fives & zeros

New blog

2010-12-03T12:58:00.003Z

I have moved my blog over to www.fivesandzeros.co.uk/blog and from the link on www.fivesandzeros.co.uk

The blog now has a much cleaner layout and runs more smoothly with formatting etc. I will aim to post more often, particularly of my own work. I hope you join the blog at its new home.

This Blogger address will no longer be in use.

Corrugated card logos

2010-12-02T12:43:00.006Z

However time consuming these corrugated card logo constructions may have been, they are certainly a brilliant sight. The detail is flawless to say the least. I wish they were for sale, the striking Kellog's K bursting from the wall would make my day every time. These constructions are made by 'Cardboard artist' Mark Langan, see the rest at 1800 recycling.

Staircase storage

2010-12-01T20:09:00.005Z

This clever concept for stacked storage is the creation of Danny Kuo, who describes it thus:

"The most efficient way to build is vertically. Building vertically saves space as it uses minimal ground square meters. When it comes to interior design, the same rule can be applied. By focusing on height rather than width, efficient storage designs can be created. However, high storage designs can create a new problem because the higher storage parts will be difficult to reach. My Staircase is a shelving unit that combines a bookshelf with a pullout stair system in the bottom three shelves. The shelving unit is 2.6 meters high and the top shelves are accessible by using the bottom shelves as steps for accessing the higher shelves." Staircase by Danny Kuo

Via SwissMiss, via Found By James

S.I.A Gallery

2010-11-22T09:29:00.002Z

Examples of the way finding sign system to be employed at the Sheffield Institute of Arts Gallery.

A few months ago I was asked to design a sign system that would attract new visitors to the gallery as well as helping them navigate it, due to it being rather complicatedly laid out.

The system utilises large colourful arrows alongside black Gotham Bold type. All signs will be applied in vinyl as the gallery only has a small budget and will flow smoothly throughout the building.

Ralph Caplan interview with Debbie Millman

2010-11-04T16:27:00.003Z

Former editor in chief of i.D. magazine Ralph Caplan speaks to Debbie Millman about being kicked out of high school, working for Industrial Design and the difference between making things right as a designer as opposed to making things nice.

Listen to the podcast interview at Design Observer.

Triangular design manifesto

2010-11-03T19:36:00.002Z

This manifesto by Conceptual Devices is beautifully witty.

00_ Design should not be based on formal principles – but always on an idea of society.
01_ Designed forms represent possible social orders and a lot of their contradictions.
02_ Design is everything. Anything could be designed. Everyone is a designer.
03_ Design allows social innovations. Often it is not made by designers.
04_ Design has not scale. It could be small and have great impact.
05_ Design is not an innocent practice. Designers are wicked.
06_ Design should engage people and interact with them.
07_ Design is an interdisciplinary applied science.
08_ Design produces visual consciousness.
09_ Design is a triangular manifesto.
10_ Design makes you smile.
11_ This is the top.
12_ Enjoy!

Typographic wallet

2010-11-02T18:30:00.003Z

This is a wallet I have made aimed at typographic minded people. It is made completely of duct tape and is part of a quick Entrepreneur project as part of my final year at Sheffield Hallam University.

The wallet is for sale at Etsy for $8 here. They are made to order and can contain any lettering you like, but only a maximum of 2 letters (one for each side) in any colour.

The wallets are extremely durable and contain 4 credit card slots, one clear I.D. slot, 2 sections for notes and 2 hidden pockets for loose change. Although these types of wallets are available quite widely, mine are custom made and aimed specifically at designers. Soon to come in white as well.

Project work 2010/11

2010-10-18T21:12:00.003+01:00

I have decided to pursue 2 main projects this year as part of my final year of university. The first came as a result of being asked to design a new way-finding signage system for the Sheffield Institute of Arts gallery. I was approached at the end of the summer period following the production of the folder for the SHU faculty of ACES, with the request to design a new system to entice people into the gallery space and how to navigate towards it, due to it being rather non-descript and hard to find.

The other project will be an identity redesign for Browns fashion in London, which is a fictional brief. This project will focus on refreshing their current identity and applying it across a plethora of media, particularly packaging, which I want to use as an opportunity to really express the brand. Similar to how Michael Bierut achieved this with Saks Fifth Avenue.

Work in progress to be featured in the coming days.

Crap(Gap) up your logo

2010-10-11T13:34:00.004+01:00

Join in the controversy currently sweeping the design and internet world regarding the new Gap logo at CrapLogoMe

Re-blogged from BrandNew

A pointless task

2010-10-07T14:52:00.012+01:00

After a morning discussion with Ian Anderson, founder of the Sheffield based design studioDesigners Republic, a group of us (Sheffield Hallam final year graphic design students) were given the task of performing something completely pointless for an hour and to document our findings.

Examples of pointless tasks given were throwing a penny over a balcony every minute, riding the bus to a destination of no importance and back, and sharpening pencils for 60 minutes. All very pointless to a degree.

The task I thought up involved filling in the counters of every letter (well, the ones with counters) from a article I found on Design Observer entitled "Malcolm Gladwell is #Wrong" which makes reference to Twitter. I chose this article simply because it was the newest one added. This turned out to be more of a laborious task than I had first anticipated, I documented my progress by photographing it every 5 minutes.

We are to make a 10 minute presentation tomorrow afternoon, with the aim to convince the rest of the group that the task completed was in fact utterly pointless. I'm not sure at the moment what this will achieve, but as the overall theme is based on communication I expect it will improve our presentation skills and out ability to "sell" our ideas to clients.

My findings from this experiment concluded that after 60 minutes of filling in the counters I covered 48 lines of type, I filled in a total of 1246 letter counters, there was an average of 26 counters per line and finally that both my wrist and eyes ached after.

My horrible logo

2010-10-04T17:34:00.002+01:00

I have just seen my taylor made horrible logo which only cost me a grand total of $5 over at www.horriblelogos.com It's truly disastrous. Have your own made and get a link to your website.

Notebook for 2010/11 academic year

2010-09-29T13:00:00.003+01:00

After quite a wait I finally had the time to screen print the cover for my new notebook for 2010. Unfortunately due to a much more awkward process than I was an expecting (due to book thickness and very fine type), this project will remain a one-off for now.

New work: Clean Air Asbestos Services

2010-09-23T15:12:00.010+01:00

Following the identity design and rebranding for Clean Air produced back in December 2009, I was asked to design a report cover and a new company brochure outlining exactly what they do and how they go about it, which I decided to title accordingly: This is what we do and how we do it.

Along with this I also designed a completely refreshed livery for the company transport.

Celebrating the Vignellis

2010-09-14T10:58:00.004+01:00

The Vignelli Center for Design Studies is set to open up it's doors on September 16th and is situated at the Rochester Institute of Technology, Rochester, New York.

Read the full article on Design Observer who are also featuring a whole selection of articles on both Massimo and Lella Vignelli in a celebration of over 40 years of influential design practise.

245 Tenth

2010-09-08T14:25:00.004+01:00

I discovered today that on October 1st Pentagram will be welcoming their newest partner to their New York offices. Eddie Opara will be the newest partner since Luke Hayman in 2006. Opara will also be bringing his team from the studio he started in 2005, Map Creative.

