Urban Outfitters

These are my proposals for the Urban Outfitters brief, which I pretty pleased with. Both are based on the same concept of scene fashion, yet both are entirely different aesthetically. The first is a much more grungy style and is a modern take the sex pistols cut, paste, and photocopy style (the model is Paris Hilton). Where as the second one is an illustrative piece based on irony and questioning individuality. Hopefully one will be picked to feature and we will see what happens.

The deadline isn't until the 17th but I wanted to get them done quickly as something like this in industry would be turned around in a day.

Edge Magazine

Due to my work for Screen Yorkshire recently, I finally have something published in a main stream environment. This is from this months edition of Edge magazine, and although small, it does feel rewarding to have my artwork in the public domain.

I hope to have some of the promo material that was printed for the event soon too.

There is also a website dedicated to the event which can be view here.

Behance Network

I recently requested to create an account on the Behance network, after updating some of the imagery on my online portfolio, as I felt that the images could do to look more perofessional, and more uniform.

I reshot a lot of the photography I had taken and uploaded them to my website so it was just a case of transferring my imagery across to the Behance network. From this I hoping to gain a little more exposure and traffic to my website.

My behance portfolio www.behance.net/ajt

Screen Yorkshire Brief

Now that the work is sorted and also with the news it's going to be printed in Edge magazine in the next few weeks I thought that I should post the work I did for Screen Yorkshire starting with my proposal boards to the changes I made, to the development I did after revisiting it.

The brief was to come up with something to front Screen Yorkshire's 3D conference '3D: In Your Face. The brief was wide open in terms of the style and colour pallette but it must be simple and effective in small and large formats as well as be suitable to be used across both print and web.

background info

3D: In Your Face is a two day conference in October which will examine the latest developments in 3D across different platforms – film, games, TV and interactive media. New developments in 3D technology have brought films such as Avatar to the screen and the games industry is making major steps forward in this area. The conference is targeted at the industry from these sectors and speakers will be industry experts in these areas. It is expected that delegates will largely be from the North but the conference will be open to all, and also to those who have an interest in the technology e.g. students in these areas. The conference will focus on games and interactive media on day one and film and TV on day two so that people can attend only one day if they want. There will be a small fee to attend the conference.

I decided to go for a 'retro' looking graphic style because I knew that if I did something that looked futuristic it might cheapen the conferences' content. I proposed two totally different design directions in the hope that atleast one would turn out favourably. One drew on an old sci-fi design direction kinda like star wars and the other was made to look like an 80's 3D effect.

Open publication - Free publishing

They chose my second design direction and from then on I worked with them on colour variations and submitted the finals. They wanted to use the green colours associated with their brand. I personally didn't like any of these but that was what the client wanted so I presented them the best I could.

Open publication - Free publishing

After that I decided to go back to the stuff I'd done and tinker with it a little to fill the space more appropriately to what I had submitted before.

Still no luck

Steve Smith contacted me regarding work placements and provided me with details for Yorkshire Sculpture park. I needed to act quickly as the position should have been filled by now and the placement was for 8 weeks which would have to be done as part time during the start of the 3rd year.

I emailed Nina my updated portfolio and made her aware of my work screen yorkshire too. I waited 2 days and got nothing back. I decided to ring and still got no reply. At the minute I'm still trying but not getting ver far.

At the same time I got in touch with Shackleton Rollin in Wakefield who do the majority of their work in website designs and identities and I felt this was an area I needed to get to grips with based on the experiences I had with Creative Squeeze.

Here are some examples of their work.








































I am still holding hope out for something from the Leeds Guide.

My First Invoice

Hopefully this is the first of many. Screen Yorkshire requested one for the work I did for them and I am thankful for the enterprise knowledge I gained so I could put one together. This will be sent to them once they agree to the artwork and I can sign the job off. This has been a good experience for me and although I won't be dealing with printers I feel much more positive now that I can see how I can make a mark on the industry and actually see some sort of reward for it.

The most rewarding part is that my work will be out there in the real world and that can only be good for me and my plans for the future.

Portfoliozines

These are both the portfoliozines I have created in full. I decided to upload them to issuu and post them here. I plan to make a third edition during the coming year. That will have a much more focus direction and hopefully feature more industry work.

Comments are welcome as always..

Open publication - Free publishing

Open publication - Free publishing

Magazine Spreads

I wanted to get back into type and layout to satisfy my own ends with a view to a placement at the Leeds Guide. I didn't want to send them the portfolio I have sent others, I wanted to create a pdf of publication work in the hope that it will catch the eye a little better.

I heard some good advice that I should redesign spreads I have read to see if I could make them better or just any different. With that I have also added some of the spreads I have done over the past two years.

Open publication - Free publishing - More mag. spreads

Screen Yorkshire

After completing the 3D: In your Face brief, today I met with Screen Yorkshire representatives to discuss the development and delivery of my chosen design. I was happy with what they said they wanted to change and that some elements needed tweaking such as colours and backgrounds.

I recieved the guidelines for logo and information on what pantone colours to use. I was really glad I submitted my work because it felt like a good experience, and now I have to invoice them once I submit the artwork.

I asked about printing and how they would go about it, but they already have contacts so I was happy to sign the artwork off to them. They assured me that my name would be somewhere on the flyers they distribute and that they would keep me informed about any further opportunities.

I gave them a copy of my portfolio on CD and told them to keep in touch. It's another contact worth having.

