Own Branding

I'm currently creating a logo to brand myself a 'Graphic Designer'. I've had a few ideas and have managed to develop one into an idea that I like. Hopefully, with a bit more development, and feedback from my peers and tutors, it will be appearing on this blog, as well as my twitter page and business cards.

4mations Website

This is the final website I created for the brief of making an identity for Channel 4's new animation channel, 4mations.

4mations final logo

This is the final logo I created for the brief of making a logo for Channel 4's new animation channel, 4mations.

Third Year?

I'm currently thinking of staying on fir a third year at Newcastle College, and achieving my BA Honours in Creative Practise. The talk I attended informed me that the third year was based on 'Supporting Sustainable Practise in Industry'.

The layout of the year at Newcastle College:

1. Project Proposal (3,000 words)
2. Project Planning (3,000 words and a presentation)
3. Development Portfolio (Annotated Portfolio)
4. Realisation Portfolio (Annotated Portfolio)
5. Dissertation (7,000 words)

I am excited by the thought of gaining the experience in industry through a third year, but will have to do more research on which institute I would want to attend.

Seaton Sluice First School Emblem

These are two ideas I pitched for Seaton Sluice First Schools Emblem, the ideas are similar but the type has changed to make out the full name of the school. The top images were to be used on a school jumper, the bottom left to be used on a white T-shirt, and the bottom right to be used as a letterhead on school paperwork.

What its like to be inside a retro Pinball Machine

Here's a an Ident for Fox Retro, created by Plenty and Fantasma, to show what its like to be in a 1980's retro-futuristic pinball machine.. http://www.behance.net/gallery/Fox-Retro-Birthday-Id/794321 

Tetris

As I'm working on Tetris based piece, I had a friend who sent me this as inspiration for my animations.. http://www.anim8stopmotion.com/play.php?vid=573. Check it out, it's actually quite good.

Nuby Packaging - Different - Evaluation

This was a brief set to create a series of package designs for ‘Nuby’ baby products. The brief stated that the designs had to be fun, consistent and natural, while also appealing to parents. I had the idea of creating a cube, with 4 white sides and 2 sides with a wrapping-paper style pattern. After consulting the tutor, I noticed my design didn’t have any shelf presence, point of sale, and the pattern couldn’t be seen. I then re-created my package in a different way, losing the box shape but creating the pattern into the main part of my design.

I feel that after much time spent trying to give this design more shelf presence, I have come up with a good solution to the task. If there were any parts to be changed, it would just be small changes, such as the layout, but overall I am happy with the outcome.

Nuby Packaging - Different

Design company, Different presented us with a brief on a Nuby product packaging. They wanted a designs that would work as a series across many products. I was inspired by the old-fashioned, repeat-pattern wallpaper for these designs.

The Organic Connoisseur (Chocolate Packaging) Evaluation

This was a teamwork-based task. After pairing up with a Jonny Hindson, we had to design a successful solution to package a high quality bar of chocolate, aimed at a target audience of 20+. We first drew up a mind map to come up with some brand characteristics, which we then used to come up with a brand name. After this we drew up some initial ideas of what we believed could make this packaging a success and we discussed which parts to collaborate to be a success. We then decided to work to our strengths; each doing an element for the design, which we believed we were better at, though we constantly spoke of how each other’s work could be improved and what we liked. We then took these final elements and used In Design to create a successful layout.

I feel that overall I was able to work as part of a team and come up with a successful solution to this task. If I were to go back over this project I would only make small changes to the final outcome, for example, I would integrate the slogan into the illustration of the character.

The Organic Connoisseur (Chocolate Packaging)

This is a packaging piece I worked on with Jonny Hindson. The concept came from creating a high-end expensive chocolate, for an age range of 24-35.

CV and Covering Letter

I am currently writing the covering letter for my CV, and never thought it could be this tricky. Making the covering letter interesting and readable is hard enough, but doing this while not sounding generic is quite difficult. I have been using http://jobs.guardian.co.uk/cv.html  to give me advice on writing my CV and covering letter. I have found this site to be very helpful, and hopefully it will allow me to be successful in writing the rest of my CV.

Different

On the 26th of October, Different held a talk for the North East Design Event. The talk involved a walkthrough of whether a designer has to be a "master in all trades", the work and direction of work that the company has created, and a tour of the workplace.

I found this very helpful, giving me knowledge of what trades I need to get background knowledge and an understanding in. Looking at the work, and the formats in which the work is created, reminded me not to always think at straight forward print options, such as posters, and think of different print options or maybe digital options to create a successful final solution.

Nightshade

Nightshade was an exhibition held by North East Design Event, to show a collection of black and white illustrations from Amy Dover, Emily Forgot and Alaric Hammond. The work was a collection of drawings, collage and printmaking. The images were a mixture of violence and animalism, in a mystical way.

Exquisite Corpse

I visited an exhibition for the North East Design Event. It was hosted by Sumo Design, and held work from designers all over the world. The design was based around the parlour game, exquisite corpse, where a piece is split up into four sections, with different people designing the different sections, joining the pieces together for a final design.

Though there wasn't a lot of work, all pieces were of interest, and all sections to each piece worked well to create the final image

Think and a Drink - The Battle

A few weeks ago I attended The Battle, at Newcastle College's Performance Academy. This was a battle of design among some well established designers, to see who could come up with the most original design, based on a theme given at the start of each round.

The first round was themed 'Urban'. Most designs clearly showed this theme, while others, one in particular, clearly didn't understand the word 'Urban' and went for a space-style theme. The competitors who advanced were the ones who deserved to go through to the next round.

The second round was based on 'Military'. This round was interesting to watch as the competitors were very close in their ability. The one design that stood out to me was a humorous one, with a pun about the size of a gun. Sadly this competitor, along with some others were eliminated.

The third, and final round was based on 'Video Games'. The final two competitors had a close fought battle, with both putting a spin on retro games. After long deliberation between the judges, the right man won (in my opinion), though it was a close fight to the end.