Upon reading about his move to Pentagram I decided to check out Map's portfolio and one project particularly caught my eye, and even spark one of those "I wish I had designed that" moments.

The logo, stationary and book they designed for 245 Tenth, a building on Tenth avenue, NY designed by architect and interior space designer Della Valle Bernheimer. The identity by Map was influence by binary data and black and white barcode systems, I think it is gorgeous. It is very geometric, but also abstract looking with strong horizontal marks of vary shades of black and grey, however it clearly represents the number 10.

The mark also reflects the structure and design of the building itself which is made up of a multitude of rectangles of glass, some mirrored and others transparent.

A very well executed identity, at the moment I can't take my eyes off it. See the full design here.

Interview with Eddie Opara on Co.Design blog.

Business Cards

2010-09-06T21:41:00.003+01:00

I am experimenting with the idea of re-branding myself, keeping the logo, but producing new stationary (business cards, mailers etc) and possibly redesigning my website when I get the chance although that may have to wait a while.

When I stumbled upon these beautiful cards from the Australian design studio, Motherbird. White on black looks so striking!

Great design

2010-08-24T16:46:00.004+01:00

"Great design does not come from great processes, it comes from great designers"

Fred Brooks.

Read the Wired article here.

Re-blogged from SwissMiss.

Birthday cards

2010-08-12T17:58:00.007+01:00

Here are two birthday cards I have designed recently for my sisters' birthdays.

You may notice they both use Helvetica bold.

The first is my favourite of the two, based on a poster designed to promote Helvetica back in the 60's, it stacks the lettering and blocks in the V shaped counters of the Y in red creating an instant interest point. I am planning to screen print this card and have it for sale on Etsy soon.

The second is a lowercase dot to dot B which is a fun and unusual idea for a card, it can be completed or left alone. (This was the inspiration for my A B C pillows).

Notebook cover

2010-08-10T19:10:00.004+01:00

Following my previous Notebook cover series, I have designed this cover which I am hoping to screen print and have for sale as full notebooks on Etsy in the coming months. The notebook may or may not be ring bound but the image above shows how the print will look.

It is also possible that I will print a few colour variations using ready mixed ink, so the possibilities of colour are totally random.

ilovebook.nl

2010-08-10T18:16:00.006+01:00

Just stumbled upon this beautifully minimal website ilovebook.nl who sell the simplest, yet the most charming notebooks and diaries. Each uses little or no type on the covers which are available in different materials from kraft paper to leather.

Diaries feature stunning little calendars set in Helvetica in the deepest black colour. I want them all!

The books are all handmade creations from Dutch graphic designer Marjolein Delhaas.

Dot to dot to dot

2010-08-03T20:21:00.003+01:00

A new set of pillows available to buy on my envelop shop. Each pillow makes up either the letter a, b, or c in lowercase Helvetica Bold. Join the dots to complete the image, or leave as is for an abstract designy feel.

Seeing Positives

2010-07-31T09:27:00.008+01:00

I admit I haven't had much work to show you lately due to being in the middle of two client projects, due to be finished soon and they will be up for you to see.

For now though I do have a small piece of work to show, a poster I have designed as part of the Positive Posters Project based in Melbourne, Australia.

The competition is held annually between July and October. They give designers two months to create and submit a positive design that responds to the theme of that year. An exhibition is held of the top 30 posters, and the winner chosen by a group of international judges. They then print 4000 copies of the winning poster and paste it all over the streets of Melbourne, Australia. And send a few off around the world too!

This years brief:

"I haven’t failed; I’ve had 10,000 ideas that didn’t work  – Benjamin Franklin
We think Mr. Franklin had a nice way of looking at things. So the 2010 competition theme is ‘A Glass Half Full’.  For those who don’t know, this saying refers to optimism. Some people see situations with optimism (Franklin – glass half full), and some see situations with pessimism (glass half empty)."
Here is my poster, see it larger here and here

I'm Comic Sans, Asshole

2010-07-26T12:49:00.004+01:00

Below is an article written by Mike Lacher that I found in the current issue of Creative Review, re-printed from the original source over at McSweeney's blog.

As much as I am one of the 'pretentious buzz kills' referred to in the piece, I still find this article brilliantly amusing. But it must be noted that I will never retreat to the dark side that is Comic Sans.

Enjoy:

Listen up. I know the shit you've been saying behind my back. You think I'm stupid. You think I'm immature. You think I'm a malformed, pathetic excuse for a font. Well think again, nerdhole, because I'm Comic Sans, and I'm the best thing to happen to typography since Johannes fucking Gutenberg.

You don't like that your coworker used me on that note about stealing her yogurt from the break room fridge? You don't like that I'm all over your sister-in-law's blog? You don't like that I'm on the sign for that new Thai place? You think I'm pedestrian and tacky? Guess the fuck what, Picasso. We don't all have seventy-three weights of stick-up-my-ass Helvetica sitting on our seventeen-inch MacBook Pros. Sorry the entire world can't all be done in stark Eurotrash Swiss type. Sorry some people like to have fun. Sorry I'm standing in the way of your minimalist Bauhaus-esque fascist snoozefest. Maybe sometime you should take off your black turtleneck, stop compulsively adjusting your Tumblr theme, and lighten the fuck up for once.

People love me. Why? Because I'm fun. I'm the life of the party. I bring levity to any situation. Need to soften the blow of a harsh message about restroom etiquette? SLAM. There I am. Need to spice up the directions to your graduation party? WHAM. There again. Need to convey your fun-loving, approachable nature on your business' website? SMACK. Like daffodils in motherfucking spring.

When people need to kick back, have fun, and party, I will be there, unlike your pathetic fonts. While Gotham is at the science fair, I'm banging the prom queen behind the woodshop. While Avenir is practicing the clarinet, I'm shredding "Reign In Blood" on my double-necked Stratocaster. While Univers is refilling his allergy prescriptions, I'm racing my tricked-out, nitrous-laden Honda Civic against Tokyo gangsters who'll kill me if I don't cross the finish line first. I am a sans serif Superman and my only kryptonite is pretentious buzzkills like you.

It doesn't even matter what you think. You know why, jagoff? Cause I'm famous. I am on every major operating system since Microsoft fucking Bob. I'm in your signs. I'm in your browsers. I'm in your instant messengers. I'm not just a font. I am a force of motherfucking nature and I will not rest until every uptight armchair typographer cock-hat like you is surrounded by my lovable, comic-book inspired, sans-serif badassery.

Enough of this bullshit. I'm gonna go get hammered with Papyrus.

Published

2010-07-16T14:27:00.007+01:00

My CMYK 'Ink Low' pillows were recently featured in the June issue of the Malaysian 'Home Concepts' magazine. Only a short feature in their digital edge section, but nonetheless a published article within the design world.

Still available to buy at www.envelop.eu

Plastic dreams

2010-07-15T20:43:00.005+01:00

Melissa is a contemporary shoe selling website, soon to be selling designer shoes (all plastic, but stylish) from the likes of Vivienne Westwood and Zaha Hadid (as featured in 50 shoes the changed the world).

Although unavailable to buy at the moment the website is worth a visit just to take in it's cleverly interactive design, scroll over the shoe boxes to see what I mean. I do however feel the identity could be worked on some more, which is a shame as the rest of the website is great.

