Grace O'Malley

Contact: Dust

2010-04-23T01:38:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been thinking about what to do and where to go once I have graduated. As my final deadline looms closer I have started to look at design agencies in other cities rather than limiting myself to Manchester. As part of this I decided to make contact with some design agencies in Leeds, London and Sheffield as well as Manchester. One of the design agencies I contacted was Dust in Sheffield, I asked about what the designer had learnt after graduation and whether they had any 'inside information' about the design industry, things that tutors wouldn't necessarily tell students about. One of the designers, Patrick, got back to me with some really helpful advice, his email can be read below.

Mads Perch

2010-04-15T13:36:00.000-07:00

Below is a selection of photography by the Danish photographer Mads Perch. Art direction is used to create interesting, over the top, images that are vibrant and eye catching. These are my favourites because they are bright and have an energy to them, they take photography to another level.

www.mads-perch.com

Eastern Electrics

2010-04-15T13:00:00.000-07:00

This set of posters are another part to the Eastern Electrics Festival (shown in the previous post). In this typographic campaign, the word "May" was incorporated into playful slogans and highlighted along with the letter "e" which emphasised the identity within the message.

www.bunchdesign.com

Eastern Electrics

2010-04-15T12:51:00.000-07:00

Another campaign I found created by Bunch is for Eastern Electrics. This was a Festival Identity campaign featuring girls styled with fluorescent makeup and lashes. The images were shot under a UV light by Beth Crockatt and show the girls emerging from an inky blue/black background. I love the vibrancy of these posters!

www.bunchdesign.com

TEN

2010-04-15T12:25:00.000-07:00

Today I came across this book with looking at the Bunch website. Bunch believe that creativity, clarity and consistency are the keys to successful design. The company was established in 2002, by Denis Kovac and Paulo Silva. It spread organically from London to Zagreb and then to Singapore. Talented friends joined, and the union formed the multi-disciplinary design agency that is the Bunch of today. They use their wide range of specialisations to create intelligent and consistent brands for diverse clients.

Bunch have done some great work for high profile clients. Below are images from the limited edition book of 300 entitled "TEN" after Milton Glaser’s essay "Ten Things I Have Learned". This book showcases a cross section of paper stocks available from the paper merchant with beautifully illustrated statements enveloping the pages.

In an Absolute World

2010-04-15T11:33:00.000-07:00

Below are a set of advertisements for Absolute Vodka. I think these are great as they use different scenarios to relate to a wide audience.

www.coloribus.com

Fashion Editorial

2010-04-15T11:07:00.000-07:00

I often look at magazines and editorial design, with magazines now available online they are even more accessible. One of my favourite online and offline magazines is Vogue. The combination of high fashion photography and design really appeals to me.

Make-up Art

2010-04-15T10:20:00.000-07:00

I often look at everyday things around me and relate them to design. Creativity in every aspect inspires me and I lovely the intricacy and detail that are put into the execution of ideas. One thing that I have been noticing recently is make-up art.

I often watch Next Top Model, they have produced many series all over the world. The make up done for the photo-shoots is fantastic, the detailing that goes into always amazes me. I have posted a few examples of the make up art below.

French Connection

2010-04-14T06:44:00.000-07:00

One website that I visit regularly is the French Connection site. Although not always entirely relevant to my course it has recently released a new advertising campaign. The new campaign runs across a variety of media from, web, editorial/print and digital. The copy writing in the ads is what caught my eye. The language is simple and straight to the point.

WKD TV Adverts

2010-04-14T06:26:00.000-07:00

Today I was chatting to my friend about the WKD TV ads so I decided to post them on my blog, I think they are really successful as they manage to keep a fun, upbeat feel to them without going against any of the government guidelines, something that I know from experience is a difficult thing to do!

Logo Evolution

2010-04-13T09:54:00.000-07:00

Today I stumbled across these logos, each set shows how a company's logo has developed. There are some great early designs!

http://vividunderground.com

True North

2010-04-12T05:15:00.000-07:00

I went to visit Ady a designer at True North today, he invited me in to chat after I had emailed him last week. I took my book dummy with me and a few more spreads that have been adapted since I created this. The advice Ady gave me was really helpful. His opinion reinforced what I was thinking myself which I feel is a good thing as it made me feel as though I am on the right track with my project.

Ady felt that once I had sorted out the order of my book, as I explained I would be changing this by adding section dividers, it would be almost there. He showed me some examples of work True North had done and explained how adding imagery to my book may break it up slightly as currently it is purely typographic and becomes slightly repetitive. Overall the visit went really well I plan to work on the following pointers over the next few weeks:

Reintroduce page dividers
Find place for page word and lock in place to help keep the structure of the book
Visualise each quote by using typography and page elements
Introduce imagery to break up pages

Contact: True North

2010-04-09T08:03:00.000-07:00

Last week I got in touch with the design agency True North, I emailed the company as I wanted some advice on my Final Major Project. The Creative Director Ady got back to me and invited me to go in and speak to him about it. I am going in next week to show him my work so far and get some feedback and advice on how I can maybe change this. The email is posted below.

Contact: Buddy

2010-04-08T09:35:00.000-07:00

As I was writing my practitioners report it got me wondering what other designers thought about collaboration so I decided to send some emails out and ask a few questions about what they thought. One company that I contacted was Buddy I asked a few questions about collaboration in the industry and also as a student. One of the designers, David, at Buddy got back to me with a really helpful reply. I have posted the email below.

Branch

2010-04-07T13:11:00.001-07:00

These are a set of typographic Thank You cards designed by Branch, a London based design agency. I think they work really well together and love the screen printed box that they come in! You can purchase these from the website for £9.95.

"We just do the best we can"

2010-04-07T05:47:00.000-07:00

As I come to the end of my three years as a design student I ask myself 'what have I learnt?' Typography comes to mind, kerning, leading, letter spacing, composition and layout, use of white space. This led me on to thinking about things to come and what else will I learn. Where will I go and whom will I meet? All these questions inspired me to search for some answers, as my own are not apparent yet I looked to other designers to learn from their experiences.

While reading through an essay by Milton Glaser, designer of the ‘I Love NY logo’, I came across some useful advice. Glaser comments on how in his early life as a designer he couldn’t wait to become a professional, he soon realised that as his professionalism grew it became a limitation. As a young designer myself I relate to this, wanting to reach a certain level of professionalism. To me this means knowledge, experience, money; something that as a student seems constantly unattainable. After graduation one thing that every student wants is a job, a career, stability. As more design students leave education one question remains, are there too many design graduates?

Throughout our time at university we are constantly told how the design industry is a competitive market and how difficult it is to get a job but no matter how many times this is said it is hard to imagine what to expect. We try not to get discouraged and hope that we are one of the lucky ones whose talents and perseverance gets them through. Some may argue that the competitiveness of the industry, with creative industries accounting for 7% of the UK’s economy, is a good thing and that without it quality would suffer. These people are obviously not students. To some degree this is a valid point, as it must be said that the jump from education to the industry often does separate the weak from the more able.

One thing that is essential for graduates when leaving university is that they are persistent and don’t give up. There may be 11,000 design students but over 70% of these do not get jobs in design. Within every design company potential employers view many different portfolios, no two employers will have the same opinions about the work they see so patience is a virtue. It is important not to give up if this is what you want. Talent and determination will make a difference when graduation arrives.

Many of the designers I have spoken to have said that it is important to carry on working on personal projects whether still a student or after graduation, it is essential to keep on looking at everything around you for inspiration and ideas whether these be used straight away or stored for later. Each person is different and the things they notice aren’t always the same so it is important to keep a record of things that could later be used when working on a project either personally or in collaboration with others.

It is often said that art can be learned but as David Airey notes after viewing a students design exhibition ‘students from the same college, same badge with the same graphic design lessons did not come up with equally remarkable work’. It may be true to some extent that a non-artistic individual can be taught the steps of good design but it is questionable to whether this design will ever be great.

As I look back at the practitioners that I have spoken to throughout my education I think back to the advice they gave. One thing that I think every designer would agree with is that the contacts you make within the design industry are extremely important, whether this be while you are at university or after you leave. To keep good contact with these designers may at some point benefit you and give you an otherwise missed opportunity.

As it is often said design is a lifestyle choice not just a job. In many cultures, particularly African groups they do not have art. It is part of their everyday lives. Form making is just something they do it is part of them and is used to express emotions and thoughts. I feel something can be learned from this, art and design shouldn’t be separate from your everyday life. Among the Balinese culture there is no word for art, they say ‘we just do things the best we can.’

erikmednis.com

www.aiga.org

www.eyemagazine.com

www.graphicdesignblog.org

Practitioners Report: Container Plus & Mike Rigby

2010-04-06T11:09:00.000-07:00

Throughout my time at university I have attended a number of lectures and visited many design studios. Each visit has given me an insight into different areas of the industry and has helped my knowledge and interest in design grow. Whether these visits were internally arranged by tutors or external and arranged personally each one has been equally rewarding. There are a few lectures that have stood out to me this year one being a talk by Mike Rigby, graphic designer, and another by Container Plus, an illustration company.

