals and who scored ect. As Alun began the lecture by using a power point image of his work I was not engaged at all. However learning about different ways to work does interest me, so I continued to listen. Alun took us through the journey of his projects, which was interesting, as this is not something that we usually listen to.

I find that lectures from designers should not just be about the design process but about the life style, the ups and the downs and tips on graduation. Mike Rigby did this really well and as he kept changing subjects it kept me interested throughout unlike Alun Cocks’s lecture.

Mike went on to talk to us about the positives and negatives of working in the design world. I find it interesting to hear both sides. A lot of which we had heard before, working in the design world is interesting and challenging, you meet and collaborate with different people and are forever learning. As with everything there is always some negatives, as we are always told graphic design is a very competitive industry, with long hours with unpaid overtime, there is a lot of pressure, client interference and sometimes the pay isn't great. Though if you are passionate about the job and are willing to put the effort in you will succeed. This last comment is one that should always be thought about and it will be something that I will never forget. No matter how difficult something may be. For Mike to say this really made me think about everything. We are forever told about negatives but as he has shown us everything he has done in his life – not just design it gave me confidence.

With the lectures we have I like getting advice from different people rather than seeing their work as this part in my life is very important and I need to take as much as I can out of these lectures. As Alun spoke about his work I was interested to see how long it takes him to produce the work he does – it is all very personal. A lot of screen-printing was shown throughout his work, this is something that is not as common in Graphic Design anymore. It was different to see how he worked, as he explained the work that he does is very hands on, he selects everything right down to the paper stock used. When working in a large design agency it is proved that you don’t really see your work from start to finish. Alun explained how he liked the fact he created the whole of his work.

Mike spoke ts about placements, they are essential to help in finding a job after graduation, they increase your pace of working and you get the experience of working on live briefs with real deadlines. This is something that is said by many graphic designers.

The lecture we had from Mike Rigby was in the graphics room we study in, therefore so it was smaller group than in the lecture theatre. This may be why I enjoyed it more. We looked at the places he worked and the work he did there. He only showed us his final work. This was very different to the work showed to us by Alun as he even showed us variations of different briefs and how he got from one point to another. It is good to see this, as that’s how we work as students. Overall I really enjoyed Mike Rigby’s lecture, I really took on board the advice that he gave us. He was soon moving back over to Australia to work, which I think is great for him. It just proves how quickly things can change.

The two lectures were very different. I suppose this was to do with the work they both do and the way in which they do it is very different.

Mike’s work is very graphic, the packaging above that he did for a carpet re brand shows this where as Aluns below is more line drawing and has an illustration feel to it.

When asked Alun said that he did not see him self as an illustrator however him and his partner do enjoy this area of design. Mike spoke to us about his journey to where he is today and Alun spoke about his journey of getting from start to finish on a brief.

Sainsburys

2010-03-18T08:05:00.000-07:00

When I was searching Packaging of the world, I came across some packaging for Sainsbury's designed by a company called the quick brown fox. I noticed that the design work they had done for food had no images of the product on there. I wanted to know the reason for this. So I emailed the company.

I got a quick response.

Marks and Spencers 125 year anniversary

2010-03-18T05:48:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at the work from Marks and Spencers 125year Anniversary. The first piece of packaging I came across was the biscuit tin designed by Sanna Annukka. Sanna's eclectic style is based on her Finish Childhood and love of nature and folklore. Although this box was created for Christmas nothing really shouts at Christmas. I suppose the colours used do show the season.

The above image is the window display for M&S for their anniversary. It looks very much like a celebration and the colours used and the shapes look very modern but at the same time you get a feel that it is dated. This may be due to the banner shapes, as I find you don't usually see these any more.

The reason I am interested in this work is because Heals are celebrating their 200th year this year.

How to show annimations in print??

2010-03-15T08:40:00.000-07:00

As two of mine and Amy's last projects were annimations we came across the problem how do we show this in print? We are always told to do story boards, but is this the only way? I emailed James from thoughtful.

When on our visits me and Amy also asked this question. Story boarding seems to be the only option really. We could take the file on a memory stick or a CD also. On a digital PDF there is the option to attach the file to the pdf for viewing.

Flo Bayley

2010-03-14T09:23:00.000-07:00

Flo Bayley - Packaging Designer

"The art of good packaging design is about finding a graphic way of suggesting deliciousness. As you can't taste or smell what something is going to be like just by looking at it, my challenge is to encapsulate what's on the inside, on the outside," says Flo, who studied graphic design at the London College of Printing before going on to work for Conran's design emporium in the Eighties. "The prince of gastronomes, Curnonsky, said, 'Food should taste of what it is.' This is the basis for a good definition of packaging design: it must evoke what it is. If the product is Mediterranean, the packaging design must say 'Mediterranean'. If it's organic, it must look organically produced." One recent project that Flo feels particularly proud of is the new Waitrose own-brand Italian pasta sauces. "I like the mushroom on the label of the jar of tomato sauce with mushroom. I can taste it."

I found this quote whilst researching into my final project. I think it sums up exactly what packaging needs to do.

Scratch

2010-03-14T09:11:00.000-07:00

Brandy is a branding and design agency I came across whilst researching into packaging design. The reason they caught my eye was due to the packaging they designed for a company called Scratch.

Scratch is a young run company who's aim is to help busy Londoners cook real food. The meal boxes contain all the fresh ingredients you need to cook a meals...from scratch. This "from scratch" slogan is what is used throughout the designs.

The fact the products used are all fresh is shown in the way the packaging is designed. Using the brown natural colours of the bx along with one bold colour also gives the packaging an expensive look. I really like how the typography used is a slightly darker variation of the colour of the label.

I find the whole design successful.

Pret A Manger

2010-03-14T08:39:00.000-07:00

As I am currently working on Packaging design I am forever researching different products. I came across the packaging designed for Pret A Manger. Pret opened in London in 1986. Their selling point is they make sandwiches freshly made without using chemicals, additives and preservatives.

The above images shows packaging for Pret, the way they are packages emphasises the fact they are freshly made. The brown boxes gives this impression as it looks very natural - this also gives it the expensive look which is needed. You pay for quality.

The drink cans that are sold at Pret use very vibrant colours to represent the flavours. This also gives it an expensive look. I like how they have not been frightned of switching the typography to be vertical. This is something that can look really good. As proved.

Karen Vance - Future Brand

2010-03-13T07:51:00.000-08:00

As I was working on my Heal's project I thought to send the work over to Karen from Futurebrand who I had visited in London. She sent me back a good email with ideas I should look into and also research, I was very grateful for it.

The idea about using William Morris styles I already had and had been working with. I really like this idea as it has a real twist to it.

Alun Cocks - dust

2010-03-09T20:00:00.000-08:00

Today we had a Graphic Designer Alun Cocks from Dust come in to speak to us. Alun Cocks is a former student from Stockport College who later went on to study a Graphic Arts BA at Leeds University. Dust is a small company that was established in 2000 because of this it is quite hands on.

The talk today was merely about the different actions the Dust team take from starting a project to finishing it. He started with a project he had worked on for Manchester United - this was a very illustrative piece using mainly mark making, figures and facts, this included goals and who scored ect.

There was a lot of research that had to go into this design which consisted of watching a lot of Manchester United games and studying the goals.

The next piece of work he shown us was for Penguin books to celebrate their 70th Year. This piece of work brought a lot of business Dusts way, they found a lot of clients commenting on how they like this. Alun explained " we would rip this up if we could," this made me laugh. I noticed how a lot of the work shown was very illustrative. When asked Alun said that he did not see him self as an illustrator however him and his partner do enjoy this area of design. A lot of screen printing was shown throughout his work, this is something that is not as common in Graphic Design anymore. It was different to see how he worked, as he explained the work that he does is very hands on, he selects everything right down to the paper stock used. Many of the projects he shown experienced a lot of time just simply finishing off rather than designing.

Although a lot of illustration was applied it was obvious that a lot of time went into type setting. This was apparent on a lot of their work. I found most of the work shown was very similar. Having this range of work lead on to Dust designing a book for the king of Bahrain.

Crescent Lodge

2010-03-06T08:19:00.000-08:00

Crescent Lodge is an independent design consultancy with studios in East London and the West Country. They are a close-knit group comprising designers, illustrators, photographers and a writer, supported by technical and project-planning specialists.

Whilst in London Amy and myself went to visit Andrew Collier at the company. We we entered the studio via a lift that automatically took us to where we wanted to go - that was an experience in itself. We were welcomed at the top by Andrew. We sat down with his and began to go through our work with him as we had done with the Stuart and Tim. The same sort of questions arose here as well - where do you want to take your career too? Andrew also said that our work was heading in an advertising way. He said that he would email us the details of someone he knows who works in advertising for the possibility for us to go and see him. He said that we work well as a team and again speak about our work very well. We got speaking about all sorts whilst at the visit - I find this to be really good as it proves there is not so much nervousness. We had a look at the annuals that contained the work by Crescent Lodge over the past few years and Andrew kindly allowed us to keep these.