Also check out the 'watch the dream' videos featured on certain articles, they are brilliant.

Fifty shoes that changed the world

2010-07-15T20:27:00.011+01:00

A small in size but big on content, a book from the design museum showcasing what they believe to be 50 of the most influential shoes to date. From plimsoles to platforms and flip-flops to dorothy's ruby slippers in the Wizard of OZ, this book catalogues a more than interesting array of footwear you couldn't even muster up the brain power to imagine.

On sale at Amazon.co.uk for only £8.44 this is a fabulous little gem to give you an insight into fashion's most celebrated article, the shoe, or pair of.

Notebook cover series

2010-07-08T22:37:00.004+01:00

Grafik is no-more

2010-07-02T19:06:00.008+01:00

I discovered today that Grafik magazine (for the time being at least) is no longer going to be produced due to their publisher, Adventures in Publishing, having liquidated the company.

This is a sad time for all readers and followers of the wonderful publication that is was Grafik.

I hope to see them return in the future, the design world will lack terribly (for me anyway) without it.

However all is not lost as they will be carrying on with the blog etc on the website, linked above.

125 years of GF Smith

2010-07-02T11:53:00.010+01:00

A couple of weeks ago I was invited to visit an exclusive exhibition at 33 Portland Place, London, which detailed the history of printed material from the world famous paper company GF Smith.

I won the chance to visit through Grafik magazine along with a select few other students from across the UK.

Photos from the exhibition can be seen in the previous post.

The exhibition takes you through printing and binding methods used by GF Smith through the years and of course all the wonderful papers they have developed, all the way back to 1885.

I had never seen such a diverse range of printing methods/techniques and paper stocks in one place before, just taking in all the different processes blew my mind alone.

Of all that I saw my favourites were from the earlier 20's and 30's, the delicacy is extraordinary and of course back then all the typesetting and printing was done one by one and was very time consuming, making each piece slightly unique, even when they are the same print.

Into the 60's things began to get very interesting too, the introduction of well-known designers coming in to work on the covers and presentation material provided a fresh outcome. These designers included Milton Glaser, Saul Bass and Sir Peter Blake and then more recently into the 80's & 90's the likes of Peter Saville.

The whole show was overwhelmingly fantastic, a real treat.

All images below are shown in date order from oldest down to newest.

GF Smith, the photos

2010-06-29T11:43:00.009+01:00

Pillow popularity

2010-06-22T18:52:00.005+01:00

The popularity of my CMYK 'Ink Low' pillow covers is ever increasing it seems. Initially I hadn't planned to aim at the 'Animal Kindom' market, but it seems to be just as interesting for them!?

Pillow covers available in three sizes over at envelop.eu

In print

2010-06-19T15:32:00.010+01:00

The folder I designed for the new undergraduates beginning at Sheffield Hallam for the 2010/11 year is now in print ready for September. I have kindly been sent a copy ahead of the due date and this is how it has turned out.

Very pleased with the result, only a couple of minor changes made to the placement of the logo, but no qualms there. They have even credited me on the back.

This my biggest piece of work to date in terms of distribution and client, so I couldn't be happier with the result.

More about the design here.

Graduate talent

2010-06-19T15:19:00.010+01:00

After snooping around looking for interesting new graduate design work I stumbled upon the online portfolio of Ben Cucksey who has just graduated from the BA (Hons) degree in Graphic Design at Lincoln School of Art and Design.

I was particularly interested in his fabulous posters promoting the 'Give Blood' campaign for the NHS (shown below).

He has also recently been shortlisted for the 2010 Sh! Awards for his interpretation of Ian Stewart's book entitled 'Flatterland'.

View his portfolio of work at www.bencucksey.co.uk

Final Year degree show at the University of Hertfordshire

2010-06-09T20:47:00.016+01:00

As the university year draws to a close, it's time for the final year degree shows to open across the whole of the United Kingdom. Last week I had the opportunity to visit such a show taking place at the University of Hertfordshire, in Hatfield.

I had not visited a final year show up until this point, so my excitement was mounting all through my journey there and upon arrival I was almost bursting just thinking about all the wondrous talent I was about to take in.

Right from the beginning the layout and approach was spot on in my opinion, colourful fluorescent signage in bold Helvetica allowed for easy navigation with the letters signifying the building and the numbers, the sections. A beautifully presented map was also provided to allow for minimum confusion when navigating around the exhibitions.

Once in the section devoted to the graduating Graphic Design students, I became engulfed in white space which was home to both wall and table displays of the work, some extremely delicately positioned and others less so due to the nature of the pieces, none the less it was all (or mostly) fantastic.

The work on display ranged through all sorts of mediums from print in it's most well known form to more diverse processes such and laser cutting and even engraving onto mirrors which was particularly interesting.

From what I cold make out, all the students had been given the same briefs throughout their final year, yet were given free reign on how they went about answering them. I thought this process was very close knit and must have allowed for interesting comparison between different students work. This differs from how my final year is run in which we self direct and write the majority of our briefs.

I was very impressed with the quality of the work on show, both the ideas and the production of most pieces had clearly been considered before making their final decisions, which to me is an invaluable asset within graphic design work. An idea, however strong it may be, can always drop a few pegs if it hasn't been carried out at the highest quality through each step of the design process.

My 'project of the show' has to be the poster exploring the value of 100 by Jonny Flynn which looks at the strength of currency across the world and how each one consists of "subdivided units of 100". The statistics used were collected on 1st December 2009.

The poster itself holds huge impact on the viewer before they even discover it's nature and purpose, the striking lettering which staggers across the shape of the continents in a multitude of sizes excites the eye and sends it on a cultural journey through currency and power.

Truly inspiring and a fresh look at information graphics.

I must admit Jonny is a personal friend of mine, but I can honestly say this did not affect how I viewed the work. In fact it also won one of the sparingly issued Stephen Twyford 'Cream of the Crop' awards, proving it's genuine quality.

Alongside the work, the designs for the promotion of the event was equally interesting and I feel deserves mentioning (shown at the beginning of this post). The theme throughout each piece of stationary consists of missing letters in the titles, however each piece has different letters missing which adds to the depth of the promotion.

Before I end this post I want to praise the numerous creative business cards I picked up during my visit, each one was a small insight into their respective designers both visually and personally. I have featured one in particular which I found simple, yet perfectly witty in the photos in the previous post.

I thoroughly enjoyed my visit to the graduate show and no doubt I may return again next year to view the work which will then be parallel to the maturity of my work, giving me a means for comparison.

Final Year degree show at the University of Hertfordshire (The photos)

2010-06-09T19:25:00.028+01:00

Apologies

2010-05-29T12:27:00.005+01:00

I haven't posted for a little while, so this is an apology. I am currently working on my new website which when completed will be viewable at www.fivesandzeros.co.uk. The website will act as my online portfolio and means of contact for hire and other things.

My blog will run along side it acting as documentation of all my work as I am working on it. The final outcomes will be found on the website.

(The website is up now, but not finished, my identity marks are currently viewable though, along with contact details).