Before I chose my path as a graphic design student I was interested in illustration, it is something that has always been an option for me if my design choice hadn’t worked out, so when Container Plus explained that they were an illustration based company I was really intrigued and eager to hear what they had to say. It was Luise Vormittag, one of the founders of the company, who came in to speak to us. She spoke about a number of projects that the company had worked on and some personal projects that she had done.

Collaboration has been an important part of Container Plus from the very start as it was when two friends Luise and Nicola worked along side each other on a project at university; they worked so well with each other that on leaving uni they carried this on and became a partnership. Luise spoke about how working with people from other pathways of design was essential in getting the best out of a project. This point was something that stayed with me as I feel it is something that all design companies do however it is not necessarily practiced by design students.

One of Luise and Nicolas first projects together was for Selfridges where they also worked alongside make-up artists and fashion designers. Another project that they worked on together later on in their careers was for a Volkswagen car launch. The pair were given the task to design 4 rooms of a hotel, in order to do this they had to collaborate with many different people including builders, furniture designers and fabric designers.

Luise gave us a few pointers about how to make collaboration a success one being ‘test people before committing to a long-term collaboration’ this reminded me of something that I had read by Milton Glaser, designer of the I Love NY logo, the article was about what he had learned through out his design career and one point that he made was that you have to like the people that you work with. He mentioned how the relationship you have with the people you are either working with or for is essential for the strength of your projects. Affection, trust and having a common ground is the only way good work can be achieved.

Mike Rigby, a designer that came in to speak to us about graphic design and what to expect when we graduate also spoke to us about getting on with the people you work with. He studied at Preston for 4 years on a graphic design course, after graduating he worked for numerous companies including Imagination, Chase, Pentagram, Mark Studio, True North and Landor and Moon Design both in Sydney so he had plenty to tell us about his time in the design industry.

Although Mike presented some of his work to us he spoke more of his experiences and how they benefited his design career. One thing that he mentioned was how he went travelling. He showed us photos and explained how it is important to have these chances. He also told us about how he acquired design jobs while travelling in Australia. This part of his lecture was extremely different to Container plus as Luise spoke mostly of her work. Throughout Mikes talk he mentioned how designers ‘love to socialise’ and made a point of telling us about how having an interesting life outside of work was paramount to a good life within work. He also said that design wasn’t just a job, it was a lifestyle choice. Mike mentioned how well connected the design industry was and how everyone knew each other so it was essential that you get on with your co-workers.

Another thing that he spoke about was placements and how they help you make the jump from education to industry. This was extremely helpful as he spoke about how you get a feel for the type of company you would like to work at, as mentioned early it is essential to get on with the people you work with. Hopefully the company you enjoy working with reciprocate and offer you a job at the end of your placement. Mike spoke about how placements allow you to work on real projects with real deadlines. He also told us that it was important to work on self-initiated projects as did Luise from Container Plus. They spoke about how ideas you may have for these personal projects could generate new ideas for paid jobs. They also mentioned how although it is good to do self initiated projects and fun jobs it is also essential to do the less interesting well-paid jobs.

Below are some images by Mike Rigby and Luise. Container Plus's are installations and the interior design for a West London book store. These designs are a great example of what I loved about the work done at Container. The designs are unusual and the company seems to have a certain type of style that I feel would help them be recognised by clients. Mike Rigbys designs are completely different to that of Container Plus. As you can see Containers projects are more illustration based. Personally I prefer these designs but I think this is because it is something I cannot do myself. Although Mikes designs are great ideas Containers seem to have a certain charm about them. They have an extremely unique way of working, while talking to us about how they go about producing there work they mentioned a project where they sat and hand drew the imagery on shop walls and around different parts of room.

Mike Rigby

Container Plus

Overall I enjoyed both of these lectures and feel that they were both extremely helpful. Although the work show and the style in which they were presented was totally different similar point about the design industry were made.

http://containerplus.co.uk

http://erikmednis.com

Topshop: Que Houxo

2010-04-02T02:49:00.000-07:00

When taking a break from design blogs I like to look at fashion sites and see what my favourite stores are blogging about. This morning I was browsing through the Topshop blog when I came across a piece on the Japanese artist Que Houxo. Topshop hired him to paint live in the windows of selected stores using his unique and exciting style to attract shoppers. Here's what Topshop had to say about it:

"We've had our eye on Japanese artist Que Houxo for some time now. His work is painted live for an audience and is a riot of colour and chaotic brush strokes, beautifully synonymous with Tokyo - the city that features in so much of his work. Frenetic and bursting with colour, his paintings remind us of running about and dancing with wild abandon, and it was with this in mind that we invited him to a few lucky stores to paint - live - in our windows!"

Type

2010-03-31T06:56:00.000-07:00

As I have progressed through my design life I seem to have become drawn to typography. As my ideas develop and change the typographic solutions seem to be more dominant and become, what I feel, are my strongest designs. Because of this I am constantly looking at type and the way copy is positioned. I am forever learning and hopefully this will continue allowing my technique to develop and improve.

Below are a selection of typographic posters and imagery that I have come across recently that I found particularly appealing.

Posterscope

2010-03-31T06:29:00.001-07:00

Since looking at copy writing for one of my projects it has become something that I notice a lot more, good copy stands out to me and has become something that I enjoy reading. One agency that I visited in London was Dye Holloway and Murray and I often look at their website to see new updates and hopefully stumble across some great copy.

While browsing today I came across a selection of posters done for Posterscope. I really like these posters and they work really well as a set. The type and layout is kept simple, which has become something I seem to be drawn towards, and the colour is also kept to a minimum.

www.dhmlondon.com

Jonathan May

2010-03-30T11:30:00.000-07:00

While looking through some blogs today I came across the photographer Jonathan May. His work immediately caught my eye as I noticed his use of colour and composition, his images are thought provoking and make you want to know more about the subject. After viewing his imagery I visited Jonathans website to find out more about his work.

"Recognised as one of Sydney's most exciting emerging photographic talents, Jonathan imbues his subjects with humour and poignancy. His instinctual ability to take a concept and tell a fascinating visual story is both innovative and compelling.

Starting early, Jonathan won awards for Photography at school, but fell into a career in publishing print production, followed by advertising production. However, his night forays seeking interesting subjects to photograph, became more frequent and he realised that he could no longer ignore his desire to shoot. Jonathan enrolled in the Australian Centre of Photography and now indulges his love for the art.

Jonathan has two exhibitions under his belt - A Russian photography exhibition, in Moscow's Central House of Artists (the first ever Australian to do so), displaying 35 of his limited edition prints in 2007.

Jonathan also held a successful joint exhibition with Russian photographer Alexey Lyubimkin in Sydney in 2008.

However Jonathan’s great love is the quirky, creative, concept-driven advertising that comes out of true collaboration with art directors.

Jonathan loves to find interesting characters and unconventional locations, using colour and treatments to heighten the visual experience. Always looking for subtle humour, his work visually engages us by drawing us in to share the experience of the subject.

Making the transition from agency producer to freelance photographer, also places Jonathan in the unique position whereby he has worked closely with both Creatives and Account Service within the agency environment. One of Jonathan’s strengths is that he understands the required balance of production and client constraints without compromising the integrity of the creative vision.

Jonathan’s 9 years working in Advertising Agencies has given him wonderful opportunities to collaborate with some of the best creative minds in the world. Now he is working towards making his own mark in the industry with his fun and dynamic imagery. "

I have posted a few of my favourites pieces below.

Text found at www.jonathanmayphotography.com

Book design

2010-03-15T12:02:00.001-07:00

As part of my final project I am designing a book. My design so far is turning out to be quite vibrant and colourful so I have done some research into colour within book design and different ways in applying this without using the inside spreads.

Book design: Slip cases

2010-03-15T11:26:00.001-07:00

I have been researching different ways of how I want to present my book and have decided on having a slip case. My book is about words and how they have changed and developed from the original meanings. One idea I had was to have the original word for book on the slip case (Bokiz), when the book is taken out of the case the original definition will be printed on the book itself. Below are some different ways of using a slip case.

Shellsuit Zombie

2010-03-12T11:07:00.000-08:00

While in London we were asked to attend an event put together by Shellsuit Zombie held at The Cross Kings pub. I was unsure of what to expect of this evening but was pleasantly surprised as it turned out to be a really good night.