They contained some very interesting ideas and designs. Andrew was very impressed by the quality of our work and how ideas based it was. This is something I find has been said to us quite a bit. I think this is the result of the way we are taught in university. Andrew had some very interesting things to say about our work and possible things to think about in the future and Amy and myself have made sure we stay in contact with him.

After the time I spent in London my whole thought of the place changed. I never really liked London but I had no reason for this. I now think it is such a great place with so many opportunities. I am glad I went on this trip as it had opened up so many different thoughts in my head.

Future Brand

2010-03-06T07:07:00.000-08:00

Whilst in London a visit was set up by our tutors and a group of us went up to Future Brand. Futurebrand is a large design company that is ran globally, they have a network of 25 international office that allow clients to experience them collaborating over seas to reach a perfect end product. Their aim is to establish brands that "think ahead to stay ahead." They do work for large well known companies, Becks, Cadbury's, UPS, Barclay's, MasterCard and many more.

When we travelled down there we were greeted by Karen Vance and Chris Jenkins, they showed us through the work they had worked on. Chris concentrated mostly on beers - not a bad job. He explained how he got from where they were to where they are now. Which I found was a great thing to do. Usually we are shown final products and that is it. One piece of work he shown us as a finished thing was a font that Chris along with a structural design team developed. Their idea was to get the font to stand out on the bar. The font was for Beck Vier, the identity needed to be kept the same as its parent brand Becks, but this is a lighter beer, the silver metal background shows this lightness.

Another piece of work Chris had been working on was Brahma - a beverage with effortless flair. He showed us the bottle before they worked on it, his sketches and the final product. Future Brand created a new brand identity and packaging based on the creative idea of ‘effortless flair’ that captured the Brazilian energy, passion and creative spirit known as “ginga.” This included the structural design of the bottle to reflect the rhythm and fluidity of Brazil. The design specification ensured that the curved bottle could be produced without alteration to existing production lines, and removal of the label achieved significant production cost savings.

Chris and Karen showed us some of the work they have both worked on and showed the different stages of the development, they also went through the boards that they actually took to the clients to present their ideas. They have both done work for big names such as Becks, Nestle and Dove, it was a good experience to visit Chris and Karen and now I have contacts for the future.

It was a really good experience to visit Future Band as it is such a big company, much bigger than the ones that I have visited before, with approximately 70 working there, it is one of the biggest. Chris and Karen showed us around the agency and explained the work that each section did. The idea is one place, the it moves around and around and around before it is ready to go into production. This is so much different to the smaller companies as you do not see the whole production really but on a plus you work in big groups so you have the opportunity to bounce ideas of each other and work in a team.

Picture - Ltd and Give Up art

2010-03-06T06:25:00.000-08:00

The Give Up Art studio started back in 2006, they have over 25 years of experience in the design, publishing and advertising world. There work is very graphic design based, they work for a range of clients in the music, publishing, advertising and broadcasting sectors.

Amy and myself went down to Give up art whilst in London to have a look around and have a chat with Stuart (the founder) and show him our work. We were also in contact with Tim Harwood from Picture who actually is a friend of Stuarts so he asked if it would be OK for him to also sit with us whilst speaking about our work and where we want to progress in the industry. Of Course we said this was fine.

Picture was set up in 2005 by 3 people from the design industry, it started off as a specialist design practice that focused on brand and digital work but has evolved and now their work spreads along print, TV and motion also.

It was interesting to sit with two people who work on different aspects of Graphic Design as they both had different opinions. Me and Amy travelled down their with our portfolio. Our work had all been put together in one portfolio, our idea was for Amy to speak to them about her work, we would then go on to speak about our collaborative work and then I would finish with speaking about my work.

When we got onto our collaborative work we began with showing them our E4 work - at this point it was not finished. We story boarded up the animation in it's current form. They seemed really happy with the whole idea and the style of the animation. One thing they seemed really interested with was how this idea could work as a campaign. This got us all throwing ideas around about different scenarios. After this piece of work we had our BBC booklet work - we explained how this was a pitch that we had to do and it had to work along side the work we were already working on. They said this is something that should be encouraged and it is great that we have done it as it shows our passion for Graphic Design. They seemed to like the whole idea of the booklet and how the QR code works. We showed them the animation piece we worked on together for Top Gear, they seemed pleased with the different programs we could use and the quality we used them in.The final piece of work we showed them as a collaborative piece was the Carex storyboard. This seemed to interest Tim for Picture a lot as it was more his style of working. They explained how it is difficult to show animation pieces in print but we had done well.

I went on to show them the work that I had done throughout second year. Stuart commented on my New Scientist magazine as that is the sort of work he does - mainly print. He liked the layouts, particularly the front page and how I had redesigned the logo. I shown his a piece of work that I like which is the work for fold Manchester I did. They seemed to really like this as it causes a shock and if this was to be used as an advertising project it would cause a lot of shock. They both really liked my Heals end sting and advised that maybe I should show the other two variations I did - the letter E being drawers and the H being a bed. They said they thing it would work great in a set.

After we finished with our portfolio we discussed work that the pair of them were working on at the moment. Stuart from Give Up Art, does a lot of collaborative work. Depending on the nature of the job, they collaborate with different people from - photographers, illustrators, web developers, print specialists, retouchers, stylists, copywriters etc. We also got onto the subject of what me and Amy want to go onto do after graduation. They said our work pushes towards advertising and we got thinking whether this was something we would like to do and stay together as sort of a team. We obviously work well together and both Stuart and Tim commented on how we speak about our work, they explained that we do this really well and it shows real passion.

Overall I really enjoyed this visit. It got both me and Amy discussing future plans and got us thinking about the next step. It also got us thinking about the size of company we would enjoy to work at. Here the studio was quite small and there was only a few people - this means you get to see your work from beginning to end and you get a sort of bond with it. This is something we kept at the back of our mind when going on to look at other companies in London.

London Visit

2010-03-04T06:15:00.000-08:00

I have just returned from a trip to London, we traveled down on the 1st March and stayed there until the 3rd. The reason for the trip was for us to experience Graphic Design in London. Whilst there we were encouraged to visit a design agency so we could show them our portfolio and experience the differences.

As I have done all of my third year projects with a student at college we decided to go on the visits together. We organised two visits. One at Crescent lodge and one at picture, we organised a designer from give up art to sit in with us at the visit at picture as we contacted him also and he worked next door to picture. Our tutors also organised a visit for us at a large design company - Future Brand.

I found the London visit very influential as it opened my eyes to different options. It made me realise that London is a great place to work and has a lot of different opportunities. London has always been an option, we were advised that Manchester is very up and coming in the design world, which is good but I will not rule out London as an option.

EAT.

2010-02-23T00:53:00.000-08:00

EAT. opened thirteen years ago, their ambition was to serve quality food, soups and coffee to the people of London. On the opening of their first shop, everything had to be done, food and the brand, shop and packaging design...the list continued. The bit I am most interested in is the packaging and branding.

The packaging is really simple and in all its products uses white space to it's advantage. Usually it is just typography on it's designs - small illustrations are also used sometimes but this does not over face.

One thing they also do is use the product instead of illustrations. This is something that I am looking into whilst designing my packaging designs. Is this can be done successfully and simply, it looks fantastic.

One other element that I need to take into consideration is whether or not the product needs to be shown. As with sandwiches, would you buy a sandwich that you couldn't see? No I know I wouldn't, most people want to see the bread and the filling when purchasing something like this.

Elmwood

2010-02-16T15:11:00.000-08:00

As I am doing my FMP on packaging design I have been looking at a wide range of designs. Elmwood have designed more than 20,000 packs in the last 15years for some of the most successful retail brands including Asda, Durex and Black Magic.

Their relationship with Asda has been going on for 15years, they have worked with them over all aspects of design and designed over 15,000 product designs for them.

An old piece of design work they worked on in 1997 was this. This new design boosted sales by 29.5%...WOW!!!

The packages below are newer designs Elmood have done. The image used is very nice, it shows how fruity the product us without forcing it on you with type. It is a nice eye catching touch, especially along side bold colours.

First thing I thought when I saw the images below was not Asda, the designs one these are great. The simple typeface working along side simple yet precise imagery. The black and white bold colours of the bottles work against each other and work along with the label on each.

Using the soup (product) as the letter O in Soup. I am unsure on the effectiveness of this. At first thought I did like the product but maybe it is a bit to obvious and many colours are used, which isn't something I like in packaging. With asda being the client though it does work with products they already have in stall and their overall style.

Elmwood helped Durex move from the world's number one condom brand into the bigger more holistically focused area of sexual well being.

The condom packs were the first to experience the change. The aim was to make the product stand out more on the shelves. Below is how the product used to look.

By simply moving the logo into the center of the pack it enabled Elmwood to increase the size of the logo. Also a slight change in colour made the packages more vibrant. New product below.

The small changes have made a big impact.

As Elmwood were aiming the re-brand on Sexual well-being they realised this was more than just safe sex. They developed Durex existing products into Durex Play.

The colours used are very eye catching and the overall designs are fun yet simple.

Success is what makes packaging worth while....2007-2008 sales was up by 9%, shares increased by 35%.