Words of wisdom

2010-05-15T19:01:00.009+01:00

After reading the editorial of the current issue of Grafik magazine, I came across a short, but sharp motto of wisdom. Given to Angharad Lewis (Grafik's editor) by her friends dad, who also happens to work in independent publishing. She says to imagine it in a South-East London accent:

"Keep buggering on, Angharad, keep buggering on."

She says it always gets her through the days when she feels nothing is going right. A motto I think we can all relate to.

New prints

2010-05-03T12:45:00.005+01:00

I have 2 new prints for sale on my new Society6 store.

One is the Gill Sans piece I posted a few weeks ago, and the second is an art print of my rather popular 'Low Ink' pillow/tote bag designs.

The print looks like this:

Inside spreads

2010-05-02T22:13:00.008+01:00

Three samples of how the inside spreads of the magazine look.

Each double page is based on the same grid structure and equal column widths.

The black bars above blocks of text indicate the beginning of an article or a new section within an article. Each type of article is colour coded and featured in the top left of the spread.

The body text is set in 11pt Adobe Garamond Pro, and the image references are in 8pt of the same face.

The finished article

2010-05-02T21:54:00.005+01:00

My final magazine photographed alone and next to 'competitors'.

I am extremely happy with the quality of the outcome and the professional look of the whole project.

I was wrong, a couple more changes

2010-04-28T17:41:00.002+01:00

I have added the full name of the magazine to the back cover as I realised it wasn't mentioned anywhere in the magazine.

I have also dropped the point size of the front cover copy to 12pt from 14pt as it sits a little neater.

Finished...I think

2010-04-28T17:28:00.002+01:00

I have further revised the design of the 'Mark & Form' cover, including the spine and back cover, which specifies the paper and printing methods used.

I have adjusted the colours to allow for ease of screen printing the front cover, I have also decided the new two colour scheme has more impact than the previous cover.

The logo in the top left has been down-sized to stop it distracting from the cover image.

Final cover.

2010-04-27T21:51:00.003+01:00

After making some adjustments to the content list and minor tweaking of the layout I have come to a decision for the cover for 'Mark & Form'.

I have completed the inside spreads, a total of 22 pages which I will post in due course.

I have the back cover and spine to attend to before finalising the project and making any further adjustments after the final critique.

Four more compositions.

2010-04-24T15:51:00.002+01:00

Four more cover layouts to muse over.

Cover idea

2010-04-24T14:30:00.002+01:00

This is my first worked up version of a possible cover design for 'Mark & form'.

As you can see I have dropped the words mark and form from the logo as I feel it looks better this way.

The layout of this cover design draws the eye down in a diagonal from the top left corner to the bottom right, creating a hierarchy system.

The image used relates to the special report section of the magazine, i.e. the feature article.

Textile summer.

2010-04-21T15:01:00.002+01:00

More textile products to come in my Envelop shop this summer, following the success of my 'Low Ink' series.

I'll update as new products become available.

A decision.

2010-04-20T20:03:00.002+01:00

After a much appreciated critique with one of my tutors and fellow students, I have decided to work further on both the 'square grid' and the 'stacked Helvetica' logo ideas as they are the strongest.

My favourite being the latter I am very excited to explore its possibilities and develop my ideas through to a final solution.

Yet another.

2010-04-20T00:00:00.002+01:00

A fourth logo idea for my magazine 'Mark & Form'. This idea was born on paper as a pencil drawing when experimenting with stacked letterforms.

In Helvetica Bold this mark is strong, contemporary and holds it's own very well, it can easily sit in a corner or central in a masthead, and shows power as well as excitement.

I have more variations which will be posted in due course.

Gill Sans

2010-04-15T17:48:00.003+01:00

This is a personal piece of work giving a short overview of my opinion on Gill Sans, a typeface designed in 1926 by Eric Gill.

Click the image to see it full size and read the text.

A third.

2010-04-13T16:57:00.004+01:00

Yet another idea for the identity for my magazine entitled 'Mark & Form'.

After some feedback about my last idea, suggesting it was difficult to read (and looking at covers of old U&lc magazines), I went down a new road, however keeping in mind the grid structure I was trying to capture before.

This time I wanted to capture the delicacy of the serif letters, but still keeping a contemporary and structured feel. The letters have been partially sliced to create a geometry style which I feel reflects the magazine and what it's content will be.

ACES

2010-04-13T11:22:00.004+01:00

Here is a folder I have designed for Sheffield Hallam University, which will be produced as a tool for all undergraduates using the faculty of 'Arts, Computing, Engineering and Sciences' 2010/11.

It will house all their induction information and keep it organised.

The design uses words that end in 'aces' which all relate to an area of the faculty, this creates a connection between each course and captures them as a family within their faculty.

I'll post again when production is completed in September of this year so it can be seen in use/context.

Another mark

2010-04-09T14:20:00.005+01:00

This is another idea I had for the identity of my magazine. The above shows it in the grid it was constructed in, which personally I like as a feature of the design. It captures the essence of the mark and ultimately shows the process, which would suit the magazine perfectly.

The lower shows the same mark, but without the grid. This seems less interesting, however it is still a nice composition.

Apostroputyourhandsup

2010-04-08T13:34:00.003+01:00

A poster designed by Sagmeister Inc. for paper company 'Neenah' in which they were only allowed to use a single punctuation mark. Obviously they chose the apostrophe and I must say it looks fantastic, the hand printed feel also compliments the idea. Quoting Sagmeister, "[this] apostrophe is in the letter elimination business".

Mark & Form

2010-04-08T12:31:00.004+01:00

Here is an idea for the identity of a magazine I am developing for my latest project.

The title of the magazine is 'Mark & Form' and the content is based on identity design and branding.

This mark is constructed from the shape of the ampersand (Futura Medium) and a lowercase 'k' which I have drawn to fit with the shape of the symbol. It joins the two together in the name 'Mark & Form' (mar'K&'form).

This creates an interesting connection between the words and allows for a unique mark to represent the publication.

The title is set in Avenir 65 Bold alongside the mark to echo it's strength and cleanness. Colour is undecided at the moment, as is the identity really, but here is my favourite solution so far.

CA Asbestos Services

2010-03-22T14:03:00.009Z

Recently (actually a few months ago, but I have only now been given permission to include it on my blog) I was asked to re-design the identity for a business originally called 'Clean Air Analytical Limited'. (Now C.A. Asbestos Services).

Below you can see the old logo, dated and lacking in professional expectations.

The client had decided this needed updating, along with new design for all their stationary.

Here are 3 versions I proposed (the middle one being the chosen logo):

The idea behind the new logo was to highlight the companies beliefs in precision and accuracy as well as clean cut professionalism.

The C & A were used in 'Futura' typeface to build the mark and have been combined to create the shape of a microscope, the main tool used in their work.

Here is the final logo shown in two forms. This was before the client had decided on a final name, it was a toss between the two below. Obviously the upper of the two was eventually chosen.

'Low ink' update

2010-03-15T10:32:00.002Z

Due to the growing popularity of my 'Low Ink' pillows I have now made the same prints available as totebags over on Envelop. Each bag is only 19.99 euros (roughly $27.42).

I hope people find these as stylish as the pillows (and maybe more useful).

(Due to computer trouble I am unable to place images here but I shall have it sorted soon).