Each of the designers of Shellsuit Zombie worked for different companies but came together to talk to students and help them with the transition from education to industry. They spoke to us about their experiences and gave us there stories about what happened once they had graduated.

After they had shared their experiences they gave us a challenge. In groups of five we were asked to come up with a campaign for a certain issue. Ours was to come up with an advertising campaign to promote Peter Stringfellow sponsoring world peace. We had a number of ideas using the strapline 'Peter string mellow' and applying thongs to peace signs etc.

Overall this was a really enjoyable night. The fact that it was informal meant that everyone was more relaxed which made the idea of pitching in front of everyone much less daunting.

Studio Special

2010-03-12T10:44:00.001-08:00

Studio Special was one of the agencies I visited during my trip to London. Myself, Michele and Kat took our portfolios to the studio to see the designer David Lovelock. He began by telling us a bit about himself, how he came to London and the creation of Studio Special. He then went on to talk to us about some of the projects he'd worked on.

We each showed David our work. While showing him my editorial work he advised me to talk more about the design decisions I made rather than the brief as this is what a designer would be more interested in. As it stood I was discussing what the brief was about and what the article consisted of but he told me to talk about why I chose to design the identity in the way that I did and why I chose to carry out the identity through the magazine with blocks of colour etc. David liked the way I had done this but wanted me to expand more on why. He then showed me an editorial piece that he had produced.

David liked my NYC Bowling Championship identity work and said that I should apply more ambient ideas to it by maybe using a birds eye view of New York and highlighting buildings in white to look like pins. Again he advised me to speak about why I had chosen the colours for the logo (one black and one pink) as the designer wants to know the reasoning behind the decision.

He also gave me some advise about my Kitchen of Meaning work telling me to maybe add a strapline to the poster so that the viewer 'get's it' quicker. He also suggested maybe placing it in a magazine or newspaper to show it in situ rather than in a bus stop ad shell as it has more relevance.

Overall this visit was very helpful and I received some really useful feedback and advise not only on how to improve my work but on how to present it to a design. David was really helpful and even took the time to advise us on where to eat!

Red Brick Road

2010-03-12T10:31:00.000-08:00

Before visiting the Red Brick Road I had looked into some of there Tesco campaigns with Michele as we had been researching copywriting for a brief that we collaborated on. We really like the simplicity and how they got the message across without over complicating things. I couple of these ads can be seen below.

I visited Red Brick Road while in London with my classmates Michele and Kat. The visit itself was quite a quick one as the designer that we were originally meant to be seeing was unable to speak to us. We saw a copywriter, Dan, and he spoke to us a bit about getting into the design industry and placements and showed us a portfolio that belonged to a guy who had previously had a placement there. He said to us that unusual and more daring ideas were often what got people placements as these were the things that stood out and grabbed a designers attention.

We then went through a few of our designs and Dan gave us some advise on how we could improve these. Throughout the visit he mentioned strategy and how this could benifit our ideas. This came up in our other visits too so I plan to research more into advertising strategies. One project that this could be applied to was a Bacardi brief that myself and Michele had been working on. As it stood the project was unfinished so it was really helpful to get some advise on how to improve it. One thing that Dan suggested was shortening the scenarios as they were quite long and another was to add a strapline. He also suggested maybe using different media for advertising rather than just print, i.e. the internet using web banners and maybe printing on stickers and placing these on the back of nightclub toilet doors to appeal more to our target audience.

Since returning from this visit we took Dans advice and added a strapline to our posters, hopefully we will get he change to apply more of his suggestions to our work.

Dye Holloway Murray

2010-03-12T10:13:00.000-08:00

Dhm was another agency that I visited when in London. I had been emailing Fran, a designer at Dhm, regarding one of my projects and she had suggested taking in my portfolio while I was in London. I visited the studio with my classmates Michele and Kat, we got some great feedback and Fran seemed really keen to see our work. One of her colleagues also joined us.

The feedback I got about my work was really helpful, Fran liked my Kitchen of Meaning exhibition posters but felt they were quite long and could possibly be shortened. By doing this it could also help the viewer get the idea quicker.

I also showed Fran and her colleague my Cumberland Pencil Museum exhibition poster, she liked the idea and thought it was simple yet effective. One piece of advise given here was that maybe I could of used a variety of pencils to represent the mountains rather than just one photograph repeated.

She also gave some great advice to me and Michele on the Bacardi brief we are currently working on. She liked our idea and told us that it reminded her of some 18-30's ads she had seen a few years back. Fran suggested that to make our posters better we could make the language that we used more casual and up to date, using more slang words etc and she also suggested adding a strapline to link the text to the rum itself. Another thing that came up was that our work lacked advertising strategy, this was mentioned on several occasions. Fran explained to us what this was and how it may be useful to us if we looked into it further.

We left Dhm feeling positive about our work as they were extremely helpful and really enthusiastic when looking at our designs. This was a great end to our visits in London.

Magpie

2010-03-12T09:20:00.000-08:00

Recently I visited London with uni. While there I visited a number of design agencies, this was really helpful and allowed me to get an insight into how agencies worked in London. One Studio that I visited was Magpie. I visited this studio in a group with some of my classmates to talk to the designer Ben about the company and the work they had done.

Ben began by telling us about the company and how it started. Magpie had been around for 2 years with some of the designers joining from Hatrick. He then went on to talk about the industry and show us a portfolio of work that they had produced as a company. One piece that stood out to me was the Action on Addiction book they produced as I am designing a book for my final major project. I think this idea was simple but effective which I feel is essential in book design.

As well as showing us work Ben asked us about our final major projects and told us to feel free to email him if we were struggling and needed any advice. He also advised us to make cards that we could leave behind for the designers so that they can contact us if they were impressed by our work etc. I feel this was good advise so I plan to produce something along these lines in the near future.

Advertising Strategy

2010-03-10T10:49:00.000-08:00

While in London we visited a couple of agencies that were advertising based. When the designers were going through my work they mentioned Advertising Strategy and how it was lacking in this. One designer, Fran explained to me that Strategy was crucial in Advertising as this is the starting point, the rest of the ad is built around this. Below is an essay that goes in-depth about Advertising Strategies.

An advertising strategy is a campaign developed to communicate ideas about products and services to potential consumers in the hopes of convincing them to buy those products and services. This strategy, when built in a rational and intelligent manner, will reflect other business considerations (overall budget, brand recognition efforts) and objectives (public image enhancement, market share growth) as well. As Portable MBA in Marketing authors Alexander Hiam and Charles D. Schewe stated, a business's advertising strategy "determines the character of the company's public face." Even though a small business has limited capital and is unable to devote as much money to advertising as a large corporation, it can still develop a highly effective advertising campaign. The key is creative and flexible planning, based on an indepth knowledge of the target consumer and the avenues that can be utilized to reach that consumer.

Today, most advertising strategies focus on achieving three general goals, as the Small Business Administration indicated in Advertising Your Business: 1) promote awareness of a business and its product or services; 2) stimulate sales directly and "attract competitors' customers"; and 3) establish or modify a business' image. In other words, advertising seeks to inform, persuade, and remind the consumer. With these aims in mind, most businesses follow a general process which ties advertising into the other promotional efforts and overall marketing objectives of the business.

STAGES OF ADVERTISING STRATEGY

As a business begins, one of the major goals of advertising must be to generate awareness of the business and its products. Once the business' reputation is established and its products are positioned within the market, the amount of resources used for advertising will decrease as the consumer develops a kind of loyalty to the product. Ideally, this established and ever-growing consumer base will eventually aid the company in its efforts to carry their advertising message out into the market, both through its purchasing actions and its testimonials on behalf of the product or service.

Essential to this rather abstract process is the development of a "positioning statement," as defined by Gerald E. Hills in "Marketing Option and Marketing" in The Portable MBA in Entrepreneurship: "A 'positioning statement' explains how a company's product (or service) is differentiated from those of key competitors." With this statement, the business owner turns intellectual objectives into concrete plans. In addition, this statement acts as the foundation for the development of a selling proposal, which is composed of the elements that will make up the advertising message's "copy platform." This platform delineates the images, copy, and art work that the business owner believes will sell the product.

With these concrete objectives, the following elements of the advertising strategy need to be considered: target audience, product concept, communication media, and advertising message. These elements are at the core of an advertising strategy, and are often referred to as the "creative mix." Again, what most advertisers stress from the beginning is clear planning and flexibility. And key to these aims is creativity, and the ability to adapt to new market trends. A rigid advertising strategy often leads to a loss of market share. Therefore, the core elements of the advertising strategy need to mix in a way that allows the message to envelope the target consumer, providing ample opportunity for this consumer to become acquainted with the advertising message.

