Nick Brandt Photography

Brand Nu

Brand Nu is the online portfolio of Radim Malinic. He is a ridiculously talented illustrator and graphic artist who has worked with a massive amount of international clients. I have been following him for a couple of years since discovering his work in an online forum discussing today's illustrators.

Check him out and see for yourself. Brand Nu

NuFormer Digital Media

Screen Based Communication 2

We had our first crit for the website last week. Discussed ideas and got everyone's opinions on the initial designs.

I have been working on the site for a week now trying to get the visuals how I want them. Next crit tomorrow to show all the front end stuff then we have until 15th Jan to build the site.

Wit & Whistle

Here is a nice website/blog to check out.

Wit&Whistle.com

Animal Prints.

Here is a couple of ideas for my animal screen prints for our Vis Com fundraising.

Typographic Culture

Here is a piece for Typographic Culture I am working on. Still got a few things to do but getting there.

Suttles Website

I had a meeting yesterday with Emma Ansell from Mushroom Marketing to discuss the Suttles website I am building. Suttles is a company that sells stone & rock to trade buyers and domestic customers online and owns a quarry.

I had come up with a few initial ideas as a starting point so we look at these and made the changes where necessary. I am now working on a new layout incorporating my own photography of the products. I have also bought in a a friend who is going to take over the main photography for the website.

This is going to be a fairly large website which is to include everything that Suttles do so it could take a little while but it is something I can work on over the next 6 months.

Glen Jones/Glennz

Some amazing illustrations by Glen Jones

Eco Logos

At Creative Medicine we believe that as designers we have a duty to do everything possible to protect our environment. Many people think that by using recycled, ethically sourced or biodegradable materials you some how sacrifice quality, this of course is not true.

Sometimes it's as easy as being aware of Post-Consumer usage i.e. using both sides of a piece of paper or being more careful with the materials that you waste. At Creative Medicine many of our Hoodies & T-Shirts are printed using SuperFlex vinyl which, like most vinyls produces dangerous emissions when being made. We only use exactly what we need so there is very little waste and we are currently looking into a semi recycled alternative.

Foldersgalore have loads of info on green issues and supply all kinds of eco materials. Also if your interested in logo design check out there new set of logos for recycled, recyclable, biodegradable etc etc.

Communicating Ideas II

I have now settled on my idea for this part of our brief. I am going to use the idea that Elizabeth Gilbert talks about in her video about 'Creative Genius". She talks about the idea that people have a kind of invisible friend that helps with your creativity, so when you produce a good piece of work you can't take all the credit but equally if you bum out your entirely to blame.

She explains that ideas & creativity are floating around free in the air. We can't see it, but if your creative you can grab these ideas and use them for your own. This is how people sometimes come up with the same ideas, and also how we use these ideas to produce something.

I am going to make a short video/animation showing somebody working on a laptop and surrounding them is the 'creative genius' which is shapes & colours representing ideas. I am still researching how is going to best to animate this as I want the final piece to look effective.

CSS from Dreamweaver Lesson

.container { /* CSS Document */
width: 900px; /* Any elements placed within the container will fit within the 900 pixel frame */
font-family: Arial, Helvetica, sans-serif; /* The browser will search for these fonts in your font folder, and then display any text in the typeface you have availible */
font-size: 12px;
color: #330000;
background-image: url(images/Untitled-1.png); /* This will add an image to the background of the container which will act as a banner */
background-repeat: no-repeat; /* This means the background image (or banner) will appear only once */
background-position: center top; /* This controls the position of the background image (or banner) */
margin: auto; /* This will keep the container in the centre of the page */
padding-top: 210px; /* This will keep all of the content appearing on top of the  */
padding-right: 10px; /* This will prevent the contents running to the edge of the container */
padding-left: 10px; /* This will prevent the contents running to the edge of the container */
border: 1px solid #996600; /* This will add a border to the container */
}

a:link { /* This controls the style of links that have not been clicked on */
font-family: "Courier New", Courier, monospace;
font-size: 12px;
line-height: normal;
color: #660000;
text-decoration: none; /* This removes the underline from any links */
}

a:hover { /* This controls the style of links when your mouse scrolls over the top */
color: #666600;
text-decoration: underline blink;
}

a:visited { /* This controls the style of links that have been clicked on */
color: #FF0066;
text-decoration: underline overline line-through blink;
}

Oh Sandy!

