Papergirl Leeds
I really liked the idea behind this event - a 'everyone included' exhibition and then all the work being handed out to to random people in the street.
Of course there is the risk that it will be given to somebody who doesn't care and would just through it away - but on the other hand, it might be given to somebody who really appreciates it and wants to see more of your work.
I didn't want to produce work specifically for it because there wasn't a brief and was focusing my time on other work, so I simply submit 2 A3 pieces, 2 illustrations from the last module. This way I thought I had nothing to lose - I hadn't really spent any time on it because the work already existed.
Below is an image from the exhibition facebook page where you can see the cassette piece. that I submit.
However successful or unsuccessful the event turns out to be (I don't think the 'handing out' of work has happened yet) - it was nice to be a part of.
Another new identity!
So, finally I am confident that this is my final identity...of the year.
Taking advice from what Mark Howe mentioned about my handcrafted quality being something I should carry through to my identity, I wanted to have a completely hand-drawn one.
Initially I was concerned that it looked quite different in terms of the fact it doesn't look like a 'logo' but the more I look at it, I think it does and I think it sums up my practice a lot better than a vectorised one.
Taking advice from what Mark Howe mentioned about my handcrafted quality being something I should carry through to my identity, I wanted to have a completely hand-drawn one.
Initially I was concerned that it looked quite different in terms of the fact it doesn't look like a 'logo' but the more I look at it, I think it does and I think it sums up my practice a lot better than a vectorised one.
I openly admit that I'm not the greatest when it comes to choosing colour and I don't want a bad colour choice to effect a first impression so I decided to go with black/white/grey and I am Really pleased with it.
In terms of the information that I'm going to put on my business card - I was initially going to put my website address on it and my mobile phone number but then I realised, if I got a lot printed and then I changed my phone number...that would make all the cards invalid so I think I'm just going to put the web address on it.
Mark Howe Portfolio surgery
When I was signing up for this, I was pretty nervous because all I could think about was that I didn't have enough work...or enough Good work in my portfolio.
I chose to speak to Mark because I has previously been to his talk that he'd done back in November and in addition to the fact that his design practice was kind of close to mine, he was also really enthusiastic and knowledgable.
When it came to the actual portfolio surgery, I wasn't too disappointed in my portfolio but I was aware that it needed some work and hoped that Mark could give me some direction.
One of the key things I noted from his talk in November was to never say 'What's wrong with it?' say, 'Where can I improve?' and although I thought i'd drilled this into my head - as soon as I sat down and he asked what I wanted to get out of the talk, I said 'Advice on...where I'm going wrong.' Duh? Thankfully, I corrected myself straight away!
Issues raised/discussed:
- My billionaire, lyrics as type piece - he suggested that I could actually Make it into a real thing - take it off the paper so to speak. He liked it as it was, but it is just done on photoshop so to actually make it out of a gold material would give it a much more tangible, aesthetic quality.
- On the whole, presentation needs some work. It wasn't awful but I could do relatively simple things to make it a lot better. Mark suggested I look at other peoples portfolios - go on the websites of the designers that I am inspired by and look at how they present their work - what works and what doesn't? He showed me some of the techniques he used and gave me some 'cheats/tricks'.
The presentation needs to compliment the work but not overpower it...or in my instance underpower it (by just putting a flat image on basic printer paper.
- Give the pieces a context relevant to the content i.e. the 150 pens piece that I showed him, he said looked like it would go on the wall of a design studio so put it in that context (or make it look like its in that context) but in contrast with that, the cockpit poster that I did should be on a more relevant context like the wall of a venue or flyposts.
- Photograph products (such as my cassette bag) Really really well. He really liked the bag, but I can't really take that to all interviews etc. so it needs to be photographed so well that it looks as good as the real thing, including texture etc.
- The identity that I had applied to the portfolio - doesn't reflect my design practice - comparing it with the portfolio I took along with me, I totally agree as it was all hand-drawn pieces and the identity was vectorised SO this needs addressing.