TARGET CONSUMER The target consumer is a complex combination of persons. It includes the person who ultimately buys the product, as well as those who decide what product will be bought (but don't physically buy it), and those who influence product purchases, such as children, spouse, and friends. In order to identify the target consumer, and the forces acting upon any purchasing decision, it is important to define three general criteria in relation to that consumer, as discussed by the Small Business Administration:

Demographics—Age, gender, job, income, ethnicity, and hobbies.
Behaviors—When considering the consumers' behavior an advertiser needs to examine the consumers' awareness of the business and its competition, the type of vendors and services the consumer currently uses, and the types of appeals that are likely to convince the consumer to give the advertiser's product or service a chance.
Needs and Desires—Here an advertiser must determine the consumer needs—both in practical terms and in terms of self-image, etc.—and the kind of pitch/message that will convince the consumer that the advertiser's services or products can fulfill those needs.

PRODUCT CONCEPT The product concept grows out of the guidelines established in the "positioning statement." How the product is positioned within the market will dictate the kind of values the product represents, and thus how the target consumer will receive that product. Therefore, it is important to remember that no product is just itself, but, as Courtland L. Bovee and William F. Arens stated in Contemporary Advertising, a "bundle of values" that the consumer needs to be able to identify with. Whether couched in presentations that emphasize sex, humor, romance, science, masculinity, or femininity, the consumer must be able to believe in the product's representation.

COMMUNICATION MEDIA The communication media is the means by which the advertising message is transmitted to the consumer. In addition to marketing objectives and budgetary restraints, the characteristics of the target consumer need to be considered as an advertiser decides what media to use. The types of media categories from which advertisers can choose include the following:

Print—Primarily newspapers (both weekly and daily) and magazines.
Audio—FM and AM radio.
Video—Promotional videos, infomercials.
World Wide Web.
Direct mail.
Outdoor advertising—Billboards, advertisements on public transportation (cabs, buses).

After deciding on the medium that is 1) financially in reach, and 2) most likely to reach the target audience, an advertiser needs to schedule the broadcasting of that advertising. The media schedule, as defined by Hills, is "the combination of specific times (for example, by day, week, month) when advertisements are inserted into media vehicles and delivered to target audiences."

ADVERTISING MESSAGE An advertising message is guided by the "advertising or copy platform," which is a combination of the marketing objectives, copy, art, and production values. This combination is best realized after the target consumer has been analyzed, the product concept has been established, and the media and vehicles have been chosen. At this point, the advertising message can be directed at a very concrete audience to achieve very specific goals. Hiam and Schewe listed three major areas that an advertiser should consider when endeavoring to develop an effective "advertising platform":

What are the product's unique features?
How do consumers evaluate the product? What is likely to persuade them to purchase the product?
How do competitors rank in the eyes of the consumer? Are there any weaknesses in their positions? What are their strengths?

Most business consultants recommend employing an advertising agency to create the art work and write the copy. However, many small businesses don't have the up-front capital to hire such an agency, and therefore need to create their own advertising pieces. When doing this a business owner needs to follow a few important guidelines.

COPY When composing advertising copy it is crucial to remember that the primary aim is to communicate information about the business and its products and services. The "selling proposal" can act as a blueprint here, ensuring that the advertising fits the overall marketing objectives. Many companies utilize a theme or a slogan as the centerpiece of such efforts, emphasizing major attributes of the business's products or services in the process. But as Hiam and Schewe caution, while "something must be used to animate the theme …care must be taken not to lose the underlying message in the pursuit of memorable advertising."

When writing the copy, direct language (saying exactly what you mean in a positive, rather than negative manner) has been shown to be the most effective. The theory here is that the less the audience has to interpret, or unravel the message, the easier the message will be to read, understand, and act upon. As Jerry Fisher observed in Entrepreneur, "Two-syllable phrases like 'free book,' 'fast help,' and 'lose weight' are the kind of advertising messages that don't need to be read to be effective. By that I mean they are so easy for the brain to interpret as a whole thought that they're 'read' in an eye blink rather than as linear verbiage. So for an advertiser trying to get attention in a world awash in advertising images, it makes sense to try this message-in-an-eye-blink route to the public consciousness—be it for a sales slogan or even a product name."

The copy content needs to be clearly written, following conventional grammatical guidelines. Of course, effective headings allow the reader to get a sense of the advertisement's central theme without having to read much of the copy. An advertisement that has "50% Off" in bold black letters is not just easy to read, but it is also easy to understand.

ART WORK AND LAYOUT Small business owners also need to consider the visual rhetoric of the advertisement, which simply means that the entire advertisement, including blank space, should have meaning and logic. Most industry experts recommend that advertisers use short paragraphs, lists, and catchy illustrations and graphics to break up and supplement the text and make the document both visually inviting and easy to understand. Remember, an advertisement has to capture the reader's attention quickly.

ADVERTISING BUDGET The advertising budget can be written before or after a business owner has developed the advertising strategy. When to make a budget decision depends on the importance of advertising and the resources available to the business. If, for instance, a business knows that they only have a certain amount of money for advertising then the budget will tend to dictate what advertising is developed and what the overall marketing objectives will be. On the other hand, if a business has the resources available, the advertising strategy can be developed to meet predetermined marketing objectives. For small businesses, it is usually best to put together an advertising budget early in the advertising process.

The following approaches are the most common methods of developing an effective budget. All the methods listed are progressive ones that look to perpetuate growth:

Percentage of future or past sales
Competitive approach
Market share
All available funds
The task or objective approach

The easiest approach—and thus the one that is most often used—is the percentage of future or past sales method. Most industry experts recommend basing spending on anticipated sales, in order to ensure growth. But for a small business, where survival may be a bigger concern than growth, basing the advertising budget on past sales is often a more sensible approach to take.

METHODS OF ADVERTISING

Small business owners can choose from two opposite philosophies when preparing their advertising strategy. The first of these, sometimes called the push method, is a stance wherein an advertiser targets retail establishments in order to establish or broaden a market presence. The second option, sometimes called the pull method, targets end-users (consumers), who are expected to ask retailers for the product and thus help "pull" it through the channel of distribution. Of course, many businesses employ some hybrid of the two when putting together their advertising strategy.

PUSH METHOD The aim of the push method is to convince retailers, salespersons, or dealers to carry and promote the advertiser's product. This relationship is achieved by offering inducements, such as providing advertising kits to help the retailer sell the product, offering incentives to carry stock, and developing trade promotions.

PULL METHOD The aim of the pull method is to convince the target consumer to try, purchase, and ultimately repurchase the product. This process is achieved by directly appealing to the target consumer with coupons, in-store displays, and sweepstakes.

www.enotes.com

Contact: DHM

2010-02-22T11:07:00.000-08:00

Today I was looking through a D and A D annual hoping to find some inspiration for my Bacardi project. I was searching for pieces that had particularly good copy writing as this has become a major part of my project. While flicking through I came across the company Dye Holloway and Murray, a London based design studio. The companies copy writing really appealed to me so I email the company asking for some advise.

One of the copy writers, Fran, replied promptly and she said she'd be happy to help me with any issues I may have. Fran was really helpful and I have been emailing her regularly, she has been a great help with my Bacardi project and I feel it has progressed quickly since I have been speaking to Fran about it.

Overall this was an extremely successful contact to have made as it resulted in a portfolio visit in London. I really appreciated all of Frans advise and have posted a copy of one of her emails below.

Contact: LOVE

2010-02-15T10:56:00.000-08:00

Recently I have been having trouble creating neon text on Indesign and in Photoshop. It is essential to my Bacardi brief and I really feel I could create a much better effect than I am currently getting. While browsing the website of design agency LOVE I spotted some neon style typography on their show-reel. I decided to email one of the designers there to ask for some advice on how to create this so I emailed Stephen Owen and enquired about any tips he may have!

He replied to me quickly which was much appreciated and explained to me that although he had not worked on the neon on the LOVE site he had tried to create neon before and gave me some tips on how to do this. This contact email can be seen below.

Book design: Layout

2010-02-10T05:46:00.001-08:00

As part of my Final Major Project I have decided to create a book. I have always been interested in the development of language and often ask myself why objects hold certain names... why is a tree called a tree? As I think this is an interesting subject I want to focus my major project on Etymology, which is the explanation of how words have developed and the documentation of the origins of words. As I plan to create a book I have been researching book and editorial design, looking at book covers and unusual layouts that may give me inspiration for my final product. Below are some designs that I have come across while researching, Not all of these are necessarily right for what I want my book to look like but feel they are good designs.