'Low Ink' Pillows

2010-03-09T10:34:00.004Z

Here is my latest collection of pillowcases entitled 'Low Ink', inspired by the frustration of your printer ink running low at critical moments of print.

Recently featured on the blog run by designer Laura Sweet, 'If It's Hip, It's Here' and has been getting a fair amount of attention. Thanks again Laura.

Magic sprouts!

2010-03-03T16:56:00.003Z

On my bus ride home today I over-heard a young boy, sitting with his mum, shout out the words

"Magic Sprouts!"

Although I thought this was a bit strange it amused me and made me think of the stories his mother might have told him to encourage vegetable eating.

What Type Are You?

2010-02-25T21:18:00.003Z

Try this experiment on the Pentagram website to find out what typeface you more resemble.

What Type Are You?

My score told me I was most like Marina Script.

...and the rest.

2010-02-13T16:04:00.013Z

The fish and chip shop of the year award is highly regarded in the fish and chip trade so the design for a pictogram to represent it had to show elegance and superiority as well as give off the traditional feel people have come to love.

My initial ideas shown below were based on the idea of one fish being separated from the rest to suggest it was 'better' or a 'winner', however after a critique session I came to realise that although it made sense in my thinking, it wasn't immediately clear to others.

The idea I have chosen to pursue now involves the 3 elements (smells) that to me capture what fish and chips is all about. The vinegar, salt and pepper.

Using these elements I composed a pictogram showing them in the form of a winners podium with 3 levels of superiority (what I was looking for earlier).

This new pictogram is much clearer and communicates the idea a lot clearer than the previous did.

Coming to the end of the project...

2010-02-13T15:05:00.013Z

As I am coming to the end of my current project involving the redesign of the SeaFish logo and a pictogram to represent the 'Fish & Chip shop of the year awards' I would like to show you my progression and how I reached my end result. Here is the work below.

The final logo represents the authority and precise action taken by SeaFish. The stylised 's' and 'f' echo the waves of the sea and stand out in the blue colour to differentiate them from the rest of the logotype.

The typeface used is Univers 59 Ultra Condensed, I chose this because it holds a lot of strength even in lower case, but without the wideness some typefaces come with. The negative space between the stylised lettering and the Univers suggest subtle fish shapes which adds to the underlying message of the brand.

50 years of graphic work (and play)

2010-02-05T22:37:00.015Z

50 years of graphic work (and play) is an exhibition I visited on Wednesday showing a lifetime of work by the world renowned designer Alan Fletcher.

Fletcher was one of the founders of Pentagram, now the most well known design company in the world and you can see why when looking at his work.

Looking at all his work in the exhibition you can tell that design was more than just a career to Fletcher, it was a strong passion that he not only saw as work, but also pleasure.

His print work in my eyes is simply beautiful, his ability to capture the audience with such simple but cleverly put together design is fascinating. Especially the work below for PanAm (Pan America World Airlines) which although looks simple, utilises strong typography and colour psychology to create an outcome that is visually exciting and still consumer friendly.

The work I have seen here has truly inspired me and I am now going to try to experiment more with careful typesetting and simple yet clever graphic techniques, along with traditional processes as screen printing hand crafting type.

I want one.

2010-02-01T13:45:00.001Z

CARR

2010-01-26T19:11:00.002Z

This is a logo that I designed for the Centre of Automation and Robotics Research based in Sheffield Hallam University. (This is the version chosen by the client after I presented them with 3 possibilities, however is not the strongest in my opinion).

Inspired.

2010-01-26T15:24:00.002Z

"Something boring can become beautiful if you look at it upside down"

I saw this brilliant quote about 5 minutes ago in a video titled 'things to learn ' from Matt Edgar on Vimeo. (I don't think it's the same Matt Edgar incase you're wondering).

Seafish logo drawings

2010-01-25T14:08:00.008Z

Here are the beginnings of some drawings for the re-designed seafish logos. These are all drawings from a very early stage so are un-developed. Some are simple, which I think is perfect for legibility and being easy to understand by the consumer. Others are more complicated, but I tried them out to see what they would look like.

Bodoni

2010-01-23T23:07:00.003Z

I found this great article on the U&lc website about the history of the Giambattisa Bodoni and his elegant typefaces. It shows how they have changed and been modified over the years. Beautiful typefaces from creation and still are even now almost 200 years later.

The fish are dying!

2010-01-17T21:59:00.007Z

After beginning a brief all about sustainable fishing and keeping the oceans teaming with all species of fish and seafood, I have discovered that unless we start to fish more sustainably our oceans stock of fish will rapidly deplete and could be completely destroyed by 2050.

I found these issues incredibly alarming and now believe that unless appropriate awareness of what is happening is strongly spread the worst will be inevitable.

The brief is to design a new and updated logo for SeaFish (www.seafish.org) who currently promote and and authorise sustainable fishing laws. And to further promote and express there current issues through the advertisement of the 'Fish and Chip shop of the year' 2010 awards.

So far Iv'e conducted extensive research into sustainable fishing laws and regulations and all that is going on in the commercial fishing industry.

For example, and astonishing one third of all fish caught each year is purely used to make fish meal to feed farmed fish. Some of which can eat up to 10kg of fish meal to gain just 1kg of weight.

Both good and bad evidence has been found through my research and I will be using my findings to draw from when beginning my design work.

First of the New Year

2010-01-09T23:23:00.004Z

I haven't posted in ages so this one is way overdue! But hey it's been Christmas and New Year so I'm going to let myself off just this once.

Just wanted to show you that my recent 'Let's make lemonade' poster has been transformed into purchasable textile items such as this apron on www.envelop.eu

I also have other submissions available like this Ampersand tote bag, have a look at my store on the website. I really think this is a great way to showcase your work and to have it become a part of someones everyday life if they choose to purchase something you have produced. This website is growing fast so get submitting!

'Oomph' further development

2009-12-15T22:05:00.004Z

This is the logo further developed to a final concept, however I may still push it further.

'Oomph'

2009-12-15T21:58:00.004Z

Development work on the logo identity for travel magazine 'Oomph'.

Using the typeface Futura I cut and positioned the lettering to explore how the forms can interact and piece together to create something new.

By doing this I was able to get a hands on feel for the type and how it worked. Due to it being very consistent in thickness it was perfect for manipulation and overlapping. The letters are also very rounded making it versatile and full of character.

The word oomph to me suggests heavy connotations and a thick personality, I think Futura upholds this idea very well and creates a striking logotype, my further developed work can be seen in the next post.

Identity - the beginning

2009-12-09T17:41:00.009Z

Here are examples of my beginnings of work from my chosen specialism (Identity). This task involved looking at a pair of letters and how they can interact to create new shapes / logo possibilities.

First looking at the letters not being able to overlap, then moving onto interaction and finally applying them to a purpose, mine was as if it were to be designed for a perfumer (someone who makes perfume).

Lemonade

2009-12-08T13:59:00.004Z

This was a personal piece, moving forward from my earlier 'Rain cloud' pieces and creating something which can be applied to something more intimate, a process.

Also featured on envelop to buy in the form of a textile apron or placemat.