Just a quick idea I had last night. Using our logo in different places, I might do a collection of these to produce as postcards. Suggestions welcome x

Dreamweaver I, II & III

We have now started our Dreamweaver evening classes on Tuesdays. I already know basic HTML & CSS but these courses have really helped me. We have been covering the basics of web layouts and writing & applying style sheets. I have started to build the CM website to start selling the clothing and get our work on the net. More good shit to come.

Breathtaking Typographic Posters

Communicating Ideas.

For the final section of this project we have been asked to respond to an idea and communicate it visually to a specific audience.

We have been asked to watch 7 short videos on www.TED.com and produce either a paper based piece with type and print specs or screen based lasting no longer than 30 seconds. I have downloaded the videos and have been watching the podcasts on my ipod for the last few days. I narrowed my choice down to 3 videos and have continued watching these to try and extract ideas from them. I will keep you posted on my progress.

New from Old 3

We had our final crit for our New from Old brief on Friday. We broke off into 3 groups, paper maquettes at the ready. I feel this went really well, I got some good feedback from the tutors and the group and we discussed ways in which I could slightly improve my final design.

I have finished the adjustments to my layout and now I just have to define my pantone colours and get my box layouts printed on card.

New from Old 2

Tapioca.

I have decided to re-brand Tapioca, I think this product is going to be the least popular, as nobody really likes it.

Initially I wanted to try and push Tapioca as a natural product, emphasizing the use of eco-friendly processes and bio-degradable packaging. I would be aiming this at people who experiment with new foods, mainly vegetarians/vegans and people conscience of healthy eating.

After discussing this idea with Justin we decided that these is the area of people who would already be buying this kind of product so all I would be doing is pushing the advertising in the same direction which doesn't really answer the brief.

Now I was heading in the right direction and knew my demo graph I started to lay down some design ideas. I wanted to promote different types of Tapioca in a slick and up to date style to attract a new type of people to try it. Many people probably don't know how much you can do with Tapioca pearls, sticks, flakes, and powder, so I would include a leaflet in each box with a quick recipe for a dessert or as an addition to a main course.

I tried black to represent slick and elegant. I will also try these packages in different colours.

Suttles Website Brief

After replying to an email sent out about a live brief to design a website for Suttles, a company that owns quarries and sells stone online, I received an email with the full details including company logo and layout requirements. Suttles had just had a re-brand so they want to incorporate this feel throughout the website.

I met with Matt Desmier and we discussed how I would approach the project and to make sure it can run along my uni work. I am now in contact with Emma Ansell from Mushroom Marketing who wrote the brief. We have organized a meeting for next week so we can discuss the project in more detail.

I am only required to do the layouts for this website as they have people in house to do the back end stuff.

New from Old

Another day, another brief. We were given a list of food items that we see as redundant and we have to re-brand one. We need to either market this item as new and improved or collectible and retro.

I haven't settled on which I am going to use yet but I am swaying towards a couple.

I recently an article in CR about Golden, a design company that has formed from the collapse of The Designers Republic and they recently did a re-brand for Lurpak.

Robert Louis Stevenson.

Our next brief for this unit involved each of us choosing a name from a hat and then designing stationary for that person. I got Robert Louis Stevenson, the author and poet.

Research research research. I have read a couple of his books but too long ago to really remember so I ventured out to Boscombe to explore the charity shops. First second hand book I came to... 2 mint condition early edition hard backs.

After reading up some stuff on the internet and reading his 'Essays of Travel' I started sketching out ideas for a design. I wanted to use a traditional serif typeface to represent his time in England so I decided on Baskerville. He also spent a lot of time in Somoa, the place in which he called home, so I included a traditional Somoan design which would be embossed on the business card.