Bacardi YCN Brief

2010-02-10T04:48:00.000-08:00

Over the past few months I have been working on a competition brief for YCN. The brief itself was to create a campaign for Bacardi that flirted with there fans. The target audience being males aged 18-24. I teamed up with my friend Michele on this and we came up with a typographic solution. We wanted to use a cheeky humor as we felt this would appeal to a young male audience. We have received positive feedback and feel we have a strong idea. Below are some of our earlier ideas/designs.

early designs

As our idea has developed over time we decided to use a neon effect for our typography as this created a nightclub, party sort of feel and had a certain buzz about it. We researched some neon work to get a feel for what we needed our design to look like but have had difficulty trying to recreate this. Below are some of the designs we came up with in InDesign, I like these and think the idea is there but they need more work as the neon is not as good as I want it to be.

Neon Designs

Research

After doing some more research into neon signs we had another go at creating a poster, this time using a different style of art direction. We tried to create a New York lights style here but I feel that this was unsuccessful for what we were trying to create.

Since this we have gone back to our original idea and tried to refine this. Below are three examples similar to our final outcome. We have used linked the colour of the text and the scenario to the flavour of the rum and positioned the bottles suggestively.

The Chip Shop Awards

2010-02-10T04:29:00.000-08:00

Recently I came across The Chip Shop Awards, this is an award for designs with 'no limits'. I had never heard of this before and really enjoyed looking through all the different work. The designs are humorous and some a little shocking! I have posted my favourites below.

New York: Barbour Design

2009-12-02T11:27:00.000-08:00

Another agency that Me and Kat visited while in New York was Barbour Design. The studio itself was bigger than I had expected and there was a set of 4 designers working there including Ava, the designer I arranged the visit with.

Ava was extremely interested in what we had to show her and gave us lots of feedback on our portfolios. She liked my NYC Bowling Championships work and the layout of my portfolio. One thing that she pointed out that I should change was on my Manchester Literature Festival poster where one off the quotation marks I have used is out of line. I had noticed this myself previously and plan to change this. Since returning from New York I have refined this and solved the problem. Ava suggested taking my 3M work out of my portfolio or lightening the red as it was difficult to see how the fold worked due to the colour been quite dark. Personally I don't feel this is one of my best pieces and am thinking about removing it from my portfolio once I have a few more pieces to put in its place.

After looking at our portfolios Ava spoke to us about interviews and also CVs as they are very important when leaving uni and applying for a job. She said that it is essential that the design of a CV makes a good first impression and that spelling is very important. Ava also said she would be happy to look over any of our designs if we needed any advice. I really enjoyed my time in New York and at the design agencies we visited.

www.barbourdesign.com

New York: Coffee Cup Design

2009-12-02T10:43:00.000-08:00

While in New York myself and my friend Kat visited Coffee Cup Design Agency. This was our first portfolio visit in NYC and we were really looking forward to it! When we arrived at the studio we were greeted by Kenneth Funk, the designer at Coffee Cup Design. The studio itself was small with just Ken working there but the space was full of great design elements with posters on the walls and books full of fonts.

We firstly talked about Kens career and how the industry worked before designers had computers. It was really interesting to hear about how methods have changed, he described to us how printing has changed and how he used to have to cut out individual lettering rather than just mac-ing up a design and exporting it as a PDF.

After chatting we showed our portfolios and spoke about our time at university. Ken seemed impressed with our work and was very positive. He liked my editorial work, particularly the way I had used the orange strip of the identity to highlight other elements within the design. He was also impressed by the typography I had created for this. Once we had finished showing our portfolios he recommended some places to visit including the Type Designers Club, another design studio, Number 17 and the oldest pub in New York! I feel that overall the visit went well, it was a great experience to visit an american designer.

Since been back in the UK I have looked into the Type Designers Club as sadly we didn't have time while in NY. There are some great designs in the annuals! I have posted some fromTypography 29 below.

www.coffeecupdesign.com

Type Designers Club

New York

2009-11-03T13:04:00.000-08:00

Next week I am going on a trip to New York with college! I have been trying to organise some portfolio visits while I am there as I think it will be a great experience. I have teamed up with my friend Kat and so far we have got 2 visits between us, one at Barbour Design and the other at Coffee Cup Design. I will update my blog with how things went when I get back!

Rave Flyers

2009-11-03T12:39:00.000-08:00

This year I have been writing my dissertation. I have always been interested in rave culture and the graphics that are produced along side this culture so I decided to focus my essay on it. I have found some interesting images during my research, although not all them have particularly amazing graphics, I think they are quirky and have a certain charm to them. Below are a certain set of flyers that I particularly like, they contain an element of parody to them, often referencing drugs and partying...!

All flyers available at www.phatmedia.co.uk

Contact: Barbour Design

2009-11-03T05:38:00.000-08:00

As part of Trip to New York we have been asked to arrange some portfolio visits with some NY agencies, I have been emailing a few companies and today got a reply from Barbour Design, the designer Ava invited me and my friend Kat to go into the studio which we are really looking forward to!

Berber Soepboer Dresses

2009-11-02T11:01:00.001-08:00

These are some dresses designed by Berber Soepboer, my favourite is the first one. A colour in dress!

Anti-Theft Lunch Bags

2009-11-02T10:52:00.000-08:00

While browing through the Design Milk blog today I came across these Anti-Theft Lunch Bags. They made me laugh so thought i'd share them!

www.design-milk.com

Container PLUS

2009-11-02T09:25:00.000-08:00

Today I went to a lecture given by one of the designers, Luise Vormittag, from Container Plus.This company combines illustration, photography and set design as well as other elements of art and design. They work across a multitude of 2D and 3D platforms exploring different techniques and ideas. The team often collaborate with different people in order to get the best out of their idea.

Container PLUS often work on self initiated briefs and well as commercial ones, giving them the opportunity to explore new techniques and experiment. One self initiated brief that Luise presented to us can be seen below.

The Evil Twins: THE WRITERS STORY

Below is a more commercial project they did for launch of Volkswagen's FOX. The team had to design 4 rooms in a hotel as part of the brief.

I really enjoyed this lecture, it was more illustration based than graphics and I really liked the style of the work. I think it is always good to look at other areas of design and learnt that collaboration is important.

http://www.containerplus.co.uk/

Like a River

2009-05-17T09:34:00.000-07:00

On Tuesday I went for a portfolio visit at the Branding agency Like a River. I don’t know Manchester very well so I went the day before to try and find the agency. I’m glad I did this, as I couldn’t find it so got a taxi there on the Tuesday.

The visit itself was really useful. Rob spoke to me about what he thought about my portfolio and explained to me which bits he found to be the stronger pieces and those that could be maybe replaced next year.

The first thing that Rob commented on was the layout of my portfolio. He said that is was excellent and very professional, which I was extremely happy about, as I had spent a lot of time on refining it. The pieces that Rob thought were strongest were my Cumberland Pencil Museum Poster, and the NYC Bowling Championship identity and application project. He liked these more as they had an idea behind them and weren’t purely aesthetic. He also like the look of my editorial magazine but thought that it just looked good, there was no real thinking / an idea behind it. I know that he is the designer and knows best but I slightly disagree with this as I feel there was an idea behind my magazine.

Overall my visit went well and Rob said to me that I could go in and show him my work again, either on my own or with a few of my other classmates, if I ever need a designer’s advice. He also said I could email him any of my work and if I needed any work to do in my spare time then he could email me some briefs too. I really appreciated all of Robs advice and found it really helpful to be able to speak to a designer.

Mike Mills and Storm Thorgerson

2009-05-08T07:19:00.000-07:00

After reading the Dress Code interview I decided to take a look at a couple of their influences and came across some really interesting images. Here are some of what I found.

Mike Mills

Storm Thorgerson

www.mikemillsweb.com

www.stormthorgerson.com

Dress Code Interview

2009-05-08T06:57:00.000-07:00

I was reading some of the interviews on the Grain Edit blog and found this one quite interesting, it is interviewing Andre Andreev and Dan Covert. They are designers from New York and are known as Dress Code. They have recently published a book called Never Slept about there transition from design students to design professionals. I have posted the interview below.

Can you give us a little back story? How did you two meet? What clicked between you that you would move, work, and follow each other across the country?

We met in while studying at California College of the Arts. At first we didn’t like each other so much because we were very competitive. Eventually we moved in the same house with mutual friends and our work ethic glued us together. We’d get each other’s feedback while working on freelance projects or homework. Then we decided to collaborate on a project and that turned out a to be a success. Collaborating made us realize that we could combine our skill-sets and greatly improve the quality of our work. Good partners are really hard to find and it was lucky that we met so early on in our careers. Also, it was more fun to hang with a friend while working yet another long night.

