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.

Wedding Invitations

This the invitation I designed in collaboration with Phil Bailey for a friends wedding which is in July, I really enjoyed working as a group to develop the design, it has been inspired by Native American patterns and the style focuses around a variety of fonts.

Tuesday's Session 5th Feb

In todays session two graphic designers from ClicTime, a company extended from Lego, came in to speak to the class. They explained how their personal career journeys have progressed from being students at Newcastle College to working for a multinational company. Their job descriptions include designing a range of lego clocks and watches to designing a fashion range for a branded surf festival.

After showing a selection of products they design and explaining how they work, they went on to tell the class about a work placement opportunity available and how to apply for it.