Underground Signs

2009-12-05T23:48:00.002Z

After seeing these NYC subway signs featured on swiss-miss blog I wanted to share it, they look awesome! A little on the expensive side but what good design isn't? Have a look at www.underground-signs.com

Pulp Fiction typographic

2009-12-03T01:37:00.003Z

A powerful scene from what can only be described as one of the greatest films to have ever been made...

...explored typographically, enjoy!

Envelop

2009-12-03T01:10:00.004Z

It's late and I can barely keep my eyes awake, I realise that doesn't make sense, but I just had a sudden urge to tell you about www.envelop.eu, a Belgian based website solely for the promotion of young designers.

Envelop produce and sell textile products which are brought to life through the addition of user submitted work, mostly illustration, which to me is a fantastic way to get your work into the design community in a way which is interactive. i.e people can buy your work.

The designer receives 12.5% commission on purchases of their products and it costs absolutely nothing to join and start submitting your work. I myself already have 3 products available.

Illustrators, this is a great opportunity for you so I think its worth a little look.

Some examples of current designs:

Neville Brody: Genius or Wanker

2009-11-26T17:51:00.005Z

Yesterday (25th November 2009) we journeyed down to London to witness Adrian Shaughnessy in conversation with Neville Brody as part of the D&AD presidents lectures series. Ultimately the process was to decide whether Brody was a 'Genius' or a 'Wanker'.

I have to say it was by far one of the most exciting and tongue in cheek lectures I have ever attended. Whilst at the same time coming across extremely informative in many ways, from talking about his work, to his ideas on design education in Britain today compared to that of his era.

After both friendly and serious interrogation the audience was looked to for the answer to the final question, 'Genius or Wanker?'

The result was almost unanimous... GENIUS

Rain Cloud

2009-11-26T11:18:00.008Z

This is a two part piece I developed when looking at weather elements and how they can be perceived. The first is of just simply a rain cloud, however the second is similar but using a sun, although it is still raining. Can this be possible?

This is London

2009-11-23T14:07:00.007Z

After reading a poem by Cameron Yang entitled 'This is London', I wanted to express his words typographically, using building shapes to form the layout of the poem.

Here is my result:

Plan of action

2009-11-19T19:15:00.004Z

Through analysis and reflecting on my existing work I have put together a plan of action which I will carry out through the rest of my course in Graphic design. In doing this I hope it will give me the motivation I need to ensure I'm constantly producing work of the highest quality.

I think for me keeping up to date with current studios who produce identity work is a must. By following such studios I feel I can keep in touch with any trends and then use this to be different in my own design. Find out what people are doing now, and then do the opposite so to speak.

I want to read more design magazines as well, read articles by the people that influence my work, go to lectures on similar subjects as well as checking daily design blogs (which I'm pretty good at anyway).

Often what really gets me excited is looking over the internet or in shops for unusual objects, things that make me smile or think about their purposes. Iv'e always enjoyed discovering hidden meaning and reasoning for why designers have produced what they have and I want to take what I learn and then put my own twist on it. Create my own unique meanings definitions for what I do.

Overall I want to develop a more pro-active attitude when it comes to recording ideas and thought and I think providing I can keep this to a daily basis I will succeed in moving forward and developing much richer skills in the field of graphic identity.

Studios I admire

2009-11-19T18:34:00.003Z

Influences

A lot of my influence and interest in identity has come from present and emerging designers in this field rather than well known ones. Of course the work of the likes of Paul Rand, Paula Scher and Saul Bass is still interesting to me, but to see how designers closer to my position perform and generate their ideas is something which really interests me.

For example, Jacob Cass, as Australian designer who works mainly on identity and web design has had a huge impact on the way I look at the subject, I visit his blog daily to find new projects he's worked on as well as finding all sorts of useful information such as his favourite typefaces for different purposes. www.justcreativedesign.com

Tina Roth Eisenberg is another of my favourites, 'a swiss designer gone NYC' as she describes herself, what appeals to me about her is more her way of presenting what she does, coming from swiss roots her corporate identity work is very clean cut and precise which is something I truly admire and this style is evident throughout all her work.

She also runs a daily blog which contains interesting finds and ideas from her day, as well as things that just make her smile which I think is a great side project to keep ideas flowing and to keep her mind creatively active.

Her portfolio can be found at www.Projekt2.com and her blog at www.swiss-miss.com

Sheffield

2009-11-19T17:39:00.003Z

A typographic piece exploring my surrounding environment.

Design specialism

2009-11-19T11:59:00.009Z

Specialising in a specific part of graphic design is something I find as an important turn in my learning and a way to focus my ideas into a more specific and rich format.

Motion graphics

Illustration

Structural graphics/Packaging

Identity

Advertising

Handmade graphics

Typography

Choosing to explore identity and branding further is what I have decided to do.

I find the whole idea of creating and promoting the individual persona of something, whether it is a large company or just a single person, extremely exciting. I want to utilise and apply my skills to provide thought provoking and deeply impacting ideas and visuals which create more than just a brand for something. Rather a body of binding material that really endorses and enhances that 'something's' already existing personality.

I want to take identity to new levels and create timeless work that has an impact on the communities associated with these 'somethings'.

My definition of Identity

'A brand is simply a visual representation of something, but an identity comes from within, it challenges the mind and when executed with the correct precision and detail can produce highly dramatic everlasting results.

Identity is a tool for expressing visually the true ethics and thought behind an idea or object. It should show this through minimal effort, yet huge impact.'

Skills I will need

High Photoshop & Illustrator skills and knowledge.

Confident InDesign skills.

Ability to sketch quick, yet accurate roughs.

I need to be able to analyse and critique my work both positively and negatively.

Research and develop my ideas fully before making any final decisions.

Explore all possible methods of solution to my problem.

The Consumer

2009-11-17T20:50:00.006Z

A short slideshow detailing my consumer project.

A grand day out [analysis and advertisement]

2009-11-17T18:45:00.010Z

Above are the two flyer style advertisements we designed to promote our chosen event which was to be a day trip to the 'Tropical butterfly house & gardens' near Rotherham, South Yorkshire.

Due to the age range of the target audience I feel our chosen day out suits their interests perfectly. Combining beautiful scenery and photography opportunities with a relaxed atmosphere provided a wonderful experience.

We took the time to test our day by visiting the butterfly house ourselves, this tested both the price target (less than £10) and whether or not it would be suitable/enjoyable.

As for the design side of the project, which is the main aspect, we wanted to project a clean, simple, yet engaging look and feel for both the presentation and advertisement. The use of the ever popular 'Didot' typeface was chosen specifically for this job and even from the first look provides all aspects we were looking for.

The colour scheme was equally important due to it creating the most impact and so we decided to reflect the natural feel of the butterfly house, keeping with a green that wasn't too harsh but not quite into the pastel tones. The colour interacts well with the white text to create a powerful presentation base.

Imagery is always important and due to the target audience we decided on the use of mainly photographic images as they are easy to relate to and tell the story much more effectively than other images like illustrations.

It is for this reason that the second flyer above is much more powerful, it shows the venue in its essence, getting up close with the inhabitants of the butterfly house and creating an immediate interest for the viewer.

A grand day out

2009-11-17T18:27:00.009Z

As an initial 'kick-start' brief for the new academic year we were asked to work in groups to arrange and promote a 'Grand day out' for a selected age group.