After graduation, we came to the conclusion that we should move out of San Francisco. Despite the incredible burritos and beautiful scenery it was time to move to a bigger city with more opportunity. The firms we really wanted to work for were in New York so it made sense to go there. Dan eventually got a job at MTV and Andre followed him soon thereafter. Once we both got to New York, dress code was in full effect.

How long have you been dress code?

The idea of dress code began while we were still in school and the first time we were published as dress code was around 2004. We officially quit our day-jobs and got an office in June of 2007.

Can you tell us about the conception of the book? Why did you decide to write one, and how long did the process take? 

As we were about to graduate from CCA we found very little material that explained how to transition to the professional field. We learned as we went along, preparing our portfolios, working freelance, interning and eventually getting jobs. We liked being in challenging situations that were way over our heads. Often we failed but in our failures there were many valuable lessons. We saw the void, and need for a book on the topic, and we started writing. Neither of us are fantastic writers so that made the challenge even more fun.

After writing a small section we shopped it around to a few publishers — eventually de.Mo press took a chance and offered to publish it. Once we had completed the book we had to raise some funds to finish printing it. That was a lengthy process that was full of too many uncomfortable meetings and phone calls. We switched printers to lower costs and that set us back as well. After all the trials and tribulations it took us about three plus years from conception to final production.

You talk about the disconnect between design school and the transition to design professional — can you explain this disconnection? What does this mean for new design graduates? 

There are so many disconnects between being a student and professional designer. The main one being that once you enter the field, chances are that you’ll have to wear many different hats. You could be an animator, producer, storyboard artist, director and sound designer all in one project. This kind of multi-tasking is not taught at most schools. Also, most schools prepare students on how to make a nice portfolio and get a job. That’s fantastic but there is an entrepreneurial side to graphic design as well. In our classes we challenge students to act as authors and curators as well as designers. Instead of designing content we encourage them to produce it. That way when they graduate they can get a job at a design firm but also start a music label, skate company or write a book on the transitioning to professional practice.

What can design schools do about this disconnect?

 The most valuable class we had at CCA was thesis, taught by Michael Vanderbyl. In his class we had to create a project that had a life outside of the classroom. Produce and manage all the content as well as design it. The critiques were very grueling and students failed quite often. Thesis gave us such a solid understanding of production and presentation that once we graduated we were ready to pitch our ideas to anyone. Being able to author, design and pitch ideas is the most valuable tool we can give students.

Students pay huge amounts to attend design school. As you look back on your education do you think that it was worth the cost? Why or why not? 

We were fortunate enough to have very dedicated teachers that pushed us to the next level. The access and connections we gained by being around such talented people help us to this day. Between both of us, we’ve gone through high-school vocational programs, community colleges, state schools and art schools. Its fair to say you get what you pay for. Plus both of us contemplated dropping out of college at one point or another and are glad we stuck it out.

You both teach a design class at Pratt Institute as well. How has teaching impacted your work?

Teaching is incredibly valuable. It keeps us fresh, coming into class and seeing what our students come up with is a treat (most of the time…). It helped us lean how to present in front of crowds, it helped us learn how to tell what is or isn’t working about something very quickly, it has made us aware of what’s in vogue and has given us access to some amazing talent.

What are your biggest design influences? What current designers do you admire? 

Our influences are very mixed, from chopped and screwed rap to Charlie Rose and from French Pornography to sneakers, we can draw inspiration from anything. There are too many people to name but we both enjoy the work of Storm Thorgerson, Mike Mills, Bob Gill and sometimes karlssonwilker.

What’s next for dress code? Another book? 

Although we have a few books in the works, we are far from writing another one about design. We are hoping to write a script this year.

What’s the typical dress code work day look like? 

We get in sometime around 11, eat a cupcake, answer some emails, eat a sandwich, work on some designs, have a meeting, answer some emails, eat dinner, design some more, go work out, design some more, go home between 2 and 4.

grainedit.com

Typographic Poster

2009-05-08T05:49:00.000-07:00

I was looking through a design blog today when I came across this poster. I just like the look of it so thought id post it on my blog!

Invisible Car

2009-05-07T05:26:00.000-07:00

I was watching the news a couple of days ago when I saw something really interesting. An art student from the University of Central Lancashire turned a car invisible buy paining it. She said it was representing the environment and recycling.

www.telegraph.co.uk

This and That

2009-05-06T10:32:00.000-07:00

I have just been looking at the Design Sponge blog and came across some really interesting glass containers. They are limited edition glass domes from This and That. Im not sure what you would use them for but the designs are great, particularly the balloon one! I want one!

Concert Posters

2009-05-06T07:51:00.000-07:00

Here are some concert posters that I have also found today!

postercabaret.com

Jeffrey Bowman Poster

2009-05-06T07:36:00.000-07:00

This is another poster I found today, it is a poster for a shop opening. The illustrator/designer is Jeffrey Bowman. His work is influences by everything from space exploration to the intricacies of the typeface creation and pattern repetition. I really like the type he has created and the way it works with the imagery.

grainedit.com

Chair Poster

2009-05-06T07:20:00.000-07:00

I was having a look through some blogs and designers work on the internet today and came across this poster. Its is a limited edition poster by Trenton Duerksen and Daniele Frazier. For the last three years the artists have collected a number of chairs for the streets of New York, this poster is a collection of some of the most successful finds.

www.kidchairposter.com

Contact: Like a River

2009-05-05T14:35:00.000-07:00

I have emailed Like a River today to see if there was any possibility of portfolio visit.

They got back to me saying that I could send a PDF of my best pieces over to them.

I am really pleased! Rob has quickly got back to me and said that I could pop in sometime as he would be happy to take a look at my work and talk through it with me.

I have now arranged a portfolio visit for Tuesday!

Conceptual Observations

2009-05-05T05:07:00.000-07:00

Today we were given a brief at uni to go out into our environments and take pictures. The pictures were to be 'conceptual observations' rather than great photography. The image itself was not as important as the content and the title of the image.

Here are some examples of what was required of us:

Snail Mail

Drinking Tree
Keep Left and Get Down
Brick Worm
Removed

Here are a couple that I found. I think these are the most successful:

Bosden Fold

Stripy Giraffe

www.danieleatock.com

Logos

2009-04-30T04:20:00.000-07:00

I have been looking at some logo design today and found a few that I thought were interesting. I like identities that have an idea behind them not that just look nice (although it is always a bonus if they do look good!). Here is a selection a found that I liked, some are more well known than others.

While looking at logos I stumbled across a design blog where I found a posting of 'the worlds best logo designs'. The designer David Airey's posts included some of the most notable designs so I decided to include these on my blog too.

Milton Glaser

Wally Olins

Walter Landor

Herb Lubalin

www.davidairey.com

www.gloriouscreative.co.uk

www.youturn.co.uk

www.shelter.org.uk

Illustration: Patrick Boyer

2009-04-30T03:51:00.000-07:00

Today I was looking trough the Creative Review blog and found some illustrations that I really like. Before I started my degree I was unsure about which path of design to take, I was torn between illustration and graphic design. Now I know I have chosen the right path with graphics but I still enjoy looking at illustrations. Here are a few by Patrick Boyer.

"Acknowledged as one of the most influential designers by WebDesign Magazine, Patrick Boyer began his career as a Designer/ Art Director in 1998 through "UrbanCowboy", an international acclaimed creative design identity. With a strong background in Marketing and Communication, Patrick has used his distinct style and knowledge of the industry to develop a growing reputation as "one of the hottest designers around" (Digital Creative Arts). He has been featured and profiled in numerous press coverage including magazine covers and features on DVDs and books for Illustrations, Branding, Art Direction, Fashion, Animation and Design." (taken from CR Blog)

http://www.illustrationweb.com

Chair Design

2009-04-29T13:02:00.001-07:00

One thing that I love to look at and always notice are chairs, ever since I was younger and found a book of 1000 chairs I have been interested about the many different designs, it is from a completely aesthetic point of view! One day I know that my home will be full of weird and wonderful, oddly placed chairs. I just think they look great. I have been browsing through some websites today and found a few that I think are quite interesting.

http://weburbanist.com

http://www.toxel.com

Interior Design

2009-04-29T12:19:00.000-07:00

I have always been interested in other areas of design particularly architecture and interior design. I really enjoy watching programs like Grand Designs, I like how you can see the whole process of the build from the foundations been laid rite through to the final furnishings. I love how the design of the building depends on the surroundings and how the architect makes the building fit in its environment. I also like the clean lines and organisation of the modern interiors.