Sovereign

2010-02-16T14:06:00.000-08:00

Sovereign are a leading 'to-go' packaging company, supplying the likes of Pret A Manger, Eat and Itsu. They need to be aware with whats going on with the companies that are keeping up to speed with the eating habits of millions. They went to Spinach Design when they wanted to bring out their own-brand packaging range, Mono. They know the importance of carrying a quick bite or coffee to your desk without crushing its contents. Above all, they understand the importance of not holding a bag that looks, cheap.

Show food or not?

2010-02-13T06:15:00.000-08:00

As I am currently designing food packaging I came across a problem. Does the food need to be shown? As I had already been in contact with Karen Vance from FutureBrand I emailed her.

I find it very useful when contacting Karen, she always backs up what she is trying to explain to me by using images. It has helped me think about how I will produce my packaging.

Typography

2010-02-08T15:40:00.000-08:00

I came across some fantastic typography posters on a website. The website displayed work from different designers.

Working with typography can bring out so many unique patterns and ideas. All the images are above are very impressive but what makes them even more great is the fact that they are all hand drawn. That is amazing in my view, I wish I had the skill to produce something so eye pleasing.

BBC

2010-02-07T12:25:00.000-08:00

On my degree course we were given a great opportunity, we were set a live brief by the BBC. The brief was to design two booklets that would be given to BBC staff that would soon be experiencing a massive move from London to Salford.

I worked on this piece of work with another student. Our idea was to make the booklet bright and cheerful. It needed to be set out for easy reading. We focused on the saying "every cloud has a silver lining"the imagery we used was bbc weather symbols combined with imagery linked to weather.

As we were told that we should consider up and coming technology we decided to link up the booklet to further information using a QR Code.

Fruit Juice

2010-02-07T10:39:00.000-08:00

Japanese industrial designer Naoto Fukasawa has created a series of creative fruit juice packages that have the look and feel of the fruit they contain. The design imitates the colour and texture of the fruit skin.
Alongside banana, strawberry and kiwi fruit “juice skins” Naoto Fukasawa also offers a wild card “silken tofu skin” for a carton of soya milk. (shown below)
These products are not all available to buy at the moment but I am sure they would be a great success as they are unique and fun.

Heal's Duvet coding - 999 design

2010-02-07T10:03:00.000-08:00

The design work below is from 999 design - they were asked to redesign the coding for Heals duvet selection. Heals is well known for its distinctive character and innovation.

As the stores are constantly updated with different designs and products it makes it an inspirational and enjoyable place to shop. This is something to keep in mind when researching their packaging.
999 design thought that "The existing system was dull and confusing for staff to implement and needed a complete strategic rethink. In order to uphold Heals reputation for quality and creativity we were asked to inject some personality into the packaging in order to make it more eye catching." (http://www.999design.com/clients/Consumer+goods/Heals)

The cracked the project by using an easy to follow system of stickers. A colour code was used. I find colour to be the best thing to help navigate through a set of products.

Heals candle packaging

2010-02-07T09:45:00.001-08:00

The packaging below was designed by aloof design, it was designed for a new range scented candles. The final product was very effective.

One characteristic I noticed when looking at Heals packaging and products is they like to stay clean and crisp using black and white ans then an added colour, usually only one more colour is added to each product. The colour added is always a bold colour or a pastel colour similar to the ones above. This is something I need to be aware of when designing my packaging.

Heals packaging

2010-02-04T05:49:00.000-08:00

Whilst on the Heals website keeping an eye out for interesting packaging I came across the following products.

This is the packaging design for a set of scented candles. The main thing I noticed was the use of block colour that was continued onto the product itself. the floral decorative shape outlined on the packaging is very delicate and not extremely noticeable. This product make it obvious the main characteristics of Heals design - bold block colours, the use of geometric shapes and angels and delicate illustrations.This image below is from a limited addition of christmas foods Heals sold. This is very simple and if I am honest not very eye catching and does not sell the product very well, it has not got the sophisticated look that most of Heals products have.
The bottom image is also part of the limited addition collection - the two have no similarities. I however really like this product although very simple. The crisp silver packaging gives the product a fresh look - as the jar is transparent the product is visible, the colours of the chocolate add to the crisp and fresh look that Heals go for. The typography compliments the whole thing - using the same typeface throughout the design but altering the size.

Marks and spencers packaging

2010-02-04T05:26:00.001-08:00

I have had a look at existing packaging for Marks and Spencers.

The above image is for their Fair Trade and Organic teas and coffees. The bold blacks and reds really work well together especially being used in block shapes.

Waitrose

2010-02-04T04:26:00.000-08:00

I am still currently looking at packaging that has been produced recently as for my final major project I am looking at designing food packaging or Heal's. I am interested in looking at packaging that already is used and how effective this may be. I noticed the Waitrose work by Pearl Fisher, there designs look sophisticated which is the look I need to go for.

The above images look very simple but I think the colours chosen show off the photography really well. Colour is an essential aspect that needs a lot of consideration.

The above packages are for microwavable meals. Again colour plays a main part in the packaging they are bold in your face and crisp. The use of typography is the main element of the design work with slight uses of colour and information in the right hand side.

The ready meals were a great success, in its first year after their re brand volume sales were up 63%.

The below images are for bottle designs they worked on. I am not so impressed by the Gin bottle though if I am honest, I like the use of red on the label but I am unsure on the positioning of the elements and the label.

However the above image of the black bottles are a great improvement. It is obvious they have gone for a sophisticated typography look. The way they have set out the type on all three bottles works well in relation to the shape of the bottle. It is obvious the label design look the bottle shape into consideration.

The below image is the designs they did for jars. These look very different to the other packaging designs but the colours are used again to represent they food. These look a lot more fun but still look crisp and sharp. I like how they are produced on see through stickers so its only the typography seen.

Pearl Fisher

2010-02-03T07:30:00.000-08:00

Pearl Fisher is a well known Graphic Design company based in London, they design mainly brands. The brands they do design consist of some very well known ones that are fresh and crisp. Below is some images of the Absolute Vodka packaging that they designed.

The above image is editorial work produced to promote the Vodka, it just shows that anything can be branded to help with promotion. This booklet takes the whole crisp sophisticated look of the bottles to a new media.

The designs for these bottles will be around for years, they were designed to be successful for years to come and this is bound to happen. It will take along time for these to become outdated.

Below is the packaging for Jordon's cereal, they have made the size of the typography the main element within the packaging. The Typography on the boxes is set out very neatly and crisp. I will take the use of typography to account when I start my packaging designs.

All of the packs have the same theme running throughout, however the colour changes to represent the flavour. This is something that consumers notices subconsciously.

Turner Duckworth

2010-02-03T07:00:00.000-08:00

I am currently looking at doing some packaging design for my FMP and I came across work by Turner Duckworth. The company has been together since 1992, they specialise in branding and packaging. They have studios in London and San Francisco that collaborate on every project. They have done work for some very famous brands.

The above image is a brief they did for Virgin Airlines. They aimed it to inspire others to think the same way as Virgin Airlines. By taking visual language of international airports there aim was to encourage people to think differently about airlines. This interested me and took me be surprise as the sky images reminded me of the design work I had worked on for the BBC with another Student, Amy.
The packaging above is from ladies tights. A boring piece of clothing but the packaging gives this product a difference.

The above packaging is for PopChips ( a healthy snack) the aim was to make this new product look interesting and not like all other "healthy option" I feel this has been successful as I would not have known this. There is a lot of wit used in the design, like the i being represented by a single dot.

MultiAdapter

2010-02-02T06:16:00.000-08:00

MultiAdaptor is a London based company, Whilst on their website I had a look at their website designs. I came across this website designed for Ellesse.

The brief they were set was to help celebrate Ellesse's 50th birthday. They launched a public design competition to Create Tennis Art. There idea was to replace the raquets with oversized pencils and paintbrushes. I think the whole concept is great and the shapes and colours used show a sport image.

Zip Design

2010-02-02T06:03:00.000-08:00

Zip design is a London based multidisciplinary studio that has been working for 13 years. They have done all sorts of design work, brand development, IPhone apps, web design, web development, web banners, motion graphics and illustrations.

The above images are for an IPhone app for s DJ tool for Paul van Dyk (PvD). The App includes a bpm reader, db reader, a seismic plotter and many more useful dj items.

New Toyota Prius advert

2010-02-02T04:37:00.000-08:00

This is the new Toyota Prius Advert, the animations are great. Also think it is good as it is completely different to most car adverts. I find looking at different medias used to advertise thing helps when trying to come up with ideas. A good idea should be able to be used across a variety of medias.

Middle Boop

2010-02-02T03:49:00.000-08:00

The above image is the Middle Boop, the illustrations were designed by Gordon Reid.
I like how it is done in different layers using different medias. I am usually not interested with illustrations but for some reason this one really stuck out, I think it as it is mixed with graphic images.

X

2010-02-02T03:32:00.000-08:00

I was looking over a few blogs and I came across a post that interested me. On one of the blogs I found this post.

The blog post explains how in the environment there is lots of things that make an x. It goes on to say, I wonder if i press it it will close the city. Great!!