This project gave

a great opportunity to meet and work with new people and provide a base for the main module project entitled 'The consumer'.

Over 50's was our target audience for this mini project and below are a few stills from our power point presentation used to promote our ch

osen event. This project was briefed and completed within a week.

Check this out

2009-11-13T17:34:00.006Z

Check out this blog by Swiss designer gone NYC called SWISS MISS is fantastic, full of things that will inspire you and just generally put a smile on your face.

Interest and Influence

2009-09-21T12:44:00.003+01:00

There are innumerable sources on the planet from which to take influence and interest within whatever it is you do.

One thing I always use for new ideas and inspiration are other design blogs.

Whether its professional, as part of a hobby, or even just something to experience I find these are great sources for pretty much anything you could need.

Due to their nature they are constantly updated, full of other ideas which influence the blog writers and whatever else they see fit to talk about. It becomes a never ending chain of resource, resources which are all personal to whomever puts them together.

One Designer's blog I regularly visit is one written by Jacob Cass, an Australian Logo and web designer. JustCreativeDesign is the name of his blog and business. What really appeals to me about this blog is his huge enthusiasm and passion for what he does and he is always looking at new ways in which he can pass on his knowledge and use it to benefit other designers.

Type and it's surroundings

2009-09-21T12:35:00.003+01:00

Looking back through my newly created archive of work I think it is evident that my strong/most exciting area of graphic design is through type and typography. However I don't think I could work solely with type and lettering, I gain so much from looking deeper and creating an atmosphere for my type work to shine in, for example the Observation and Communication project below, using emotional and powerful drawings alongside the lettering really creates something exciting.

I've always been interested in how type works and the ways in which it can be arranged/manipulated to produce something wonderful, but there is still a part of me which will always want to push the type to its full potential through the development of an atmosphere in which it has space to grow and evolve in.

Composing the poster

2009-09-10T11:14:00.009+01:00

The idea was to keep every aspect of the poster handmade, including all the typography used. Initially I looked into hand producing letters that resembled typed words, however after stepping back and taking a real look at how it came out I decided it didn't really tie in with the project. The letter forms were supposed to resemble the building and the style it had be drawn in and so after more thought I adapted a much more earthy and rough style of lettering which really brought out the life in the drawing.

I used very soft, very thick graphite sticks and holding them by the tip was able to create strokes that were both heavy, yet still concentrated and controlled, creating a style of type that could fit snugly into my drawing.

After constructing the type I would use in the poster, I set about cropping my main image so that it would fully emphasise my idea and attract the attention of the public. I decided on a view which contained only a small but detailed portion of the drawing to really throw itself into the onlooker's eye.

I scanned the letter forms I'd drawn and using photoshop cut them to fit and adjusted the colour to greyscale to match the rest of the image.

Here is my first poster outcome, however not my final choice.

The reason i decided not to use this as my final image was that the letting crowds the rest of the image and allows it no room to breathe, it feels cluttered and rushed.

So as a solution to this problem I added a lot of white space around the image and used this space to arrange some of the letting as shown:

The Sinclair Building

2009-09-06T20:11:00.018+01:00

A project titled 'Observation and Communication' which brought together a culmination of powerful techniques and processes, which would mesh together to form an incredibly in depth body of work working towards and producing a poster advertising/creating awareness of a chosen building in Sheffield.

I took to the streets in search of a structure I personally found interesting both aesthetically and historically, which took a good while before I found what I believed was the perfect subject. A business that had grown over 30 years getting larger through filling a block of terraced properties, which then was renovated into a sleek modern facility for both the Sinclair China and Glass shop, and four stories of luxury apartments. The Sinclair Building on Sheffield's Glossop Road stands out from the surrounding buildings mainly due to its night black colour but also its ora of elegance and sophistication. What could be better to explore graphically than a subject with multiple personalities and a history of architectural traits?!

Above is an example of some initial sketches I took whilst standing outside the building on the street, this was in fact something I had never done before in a busy city so in itself was a big experience. To have so many people walk past and try to take a glimpse of what you are doing, you create interest in every passer by which can be both daunting and exciting at the same time.

Dry Point Etching

A technique which I was very familiar with due to having produced several pieces during my Fine Art A-level course. Dry point etching and printing is without a shadow of a doubt one of my favourite ways to create drawings and prints. It has all the abilities of producing an outcome of great detail similar to using a very fine tipped pen.

Detail is very important to me and even in very simple looking pieces I always look to create depth and emotion within the work, always looking at how I can make it exciting. Etching really gives me an opportunity to fully explore depth and detail due to the fine-ness of the marks made and how they are positioned, for example in the piece below you can see how I have cross-hatched the shadow and left the majority on the light areas unmarked.

Cross hatching allows you to show different tones by increasing or decreasing the amount of lines used in the hatch rather than blocking or smudging as you would with pencils or pastels.

Sketching and creating images of our chosen building and its surroundings was the main focus of this project, the poster had to have a hand made feel, although it would all be composed and finished using photoshop and my scanned images later on.

After much drawing and experimenting with different techniques in doing this, looking at colour, monochrome, tinted drawings, I came to a decision of which of my pieces to use for the final outcome. It is an A1 charcoal piece which to me really explores the black of the buildings bricks, but at the same time adds a richness and incredible rush of emotion and excitement, perfect for the nature of the architecture.

Convulse and screen printing

2009-09-03T19:34:00.013+01:00

At the time this project took place I had never even seen screen printing take place before, but now I love it. What really appeals to me about it is the sheer accuracy and sharpness you can get from your images. Below is an example produced by a small group of us when exploring screen printing.

As can be seen here the lettering comes out very fine, especially considering the small spaces and shapes within it.

Now for the brief, to design and create a book which has both image and text based around a single word, this word was to be picked at random from a dictionary to add an extra element of individuality and excitement to the project. When i say create a book, this could include books, fold-outs (like a map), pdf books, leaflets. However I felt a book format suited the brief best and it has a much more hand made feel.

As you may or may not have guessed from the title, the word I ended up with was 'Convulse' which to me at first was rather hard to generate ideas for and in the end I went for its meaning 'to convulse with laughter' meaning to be suddenly overcome with laughter and happiness.

Layout played a very big part in this particular project as I wanted to reflect my chosen word not only through image and text but the way each element was displayed and arranged. I went about this my adapting a classic layout style but making the images and copy used interact with each other in a way that I feel emphasises the atmosphere of the book.

After the screen print sessions I was eager to try out my newly learned skills and apply them to a finished piece of work and so I incorporated this method of printing into the centre pages of my book. Using a graphics tablet on my mac I hand scribbled a Charlie Chaplin quote in black on white and printed it at A4, then rubbing the print with vegetable oil to make the white parts transparent I exposed it to the light in the screen printing machine and experimented with my idea.

The printing was a success in terms of quality and precision, however looking back I feel it lacked in excitement and depth.

In fact I feel quite strongly about this for the whole project, although the outcome was very polished and professional looking, parts of it came off to look a bit, well, lacking in creativity. I mean it was still a fantastic outcome to me, but it just lacked that little something special, that extra push which takes it from being fantastic to one of a kind.

But you always learn from your mistakes so I shall take all that I learned onboard and will use it to better myself in the future.