The following house was on last weeks show. The reason I chose to write about this is because the inside and the outside of the building are so different and this sums up why I like the show. The outside is designed to fit in with its surroundings, it is made to sit on the lake as though it has been there for years yet the interior is clean an modern.

http://www.channel4.com/4homes/on-tv/grand-designs

Practitioners Report

2009-04-27T06:12:00.000-07:00

Over the past few months I have attended a number of lectures at college. Each one providing a much needed look into the design industry. Throughout this time we have had a variety of guest lecturers, varying from multi-media film designers such as Tal Rosner and graphic design companies such as Truth, Glorious and Thoughtful. Some of these designers have been from small companies consisting of two or three members, and others were bigger companies with a larger design team. One lecture that I really enjoyed was the one given to us by Glorious.

Glorious are a company that work a lot with branding and Identity. They are identity specialists who are known for their creative thinking and craft skills and were named in the top five of the North of England Design Consultancy of the Year. One of the design directors, Tom Shaughnessy, came to speak to us at college and told us a bit about the company itself. He was very passionate about design and told us that Glorious were about a good idea not just aesthetics. This, in my opinion is what differentiates from an average designer and a great designer, which is why I always try and push myself to come up with a bigger and better idea.

The presentation that Glorious gave us was good as it was great to see the kind of work that was being produced at a top design agency and see the clients that they had worked for. Tom showed us how even top designers have to keep on working to win clients throughout their careers. The design agency Truth also came in to talk to us a few months ago and the presentation that they gave also really stood out to me, maybe even more so than Glorious’. I think that the reason for this is because they came in and explained to us how they worked as a company; it wasn’t just a presentation of a designers work.

Truth are a small, Manchester based company renown for their type and print based work. They believe that for a brand to succeed you must be honest about it which is why they offer straightforward design solutions and an honest approach. Two people, Darren Scott and Jane Kaye, run the company. They each have separate roles, Darren being the Creative Partner and Jane being the Managing Partner. Truth was the first agency that actually told us how the business was run. I found it really interesting to hear how each of them had different roles within the company and how they couldn’t function properly without each other as they both held different skills.

I feel that this also relates to how the company works in a wider sense. The two partners met when working together at McCann Erickson where the team used to do everything ‘in house’, now working at Truth Darren told us that he enjoyed collaborating and working with other artists and designers. He explained how there would always be someone better and more skilled at doing something than you; a professional photographer will produce a better quality photo, an illustrator a better drawing. This is one piece of advice that I will take away with me and hopefully be able to apply to my own work. If I have the best possible resources then my design will be the best it could possibly be.

One thing I picked up on when listening to Darren was that he particularly enjoyed creating typefaces. He showed us a number of these, some that he had worked on outside of Truth and others done for the company. One of the projects that I remember well was for Fuse (Research Studios). I remember this as I have seen the design before while researching Neville Brody for an essay I was writing. When I saw that Darren and Truth had produced work for Research Studios I was really impressed as I learnt a lot about Brody and I see him, as been one of the most influential designers of his time. The Fuse typographic project can be seen below.

Although Glorious are more of an identity based company they still work with the designing of typography although it is used in a different way. An example of this is the project they had for Red Dog Communications. The type was produced not just for a typeface design but so that they had the best-looking typography for the project in hand. It would dress the logo/identity and make it reach its full potential. Tom took an existing typeface as a template and edited it until he had the desired look. He also created his own type for another project (Pay and Display), an invitation and poster design. He wanted a specific look for the invite he was creating (in the style of a car parking ticket) so he took some graph paper and made his own.

As I mentioned previously although Glorious have been extremely successful in most areas of graphic design they work a lot with logos and are identity specialists. One identity project that they produced that I particularly like was for Twist and Turn, an importer and distributor of extreme sports equipment and clothing. The company wanted a simple, bold logotype that would connect with their target market. I think that the logo produced answers this brief, it is simple yet extremely effective.

An identity project that I like by Truth was one done for the Authentic Food Company. The client wanted a brand identity that would work across various areas of the business. This logo and how it was applied can be seen below.

Although both Truth and Glorious work well in all fields of graphic design I think it is fair to say that each company has its own strengths and tend to work more on certain projects. For example Truth have worked a lot with branding, web design and type whereas Glorious have worked more with identity and branding. This has taught me that when leaving college and going on to hopefully becoming a designer myself that I should work with a company that suits me and what I am good at. Although I know that at this stage in my career I can’t be too choosy!

www.truth-design.co.uk

www.gloriouscreative.co.uk

3M End Sting

2009-04-23T04:15:00.000-07:00

This is a project that I have recently completed, I was asked to produce an e-sting for the company 3M. The company itself is produces many different products, so much so that I decided that focusing on one aspect of the company would get the best end results. Because of this I chose to look at the office supplies part. I chose this because I felt it related to me and my fellow students, the people viewing the final e-sting, more than the industrial side.

I produced the e-sting in Flash which was a new program to me, I found it difficult and I think this is reflected in the quality of my final product. I would like to go back and edit it to make the action a bit smoother. I like the idea I had as it was simple yet effective but I am not happy with the quality of the finish, it is even worse quality on here...sorry.

Type book

2009-04-23T03:41:00.000-07:00

This is another brief that I was set in first year. I had to produce a double page spread for a book using the font Mrs Eaves again, this time using elements from the characters rather than the punctuation.

Manchester Literature Festival

2009-04-23T03:27:00.000-07:00

This is a brief from my first year at uni. It was to design a poster for the Manchester Literature Festival. I had to Produce a poster using only punctuation marks from the font Mrs Eaves. I wanted to use a lot of white space giving the sense of words been spoken.

Clio 50 Design Awards

2009-04-22T08:58:00.000-07:00

While browsing on the internet I came across a competition with some interesting entries. The competition itself is the 50th Anniversary Clio Awards it is a competition to celebrate the last 50 years of design and advertising. I have picked out a few of the designs I liked from last years competition as this years hasn't been judged yet! Some are by students whereas others are by professional designers.

This is the student entry, a billboard that won gold in 2008

Professional gold winner 2008

Professional silver winner 2008

www.clioawards.com

Photography

2009-04-22T08:29:00.000-07:00

I was looking through Flickr today when I came across a series of photographs that really caught my attention. The artist has named them Evolution is Convenient.

www.flickr.com

MTV

2009-04-22T07:38:00.000-07:00

One TV channel that I watch quite regularly is MTV. I really like the way they have created a brand and identity for the channel. I feel its designs work well in targeting its audience. I always like the adverts they play too, for example the Switch campaign adverts. Here are some of the aspects of the channel I personally like.

The Logo

The MTV website

The MTV characters (a different character for each channel)

While I was looking for these characters I found this video done by a student for the D&AD Awards. I wanted to include it as I really like it!

MTV Switch Campaign

www.mtv.co.uk

www.youtube.co.uk

E-Stings

2009-04-22T07:17:00.000-07:00

The last project I completed at uni was an end-sting brief. I looked at some research into e-stings in order to get an idea of what was required of me. These are a few of the ones I liked. The Soundcloud one is my favourite although I think its a bit long.

Test logo animation from Erik Sejersen on Vimeo.

Logo Animation Stresemann from Sebastian Lange on Vimeo.

4 Moving Soundcloud Logos from Sebastian Lange on Vimeo.

www.vimeo.com

Music

2009-04-22T06:21:00.000-07:00

We recently had a visiting lecture from the graphic design company Music. The designer Anthony Smith spoke about a number of different jobs he had done within the time he'd spent at Music and gave us some advice about the industry. He also Bought in his portfolio and other pieces of work for us to take a look at.

One thing I found really useful was a list of key points informing us of how to handle an interview.

What's Important at Interviews:

Presentation
Be clear - what the brief was, how you answered it
Be positive about your work
ATTITUDE at interviews, placements and jobs always ask questions, be interested, make yourself useful
Ask for other contacts

www.designbymusic.com

Jamie Reid

2009-04-14T04:45:00.001-07:00

Another Design that I have looked into is Jamie Reid and his work around the Punk Rock Movement. I looked at his work in relation to postmodernism. Some of the pieces that I looked at were God Save the Queen and Never Mind the Bollocks heres the Sex Pistols.

Neville Brody

2009-04-14T04:19:00.000-07:00

One designer that I have looked at a lot throughout my time at college is Neville Brody. I studied his work during the Punk period for an essay in my first year and since then have become a big fan of his designs. He worked on a number of different projects for example, he designed record sleeves for Stiff Records and worked within editorial design. I particularly like his work for The Face magazine. He was one of the first designers that went against the rules to produce a new an exciting look, something that had never been done before. In my opinion Brody was one of the most influential designers of this period. Some pieces by Brody can be seen below.