Day to Day living

2010-02-02T03:00:00.000-08:00

Typography is by Joe Harris and was found on Feedburner.

Heals Endsting

2010-02-01T06:03:00.000-08:00

I found out who designed the logo for Heals the furniture company, it was Dominic Lippa, a Pentagram Partner. I sent over my Heals end sting as I was interested in what he thought of it. I received a quick response in which I was very happy with.

New Santander advert - Lewis Hamilton

2010-02-01T04:47:00.000-08:00

This is the new santander advert, the whole effects throughout to give the logo impression are great. It all looks so real and excites all ages.

Swiss Design

2010-01-31T06:02:00.000-08:00

I have been researching into Swiss design for my dissertation, I have never really taken much interest in their poster designs but I found the geometry shapes they used to have great impact. It is obvious when you see Swiss posters as they have a certain feel.

The images below I found on a website called smashing magazine, I have really found great interest in this style as it is very simplistic but has a great effect.

The use of white space is also a great characteristic, this is something that is pushed in Graphic Design. White space can never be underrated. It’s help for both visual impact and readability. It is effective when used in designing a web page, it help the information to be clearly shown in a second. I took this into account when designing my own website for a carex design brief I was working on.

Heals typography packaging

2010-01-29T10:46:00.000-08:00

As I am doing my final major project on Heals packaging design I thought it was best to consider the exsiting pakcaging they have. The image below was designed by Domenic Lippa of Pentagram, he was also the designer of their Logo. I find this imagery very intesresting, it is really simple and only uses typography yet within the typography imagery is formed. I am aware of the colours used for the packaging - this is used throughout the store.

Brand House -Heals

2010-01-25T10:29:00.000-08:00

A london based company called Brandhouse did some shower gel packaging designs for Heals - the purpose of the packaging was for the consumer to want to leave the bathroom producrs out for guests to see. A

I think the designing was succesful, I would definitely have no worries in leaving these products out, I especially like the gold fish design - as I can imagine anyone would. It has a sense of humor in it design.

The Plant

2010-01-15T06:33:00.000-08:00

The Plant is a graphic design company based in east London, they have a wide variety of clients in different industries, including publishing, hospitality, television, fashion and the arts. The Plant did some motion graphics work for Channel 5, there was 10 spots available with over 200 submissions. The two videos below are what won The Plant two spots. The brief was about creating a new world in your living room. As a response they created a little world in a magazine.

Questions

2010-01-01T07:25:00.000-08:00

As a part of my brief at University I have to try and contact design companies with a few questions. I sent the following template out to a few companies - obviously altering some parts to link up with companies targeted. I only got a few replies and they had very minimal information on. So this is something I need to change. The one below was sent to Robert Dawson from Dawson Design.

Hello,

My name is Hayley Parle, I am currently in my final year studying a BA in Graphic design at Stockport College. Whilst searching through the Internet I came across your companies website, and I became interested straight away in your work and just wondered if I could ask you a few questions. The logo designs on your website were were what originally caught my eye as I have previously been working on an Identity brief myself.

I just wanted to ask you a few quick questions, you can simply answer Yes or No:

Did you study at University? Yes

How long have you been in the Industry? 10yrs

Is the "credit crunch" effecting the business? Yes

Do you find that as technology is changing all the time is puts pressure on you as a designer? Not really keeps me on my toes

Have you ever worked on a really great brief and got a great result and the client has changed it? Nearly every job

I look forward to hearing back from you. I hope you have the time to answer my questions.

Thank you for you time

Hayley Parle

Mike Rigby Lecture

2009-12-05T14:05:00.000-08:00

On 26th November Mike Rigby came into my college to give a lecture. I really did enjoy this lecture, as it was completely different to other lectures we had had. Mike studied at Preston for 4 years on a Graphic Design course, he had a one year placement between the 2nd and last year and finally graduated in 2002. Since graduating he has worked for Imagination London, Chase Manchester, Landor Sydney, Moon Design Sydney, Pentagram, Mark Studio and True North.

I was extremely interested to hear about Mike's experiences whilst working aboard. He advised us that taking a break is really important and he did this and it resulted in him finding work abroad. Mike had put together some of his pictures he had taken whilst on his travels, I was amazed. Travelling is always something I have wanted to do, him showing us these seemed unreal as we are used to seeing all the work designers have done - which he did do- but he shown us all the places he had been and told us stories about his experiences. It just goes to show that you can do anything if you put your mind to it.

Mike talked to us about the positives and negatives of working in the design world. It is nice to hear both sides. A lot of which we had heard before, it is interesting and challenging working within the design industry, you meet and collaborate with different people and are forever learning. You experience new things like photo shoots, award ceremonies and as he explained even working abroad. As with everything there is always some negatives, as we are always told graphic design is a very competitive industry, with long hours with unpaid overtime, there is a lot of pressure, client interference and sometimes the pay isn't great. Though if you are passionate about the job and are willing to put the effort in you will succeed. This last comment is one that should always be thought about. No matter how difficult something may be.

Placements are essential to help in finding a job after graduation, placements increase your pace of working and you get the experience of working on live briefs with real deadlines. You begin to contact others designer which could lead to more placements or even the possibilities of job opportunities. Having a strong portfolio which contains great ideas that are equally well executed helps you to become notices and get the chance of a placement. Having a positive attitude to your work is essential, being negative about your work will just bring your confidence down. One thing that Mike said, which I found to be a great but of advice was "rejection is a part of design, it doesn't mean that your not good enough."

I really took on board the advice that Mike gave us. He was soon moving back over to Australia to work, which I think is great for him. It just proves how quickly things can change.

Dress Code

2009-11-20T06:01:00.000-08:00

When in New York I went to visit a design agency 'Dress code'. I went to the company with Amy, a student I had done previous work with. Amy organised the visit as when she came across their company she was interested in the work they had created for MTV. The company consists of two men, Dan and Andre. Their work has been recognized by many awards, they have appeared in lots of magazines, coffee table books and even 3 museums. They met while studying graphic design at California College of the Arts. From there they went on to work for different companies including MTV, before setting up there own studio. Dress code offers a complete set of services - Branding & Design, Motion Graphics & Direction, Strategy & Naming, Web Production & Development.

As I mentioned Amy arranged the visit. We travelled down to meet Dan the co-founder of the company. Their work area was very spacious and clean - It looked like a nice environment to work in. Both mine and Amy's portfolios were set out in a box, this isn't very common over in New York and he really liked this. He had a look through Amy's portfolio and then had a look through mine and commented on the strong pieces and which pieces should not be in my portfolio. He mentioned how my typography work did not look strong in the situe I had put it in. As Amy and I had been working on pieces of work together we shown Dan the work to see if he could give us ways to improve these. He really liked out e4 work and commented on how the style used was really nice and we should stick with it - which is what we intend to do.

Overall I think the visit went well, he told us to keep in touch and I think the advice he gave us will be good for us in the future. Just before we left he gave us a book that he had written himself all about leaving University.

Porflion Visit - Box Creative New York

2009-11-19T11:01:00.000-08:00

Whilst in New York me and two other students from my College visited a design company called Box Creative, its based in Manhattan and is innovation, interactive, and artist-driven. The company is only small - only a few members - but this was one thing in which they enjoyed about how they work. The two designers who set up the business were brothers Joe and Andy, whilst there we spoke to them about our portfolios, design in New York and ideas of which we were working on at present. Overall I found they were very impressed with the work we shown.

The first thing that they picked up on was the presentation of our portfolios - boxes - as this had never been seen before and looked very clean, crisp and fresh. One thing they commented on was how the up and coming thing around New York is to have a website displaying all work instead of a portfolio, it is easier to see and look around and flick back and forth too and obviously easy to distribute around. This is one thing I am looking into doing as not only would it show my work in an interesting way but it would also be another piece of design and I would be able to have a certain look or design running throughout it. As they said one thing they would advise is to design an identity to run throughout the portfolio maybe including a logo. I found this to be a great idea.

One thing they picked up on was the use of Typography and said it was one of my strong points, this is not something that is pushed over in New York they are more image based so they were very impressed with this. Within my portfolio I have elements of my design work on the page to compliment the work, I wasn't sure when I was doing this whether it would be liked in the design world as a lot of portfolios I had seen were very plain and simple, this is advised by the tutors at my college but I wanted to try something new as I didn't like my original portfolio that was set out in this way. Joe and Andy seemed to like this layout as it gave the whole page a purpose. I was pleased with this feedback.

One thing that was picked up on that I also noticed was the quality of some of the images in my portfolio. This is something that I need to change, they advised me that vectors are advised rather than pixels so this is something I am going to look into changing, especially on my typography brief.

They liked my Heals end sting as it is creative yet simple and the layout is kept very simple to add to the simplicity of it. They seemed excited with the e4 storyboard that is still being produced at the moment for d&ad but advised to keep pushing the idea to see how far we can get it.

Overall I found the visit very interesting and helpful, I will be sure to keep in contact with Box as I was interested in the work that they were doing as it was keeping up to date with technology. A lot of their work was flash based which is something I would be interested in learning more about.

