Hossegor 09'

This shot was taken from the top of the hill overlooking the beach in Hossegor using a Nikon d40 with 18-55mm lens.

Gig Posters

Here is a site with 50 amazing gig posters. Check it out.

Type Workshop Session 3 & 4

My Typefaces are coming along nicely. I have completed one in FontLab and with a few minor adjustments it will be ready to use. This font is a block font with an urban feel to it. It would be used for headers and titles that would be printed big. Using bright colours and a little drop shadow this works as a vibrant font that stands out. I named it Barry.

My second typeface is based on brush strokes and taking letter forms from Chinese writing. I wanted to achieve a natural feel to this font. I have finished the designs on paper and now I have to put them into Illustrator or FontLab. I am going to make this font available in Regular, Bold and Italic.

My final typeface is still in the early stages. It was inspired by block text I saw whilst in Berlin. When I got back I started sketching out ideas for a font that is very top heavy. I have a almost half the alphabet, but some letters are posing a real problem. It is hard to make them fit with other letters around them. I might make this a 3d font.

Creative Business Cards

I found this site that shows some really good business cards. I think having a business card that is a little different is very important and here you can see what kind of things you could do.

60 Creative Business Cards.

Back from Berlin

Berlin was amazing. I wasn't really sure what to expect and on the first day I must admit I wasn't really feeling it. Once we started visiting galleries and exhibitions though I really started to enjoy myself. We visited the Jewish War Museum, Museum of Modern Art, Bauhaus, Brandenburg Gate and The Reichstag just to name a few.

We explored Berlin on foot and public transport and found some beautiful architecture all around. We saw some old parts of the Berlin wall that had been saved and lots of German graffiti and street art.

Type Radio

Last week we were given our new brief which last for 6 weeks. We all had to pick names out of a box for the designer we would be using. I got Stefan Sagmeister. I have transcribed the article from www.typeradio.org and now I just have top start looking into different ways of laying it out.

SBC1 Done & Dusted

Flash went well. I got everything handed in on time and I was pleased with my final piece.

Screen Based Communication

Flash project is coming along well. I have nearly finished storyboarding so I will start building my animation tomorrow.

I am using the statistics of Operation Barbarossa, i.e people killed, tanks, aircraft etc etc

I am going to use Russian Constructivism as an underlying theme throughout. Strong, bold shapes with muted colours and have type over the top. My piece is also going to be narrated.

Some interesting animation.

I stumbled across this animation over the weekend. I really like this style of animation and the video is quite funny.

Take on Me

SBC1

We were given our next brief last week for screen based communication. It is to create a 90 second animation based on statistics.

I have lots of initial ideas but I am settling on WWII statistics. I will elaborate once the idea is set.

Flash Websites

Best Flash Websites

Amnesty International

Here is my final piece for the A3 poster for Amnesty International. I tried to give the poster an urban feel to appeal to a younger audience. The green plants represent the lush forest of the Congo and the blood shows the death and destruction that has destroyed the country.

Type Design Workshop Session 2

Today we had our second Type Design Workshop with Sally Castle. We are developing our own typefaces using the techniques she had shown us. I am creating a script type font to be used for signs and headers.

We have until the end of February to complete of designs which is when we meet again with Sally and complete the typeface in FontLab.

Amnesty International Brief

Hand in for Amnesty is Friday, so this week I am just getting everything together. I have worked on A3 design sheets to present my work and my ideas building up to the final piece. I am just working on some sketch book stuff and organizing to print the final designs on foam board for presentation. 1000 word conclusion to write, doing that tomorrow once all the work is completed and ready.

Photoshop Stuff

Here is something I am working on for a client at the moment. They have asked me to come up with a sphere with lighting and shadows which will reflect an image, possibly the company logo.

This is one of 5 initial ideas which I will send off and get feedback before continuing to finalize the design.

I DON'T KNOW WHY THIS TEXT IS UNDERLINED. CAN'T SEEM TO TURN IT OFF.

Type Design Workshop Session 1

Monday morning we had a Type Design Workshop with Sally Castle. Sally has done a lot of great work and worked with designers such as the late Alan Fletcher.

Session 1 was looking at 'morphing' or changing one letter to another through a series of steps.

We had to create a graphic representation of a letter morphing from one typeface to the other.

Photoshop Actions

Here is some Photoshop actions I found, they be very handy if you have to adjust more than one image with the same effects. There is loads there so you can select different ones for each image. If you don't like the full action you can go back in history and just use certain adjustments.

Photoshop Actions

Here is an image that I have added a 'retro' action to. I have only used about half the full action and then added a few bits myself i.e. noise, lighting etc.