Vaughan Oliver

2009-04-14T03:56:00.000-07:00

During my first year of Graphic design we were given the opportunity to work with photography, during this time I looked into the work of graphic designer and photographer Vaughan Oliver. The style of his work inspired me to create some of my own pieces using similar techniques. These pieces can been seen below.

Logo and Poster Design

2009-04-08T09:26:00.000-07:00

This was one of my first year projects. I had to design a logo for the Cumberland Pencil Museum along with a poster. When designing the poster I chose to promote a mountain drawing competition that was been held there. I photographed Pencils to make the shape of mountains for the imagery for my poster.

Ambient media/Advertising

2009-03-25T11:53:00.000-07:00

I have looked at a number of different methods of advertising in order to help me with my Identity project here are a few examples of some of the work I looked at and found inspiration from.

Identity Project

2009-03-25T11:09:00.000-07:00

For this project we were required, in groups, to come up with an identity and apply it. We had to come up with our own event and location and combine these two elements to make the new identity logo.

Our group chose a Bowling Championship held in New York. We decide to use the Statue of Liberty to illustrate our event as we felt this is one of the main landmarks that came to mind when thinking of New York.

The final logo:

We also came up with a number of different ways in which we could advertise and promote the event. Mostly we looked at merchandise and ambient media. The ambient side of the project came from the idea of turning New York into a bowling alley. One way in which we did this was by turning roads into lanes. Some of these can be seen below:

Out of college time I have adapted a few of the groups original ambient media ideas:

Pictograms

2009-03-18T12:14:00.000-07:00

While at uni we were given a short project to design two pictograms. One had to achieve a physical likeness of our own face/head and the other a physical likeness of one of our classmates. The pictograms had to communicate not just look attractive, they had to be iconic in characteristic not simply illustrations. I enjoyed this project and think I was successful in completing the brief.

This is just one of my pictograms. I am having trouble uploading the one of me!

Contact: Modern designers

2009-03-18T11:20:00.000-07:00

Recently I have been looking at getting into the design industry and getting my portfolio together. As part of this process I have started to email some design agencies asking them some questions about the best way to do this. One agency that I contacted was Modern designs. The designer Mat was very helpful and gave me some great advice on how to approach other agencies.

Glorious

2009-03-16T09:39:00.000-07:00

Glorious are a design agency that came in to talk to us at Uni. They are known for their creative thinking and are identity specialists who enjoy the challenge of problem-solving. The team has been together for 3 1/2 years and were named in the top five of the North of England Design Consultancy of the Year. Glorious showed us a number of different pieces of work that they had produced. I have chosen a few of my favourites below.

This Particular project was a calendar for a barbers shop celebrating 40 years of business.

Another project was Pay and Display for Liverpool and Manchester Design Initiativ. They wanted a clever idea that would spread the news of their exhibition, held in a car park, through word of mouth. This is one of my favourite pieces.

One identity project that they showed us was for the company Red dog communications. The identity they produced can be seen below.

www.gloriouscreative.co.uk

Editorial Brief

2009-03-09T05:06:00.000-07:00

This was a brief I was set at uni. We were given the choice of 3 magazines and asked to redesign one of them based on the main article, I chose the New Scientist. The article was about creativity and where creative people get their inspiration from. It included information about how the brain worked and how creativity had been linked to schizophrenia and other disorders. The title of the article was 'Looking for Inspiration', we were given the option of changing the title if necessary. Overall we had to design 2 spreads, an editorial page and a front and back cover.

At first I had difficulty coming up with a theme for my magazine, I had looked at many different angles but non seemed to be working. I decided to look into the work of Paul Davis, David Shrigley and other designers with similar loose, sketchy styles. I felt this was a good idea because the style seemed to relate to the article well. I did struggle with this brief but overall I think that the final outcome was a good one.

David Shrigley

2009-03-09T04:40:00.001-07:00

Another designer that inspired my editorial brief was David Shrigley. He has a similar style to Paul davis as he uses a lot of hand draw type and loose drawings. I used this technique for my magazine and think that the end product worked well (see own work for editorial brief). below are some examples of Shrigleys work.

www.davidshrigley.com

Paul Davis

2009-03-05T02:35:00.000-08:00

For one of my projects at uni (Editorial Brief) I looked into the work of Paul Davis. He uses very loose styles, with a sketch-like feel to create his designs. I wanted to use this as inspiration to create the typography for my magazine. When trying to imitate the style myself i found it was an extremely hard look to achieve although it looked so effortless. Below you can see some of the images that i looked at and that inspired me.

www.copyrightdavis.com

Thoughtful

2009-02-23T09:25:00.000-08:00

One agency that have had a lot to do with my college are Thoughtful. They are a design agency made up of 3 people, James, Chris and Stuart. Thoughtful have been into college working with us on a regular basis, helping us with development of our work and our ideas. They are a young agency that focus on good design.

Some of the work that they have done that inspired me was an advertising campaign for Howies. I like the way that they aren't afraid to try out new ideas and do something different. Work like this encourages me to think of more unusual ways of advertising a product. A example of the Howies campaign can be see below.

www.wearethoughtful.com

Truth

2009-02-23T08:25:00.000-08:00

Earlier this year the design agency Truth came into college and gave us a lecture on some of the work they had produced and how they built up their design agency. Truth was founded by Darren Scott and Jane Kaye. They each have their own roles within the agency, Darren being the Creative Partner and Jane the Managing Partner. They met while working at McCann Erickson where they decided it was time for a change and came together to form Truth.

Although they have only been together for a couple of years Truth have already worked with a substantial number of clients such as Durex, Fat hog, Reebok and Versus Cancer. One of my favourite pieces that Truth showed us was the work they did for Fat hog.

The reason that I liked this was because the new identity that they created is totally different to any of the other decorating brands. It is lively and dynamic and appeals to a much younger audience while keeping it clear enough so not to alienate existing customers.

Truth explained to us that the best ideas come when you are taken out of your comfort zone and pushed into the unknown. It helps you to experience fresh new ideas. This is something that I will always remember when doing my own design work.

www.truth-design.co.uk

Tal Rosner

2009-02-23T07:45:00.000-08:00

Tal Rosner is a BAFTA award winning filmmaker and graphic designer who came and guest spoke at a lecture at college. He started of studying graphic design until he discovered he had a talent for moving image making. He took what he had learnt while doing graphic design and applied the techniques to the films he began to make.

One of my favourite pieces that he composed was the title sequence for the Channel 4 youth drama Skins. The writer was looking for something new and exciting for the opening sequence, something that had not been done before. Rosner was commissioned to develop the entire on-screen identity, the budget was low as it was the first series but this is something that excited Rosner. "I designed a mischievous, speedy collage of characters and unpredictable features of Bristol, the city where the plot is set. Each of the 9 episodes' title sequence received a different ending, highlighting a particular character or characters to be the focus of that episode." The writer was so impressed with what Rosner created that he hired him to do the second and third series too.

(stills from the Channel 4 show, Skins)

Grace O'Malley

Contact: Dust

Mads Perch

Eastern Electrics

Eastern Electrics

TEN

In an Absolute World

Fashion Editorial

Make-up Art

French Connection

WKD TV Adverts

Logo Evolution

True North

Contact: True North

Contact: Buddy

Branch

"We just do the best we can"

Practitioners Report: Container Plus & Mike Rigby

Topshop: Que Houxo

Type

Posterscope

Jonathan May

Book design

Book design: Slip cases

Shellsuit Zombie

Studio Special

Red Brick Road

Dye Holloway Murray

Magpie

Advertising Strategy

STAGES OF ADVERTISING STRATEGY

METHODS OF ADVERTISING

Contact: DHM

Contact: LOVE

Book design: Layout

Bacardi YCN Brief

The Chip Shop Awards

New York: Barbour Design

New York: Coffee Cup Design

New York

Rave Flyers

Contact: Barbour Design

Berber Soepboer Dresses

Anti-Theft Lunch Bags

Container PLUS

Like a River

Mike Mills and Storm Thorgerson

Dress Code Interview

Typographic Poster

Invisible Car

This and That

More Posters

Concert Posters

Jeffrey Bowman Poster

Chair Poster

Contact: Like a River

Conceptual Observations

Logos

Illustration: Patrick Boyer

Chair Design

Interior Design

Practitioners Report

3M End Sting

Type book

Manchester Literature Festival

Clio 50 Design Awards

Photography

MTV

E-Stings

Music

Jamie Reid

Neville Brody

Vaughan Oliver

Logo and Poster Design

Ambient media/Advertising

Identity Project

Pictograms

Contact: Modern designers

Glorious

Editorial Brief