Container

2009-11-19T10:07:00.000-08:00

I attended a lecture by Container Plus that was based on collaboration within design work. Louise Vormitag who came to do the presentation advised that one of her colleagues she works along side now, Nicola is in fact an old college friend. After graduation they were scared about going into the world of work - as anyone would be- and decided to stick together as they had done work together during their education time. Although working as a team they produced two portfolios - one each - and when one of them had a visit with design directors they would take the other portfolio with them. With doing this they got some work.

One of the first projects the pair worked on was for Selfridges, it was designed for the cafe. The design was in the windows and they were drawn directly onto where it was being shown so the drawings and designing of the whole thing was sort of like a performance and people used to gather around and watch. I thought this was great as it was just something that wasn't planned but turned out to be a great success.

Working in a collaboration has many advantages as you help integrate each others strengths within your design work.

Another piece of work they did as a pair was for the launch of the Volkswagen Fox, they were given four rooms to design at the Copenhagen's creative lifestyle hotel. The idea that they went with was using playing cards as their basis so each room was given a suit and a whole story was shown using imagery in a very illustrative manor. The club room had a seductive feel, they brought people in to do the textiles side of the room.

After many projects had been done and they had a good client base they decided to extend the size of their business which unfortunately didn't work out too well. Although collaborative work has its advantages it can also cause problems especially if a dramatic change is made. The relationship between two people suddenly increased to many different relationships with more opinions and ideas which resulted in decisions being harder to make. Louise continued to work with Nicola after the break up of the company just after a year and also with one of the other women involved in the increased company. This is where Container Plus was formed as it is known today.

Louise shown us lots of her work and a lot of which I thought had a lot of variety in the medias used. This shows why collaboration is such a great thing to encourage. We as students are constantly being encouraged to work with other students on projects and I personally have found it a great opportunity to develop ideas. The majority of my work this year has been collaborative and I do recommend it to anyone as a student as this is how it works when out in the world of design.

Dave Sedgwick - contact report

2009-11-16T12:23:00.000-08:00

After the talk Dave came into College to do I emailed over to say thank you and on his reply asked for a PDF of my portfolio which I sent over.

Here is the response I got.

I really appreciated the feedback Dave gave as I personally agree with everything that was said. I think a re-brand would be a great thing to put into my portfolio as I do enjoy branding briefs, I am going to have a think and decide what brand I would enjoy doing and also work on expanding the fold outcomes as I think that is brilliant idea and I am sure it would give my portfolio a new depth especially designing a website as it is something I am interested in doing and is also something that is becoming a lot more common.

Sandy Karman

2009-11-01T04:13:00.000-08:00

I came across some work by Sandy Karman, who is a young Indonesian designer. His work shows some interesting elements.

Dave Sedgwick - 999

2009-10-20T11:45:00.000-07:00

On 29th October David Sedgwick a senior designer from 999 Design Manchester, came into college to give a lecture on his career and his experience in the design industry. I found the main point of his lecture was to show how he got to where he was and to give us advise, which is what he did.

Dave came to Manchester in the late 90s to study a D&AD course at Manchester Metropolitan University, he told us about his first two placements, one at Flix mag - a print based company before Internet was essential, and Splinter in Liverpool - a small design company. He really enjoyed the whole experience at Splinter but not so much at Flix mag, this sort of experience helps to make the decision on what sort of design agency you would prefer to work at. This was one of Dave's pieces of advise - research companies to help you make your own decision, as everyone is different.

Dave began to speak about how we should go about things like, portfolios, placements and even our end of year show. The end of year show last year being a red bus that was hired out to go around the town to different agencies, this was a great idea as it gave designers more of a reason to look at your work. Dave seemed to think it was a great idea but was maybe a little bit too cramped, this is something that us as a year can re think about when deciding on our end of year show. One thing Dave really believed in was getting a placement set up prior to graduation. This is a great bit of advise as it is something that could change everything. Experience is key.

Dave later went on to a placement at TCW - now Love Creative, after his placement there he was offered a job so this was a great achievement but was then later made redundant but as he had experience now as a paid designer he found it a lot easier to get interviews as contacts had been made and also other companies are always interested in what other agencies are doing. After being made redundant thought he decided to do some freelance work, before later getting a job at RACE, whilst working for these he continued to do own work as well which resulted in him gaining publicity and later in 2006 joined 999 where he is still working today. He has worked with a wide rang of clients including the BBC, Warburtons and Puma. Dave is still continuing to do his own work outside off 999 - Design by Dave.

Dave tried to give advise on how to get a job, I liked the attitude Dave gave to this as a lot of agencies that come in stress how difficult it is to be successful in the world of design where as Dave said the complete opposite which gave me personally a bit of confidence. He explained that it is not as hard as we might think, the time to be looking and planing is NOW!!! Finding agencies that we like is essential and to make sure that its not just big companies that are found. One piece of advise I have found great is to call the company you want to email just to find out a name as this is a lot more personal rather than just sending it to info@ and keep a diary of everything found.

This lecture was by far one of my favorite as I found it appealed to me a lot and the advise given helped me to think about things a lot more clearer.

100 applications per bottle

2009-10-05T07:32:00.000-07:00

On the carex bottle it says "100 applications per bottle" we thought this would be a great line to work with. We went out with an SLR camera and shot pictures of things that we touch on a day to day basis that other people also touch.

When we had our collection of images we then experimented with what we could do with the images in an advertising way. We thought of mosaics. Putting all of our images together to show an overall large image as the main advertisement. These are the ones we have currently designed and produced.

Now wash your hands

2009-10-05T07:22:00.000-07:00

This post follows up the earlier now wash your hands with visuals for the final ideas we came up with. One idea we have developed was for using objects to do things you would usually use your hands for, and exaggerating them for the humorous side.

Creative Blok

2009-10-05T04:02:00.000-07:00

Creative blok is by Graphic Designer Irina Blok. She finds inspiration in what's happening in the world. The aim behind the idea is to design amusing products by joining up two things that would never usually be seen together. Product range from fashion surgical masks, t-shirts, jewelry to household accessories.

Last Minute.com

2009-10-03T09:14:00.000-07:00

I found this piece of design work from a Student studying at the University of Gloucestershire. It was a piece of work from the 2005 graduates. It is to promote using Last Minute.com.

The person who has designed these pieces of design has taken a completely new look. Having images on a bus window isnt something new, having the images facing inwards is, and what a better place to put it than a bus or taxi where it is difficult to find something to keep you occupied. I think the images look great and would surely interest a lot of people.

Box Creative

2009-09-28T13:44:00.000-07:00

As I am visiting New York in November I thought that now would be a prime time to contact design agencies over there for their opinions on portfolio design and look at how they show their work on websites ect.

I came across a company called Box Creative, I was almost immediately taken in by the design of the website, it is very animated and although sometimes this can be a bit too " in your face" this one works well especially with the type of design work that they do.

I emailed over to Box creative and got a speedy response.

Here is what I sent over....

Here is the reply I received....

I can take alot out of the feedback I received about what to look at in the sense of a portfolio. Although Andy has aimed it more on a digital version of a portfolio. I get the impression a lot of agencies at the moment prefer this type of interaction rather than face to face with a physical portfolio. Being minimal is a main part of a succesful portfolio I find, as it shows your own work alot better.

I am going to try and stay in contact with Box Creative as I have liked the feedback I have got and I enjoyed looking through their website.

Wash Your Hands

2009-09-17T05:24:00.000-07:00

I am currently working on a collaborative project at University for NHS awareness. The Brief is to make people aware how fast germs are spread especially on the hands. After doing lists and lists of words associating with things that you associate with germs, infections, hands and washing, then we thought about taking the words out of the norm and collecting words such as dangerous and violent. I find thinking of word lists is the best thing to do when you come to a mind block.

I have found this poster which I think is very effective. It has a sort of shock factor which is effective in this sort of advertisement.

After seeing this poster me and Amy ( the person I am working with) have decided that something we can associate with and also have a shock factor interlinked with the main idea would be the most effective. The idea needs to be flexible and should be able to be used in a variety of different medias. A good idea can be shown easily and effectively but a great idea can be shown again and again over different medias and be just as effective.

We are currently in the proccess of getting our ideas finalized.

An Exciting Showcase of 2009 Logo Trends

2009-09-10T06:18:00.000-07:00

Every year the world goes through different trends, this is included in design and also in newly designed logos. I came across a website, Graphic Design Blog. This blog had documented new trends and logos that were predicted to come out of 2009, I found it very interesting.

1 # Classic Modernism

Since late 2008, classic modernism is adapted once again. It shows some of the logos which convey the company name and message without portraying or saying much. At times it might seem complicated but designers always try it happily.

2 # Typographic Logos

Typographic logos can never fade from the designer’s list of desisning elements as they are too attractive to miss. These logos consistently demonstrate definite message of a company with manners and purity.

3 # Psychedelic Pop Backgrounds

These logos are believed to be an outcome of a romantic counter culture. Nowadays 1960s psychedelic background patterns are mixed with contemporary shapes to stir mood and emotion in the viewer.

