Paul Newman Poster

While trying to get inspired for our latest brief I came across this great poster by Ralph Schraivogel. I think its fantastic.

thestudio

Whilst doing some research for my web design project I came across this pretty impressive flash website. The site can be viewed in fullscreen and is pretty awesome, check it out, the company have some very nice work too.

http://www.thestudiosite.com/

Jonathan Barnbrook

I'm slowly working my way through a great book called "The Barnbrook Bible". Jonathan Barnbrook is a designer famous for his typefaces and political design and I really like his work. Whenever I walk into the library at uni I seem to discover another world famous designer that I've never heard of before! But it's good that i'm always learning. Anyway, its a great book and a great designer, check it out!

www.barnbrook.net

Chinese Democracy

They said it would never happen but on monday the new Guns & Roses album 'Chinese Democracy" will be released, and you can listen to the entire thing now on myspace. To be fair its not Gun's & Roses any more its just Axle Rose with a load of session guys, but as much as I miss Slash the new stuff does actually sound half decent. Much better than I thought it would at any rate. It's a bit hit and miss and Axle's voice is a bit of an aquired taste but I quite like it. No doubt the hardcore fans will slate it left right and centre; the title track "Chinese Democracy" is pretty awful but further into the album, when listening to "There was a time" and "Street of Dreams" you can hardly tell that any of the original members aren't there. Yes it's cheesy but GnR have always been cheesy, and to be honest I found myself enjoying it much much more than I wanted to. Definately go and listen to the album for free while you still can, I might even buy it in a few years when its dirt cheap. You still won't get me going to see them live though, it might sound like GnR on the record but it certainly won't look or sound like them on the stage. Good album though.

www.myspace.com/gunsnroses

Project 2 - Corporate ID

This was the second project of the year, we were given a celebrity and a company each. We had to take the values of the celebrity and apply them to the company to create a new identity. I ended up with an outdoor pursuits centre based on the personality of Jeremy Clarkson, so i decided to make my company an expensive centre for corporate events with off-roading, quad bikes and similar activities associated with speed and power. We had to produce a logo for our company and then apply these to a letterhead, compliments slip, business card. My final logo was based on the idea of the feeling that you get when travelling at speed.


My compliments slip was kept very simple, which i think worked against me in the crit. I could have done much more with it.

My letterhead was also very simple, the only elements were the logo at the top and a small bar at the bottom of the page with contact details.

The front of my business card was also very simple. The text on the right would be replaced with the name of the card owner.

On the reverse of the business card was a hologram of the secondary logo which I designed with no text.

As well as this we had to design corporate guidlines which are the rules and regulations for the use and placement of the logo. I wanted to produce something special as I felt the company wouldn't spare any expense and the idea of a proper guidlines pack with a CD of master files was something I thought would be really cool. I put a lot of effort into the packaging. Each section of the guidlines was a separate booklet, a set of ten of these booklets were housed in a die-cut box along with a CD of the digital logo files. I used the idea of a hologram again on the front of the packaging, with a contents slide-in insert featuring a holographic logo which was visible through the front of the die-cut box.

1. The Brand

2. The Logo

3. Do's & Don'ts

4. Colour

5. Type

6. Letterhead

7. Compliments Slip

8. Business Card

9. Web

10. Other Uses



I was really proud of my work for this project. The tutors were quite negative in the crit which I was pretty gutted about and I ended up with a grade of 52/100. In the end I think that my letterhead and compliments slip let me down, I could have produced something much more complex. I was pleased with the logo and everything else though and for my first attempt at corporate identity I think I survived pretty well.