A kind off ivory card would be used for the business cards and a heavy weight paper for the compliment slip and letter head. I have shrunk the business card down to 55mm x 55mm as a lot of the Somoan art is circular and symmetrical, and this size would still fit your wallet.

Here's a rough version of what I want my designs to look like.

Ken Deegan

Check out Ken Deegan's work. He just completed a 4 year Vis Com course.

Ken Deegan

Thank you!

As the first part of Visual Communication in Context 2 with were given a short brief about saying Thank You. We were given the opportunity to say thank you to someone, we have to consider why we want to say thank you and what would be the best way of communicating this.

After lots of thought I decided to thank Tim Berners Lee for inventing the internet. I thought this was fitting as most of us use the internet everyday and don't even think about it. I though the best way to communicate this message was by building a basic website showing my thanks and giving people the opportunity to say thank you for something they use everyday and probably couldn't live without.

I am experimenting with text and layouts at the moment, so once that's done I will get it ready for the web.

Kate Moross

With brands like Lynx, Pepsi, Cadbury and Topshop filling her portfolio, Kate Moross is really turning some heads. I love the way her style flows across everything from photography to illustration and animation to layouts.

Kate Moross

2009 Pentawards Winners

The only competition devoted solely to Packaging. I think Turner Duckworth's new Coke Cans are sweet! and if you scroll down to near the bottom there is some beautiful work by French design agency Partisan Du Sens.

2009 Pentawards

Wax on, Wax off, Wax on again.

We have been trying hard to get the SurfWax all sorted in time for some crisp winter surfing. Having some more samples sent from California and some new contacts made through Tradekey in China are proving pretty reliable.

Once wax passes the test we have to decide on scent we want and shape of the block. Thinking standard block is best because it will be easier to package. Still going to use old JEP (Jersey Evening Post) as source material, but are going to have to coat it with something to stop it sticking.

I have been busy working on the text for the labels which we are printing with a stamp that we are getting made and still need to look into inks that are suitably eco friendly.

We have a couple of retail outlets willing to trial the wax and a friend of ours in Jersey at NUTZ Surfboards is also keen to be involved.

30 creative and unusual wine label designs

Photos.

Here's a few shot from my 35mm Pentax. Shot last year but just developed them.

Some sketches, just testing out the tablet.

Flexaret Illustration.

I hadn't used my Wacom in a while so I dusted it off and had a little sketch.

What The Font!!!!

We all know them times when there's a font and we just can't find what it is! Well here's the solution.

WhatTheFont

You can upload an image, whether it be a label from a wine bottle or a photo of a road sign and it will find what the font is or it's closest friend. If this doesn't work, you can upload the image into the forum and let font geeks from around the world do the hard work for you. Bloody useful.

Back Again.

With summer fading rapidly in my memory we are back to start our 2nd year Visual Communications. So new year and I have decided to start a new blog(but please, don't forget to check out the old one at www.olliebartlett.blogspot.com)

Summer for me was filled with activity, managed to get away to France for a few weeks to sample the delights in Hossegor and spent the rest of my time working my ass off! But boy was it worth it.

Beginning of June we, meaning me and my girlfriend, decided to start a company. I would use what I had learnt in the past 4 years as a designer and she would massage my feet and feed me cheese as I worked. I spent the next month or so starting a brand. CreativeMedicine. The thought behind it is that we are creating design to make you feel better , in a somewhat dull environment a little injection of creativity can really transform things.
I won't go into the whole story because I am quite tired, but it is going well, we focused our energy on designing and printing clothing as a way to get the name out there, good quality clothing, sick designs and industry standard printing. We sold enough over the summer months to look into expanding with possibly a small studio in Jersey. We have been in talks with surf & street wear shops and are soon to be supplying to some small retail outlets.
Along side this I have had some other work doing illustrations for a zoo and branding work for a variety of companies. Our most recent venture is SurfWax, we are having samples made of various waxes to test then we are going to package them using recycled newspaper and stamp them with vegetable dye ink with the website.

So all in all a pretty productive summer. I am excited about some fresh briefs to see what this year will bring.