He mentioned how he felt that my line quality was a strong, consistant part of my work so my identity should reflect that - to the extent that I could just handwrite all of my business cards (time consuming but cheap...maybe)
I chose to speak to Mark because I has previously been to his talk that he'd done back in November and in addition to the fact that his design practice was kind of close to mine, he was also really enthusiastic and knowledgable.
When it came to the actual portfolio surgery, I wasn't too disappointed in my portfolio but I was aware that it needed some work and hoped that Mark could give me some direction.
One of the key things I noted from his talk in November was to never say 'What's wrong with it?' say, 'Where can I improve?' and although I thought i'd drilled this into my head - as soon as I sat down and he asked what I wanted to get out of the talk, I said 'Advice on...where I'm going wrong.' Duh? Thankfully, I corrected myself straight away!
Issues raised/discussed:
- My billionaire, lyrics as type piece - he suggested that I could actually Make it into a real thing - take it off the paper so to speak. He liked it as it was, but it is just done on photoshop so to actually make it out of a gold material would give it a much more tangible, aesthetic quality.
- On the whole, presentation needs some work. It wasn't awful but I could do relatively simple things to make it a lot better. Mark suggested I look at other peoples portfolios - go on the websites of the designers that I am inspired by and look at how they present their work - what works and what doesn't? He showed me some of the techniques he used and gave me some 'cheats/tricks'.
The presentation needs to compliment the work but not overpower it...or in my instance underpower it (by just putting a flat image on basic printer paper.
- Give the pieces a context relevant to the content i.e. the 150 pens piece that I showed him, he said looked like it would go on the wall of a design studio so put it in that context (or make it look like its in that context) but in contrast with that, the cockpit poster that I did should be on a more relevant context like the wall of a venue or flyposts.
- Photograph products (such as my cassette bag) Really really well. He really liked the bag, but I can't really take that to all interviews etc. so it needs to be photographed so well that it looks as good as the real thing, including texture etc.
- The identity that I had applied to the portfolio - doesn't reflect my design practice - comparing it with the portfolio I took along with me, I totally agree as it was all hand-drawn pieces and the identity was vectorised SO this needs addressing.
He mentioned how he felt that my line quality was a strong, consistant part of my work so my identity should reflect that - to the extent that I could just handwrite all of my business cards (time consuming but cheap...maybe)
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At the end of it...I was extremely happy that I chose to sign up for one and it showed me how useful they can be. It gave me confidence in my work and highlighted areas that I could improve.
Website
I understand how successful Indexhibit is...and I can see why, because it does look good but I just couldn't work it out on my own!
So I went for the next best thing that I could think of - blogger. You can edit it so much to make it not look like a blog I thought I would have a go, so below is my first attempt.
The main things I want to change are:
- The 'favicon' - so that its not the blogger sign, as that makes it obvious that its blogger
- The layout of the images - I think it needs some work but at the moment its not too awful.
So I went for the next best thing that I could think of - blogger. You can edit it so much to make it not look like a blog I thought I would have a go, so below is my first attempt.
The main things I want to change are:
- The 'favicon' - so that its not the blogger sign, as that makes it obvious that its blogger
- The layout of the images - I think it needs some work but at the moment its not too awful.
New Identity
After the initial business cards that I'd designed...I altered it slightly by adding the paint drip - looking back, I'm not sure why I thought that was a good idea because I don't use spray paint?
So before we came back after Christmas and before the portfolio review week - I needed a 're-think' of the identity. I wanted to focus mainly on the type design and I'm really happy with how the final shaded/3d ones looks.
Below is the business card of which I printed a few out to take along to the portfolio review - and as I'm still using the A3 clear plastic folder we were given as an initial portfolio, I re-arranged it to fit in the side panel of the folder.
So before we came back after Christmas and before the portfolio review week - I needed a 're-think' of the identity. I wanted to focus mainly on the type design and I'm really happy with how the final shaded/3d ones looks.
Below is the business card of which I printed a few out to take along to the portfolio review - and as I'm still using the A3 clear plastic folder we were given as an initial portfolio, I re-arranged it to fit in the side panel of the folder.
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