4 # Puzzle Patterns

As mostly new designers have no definite designing rules they try using complex vector graphics to intentionally veer away from the rules. These logos might seem appealing but their complexity make you ponder over them for a longer period.

5 # Arabesque

Calligraphy makes the soul of a logo echo, especially Arabic calligraphy. With ample of harmony and connectivity, Arabesque logos are always appreciated. The Arabesque solution is the answer to a designer’s desire for uniqueness.

6 # Pictograms

Sometimes we need the logos to be designed like a problem solving process. Strong trend is witnessed towards integrating meaningful icons which have the ability to convey the essential values of the brand, its message and its market position.

7 # Tactile

Tactile means relating to touch or invoking the sense of touch and these logos present the material which can be touched. This process is a huge challenge even for the most experienced graphic designers as they have to work with a preferred software which allows them the traditional tasks of cutting, painting and pasting.

8 # 80’s Geometry

This trend was introduced in 80’s with the only purpose of capturing viewer’s attention. Monster-like geometrical logos are mostly used by aggressive and self-centered companies to shout in today’s over-saturated market.

9 # Origami

Origami-based logos are a good choice for corporate monograms. Origami is the Japanese art of folding paper, but the goal is to use small folds and creases to bring about delicate and intricate objects. For such logos designers have to put in lot of effort and time.

10 # Street Art

Street Art brings handmade graphics to mind, with hints of urbanism. When designers want to come up with something original and trendy, they opt for street art which we always find around.

I find it interesting how it can be predicted what is to come out of a year - purely in design. I found number 9 very interesting as I can relate to this logo as I did a piece of design work for a paper mechanics convention on one of my briefs but they have used this paper folding technique for a logo that obviously has nothing to do with the subject. (milky bar)

Visit to A to M

2009-06-25T22:00:00.000-07:00

Today I went to see Mike Fallows of A to M in Manchester. I found it to be a great experience and also found the feed back very useful. I find it is very important to have a look and visit different types of design agencies to give yourself a bigger view and more variety on deciding the type of agency more suited to yourself. A to M is a small company - only a small group, but that doesn't mean the work is on a smaller scale.

Mike had a look at my portfolio and overall had a positive view on it but he explained to me what agencies look for in a portfolio. Whilst looking at my magazine piece he liked the quality of the images and the layout but when looking at my double page spread asked my reasoning behind what I had done. Although there was a reason for it his feedback on it was it is a weak point to my magazine design as the shapes look a bit too random to have a meaning. I am glad he told me this as it has made me have a look back at that piece of work and think about his reasoning's behind it.

Another piece of work we discussed was my typeface, I explained how it was done and why I had one letter on its own and then when turning over the whole alphabet was revealed. I am not sure that Mike liked this as when he looked at the letter on its own he asked where the rest was. Maybe I should consider a different layout on this and also where I have used the typeface in context should be experimented a bit more with as Mike asked me where the typeface would be used if created? and after thinking it wouldn't really be used effectively in a bus stop just as a quote.

Again like with Anthony from Music Mike liked mt Heals piece and thought it was a great way to finish off my portfolio. The way it is set out is enough to just look at and understand without needing to explain. After the third time of hearing that although the book is good a box is better I have decided to re design my portfolio and present it in a box form rather than a book. I have been persuaded.

Design by Music Visit

2009-06-23T18:00:00.000-07:00

Today I went to Music to show Anthony my portfolio. I found the visit very useful, before looking at my portfolio Anthony had a chat with me about how I was finding my course and which elements of graphic design I get more enjoyment from doing. I found this a great question to ask me as it has definitely got me thinking as im coming up to my final year, this is the best time to have a think about things like that and also maybe new things I would like to try. He also commented on the recent bus stop tour that the third years from my BA course have done and asked my opinion on the idea. I do like the idea, in fact I think it was a fantastic idea and I am really looking forward to when its my turn to do that.

Overall Anthony liked my portfolio. He did advise that I get myself a box for my third year as it is a lot bigger space to work with and also is easier to edit. I do agree with this, I am glad I did the book first as I think that it would be nice to have this to accompany the box portfolio. After speaking to Anthony I felt that maybe I should consider the layout of each piece of work a lot more, this would be a lot better when designing the spreads for my box. The advice he gave me about the spread which had my alphabet on was really good. He told me that if I am going to show my font being used (like I have) then it is advised that I put it in some sort of context where I would like to see it being used in. Anthony liked my Heals end sting, the way it is set out I find that it is easy to understand without seeing the animation. It works well as the last piece of work in my portfolio.

I enjoyed the visit and took alot from it. I am looking forward to music getting their website up so I can look at their work alot more. I have looked at it when Anthony and Craig came in, and look forward to seeing more of it. I will keep in contact with Anthony as I found everything he said very useful.

Below I have published a piece of work by Music that I really like.

Portfolio Visit

2009-05-12T07:31:00.000-07:00

Now I have my Portfolio finalized I wanted some feedback about it. Unfortunately the design company I was taking it to had to cancel as they had a last minute meeting with a client. Which is fully understandable. Fortunately I was able to see Thoughtful at such short notice. Stuart and Chris sat down and looked at my work with me. As I had designed a booklet instead of a box they were a little concerned but after speaking to them about my reasons we decided that it is a good idea to have as a sort of leave behind as well as a portfolio box.

As far as my work was concerned they seemed very pleased with it, they advised that I had a good body of work and it was laid out well. Stuart added that the book was very simply laid out and felt clean and light weight and was nice to look at. Small things they both picked up on was the leading and positioning of the type I had used to explain each brief. I have taken this into consideration as they made it obvious me to that the small things will be picked up on and noticed more than the work itself.

Overall I was very pleased with the feedback I received from Stuart and Chris as they have given me confidence in my work and also made me think that everything needs to be checked over and over again to ensure that no mistakes are made. I am hoping to get more visits over the summer so I can get more feedback from different people.

HD designs

2009-05-08T08:03:00.001-07:00

Here is my contact report with HD designs

I have recently had a reply from him telling me he had had a hectic week so he will email me next week to organize a visit.

Normal Bias

2009-05-08T07:27:00.000-07:00

Whilst on Graphic Hug I came across a company called Normal Bias. They are experimental art and design house. I liked the editorial work that they had done.

It is obvious in this magazine they designed for Fleeing from Pigeons Publishing that they have stuck to a grid structure, which I find is very useful when designing editorial peices. This peice or work proves that grids can be very effective. The images work well alongside the text and the hierarchy is also set out great.

Viral Marketing

2009-05-08T06:30:00.000-07:00

What is Viral marketing??

Viral marketing and viral advertising refer to marketing techniques that use social networks and increase awareness, such as word of mouth, internet. Viral promotions take form of video clips, interactive flash games, advergames, ebooks, brandable software, images, or even messages.

In 2006, shortly before Christmas, Threshers leaked a voucher worth 40% off wine and champagne via the internet. Apparently the voucher was only intended for suppliers and the belief that Threshers had mistakenly released the voucher made it spread faster and faster around the world via email, social networks and blogs.

Threshers pretended to be worried about losing money on the promotion but no doubt ended up making a huge profit and getting publicity in a month than they got for the whole year.

Watch as Ronaldinho takes delivery of a new pair of boots and spends over two minutes demonstrating the most amazing football skills the internet has ever seen.

23.5 million people have watched this ad on YouTube. Pure genius.

It is proven that Viral marketing is very effective. And is very cost effective.

Advertising campaigns

2009-05-08T03:30:00.000-07:00

Advertisements are something we come face to face with on a day to day basis. Some of these are very minimal such as ads in the news paper and some are as big as billboards. Billboards are a great way of getting a message across, whether your on the bus, walking down the street, driving in your car you at some time look at billboards and advertisements.

JWT London did a chocolate advertisement for Kit Kat.

I think this is a great peice of advertising, not only would it be aimed at the people who see but but it would be passed on in viral way.

Whilst still on the chocolate topic here is a piece of advertiseing for Dairy Milk, I found this on a blog but there was no reference for where it was from.

This is great as the actual billboard is used for the design.

Unconvential layouts

2009-05-08T03:15:00.000-07:00

Unconventional layouts are a common feature of Postmodern art and design. I do link this type of work to the work that I produce. The layouts are different and have a twist to the layout which makes it more pleasing to the eye.

Below is some work by Barney Bubbles also known as Colin Fulcher, his work is obviously Postmodern and the unconventional layout side or postmodernism is definitely apparent in his work. Barney worked on Album covers alot.

Guerilla Marketing

2009-05-07T16:16:00.000-07:00

What is Guerilla Marketing??

Guerrilla marketing is an unconventional selection of promotions that relies on time, energy and imagination rather than a big marketing budget. Guerrilla marketing tactics are unexpected and unconventional; consumers are targeted in unexpected places, which can make the idea that's being marketed memorable.

I found the images below from Amid Pejman's blog

Superman returns ad

Slim: same idea, 3 different products: Slim Fast

Have fun: Sex shop advertising on the streets of a city

Volkswagen Polo guerilla campaign: small, but tough.

Crashed car placed in a parking lot to announce a Monster Trucks show

Jeep Parking: Painted parking spaces to advertise Jeep's ability to be driven on rough terrain.