Max Payne

This film looks so so good. I was really impressed by the website as well, its one of the best things I have seen on the web in a long time. Its made in flash but theres just little things about it that make it special, like how the background music doesnt skip when you click on a new link, how you can make the whole thing fullscreen and how you can move the images around. The other thing that really impressed me was the graphic novel animation on the site, well worth checking out...oh and watch the trailer while you're there, if you're not impressed you have issues.

http://www.maxpaynethemovie.com/
http://www.maxpaynethemovie.com/graphicnovel/index.html

Fisheye

Sleepless Nights

So with 2 nights of no sleep, a lot of yorkshire tea and a little help from R. Kelly I finally managed to get my corporate ID brief finished this morning, with about 4 minutes to spare. In the end I really got into it but it was still a struggle and I can't understand how it all seemed to pile up at the last minute. I wouldnt mind but it's not even as if I was just chilling out for 2 weeks, i was working on it all the time. In the end I ended up working all day monday then through the night, printed a few bits at around 10am on the tuesday then went to bed till around 6pm. Then I worked all tuesday night till the project hand in at 9.30 this morning. I'm really happy with my finished work though, it's not even half-assed, i put so much effort into the last few days. Hopefully I'll do alright in the crit tomorrow. This is the business card which I designed. The company I had to create was an outdoor pursuits centre based on the personality of Jeremy Clarkson. I'll put the rest of the work up soon hopefully.

R. Kelly

Saved my sanity. I can't think of much music that's happier than R&B. Somehow i managed to get 5 albums for a tenner on amazon, the first arrived today, just in time to save my sanity from this corporate ID project.

All nightmare long...

Yes its 3am. Yes I just cut this by hand. Yes it's intricate. Yes my eyes feel like they're bleeding. I hate all nighters, but I always seem to produce better work when i feel like i'm dying.

Killers

Saw this on another blog, and thought it was awesome. I've never been a massive fan of the killers but i've always enjoyed a listen. They make pretty good pop tunes and the drummer is sweet. This stage show at the MTV Europe music awards is something special though, well worth checking out. You'd think it must be weird for the band to play isolated, 5 feet away from each other with no eye contact or anything but it seems to work.

Anberlin

Craig just got me into anberlin and i'm pretty much addicted. The lead singers voice is unbelievable and they write really good music. Show love to craig by checking out his blog You, Me & an X-ray Machine, and show love to everyone else on the right hand side too!

Calzaghe

British legend. Awesome fight.

Jay Z

Always makes me feel about 20 times better about life

Corporate I.D

I don't think i've ever worked on something that i've found as difficult as this corporate identity brief, every aspect of it has just been a struggle. It took me forever to name my outdoor pursuits company (adrenaline) and after a real battle to get any logo ideas my tutors hated every single one so i'm back to square one. Essentially i have to do the entire two week project over this weekend, if i can get a logo today then i should be alright, i've spent all morning throwing paint around trying to get some sort of abstract shape that i can work with but so far no luck. Once the logo is sorted i'm hoping i can knock up the rest of the stuff pretty quickly, i need a buisness card, letterhead, compliments slip and corporate guidlines by wednesday morning so it's going to be a hectic weekend. I just wish i could produce something like this amazing buisness card, i don't have a clue how they made it so it doesnt leak or explode, it must be pretty solid plastic or something. I'm sure whoever gets one doesnt throw them away in a hurry though!

28 April 1938 – 6 November 2004

I think everyone comes to a stage in life where they realise no matter what they achieve or however famous they become, they will never, ever, ever be as cool as Fred Dibnah. Rest in Peace mate, i miss you...

Historic

So last night the plan was to stay up and watch the US election live and do a serious amount of my corporate identity brief; what actually happened was i just watched the election for 5 hours and did no work. But it was worth it. I love this poster and i think Barack Obama will be the best thing to happen to America in a long time.

"I'm asking you to believe. Not just in my ability to bring about real change in Washington...I'm asking you to believe in yours"
Obama

U.S.A

I'm trying hard to not have a political bias today but this poster by Shepherd Fairy is pretty convincing.

Transporter 3

Just nearly soiled my pants. Can't wait for this film. Saw quantum of solace last night too, loved it. Product placement is a pain in the ass but go and see it just to watch daniel craig backhand people in the face, it's amazing!