Interlude Clothing - PPRD

Interlude is moving quicker everyday. I have now found new suppliers for our blanks and have good relationships with the different printers we use for labels, stickers and promotional material. I have spent the last 6 months contacting printers, retail outlets, suppliers, tailors and clothes factories setting up accounts, getting quotes and just making myself known.

I am constantly reading magazines and cruising the web researching everything from custom made hats to laser cutting and I always find new things.

Coda Website - PPRD

Coda Music is a local company offering music lessons and classes around Dorset. Coda wanted a new website to become more up to date with their online presence. I read through the brief a couple of times and decided I would email Phil Hallett and arrange a meeting.

I mocked up some layouts through the week so when we met we had a starting point. The brief wasn't very specific so I did few different options. We met the following Monday and discussed ideas. Phil liked a couple of the mock ups I had done so we combined elements of both designs and talked about how the Coda site would work.

Phil was keen on having a blog that he could easily update and linking this to a news feed on the main page of the site. We also discussed creating a Facebook group and a twitter account to increase their online presence.

The Coda website is an ongoing project and I will continue working with Phil for the next few months until the project is complete.

PSSN logo - PPRD

There was a brief sent out to all Vis Com students from Susan Lambert of the Plastics Museum to design a new logo for the 'Subject Specialist Network'. Sophia and I decided to work on this brief together, we thought it would be good for us to join forces and combine our ideas.

We sat down with the brief and started discussing ideas on how to go about it. I rarely collaborate on my work and this was a nice change from my usual ideas generation process. We chatted about things that come to mind when we hear the word plastic. We worked through these ideas until we had 2 strong concepts and started to sketch out ideas.

Sophia and I settled on one idea and the laptops came out, we decided to make the logo like an airfix kit with the pieces of plastic that you pop out to make a model. I remembered a font I had seen that joined all the characters on the top and bottom, exactly like our idea!

After a little bit of searching we found the font and used it as our starting point. Our idea was taking shape now so we layed out our letters, SSN, and Sophia gracefully drew round the parts we needed to form our basic letter forms. We then added the extra areas to join everything together and added colour. Voila!

After a few minutes of tweaking and adjustments we were finished. We submitted the work a couple of days later. This was a great way of working, I found that we keep everything moving along quickly and bounced ideas off each other. Much of the time when working alone I start to doubt my work after spending long amounts of time on it and making changes that may be unnecessary because I don't get a second opinion.

A few weeks later Sally informed me that we had won the competition.

We then received an email asking if we could add a P to the beginning of the logo and adjust the green we had chosen. We then sent Susan Lambert a finalized version of the logo.

I enjoyed this brief, working with Sophia and completing something quickly and to a professional standard.

Suttles Website - PPRD

For one part of my PPRD I took on a live brief from Emma at Mushroom Marketing which was to design a website for Suttles, a local company that owns a quarry sells stone and rock online.
Their old website was very cluttered and they wanted a more professional look to the whole thing.

I first received a short brief from Matt Desmier outlining what they were looking for, I then contacted Emma Ansell who is the director of Mushroom Marketing who is dealing with the client. Emma sent me through a rough brief so I could start sketching out some ideas and experiment with layouts. I worked on 3 or 4 different designs so they could have a few to choose from.

At this point I wasn't really sure what they wanted so I took what they gave me on the brief and tried to make it work on the page as best I could. I found out a week later when I met Emma for a meeting that I wasn't too far from the mark. This first meeting with Emma was extremely useful for me, I had emailed her the initial pages so she could show the client and she now had their feedback. I made notes on the original pages and together we worked through each point on the list.

Now I had a chance to go away and put all the into action. I had a much better idea now of what I needed to do so I got on with it while it was fresh in my mind. Everything in this project took along time to happen. If I needed to know something I had to contact Emma who would then have to contact Suttles and get back to me. This meant that sometimes it would take a long time to get an answer back. This turned out well for me though, for once I started taking on more work I had time to work on other things.

Myself & Emma tried to stay in touch every week to discuss ongoing changes and decisions. This helped me to stay on top of it all and really be part of the process. This brief was good for me as it helped me to make sure I had finished certain things by a certain time and stick to deadlines.

Dealing with a professional also helped me to see how things are done in industry. Emma was very helpful and it was a pleasure working along side her.

Overall this was an excellent brief for me. I completed all the required work and the client was really happy with it. It improved my skills of time keeping and dealing with clients which will help me once I leave Bournemouth and set up my own studio.

Professional Project Boxes

I received a couple of sample boxes in the post this morning. I had ordered samples from a few companies to check if the t-shirt will fit in comfortably with all the other bits.

These are 2 part recycled cardboard boxes in which I am going to have a limited edition t-shirt, stickers, brochure, hang tag and a little present. At the moment I am trying to get designs and drawings for the stickers and hang tags finished so I can get them off to print in the next week so it's one less thing to worry about.

Waiting for the 'pizza style' box to come so I can have a look and decide on one.

Professional Project.

I have now officially started my Professional Project! I spent the last few days finishing other smaller jobs so I can just concentrate on one thing.

The brochure for Arts & Culture festival is going to print today so one last check this morning and away we go, Suttles website is still waiting for approval from the client and then I can can make the final amendments and I have taken on a few little projects with friends but they are top secret.

Spent a few hours last night sending emails to printers finding out minimums and what they are capable of, looking into spot varnish cover but I think my order maybe too small for that. Also ordered samples from a few box companies so I can see what kind of thing I am going to need.

Stickers are being designed by the hour! I did 3 new versions last. I have based the new one on American Baseball logos. These will be printed and distributed with the clothing once all is finished.

I realize how much time these little jobs take so I am getting them done early to avoid the last minute panic, hopefully.

Some great animal T's from Threadless.

Check out these great animal T's from Threadless.

Some useful photoshop tips.

Here is some pretty useful photoshop tips & shortcuts.

RE:Bourne Arts & Culture Festival.

Phew! Arts & Culture brochure is finally finished. Only had really a day to finish this so was great practice for me to complete a brief in a very short time span.

I had a meeting yesterday with the organizers of the festival and we discussed the final changes that are to made and I am heading in to meet the printers to day to make sure all is good.

7000 are to be printed and distributed around Bournemouth in the next few weeks.

Live Briefs.

Everything going well. I am waiting on a reply from Emma @ Mushroom Marketing about the changes on the Suttles website and then I can make the final touches to the pages and that brief is pretty much finished.

I have taken on another small brief which involves laying out and designing a brochure for "Bourne Arts & Events" festival. This is an 8 page brochure containing all the information needed for the event. The design and colours have been left to me to decide so this should be fun.

I am also designing wedding invitations for my friends wedding in August. They are looking for a elegant & sophisticated look with a touch of something different. Should have a couple of examples in the next couple of days.

The other projects I am working on are coming along nicely, I am trying to get all my bits complete before I start on my professional project.

Beautiful Book Covers.

I came across these book covers and thought they were worth sharing.
Enjoi.

Ibraheem Youssef Posters

Here Ibraheem Youssef puts his own spin on some Tarantino movie posters....here

Stunning Political Artwork

I found these amazing collection of graffiti/wheat pasting....here

Live Briefs

I am well into my live briefs now. The Suttles website is moving quickly and with the most recent list of amendments complete I am just adding finishing touches.

I am entering D & AD through the 'Metro' brief. This is an interesting brief that I think will push me to think differently. I have some strong ideas so a couple more days refining them then to work.

Spring/Summer T-shirt designs almost finished. Aiming for around 8 main designs.

Other briefs also being worked on between these, I have pushed certain things to the back of the pile but next couple of days will catch up.