12.08.09
websites i like
I have been looking into design and illustration websites that i like the layout of to try and get inspiration for my own website which I intend to build this academic year. As I don’t specialise in building websites I will find it rather difficult when it comes to production stage, but for the moment I am concentrating on developing my own style which I want to be seen on my website. The first impression of a designer comes from the first thing possible clients see, which is the business card, and if they then decide to look at the persons website it needs to show the same style and quality of the business card design. A well designed and printed business card may attract potential clients to look you up on your website or blog, but if they get there and the design isn’t to the standard expected they can still change their minds. Therefore I think it’s important to have an interesting, well designed website that shows your ability to design well and show your unique style, this will make the viewers want to know more. Here are screenshots of two websites i particularly like.
hand drawn type
Here is an alternative version to a magazine cover which i found on the internet. I like the hand drawn type as well as the illustrated version of the model. I don’t think the same effect could be achieved by computer, and I think it communicates better with hand drawn type.
11.07.09
Klaruw Christmas Cards
Me and Sean were approached by Klaruw (as Sean’s mum works for the company and mentioned that we were studying Graphics and looking to do some Professional Practice) to design company Christmas cards for them to send to clients and possible new clients. Klaruw is a road re-surfacing company, and it’s goals are to reduce the number of accidents on the road, and to do this in a cost-effective, environmentally-friendly way. Their first idea was for us to try incorporate this into the design, and to use their company colour scheme, which is yellow and black.
We weren’t sure how we could use the colour scheme successfully, as well as show what they do, whilst still being a Christmas card and not a marketing card. We did 4 similar designs for them….none of which we were completely happy with!! They worked as a marketing card, we showed what the company did, and we used their colour scheme but I don’t think they worked very well as Christmas cards. They then sent us feedback on the first designs, they confirmed what we already thought, they changed their minds and wanted us to design a card that was ‘more Christmassy and less Klaruw’. We then did 3 more designs which we were happier with, and I got to do some illustration! They were happy with them, and preferred the more humorous approach. They decided to go with one of them, but wanted a few changes. Here is the final design which they will be using this year.
We also designed the inside of the card.
05.25.09
maxwell lord
Here is an example of young Russian artist Maxwell Lord’s work. He works with various ink pens and gel pens to create stunning handwritten, traditional pieces. It’s nice to see successful typographers who use their skills to create these detailed type and image made by hand, in a time where computer software is so advanced .
“Maxwell’s typography is an entanglement of detail and intricacy. His pieces are generally filled with ornamental marvel and majestically formulated lines. He carries a rare, yet impressive and extraordinary talent, which unfortunately, is hard to come by in this day and age of computers and design software. Fortunately for the art and design community, there are still people in the world, just like Maxwell, who continue to practice and pursue their inspirational trades.”
I like his work as it’s similar to what I enjoy doing. I love hand drawn type as I think it’s so much nicer and personal than computer generated type, but I also know that there are places for each. In my third year I hope to explore hand drawn type more, and try and bring my own style into the briefs I will be choosing, and
Business cards
For the degree show it would definitely benefit us all to get business cards, to get our names out there! I looked at moo.com, and also vistaprint.co.uk to see what was available and look through their templates. They had some nice ones but as a graphic design student I think it makes more sense for me to design my own, to show my ability and also my style. Business cards are the first example of your work potential buyers will see, before a portfolio and website, therefore it must make a good impression. These are a few illustrations I had made that I thought I might be able to use on the card:
I then edited these images in illustrator and photoshop to come up with these ideas:
I’ve decided not to go with these, even though I like the layout and text, but I think the effects I used screams amateur, as they are so easy to achieve in photoshop!!! The colourful illustration is a nice image, but looks more suited for glasswork or something!! So then I came up with these:
I am happy with the design, but was unsure what colour scheme to use, so I tried out a few. I think they all work in a way, but each one communicates a different message. I think I will steer clear from pinks and purples, as they (combined with girly squiggles) looks more suited for a beauty or hairdressing salon!! I think the 2 strongest are the black on the bottom right and the white top left. I think the black one is more attractive and interesting, but the white is minimal and professional. If I could go back I would leave myself more time to design a business card that better represents my style, make a more interesting one that I am happy with. These are ok and I do like them, but looking at websites I have seen so many weird & wonderful business cards I wish I had left enough time to make a great one, not just an ok one. I’ll start planning for next year!!!
04.21.09
Random images I’ve found on the internet, most of them from flickr.com. I’m not the computers biggest fan, I’d choose a pen and paper over a computer screen any day!!! So my interest in handmade posters, advertisements an especially type comes as no surprise! I find handmade designs to be much more unique and interesting than digital designs, although I might be biased due to the fact I’m not as confident on-screen as others, and I don’t have as many skills to create unique pieces of work on the computer. So, for my CD designing brief I’m going to do it on paper, though I will later put it on-screen for editing and making it ‘look prettier’!! I’m also considering focusing my critical studies presentation, and eventually dissertation, on an era or change in handmade typography.
I like these two drawings below, I’ve always liked biro doodles! These look so detailed and full of shading and tones, as well as having interesting images within them. I like looking at other peoples doodles, they often reflect their mood, personality and drawing style.
advertisement
As well as the tags we decided to make an advertisement that would appear online, as a poster, or in a magazine that would advertise our brand. We came up withthe idea of a shoe squashing the copyright logo, as if to say the shoe is from a non-designer brand, and it’s standing on the logo, implying copyright doesn’t matter in the fashion world.
We played around on illustrator and created a few interesting images involving high heels standing on the logo. We used images similar to the ones below for inspiration :
We decided we wanted to have some fun doing this project so we booked in a slot in the photography studio and decided to make our own professional looking photographs to use. It was a lot of fun and we had a lot of photos out of it, some successful, some not and some plain silly!!! Here are some examples of the work we did using our own images. Some are altered in illustrator, others in photoshop :
copyright tags
Here are the tags we made. We used informal language to write the explanatory paragraph on the back of the tags. It explains what our brand stands for. We played around a lot with type colour, style and size. We looked at how it reads and what are the key words are that need more emphasis, as well as readability and rivers.
We decided to change our logo to ‘It’s Ok To Copy’, as it’s more relevant to the copyright issue we are addressing. We still kept the typeface and style as we thought it worked well as an imitation to YSL, we also kept the colour scheme to purple and silver.
copyright
As we are directing our information at age group 16 to 25 year olds, we have looked into the language we would use. We don’t need to use ‘proper’ english for our audience, as talking in a language that they use is more personal and effective. We looked at the language used on innocent smoothies packs, and their website, which is up on the links.