Buy Nothing Day 2008

2009-08-24T21:38:00.019+01:00

The project I am going to talk about now was based heavily, if not entirely on typography and layout and the power of type within graphic design.

For me typography plays a very important role in my design style, I am a very big fan of using type itself as the imagery and focus of a piece of work. Not in the sense that you just spell out your message but in an artistic manner which uses the forms of the letters rather than just using them to construct words.

By positioning them to work with each other you can produce a fantastic piece of work which not only contains all the relevant information but attracts the eye of the viewer by being inventive and experimental.

The Buy Nothing Day project involved working

with type alone to work towards and produce a poster advertising either FOR or AGAINST Buy Nothing Day (an event organised by AdBusters, www.adbusters.org).

To begin with, as in any project, I sketched out letter forms and experimented with all sorts of ideas such as cutting and pasting them to create new forms, tracing and over-laying and looking at ways in which letters interact with one another.

Before I could get anywhere near to creating a poster, I had to research the event and AdBusters to get a feel for their brand name and what they aim to do. I found most all of their a

dvertising material used bright colours which unfortunately I could not use as this project had to have a black and white outcome.

However this made the outcome fresh especially for their usual methods of design.

The brief explained how the poster had to be fully typographic with no images used which gave the project a new angle as I'd never worked purely with type before. This gave me an opportunity as mentioned before to create imagery out of the type itself.

I explored ideas using different angles and positioning, different sizes and weights of letters to design and put together something fresh and slightly out of the ordinary.

I established a hierarchy of elements and put them in order of importance, I then used the sizes of the words to indicate this order to draw attention from the viewer in a particular way as you can see in my final outcome below.

Femme Fatal

2009-08-21T19:31:00.022+01:00

Right, well I didn't post as often as I would have liked these last few weeks, but this is party due to my mac having to be sent away to be repaired. All done now though so its time for the rest of the work to be exhibited.

This project involved as I have mentioned before, taking two existing companies and merging them to create a new hybrid for which we had to design appropriate material for.

The companies given to our particular group was the 'Magic Circle' (the UK's biggest magic society) and 'Agent Provocateur' (a very high class lingerie boutique).

We began to brainstorm initially creating mood boards, basically clipping and drawings and anything else we could find relating to our given and similar companies or areas. Our idea ended up being a store that would sell sexy outfits and clothing specifically for the entertainment business, i.e magicians assistants etc.

The main focus as with any new company was the logo. Logo's are essential when creating a branding for a company and will always be what sticks in the minds of the clients/customers. We went through a huge variety of hand drawn ideas before moving into illustrator and through a rather long process we came up with something which was both simple and elegantly appealing at the same time.

With the logo finished we moved onto product branding and looking at ideas for packaging designs and advertising material. I arranged a photo shoot with a friend to be used as a model for advertisement that would feature in magazine spreads, like you would see in Vogue etc.

As for packaging we designed and produces wraps for boxes and an example carrier bag in the classic brown bag style.

The one thing I myself found difficult in this project was working as part of a team. Ofcourse it had its advantages, like more interesting ideas and getting an idea of how others around you worked and their styles. But our particular group seemed to have more people who would put in considerably less effort, this may have been to do with them thinking they couldn't do it as good, I don't know, but it made it harder for the couple of us who put in all the effort to make the project successful. But I guess as they say, 'if you want to do something right, do it yourself'.

The rest of the roll

2009-08-04T23:37:00.014+01:00

This is the second instalment of my tape project posts which will talk about a couple of other pieces including what was used as the final outcome, which in my opinion could have been much improved.

Below is another version of the piece last shown in my prior post, however this blue version is making use of the negative space around the letters leaving the lettering itself to become negative in the sense of colour.

This is my personal favourite of the two as I am a big fan of white typography on colour or black backgrounds.

Here is my example of a little project we did which involved using the tape as a material in which to wrap an object. As you can see below I went down the ironic and somewhat childish route of taping up... you guessed it, a roll of tape! In fact I found this a lot of fun and I think the irony adds a huge amount to the piece. Although the shape is a bit boring and there is little skill involved in producing it, the idea as a whole comes off as a success and even evokes some humour, which I always love.

The final example in this post is my final piece for this project. Going back to the theme of equality I explored the equality of colour and black and negative space within a piece of work.

Looking at the work of Piet Mondrian greatly inspired this work, however I think i have too closely resembled my work to his which is why I feel it is not a very powerful piece.

In the future when first looking at examples of work by other artists I'll see how I can try to incorporate their style without almost copying it completely. Other than that as my main criticism I feel the piece reflects the rest of my body of work, it just needs a bit more thought on the composition and overall outcome.

In my next post I'll be talking about a group project involving creating and re-branding a hybrid company to suit new ideas and practises. This involved creation of all sorts of things from a corporate logo to advertising material and packaging examples. See you soon!

Tape and more tape

2009-07-29T19:56:00.012+01:00

I'd like to share with you the first project I underwent at Uni, which as you may have guessed from the title... involves tape, and lots of it.

Throughout my own personal exploration of the project I looked at the word 'equality' and used numerous techniques which incorporated this theme in anything from layout, to subject matter.

The piece below was one of my first experiments with tape and exploring how it can be used considering its properties, for example it's easiest to apply in clean cut straight lines. This piece is also looking at the interaction of colour and pattern and how both work together. The angled lines, especially the red and black are very similar to that of many posters designed by the Russian Constructivists which always gave a sense of direction and purpose.

Here I have continued the theme of black and red using very bold straight lines trying to harmonise the way they interact with one another, this piece reminded me very much of Piet Mondrians work, the black lines making squares that encase the red within. This could symbolise the inequality between the black and the red, although the red dominates in terms of size, the black is still the controlling element.

This experiment involved using the tape as more of a material now rather than an influence. Parts of this were difficult as the tape is naturally straight edged, but for this instance I needed to create curved forms so I had to carefully pleat the edges to follow the curves of the letters. Which you may have already guessed make up the word 'eqaulity'. This piece I find most aesthetically pleasing of the 3 as it makes good use of both the positive and negative space and could be seen as an abstract as well as a structured piece of design.

That is all I have to share with you today, but I will continue this project in my next post. As I mentioned before it was my first on of the year and so is not as strong as my later work, but I hope you enjoy it all the same.

Down to business

2009-07-28T09:42:00.000+01:00

Ok so that was a bit of an immature opening post, so allow me to redeem myself now by saying that I have created this blog to share with you, the viewers, the experiences ideas and outcomes of a second year Graphic Design student. Me.

Throughout the coming weeks, months and possibly years as I develop further, I want to use this space to exhibit my creative processes and work that I have produced during (and outside of) my learning days at Sheffield Hallam University.

I am not sure just yet how often I will update the blog, but my aim is for a few times each week and to build up a showcase of work for anybody who is interested in how the mind of a design student may work.

As of now it will mainly include work produced during my first year, but as time goes by I hope to expand out and be sharing with you my experience throughout my degree years.

The Beginning

2009-07-28T08:59:00.000+01:00

I am now an established presence on the world wide web, a follower in all things that involve updating statuses and sharing with people photographs of my experiences through different stages of my life...

Lets get started!