D&AD brief

This is my final design for the Batiste D&AD brief, I had to create four scents and identities for the dry shampoo brand. The brand has a quirky and playful identity which needed to be portrayed through the designs. I decided to create a British picnics theme as the types of food scents where appealing and unusual, for the style of the packaging I felt that a vintage and shabby chic trend would suit this theme well. 

Work produced on the placement with The Point

Fathers Day and Easter point of sale:

I was asked to produce Fathers Day and Easter point of sale posters for the client The Factory Shop. For the Fathers Day I created a retro style and focused the design of the typography, and for the Easter design I created patterned easter illustrations with soft colours to fit in with the theme of the occasion.

Alternative business card:

I was asked to create an alternative business card which could be posted out to potential clients to make them aware of the services The Point could provide for them, the design needed to make the potential client more involved so it would be memorable, however I was told it had to be cheap to produce and post out.

As The Points branding has a yellow duck I thought a good idea would be to post out a template of a origami duck which could be made by the receiver, this meant the design would be interactive. I designed the template by making one by hand and then creating it on illustrator, I branded the duck with the logo on the side. I then created a large buisness card which was the same size as the un-made template so they could be posted together, it follwed The Points brand idendity and on the back I created step by step instructions on how to fold it.

Infinite Energy:

I was given a brief to re-design the logo for Infinite Energy, a solar energy installation company, I needed to create the logo with a similar 8 symbol to the original. These where the design ideas I created, I then designed a brochure and letterhead design for the logo which was put forward for the pitch to create a style for the brands identity.

Foundation of Light

I was given a brief for a pitch to create the editorial design for the Foundation of Light annual review, this is the style that I created. I used a red, white and grey colour palette as they represent the charities and football clubs colours, the main font and text boxes have pat rounded edges and a line of spots create a flow through the pages.

Wedding Stationary

I have designed the wedding stationary to go with the invites I created a few months ago, I carried on the style throughout the menu, table plan, signs and placeholders. The designs use a variety of 50's style fonts and I created a feather love-heart illustration to create a visual focus, to stop the design looking too flat I created an aged texture background.

A talk from Seb Lester

Seb Lester is a professional type designer and calligrapher, he came in to give a talk to the class about his design career journey. He started as a student, mainly creating photorealistic paintings, after finding a book in the library on letterforms, he developed a passion for typography. After he finished his course he worked designing album covers for three years, however he wasn't happy with the job and eventually got himself a job as a Type Designer, Seb then went on to produce corporate typefaces for a range of companies such as Intel, Waitrose, The Daily Telegraph and Barclays, he also designed several typefaces which have then been bought and used by a variety of brands.

Seb felt he had no recognition from his successful career although his typefaces where used everywhere, as creating a typeface is quite anonymous, so he started to design more creative types, combining his designs with 3D and animation, however not many people liked what he had created. H then moved onto creating flat prints of creative type using memorable quotes and words, his designs where eventually recognised and have been used for Levi clothing and BMX.

Seb now focuses on calligraphy, he believes that working with typography and calligraphy together has helped him develop his skills when creating letterforms, he describes himself as obsessed with creating letters and words, spending most of his time writing letters and words. Seb finished his presentation with some advice on how to be a successful designer, he believes that passion for the subject is necessary to succeed.

New CV design

I have created myself a new CV to show off the skills I have learnt and developed over the last month as I want to start emailing studios so I can find a long term work placement for my final year.

Work Experience at The Point Design

I am currently doing a work placement at The Point Design, a Graphic Design studio based at The Toffee Factory. So far I have found the experience really helpful and it has given me an insight to what to expect when working in  industry. I have enjoyed the fast paced approach to work, in the past week I have worked on three briefs rather than working on one project over six weeks, I have also been introduced to working with a new program which is similar to InDesign, Quark.

The previous project, Digital Applications has really prepared me well for work experience, every day I have been able to apply a lot of techniques that I learnt in the sessions. Alongside my work placement I have been working on my D&AD brief in the evenings, this has given me even more practice using Illustrator and Photoshop, as a result my confidence has really grown, I feel that I am really heading in the right direction with the course.

PNE start up your own business short course

I recently finished a four week short course on how to set up your own business which is run by PNE enterprise. I found the course very useful as it provided me with all the information on what steps I need to take to enable me to start up my own freelance graphic design business, an option I want to consider in the future.

The course gave advice on how to write up a business plan, what financial help is available, information on how to manage tax and national insurance, what market research should be done and any important details regarding the law.

Now that I have all these resources  I am going to write up a draft business plan so that I will remember and have a reference of all the of information I have learnt, I will then be able to apply these skills in any future career choices.