Kim Gottlieb-Walker

Kim Gottleib-Walker is one of my all time favourite photographers. She has traveled extensively and taken some amazing photographs in many different countries. She donates a lot of her time to giving talks at schools and colleges, and does voluntary photography work for charities. I expecially like the collection of Reggae stills.

Kim Gottleib -Walker Photos

This is who I am & this is what I do.

Finally I have started my book. I have been meaning to do this for a while now but I have had enough time recently to start laying out the pages and sorting designs for the content. This book is going to represent me so far, my life, my work and the things I have learned.

I have been researching design books and looking for what makes them stand out, what makes them different from the rest?

I am basing it on Eco-friendly design and sustainability. These issues need to be addressed now more than ever and I think people appreciate a more natural approach to design methods.

I also have started building my website for Twitch Design, this is in the early stages but I have all the ideas down and is just a case of putting everything together. Be up and running soon.

Business Planning Conference

On Thursday I attended an 'Introduction to Business Planning' talk presented by John Chisholm of Creative Leadership. It was aimed at young people looking to start up a creative business. He explained about strategies and values of business and things to look out for when starting up on your own.

Afterward I met with some people from different companies such as Art Matrix and Katie Wilson to discuss ideas and talk about the next things I will need to consider to promote my business idea.

I am have booked a place for the next conference on 12th Feb which is 'Introduction to Marketing.' This talk really helped me and anyone considering setting up a business for first time should definitely give it a shot.

Final Amnesty Critique

We had our final Amnesty Crit yesterday, we were put into groups and asked to comment on another groups work. We spent half an hour looking at the final ideas and came up with questions to ask the others about their designs.

Everybody then got back together and talked about the work we had looked at, giving our opinions and saying how we think the final piece could be improved.

I got some good feedback about my design, there is a few things that were pointed out that I will look into and develop. Overall it was very helpful to get so many different opinions and it gives me a chance to look at my final piece and change it where necessary.

Deadline : Friday 23rd January

Vec this out.

For anyone interested in Vector Graphics and Drawing read this interview with Brazilian illustrator Christiano Siqueira. He is a well established freelance illustrator who has 10 years industry experience.

Interview with Christiano Siqueira

Xynthetic

Xynthetic is a website made from a collaboration of many designers and artists. One of which is Gavin Strange of JamFactory whose work I have admired since reading his interview in Computer Arts last year. I always check out his most recent works and follow his blog regularly.

With such a variety of skills being used together and many music and skate boarding influences these dudes produce some pretty cool shit.

Type Experiment

Los Logos

I have always been interested in Logo design and recently completed some work for a client who wanted a logo designed for the main company, then some alternatives using the main logo but altering certain parts to fit the different areas of the business.

She had a very clear colour scheme she wanted to use but pretty much left the rest of the design to me to experiment. I really enjoy the processes you go through to create logos and it's rewarding to see it used on all of her printed matter.

I only bring this up because this morning I found this site that shows logos that work and why they work. Interesting stuff.

20 weird logos that work(and why they do)

Fons Hickmann

I have been looking at a lot of Fons Hickmann's work in the past few weeks. He has done a massive amount of posters across Germany for different events and company promotion work.

I especially like the books he created. 'Touch me There' was made to link art, design and theory by including photography, illustrations and graphic design, with a small injection of Rock n Roll.
This conceptual book shows the amazingly creative work coming out of studio Fons Hickmann m23 and why they are one of the most award winning teams in the world.

http://www.touch-me-there.com/

Amnesty Critique

We had an crit today with our PAL leaders so we could have a look through our work so far as the deadline is fast approaching. I have quite a few sketches on design sheets for the T section of the bus and have and have made a few examples of how I want my poster for the bus stop to look.

It was very helpful getting the PAL leaders views on my work. They had some good points about how I could improve my idea and which would get the message across best.

In the next couple of days I am going to play around with some layouts and try and get a better idea of exactly how I want my piece to look. Then once I am set on one idea I am going to spend the next week working on this and getting everything finalized.

Video. Check it out.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=84eKQB2aQn8

Placement

I have looking at designers that I would be interested in for a placement. I have sent out some initial emails and I am waiting for replies. Mainly smaller design studios with people whos work I admire, so hopefully I will hear back soon.

I'm Back.

Back after the xmas holidays. Amnesty critique was yesterday, I have a few ideas for what I am going to do but can't settle on one to continue with. I have a few weeks to develop my ideas so it's all good.

I found is Blog recently with some good illustrations on
http://www.hethe.com/

This site has some amazing experimental type work
http://ilovetypography.com/2008/12/04/30-inspiring-type-treatments/