NHS - Treat Us Right - Logo

So today I received a few things from the NHS, a few items in which my logo was printed on, leaflets and a letter of recommendation.

Extremely happy

Illustration Now! 3

Bought this amazing book as I thought it would be great for my current college project, all this book contains is page after page of illustrators and their work, which is great for researching Illustrators!

Tattoo Magazines - Exploring Something Different

Today I went out and bought some tattoo magazines, as I thought I would step outside of the box and look at other forms of art, other than graphic designers work and fine artists, as tattoo artist and tattoo's themselves are different every time, not a single one is the same, the style varies each time, as does the tattoo, And I think this is something I should try to put towards my designs, keep them changing, and to not stick to the same style all the time, as repeating things becomes boring, and its always good to try something new. I also think that looking at tattoos is very inspiring.

D&AD Second Year Project - Marmite

After meeting a few of the second years on the trip to New York one of the guys I got to know quite well asked me if I would like to help them with editing their project video for their D&AD project, of course given this great opportunity I said yes as I thought it would be some great portfolio work.

The Video was about rebranding Marmite and getting rid of their brand line, "you either hate it or love it" and changing it with something a lot nicer. they came up with the great idea  of "love spreads"

Computer Arts - Self Promotion

I bought the third and final in the series of Computer Arts handbook magazines.

Completing the Handbook Series, This book explains the best ways to promote your work and yourself, what you need to do to get yourself noticed, and the best way to go around it.

Work Based Learning - Hitchcock Movie Poster

Our brief for this project was to create a movie poster for a Hitchcock Movie which we chose out of a hat, we were then had to team up with a 3rd party photographer and collaborate together with a model to create a photograph which we could use in our movie posters. I picked out the movie vertigo, which meant I and some others with the same film had to work with people outside of our college hours as the students we were pair with were part time students.

Like every other project I did my research on movie posters, old and new and researched what typography I would be using in my poster.

I also researched 1940's style clothing, photographs and other movies as well as watching the original vertigo movie to help me understand the project better and gain a better picture of what I was going to need to do in my art direction when it came to the photo shoot, what props and poses would I want the do have or do and how I would like the photographs to turn out.

A few days after the photo shoot we received our  photographs, this was a lot of hard work and very stressful as we got everything one week later than the rest of the class as we had part time students meaning we were behind a little.

These were how some of my photographs turned out along with my final piece. I thought that the final poster turned out very well I really enjoyed this project at times.

Pearlfisher - New York

While we were in New York we went to visit one of the most thought about design agencies in the world, Pearfisher. Based in a small building on the top floor, is the very stylish, relaxed and calming environment that is Pearlfisher, although a lot smaller than their headquarters in London, Pearlfisher

Is the perfect working environment and after spending only five minutes in their studio, I had completely forgotten that we were in busy New York.

While visiting, they gave us a talk and showcased their work, the key point that they exercised the most in their presentation was their values. Truth, Design, Desire, their aim is create designs that last, and you can see this in their work, as all of their work is clean and simplistic, designed so well that you probably wouldn't need to redesign the product for as long as it were on sale. Everlasting designs.

I also loved that Pearlfisher weren't like other design agencies, that only excepted the best and biggest of clients, they're happy to work for anybody and everybody, and they'll put their all into their designs.

New York Trip

We got the amazing chance to visit New York City for 4 days with college from March 4th to the 8th, to visit some graphic design and advertising agencies. New York was a real eye opener, not only from the experiences with the agencies but also from just being in such an amazing city with so much to do an how nothing stops and everything so so grand, nothing is small, everything is so inspirational. 

The Anatomy Of Typography

During our Typography project I found this great Typography deconstruction poster, showing you all the little things about typography. with the name and a breakdown/definition of what it was called, you can even buy them as framed posters.

Typography and Editorial Design

For this project we were given a brief in which we had to create two double page spreads with titles, headlines, paragraphs images and the other sorts.

Just like every other project I started with research, I researched typographers such as Alex Fowkes and Editorial designers, although there weren't many of them I managed to find one or two.

I also researched into the anatomy of editorial as I thought this would come in handy knowing what was going where and what each bit was called.

Afterwards I researched the anatomy of typography and started research on the genre of magazines in which I had chosen to base my double page spreads around. I researched front covers and typography used in the magazines so that I would be able to match it in my own spreads, so that my spreads would fit into that genre and into that magazine design style.

I then bought some magazines from Computer Arts which helped me a lot, I learned a lot of new skills from them and I feel as if they allowed me to progress my designs further and made my finals look the way they were, from the typography to the layout.  

And these are my finals, the two double page spreads, although they're not page one and two, these are both the 1st pages of the 2 designs I did.

If that makes sense? 

I really like the 1st final as I think it turned out to be my best one overall, with the typography and layout along with the images I used.

Computer Art's - The Freelance Handbook

I bought the second in the series of Computer Arts handbook magazines today.

I thought as I had one I might as well collect the others, I also thought that this would come in very handy for not only college but a lot outside. If I were to ever do freelance work.

The book explains the best ways to get freelance work and how to handle it, along with finances and skill sets, how to better yourself and what you need to get the most out of being a freelance designer.

Freelance Work For The NHS.

Recently I got the chance to work for the NHS as part of a new scheme they were setting into motion.

Treat Us Right.

I wasn't told much about the project other than they needed a logo, and that I had free reign to do what I wanted, as long as the logo had something to do with taking off, being free, or equality.

I didn't get paid for this job, but I thought it would be great work for my portfolio and I received a letter of recommendation along with some name badges, pencils and other stationary items that the logo was printed on.

This is my process to the final two logos I designed for them.

Computer Arts - The Design Student Handbook

I found this while I was looking for magazines in WH Smiths the other week and just had to buy, I thought it would be a great investment as It does what it say's right on the packet.

Its a Handbook for students and a Student I am.

Inside it tells you what you need to do to get the most out of your course and it shows you how to be the best and get the best grades on your project.

What tools you need and how to use them, it even helps you with your portfolio work and what steps to take after you finish your course, including Internships, Placements and Interviews.

I find it very useful and its helped me a lot in this past project.