Holidays: Everyone is going on a Virgin Holiday. Suitcases placed in the hands of statues

DHL: If it is where it belongs, it was probably delivered by DHL (click for larger view)

"Use only what you need" from Denver Water

Axe was always good with advertising... this one is placed next to an exit sign

All you can eat motorway rest stop at the entrance in a tunnel

Otl Aicher

2009-05-07T16:03:00.000-07:00

Whilst on Graphic Hug a came across some work by Otl Aicher, the work published on the blog was Aicher design work for the Olympic games in Munchen 1972.

Craig Oldham Vs Truth (1000 word comparison)

2009-05-07T15:23:00.000-07:00

During this year, a number of designers have come in to talk about their work. These include Truth, Music, Tal Rosner, Fudge, Fake ID and Glorious. Some of the lectures I have enjoyed a lot and others not so much, this is because each one will have different ways of presenting their work and giving advice. One of the lectures presented was from Truth, a small Graphic Design company, just made up of two people who used to work for McCann Erickson which is a major world wide Advertising company. Darren from Truth was very much into designing typography, over the years he designed quite a wide range of fonts, one which was in fact used in the mast head for the loaded magazine. Some of these fonts are Berliner, Sodium, Mechanic Gothic, Amplifier.

When lecturers come in to speak to us I find most people are more interested when work is shown that we see in our everyday life. This was definitely apparent in their work. They had done work for the likes of: Allsports, Sony, First Advice and Durex.

Truth obviously needed other people to join then in doing their work, as they were such a small company. They thought that this was a good thing as they were always in control and could choose who they liked to do the work. As they were such a small company they had a lot of stuff to do in a small space of time. They would have to speak to the client about their work and the reasons why they had done it, just like all agencies, they explained that its difficult to just hand something to a client and expect them to like it without you explaining it to them.

Craig Oldham has only been graduated 3years, he used to work for the Chase but is currently working for Music. Whilst at the chase he did a publication called 12 in 12 (12 things you might learn in your first year as a designer) This publication did win awards. Craig’s lecture was about his publication, which was very different. Craig has a very strong personality; he likes to make jokes which is why I found his lecture really interesting. This was a different talk from most which I had attended in the past as Craig had only graduated from university three years ago so his understanding on being a student was fairly fresh in his mind. He talked about staying up all night trying to meet deadlines while being a student. He seemed very passionate about his work. Like Truth Craig did show us some of his work, why wouldn’t he? This wasn’t the main part of his lecture though, Truth did what most designers do when they come in to talk to us and told us about what they had done in the design world and then shown us work, although this was good I find that after a few lectures of people coming in saying the same thing and showing the same thing it gets a bit repetitive.

Craig talked through all 12 of the points in his publication. He brought up a point which I found was a great question to ask “Are you a logical designer or an emotional designer? This question really did make me think. Logical designers do things that have an obvious purpose like toilet signs, no parking signs ect.

Then on the other hand there are designers who have an emotional eye for things, who would design something with a purpose but with a twist.

Being asked to think what type of designer you think you are was a really good question. I am still unsure and I’m sure many people will be, it is always fun to make your designs look emotional and have a great idea behind them, but at the same time you want your idea to work and be obvious. This is something young designers like myself need to consider as this splits up the different companies.

Craig asked us to think about what our strengths and weaknesses were?? He told us that he knew his weaknesses, being he wasn't too good at grids and web designing, a piece of advice he gave us was to try and get better by asking questions and seeing what other people are good at. Don't be embarrassed about telling people your strengths and weaknesses.The main points I took out of this part of the lecture was to have a hit list and research them. Be punctual, that a little enthusiasm goes a long way and most of all be yourself.

I found Craigs lecture really useful especially at this time of the year whilst trying to organise portfolio visits and creating my portfolio. Craig seems really down to earth and says things how they are. I think this is a great attitude to have while being in this industry. I did also enjoy the lecture by Truth as they shown that if you try and you believe in yourself aims are reachable, they left their easy job where they had people around to do things for them to be on their own where they had to do every little thing them self. Although I enjoyed both lectures as designers they are both very different and shown them selves is a different way. As Craig has only been out of the industry for three years, he spoke about things that we could relate to, also the majority of his talk was to give us advise, he did show us his work too. They do both work in different environment, Craig works for a very large company with different people to bounce ideas off and work with, where as Truth are a small company but still work with lots of different people.

I feel I took a lot out of both of these lectures as they were both so different it makes you realise that there are so many different things to do with graphic design and different ways of being involved. Craigs attitude was very enthusiastic and really made me think that things can be achieved if you try, which is the same thing I got from the Truth lecture.

Ben Deter

2009-05-07T06:06:00.000-07:00

Whist looking at Dirty Mouse I came across a design called Ben Deter,
Ben studied Visual Communication at Northern Illinois University and then later moved on to work in Poland at the Academy of Fine Arts in Katowice, he then moved over Chicago and did an internship at a company called Thirst. He then began working full-time under the professional mentorship of Rick Valicenti and John Pobojewski becoming a multidisciplinary designer.

Below is a seasonal greetings card designed for Merchandise Mart properties of a sea T-O-G-E-T-H-E-R is spelt out with custom type and one of the Merchandises Mart's many themes. This was designed at Thirst.

Ivan Chermayeff

2009-05-07T03:55:00.000-07:00

Ivan Chermayeff - Below is some work by Ivan Chermayeff, who works for a Graphic design company Chermayeff & Geismar. I came across his work whilst on noisy decent graphics...

Real or Fake

2009-05-07T02:46:00.000-07:00

I was searching through the internet and came across a page about images that are taken and whether or not they are real or fake. I found this really interesting as it just goes to show that by using image minipulation it is easy to make something so simple look like something else.

Animal Human Hybrid

Fake

Human remains inside crocodile

Real

Huge House cat

Real

Huge house cat

Fake

Giant Rabbit

Real

Dog meets Porcupine

Real

Dead wife in coffee table

Fake

Dead frog in frozen peas

Real

Cash seized in drug raid

Real

Mermaid Carcuss

Fake

Unsual Twins

Real

Neville Brody

2009-05-07T02:19:00.001-07:00

Neville Brody is a designer who I always look at for inspiration. Neville Brody is a British designer and art director, has now been at the forefront of graphic design for over two decades. He designed many different fonts such as Acadia , Industria, Insignia, He was one of the founding members of FontWorks in London and designed a number of notable typefaces for them. He was also partly responsible for instigating the FUSE project an influential fusion between a magazine, graphics design and typeface design.

I found this peice of work by Brody and it really caught my eye. I like design work that is done purely typograpghical. As long as it works, this I find really does.
Initially working in record cover design, Brody made his name largely through his revolutionary work as Art Director for The Face magazine. He was also partly responsible for instigating the project Fuse, an influential fusion between a magazine, graphics design and typeface design.

Fake ID

2009-05-05T07:38:00.000-07:00

FAKE ID consist of 2 people named Joshua Trees and Ivan Martinez. They met in San Francisco a number of years ago after Ivan had achieved a Masters in Mathematics but wanted to do something related to design. Joshua was already based in the area of Graphic design and Fine Art. Joshua and Ivan came in and we worked with us on a project that involved making sound and a dialogue an image. Me and Sarah were given an image of a man playing a keyboard. We had to study the picture then come up with a dialogue that would fit around it without directly commenting on what was goin on in the picture. Below is our scipt.

Bee

Life is fun being a bee. The amount of things you see is great and very exciting as nobody is aware that your there. Oh what do we have here… its looks like a party. Hmm ill go and explore. What is that unusual object, it’s a large round thing that has a large 18 written on it. It also has a type of ribbon hanging from it that’s tied to a chair; I think it will try an escape if it’s untied. I’m hungry, I’m going to try and go and find some food I can nibble on. What is in that giant bowl filled with? It looks quite scary to me up here, what if I fall in it?? Il end up drowning and dying, think I’m going to move away from this bowl. Ok I have found some triangular objects filled with some sort of red stuff, they look nice but it’s not my type of food. Woahhhh watch out I always get batted out of the way and cheers now I’ve been flung across the grass and on the floor. Ouch that really hurt, think they’ve damaged my leg. Ok time to have another fly around. Iv have just landed on something sticky, my feet seem to be stuck ohhh nooo it’s like quick sand what am I going to do? I think is food oh crap he’s picked up the food and im heading towards his mouth HELP MEEEE!!!. Oh thank god I have just fallen off and managed to fly away…lucky escape! Oooo I am tired after all this flying around ill go and have a rest on that leaf over there ( pause ) arrr that’s better, these lil wings don’t last as long as they used to. This party is getting busier and everyone seems to be having a good time, im not sure bout his music though. Where are the words???? Oh no drinks gone flying over the table, hahaha that girls white dress isn’t white any more…arghhhhhhh!! That’s my rest over, stupid wind always blows me off the leaves!! Arwel lets continue to go and find out something interesting. This table is very messy, looks like I will have some fun in here; I think that tall brown thing looks interesting. Ewwww it has sum sticky stuff around the edges, mmmm it tastes good though? What is this? Everyone around seems to be drinking it. Arrrrrrrrrrrrr…….(splash) hellpppp!!! Hellooooooo im stuck……bbblleeee bllleeeee blllleeeee…..

