MARK

Mark is independant branding and graphic design studio, based in Manchester. They have worked with some well known names such as Orange, Manchester City FC and The Comedy Store. Their work is really good and makes the audience have a emotional response, they engage with the audience. Some of their concepts are just so simple but effective, especially the comedy store campaign, it is deffinatley one of the ' I wish I thought of that' pieces. I have put some examples of work up but you should really check them out at http://www.markstudio.co.uk/ 

Black Cherry Recruitment

Recently while working at Devote Associates I did this set of stationary for a company called Black Cherry recruitment, Dan pretty much left me alone to do this one and this is the result.

 

Design by Jack

Design by Jack are a graphic design company that I found through the net. I came across their holding page which is so good! Really eye catching and different. They have a link to their blog which has some wicked work on it but i can't work out whether they have done it or not, I think it is other peoples work that they appreciate and take influence and inspiration from. I can't find any information about them as a company. I think it's a mix of their work and other peoples, I'll watch out for when the website is made live but check out their holding page with a link to their blog at,  http://www.designbyjack.co.uk/

Contact with Craig Oldham

After Craig came into college I sent across an email asking if he could spare a few minutes to look at my portfolio, Craig is really busy and asked me to send the pfd version, so i send it across for him. Craig sent me back an email with comments on each piece and some questions and some suggestions. From the reply I could see that he spent time looking through it! I appreciate the time Craig spent looking at my work and the useful comments he sent back!

Craig Oldham

The other day Craig Oldham came into college to speak to us. Craig is a fairly young bloke and has already worked at The Chase and just recently moved to Music, however he came to talk about his experiences not the companies which he has worked for. Craig has already won awards for his 12 in 12 book which is twelve lessons you will probably learn in the first year of leaving uni, and we were fortunate enough to have the man himself talk us through the book. 

Craig's talk was really good and i have to say really funny too, a lot of talks can go on forever and start to get boring and you can't wait till they finish, not this one, I didn't want it to end! Craig has some much to tell us and so many tips for such a young person, he has done really well.

There was a typeface that Craig showed us and it really made me smile, the whole idea of this typeface and the way he had executed the idea is wonderful. I had to show you ... so here it is...

Nudist typeface

And i could leave out 12 in 12.

To see more of Craig Oldham's work, check his website out at http://www.craigoldham.co.uk/

Thompson Brand Partners

Thompson is a branding studio based in Leeds, the way they work is staying close to the clients to help them develop their businesses. I had a look through their website and they have some really nice work! One piece i really liked was a new identity for Harvey Nichols food court, It is so simple and communicates the concept really well. Their website is a really nice, and easy to navigate to check it out goto http://thompsonbrandpartners.com

Work experience

In the two week Easter holiday I was lucky enough to get a work placement working alongside Dan Clarke at Devote Associates www.devoteassociates.co.uk . I have really enjoyed working with Dan I have learnt so much, in the first week I helped with a knife crime booklet as well as meeting clients and picking up and sending finished pieces from the printers, as well as general studio duties. I was also involved in a meeting with a client concerning a new brand where I put my ideas forward, which Dan was well impressed with!! In the second week i helped design a website and sourced concept images for a brochure.My Illustrator skills have really improved while I've been working with Dan, he has had the patience to show me a few tricks, and left me to complete a project for a property development using Illustrator. He has shown me how to source images properly off the Internet and how to get the best quality, as well as how to structure my folders like they do in the studio, so i can find the work and images quickly. Here is some example of the work i have had input on, and I'd like to say Thank you to Dan for giving me the opportunity to work with him.

 

Yolo ltd

While i was working with Dan Clarke at Devote Associates he showed me this website of a friend of his and i love the work on it. Yolo is the graphic design studio of Martin Fewell, based in Manchester. Martin has got a big variation of work on his website from typefaces to animations, and a lot of posters for clubs with are really eye catching and bold. All his work is really bright and colourful and he uses type really well. Here is just a couple of examples of his work but i recommend you check it out at http://www.yolo.info/

Design by Music

Today Anthony Smith from Music came into college to speak to us about the industry and to show us some of his work. Anthony showed us some really nice work but unfortunately i can't put any up as they don't have a fully running website as of yet, however watch this space http://www.designbymusic.com/ as i know it s on Anthony's list of things to do. One thing that Anthony did tell us was that when he first left Uni he work for a year in various different jobs not related to design before he managed to get a job within graphic design. Which for me was really useful info, many designers have said it's hard to get a job, but now i know that if i don't get a job in design straight away, it's ok to do something else to keep me going until something comes up. Anthony kindly brought some work along and he also brought his portfolio which was really useful to see, as well as his popular business cards, which i managed to get hold of one. I would defiantly tell you check their website out when it's up and running.

Portfolio meeting

Today i went to meet Daniel Clarke from Devote Associates, i showed him my portfolio and had a chat with him about my work and his work and his experiences in the design industry. I got some really good feedback and learnt a fair bit, i got some useful tips on how to improve my portfolio and what most designers will look for. He suggested maybe sending some portfolio's out to people as it is a small book he thought designers might like to keep hold of a copy. Daniel really liked the typeface i had made which was surprising as i thought that was my weakest piece of work, and he also suggested that the storyboard for my flash end-sting wasn't very clear and maybe think of taking it out. Daniel was really welcoming and seemed interested in my work and made me feel really comfortable, and at the end he forwarded on some work from his clients for me to have a go at which i was really appreciative of.

End Sting

Our most recent brief at college is to create an end - sting in Flash.  A end-sting is a identity, logotype, symbol or trademark that appears at the end of a tv ad and is nearly always animated. We all had to pick companies out of a hat and create a end-sting  for that company which re-inforces the company's brand/image. I picked out Hovis, i enjoyed this breif, it gave us chance to work with programs we haven't worked with before. I ended up creating two end-stings but there is a obvious winner. 

This was the final one i went with...

McCann Erickson London

McCann Erickson London is a Design bussines who are commited to help grow the brands in their care, they have 265 individuals to do this. They are part of the McCann worldgroup with agencies in 160 cities in 111 Countries. Their philosophy is all about cultral connections, plugging the brand into culture. They have won numerous awards and have done work for all the big names such as Loreal, XBOX, Microsoft and MSN. They have got a really fun and easy to navigate website, I have got some examples of their work but you should really check their web site out at ... http://www.mccann.co.uk/

This is a still from the tv advert for 'I can't believe it's not butter'

I think this is so good, it's so simple but effective, this is a piece of design which makes you think ...  'I wish i thought of that'.

This is for the MasterCard campaign ' Priceless'. Which i really like it's not just a boring card advert it's a different twist on it which makes it really interesting.

Studio 8 Design

Studio 8 design is a graphic design studio in London. Est in 2005 Studio 8 have accumliated many awards over the years. They have a good client list with some big names such as NSPCC, D&AD, and sony. They have some really good work some nice modern designs with good use of space, and really good use of type. I've picked some piece to put up here but check them out yourself at ... http://www.studio8design.co.uk/index.htm