Tomorrow is a bit of a landmark. It will be two years since I quit my job as a Marketing Manager to become a Designer. It's been a tough road but one that has definitely been worth walking. 2012 is ending with my working full-time at a small agency in Lambeth and lots of exciting plans and ideas for 2013.
There's a new website in the pipeline and a determination to really move things onto the next level.
Just a wonderful illustration from the Guardian. Grab a mince pie and enjoy while listening to Tracey Thorn's gorgeous version of Joni Mitchell's River.
I discovered Patrick Morgan via Stylist magazine. His work just makes me catch my breath. Seriously how beautiful are his drawings, paintings..how clear is his style.
I'm always torn between line drawing and using illustrator to get my ideas out of my head and on screen. Arunas has a nice clean approach that I like a lot. There's complex ideas in everything he does but he manages to make it look effortless and very visual.
It's been a while since I blogged, tied up with the new job and trying to set up a new website of my work. However the other day I got the chance to submit a couple of illustrations to ohhdear as part of their Pillow Fight competition.
Initially they were just entries but ohhdear decided to put all of the submissions up on the site so that anyone could buy them for a limited time period. Nice. So here are mine.
More inspiration from Kerry Hyndman. There is something about the way she layers and cuts into her drawings and illustrations. Nothing is clean, everything including the textures she uses works while keeping a subtle edginess.
All in all, a bit like the Commonwealth Games arriving in Manchester. Months of people complaining about how much it's costing them to host replaced by everyone smiling and telling each other how much they love their city. Wembley for the USA v Japan Women's Final and a night back in the East End for the Paralympics. Brilliant.
It used to be the way that whenever I mentioned to someone that I was a Manchester City fan they would fix me with a look that said two things. Pity and admiration. I've seen it too many times. A recognition of a long suffering fool - Jack Lemmon in The Apartment say.
I'm a City fan because of my Dad. It's partly his fault because he'd take me to Maine Road each time he drove the match bus. I was seven the first time and we'd sit in the old Platt Lane, leaving early enough to get back in time to open the doors for the punters after the game. I didn't get to go to the cup Final in 81' but I did get my first season ticket the year before, standing in the Kippax with my mate Ronnie Jackson. So it seemed rather fitting that my Dad was the first person I called as I walked back into Manchester after the game finished.
I was born the last time we won the league, so 44 years of hurt (and my life as a City fan) were rightly encapsulated (after a brilliantly fantastic season) in a mad, crazed five minutes. The ninety minutes of pain, anguish that went before - along with a feeling that I could and might be physically sick at any time - were forgotten. Three and half minutes, from being 2-1 down to winning 3-2, taking the Premiership with the final kick in the last minute of the last match of the season. Quite simply I went from utter devastation to a strange kind of joy. As Elliot said in the pub after.."So, what the fuck was that all about?"..
It was just one of those days, one of those moments. I hugged everyone and anyone who was close. We smiled, we cried and then we were Champions.
It's just over five months since I started working (initially as an intern) at OceanBarefoot (who I can't thank enough for the opportunity) and the great news is that after a few close run interviews I have a job. Whoop! It's at a small digital agency in Lambeth North and I really couldn't be any happier.
Three months to start with and if all goes to plan a permanent contract at the end. It's a small step for man, a giant leap..well you get the drift. I graduated last July so it's been a slow and at times tortured process, but finally I can focus on starting to build this new career as a designer.
Time to grow a beard and do up the top button of that plaid shirt.
One of the reasons behind my quietness has been that I've been busy updating my portfolio. The ability to add 'realtime' projects such as the EMpower annual report I worked on whilst at OceanBarefoot has strengthened it. Alongside these my editorial magazine has been completely redeveloped and the property development now show a project that stretches across both print and web.
One result of sitting down to plan how to update it and challenge myself is that I've decided longterm that I'd love to try and get into book design. Designing a book cover at college allowed me to use my illustration skills, something I need to develop more. Anyway, whilst reworking things I illustrated and redesigned 'Never Let Me Go', another fave book. If you've read it you'll know the story.
The next step is pulling a portfolio of book covers together. So I've set myself the task of redesigning five books taken from the Orange Book Prize over the next couple of months. As you do.
Another evening at Typographic Circle, this time to see Sir John Hegarty, advertising guru. Once again, he didn't disappoint. Funny, open and honest, he showcased a body of work that to be painfully blunt is second to none.
The idea is everything. Get that and you can construct a sixty second message that will have appeal and make a visual impact with an audience. From a groundbreaking Levi's commercial with Nick Kamen stripping down to his boxers (changing a nation's underwear habits in a moment) in a laundrette to taking a pint of Boddington's and adding northern humour to it. There's a great video of him talking about his work.
One of the things I talked about back in January was changing the look and feel of the blog so it became more of a showcase for my work as a designer and work I find inspiring. As such, I'm just going to throw some inspiration here and there, every now and then.
Although he has a name right out of Spooks, Harry Pearce is one of the most influential designers at Pentagram's London office and I was lucky enough to catch him at February's Typographic Circle event. Have to admit, I hadn't really heard of him before the talk (obviously did some research) but he was to be blunt, pretty amazing. His work touches many disciplines, from spatial design and identity to print, ( Halfords, Waitrose, Sainsbury’s, Anish Kapoor and the 2011 Summer Exhibition at the RA, Phaidon Press, the Science Museum, Saks Fifth Avenue) packaging and posters and he ran us through it and his thought processes in an engaging, funny and informative way. His work for Witness (see poster above), an international nonprofit organization that uses the power of video and storytelling to open the eyes of the world to human rights abuses was particularly engaging and brilliant.
Bobbed along to a packed Typographic Circle talk at JWT last week to see Angus Hyland, Pentagram partner, give a talk about Symbol, his new book. It was a great intro into the history of the visual language of symbols and how they interact with the design world.
An added bonus was a breakdown of the thinking behind the redesigning/rebranding work he has done over the last ten years (along with his wife Marion Dechaurs who I spoke about before Christmas) for Cass Art. The designs are clean, colourful and when added to a Swiss design bring intelligence to what is basically a simple idea. There's a nice explanation on the eye blog about it.
,+based+only+on+circles+and+geometric+lines.jpeg)