Daniel Eatock - Thank You Pictures

2009-05-05T06:57:00.000-07:00

Daniel Eatock - A Thank You Picture. Incidents, alignments, coincidences, view points, temporary situations and other small things that often go unnoticed. The Pictures are conceptual observations not photography. The image is not as important as the content and the title is as much a part of the work as the photograph*

* Daniel Eatock, imprint

Here are some examples of A Thank You Picture on his website.

No Hopping

Dogs getting a ticket

E.T

Black and White cats

Frozen Fish

Boys and Girls

Double Parked cars

You are what you make

Rectangle of cows

Drinking Tree

Mother and Son

50 cars = 1 bus

2009-05-04T06:56:00.001-07:00

Whilst on the Creative review website I noticed this Post which really caught my attention. This was done by Acne, It was made to look like a Flygbussarna coach it was built from 50 cars by the side of the main road to Stockholm airport. The Purpose was to encourage people to use the bus to get to the airport instead of driving.

Usp creative Liverpool

2009-05-01T07:53:00.000-07:00

I emailed USP creative and i got a response from Rob Milner agreeing to organise a time to meet up to look at my portfolio.

Unfortunately I am still waiting for a reply. I am going to do a follow up email just incase he has forgotten. Hopefully I will then organise a visit with it.

1 day Brief

2009-04-30T06:02:00.001-07:00

1. Environment
2. Read the 2 pieces of writing attached (Georges w, species of spaces and Baker, Nicholson, the mezzanine)
3. Return to college and write up your findings.
On a4. Typeface Zurich Roman. 9 point with 13 point leading. 600-1000 words. Do not edit. Put your name and environment on the paper.
4. check you have followed the above instructions correctly
5. hand in your printed copy by 4pm.

We all had to pick places out of a hat. I think I chose the best..a pub!! So off I went to Whetherspoons in stockport. And here is what my day consisted of....

Hayley Parle Beer Garden - Wetherspoons Stockport 21st April 12:00

Its sunny and very warm. Everybody seems happy, I think its because of the weather. Pints of lager, glass of red wine, people are drinking at this time on a weekday. Names have been scratched into the table. Old man shouts Steven, Steven walks in with a huge Rotweiler, who gets annoyed by a wasp. The wind is picking up as the sun has hidden behind a cloud, everybody still seems happy though. The garden is equipped with palm trees and exotic plants. I think they are trying to make it look like a paradise. Not doing a very good job at it though. Some scally bloke has jus spat on the floor. Ewwww he has just done it again, that is disgusting. Some bloke has just introduced himself to me as “love doctor” this must be the kind of people this place attracts. It must be dinner time as it is getting busier. Oh a pink ball has jus flown over the fence and bounced on a table, luckily it didn’t knock any ones pint over. Oh love doctor is now saying he is spiderman and is attempting to climb over the wall. The ball got kicked back over. The Rotweiler isn’t happy. He is getting shouted at. Chit Chat is all you hear. Think it is time to have something to eat. The menu is quite good, pretty cheap. Hmmmm what should I have?? Stop swearing stupid man. The floor is mouldy, how nice. Oh god scally grandma is bladdered. One of the windows on the door to the pub is smashed. I wonder how that happened? Probably someone drunk and fighting. The beer garden is surrounded by an unstable looking fence. I think if someone leant on it, it would surely just fall down. I think there must be a school near by, you can hear children playing, that must be where the ball came from. Ooo someone has just ordered double cheese burgers, they look well tasty. “Love doctor” is trying to steal them. The waitress isn’t impressed. A god dam hover fly is doing my head in!! Just go away!! Oh my god the bloke who was swearing has just got some brand new nike trainers out of a Matalan bag and put them on, they have still got the security tag hanging off. Blatantly just been robbed. Seriously where are we?? “Eggy is after ya!!!”

Sat inside now, it is a lot quieter in here. The table we are sat at is really untidy. There are mugs and tea bags everywhere. It smells nice in here, its the food. Someone is tidying it up now, about time. The carpet is full of stains and so are the chairs we are sat on. There is no music on, which I think is why it seems very quiet. You can hear the IT box playing, Deal or No Deal. Just ordered some Nachos with chilli, it had best be nice. It isn’t as eventful inside as it was in the beer garden. Auww some old man is struggling carrying his dinner. Food is here, that was fast, these nachos look like they have been sat waiting around for a while. The chilli is nice, not too spicy but also not much heat. These Nachos taste like cardboard. I am really let down. Two women have just come in with new born babies. They are tiny. The television is on sky news channel. It would be more useful if they had the sound up but still all you can here is the IT box, which is strange for a pub because usually its chit chat you can here. The scally bloke who enjoys spitting is on his way to the bar, he is on crutched, this will be fun watching him carry a beer on crutches! I wonder what he has done? I think he has probably been shot. After being let down by the nachos I think I will have a chocolate fudge cake. Cant be let down by the chocolate fudge cake. Hmm i can smell curry that smells nice. The bloke on crutches is back, he is carrying them in one hand and the pint in the other. That is pointless. These fudge cake is beautiful, it is warm and really fudgey. Ice cream. The waitress was a bit rude though. Its not too difficult to smile. I think its time to go now. The weather outside looks nice again woooo.

Craig Oldham

2009-04-24T17:00:00.000-07:00

Today Craig Oldham came in to talk to us. Craig has only been graduated 3years, he used to work for the Chase but is currently working for Music. Whilst at the chase he did a publication called 12 in 12 (12 things you might learn in your first year as a designer) This publication did win awards.

Craig talked through all 12 of the points. He brought up a good point to Graphic designers, he exaplined you are either a logical designer or an emotional designer. Which one are you? This question really did make me think. Logical designers doing things that have an obvious purpose like toilet signs, no parking signs ect.
Then on the otherhand there is designers who have an emotion eye to thing who would design something with a purpose but with a twist.

Being asked to think what type of designer do you think you are was a really good question. I am still unsure and im sure many people will be, it is always fun to make your designs look emotional and have a great idea behind them, but at the same time you want your idea to work and be obvious. This is something young designers like myself need to consider as this splits up the different companies.

Craig asked us to think about what our strengths and weaknesses were?? He told us that he knew his weaknesses, being he wasn't too good at grids and web designing, a piece of advice he gave us was to try and get better by asking questions and seeing what other people are good at. Don't be embarrassed about telling people your strengths and weaknesses.

Portfolio

As I am currently putting together my portfolio I appreciate feedback and help on portfolios. Craig told us that it is the most subjective thing we will ever design. He shown us his portfolio, it was a very clean layout, very spacious and simply positioned. It makes the pictures do the talking rather than being over fussed with decoration. The way the work is shot is a main important part of a successful portfolio.

Placements

Work placements are a very important part of becoming a graphic designer, when designers come in to talk to us they all say this, they always say the same thing. Thousands of people are in the same boat so to be successful you need to get yourself heard. Craig told us about his journey from placement to placement which was very interesting as he made it obvious that the whole design company world is like a spiders web, everyone knows each other some how. He also gave is a list on reasons we should and reasons we shouldn't do placements.

Should Shouldn't

New expectations Loss money wise
Real work Away for a period of time- more often than not
Meet interesting people Taken advantage of
put you ahead of the competition
improve tea making skills
re assure you of your ability
makes you more confident

The main points I took out of this part of the lecture was to have a hit list and research them. Be punctual, that a little enthusiasm goes a long way and most of all be yourself.

I found this lecture really useful especially at this time of the year whilst trying to organise portfolio visits and creating my portfolio. Craig seems really down to earth and says things how they are. I think this is a great attitude to have while being in this industry.

Here i am

2009-04-23T03:24:00.000-07:00

Whilst looking on the internet at different local Graphic Design companies I found a company in Manchester called Here I am. At the time of me searching the website I was working on my logo brief so I was interested with the work as there was a lot of interesting logos.

I particularly liked the logo designed for Reticon a north Manchester based business psychologisy.
I like how the letters T and I have been altered slightly to look like people. When a slight ajustment is made to something which gives it a different look i think that works really well, especially in logos.

Also the use of bright colours is effective, but not in all cases. This logo for Chorlton Family Photography is really bright and eye catching. It is so simple as it only uses circles for the imagery but these also gives the impression of a family sort of portrait.

I emailed Here I am to see if there was chance for me to take my portfolio down to them for some feed back and I got a quick response saying that I could. I am currently just putting the finishing touches to my portfolio and setting up a time.

Zumm creative

2009-04-17T07:46:00.000-07:00

I emailed Zumm Creative....

This is the response I got

I then emailed him over my portfolio and he got straight back...

I would have probably preferred a bit more of a response.

Contact report

2009-04-16T05:11:00.000-07:00

I emailed my porfolio over to Chris from Mainframe, and here is the response I got..

After this feedback I went through my Porfolio and made a lot of changed. I was happy with the results and glad of the feed back i received.