Portfolio CD

I decided to make a digital version of my portfolio that I could take with my for my meeting at Screen Yorkshire. I used the CD tins I had left over from the digital module and branded it a very simple and inexpensive way.

I'll present it at the end of the meeting and hope I get some more work from it.

Foliozines editions one and two

I have been working on a zine style printed portfolio publication for a while and I went to college to finally print them today. I had no luck at the dungeon so I printed some tests upstairs (expensive tests mind). The quality was ok for I wanted and I think my spreads came out really well. I wish I was a better photographer but these will do for documenting now, and I'm happy with how they turned out.

I will be doing a new edition for the third year too and I hope to get these printed properly at some stage. The covers are printed on bulky newsprint and the spreads on newsprint, and the feel of them really came through. I thought the result might be a little crap but it works with minimal ghosting from the opposite side.

First Edition


















































Second Edition

Creative Squeeze Placement

For the past few days I have been working alongside Richard at Creative Squeeze in York. They had recently moved into new premises and everything was still boxed up and as a result I was called in to help on some briefs to help manage the workload that had amounted since the move.

I started off with a branding task which I didn't expect I would enjoy and immediately get a pen and paper before doing some super quick research. I had to come up with a new identity for 'Nimbus Energy' who were a new business involved in solar photovoltaic cells. I was expected to take a day on this and a day to mock up a website. After getting to work on the logo and having some quick success I managed to get the whole thing done including the website to Richards expectations in half a day.

I then was set on to jobs for Mazda and York Marina which I finished over the next day and half.

Overall, I was pleased with the work I did, even though it didn't fall exactly under what I want to do full time, however, Creative Squeeze expressed an interest to keep supplying me with freelance paid work over the summer and during my third year.

I enjoyed my time and preferred this experience to the ones of bigger agencies. I can't post the work I did as it hasn't been cleared by the client and it's Creative Squeeze's property but I took a few photos of the studio even though its not ready as such.

First placement

My first placement with Creative Squeeze is going well. I firstly had a discussion with the Creative Director, Richard to discuss where I was at and what I hoped to gain from being there. I explained that I simply wanted to see the workings of the studio in terms of the practice, theory and speed in which they operate.

During our discussion I was asked what I wanted to do and my portfolio was commented on as being excellent. I explained that my focus was moving towards print and in particular type and layout across various media, and although I had two packaging briefs within my portfolio, I didn't see packaging as I route I wanted to take further, and that it was there to show diversity in my work. He agreed that I did have a lot of different influences and the reaction to that would differ from agency to agency. He also confessed that the print market looked to shrinking year on year and how ever much he loved print, the 80% of his work was web based. He had even bought an iPad to replace his printed portfolio was seemed like a good idea hence his portfolio is practically all websites and branding.

He assured me I would be working on projects over the few days I was there, and that he was happy for me to take on some of the smaller projects that he had put aside since I was in touch.

I realise that the technologies are going to change and the future seems to be with the digital market, however as we have more and more flexibility in terms of web content, there is no reason designers like me can work with e-books and pdf magazines, etc.

Summer Self-evaluation 1

Fred gave us these self evaluation sheets to narrow our focus and structure the third year of study. This will prove to help me as the summer comes to an end because I will have a clear record of where my thinking was and what I intended to do at the end of the second year. I expect some of these to change as an work with self-initiated briefs and planned visits and placements.

I have already seen my focus shift towards typography, but I am still unsure about the sort of area I want to look at particularly. Whether that is creating typefaces or working with existing typefaces and focusing much more layout and grid systems.

Open publication - Free publishing - More type

I plan to do another two of these if possible at key times of the summer, with the last one setting my intentions for the final year.

Leeds Guide placement

I see typography and layout as my main area of interest going into the third year and I thought about possible local magazines publishers I could contact to see about a visit or work placement to get a free for what it is like. I envisage it as being different to a regular studio as their is no variety in the work.

I contacted Matt at the Leeds guide design studio and asked the question. He got back to my pretty quickly too.


my email

Hi,

I've just finished my second year of the BA graphic Design degree at
Leeds college of Art and I am looking for industry experience,
freelance work and studio visits. I noticed your website and I have
had the pleasure of reading the Leeds guide in my university a number
of times.

I have attached my portfolio, which I welcome you to browse through. I
enjoy working with typography and layout which will be my focus for
the third year.

I look forward to hearing from you, and thanks for reading.

Adam Townend

reply

Hi Adam,

At the moment the Design department is undergoing a bit of a shakeup as
both myself and another member of staff are leaving before the end of
August. With that in mind I can't really guarantee you anything until
new staff have been hired. Your best bet is to email this address
(design@leedsguide.co.uk) at the end of August and arrange something
with my replacement.

Thanks,
Matt

Matt Andrews
Head of Design
Design Studio

Obviously, not the response I hoped for but I can get back onto them later, and use matt as a reference.

With this in mind I am going to put together some magazine layouts to create portfolio for this opportunity.

Creative Squeeze

I always had a back up plan on the placement and freelance position that I could exercise should I find getting placements, or even visits, difficult. After being messed around by a couple of agencies and having no luck with others I decided to get on with contacting my design partner from Wobble Design, who now is an MD and senior designer at Creative Squeeze in York.


We had a chat on the phone and via email and I have been invited to go across to York for a couple of days. They are moving into bigger studios so everything looks bright for them. They don't do the exact work that I do, and it seems they focus much more on web delivery but also offer other services.

Hopefully having the right contact with them will benefit me and possibly help me to gain other contacts too. I have yet to confirm the dates but I will be looking to impress as much as possible in the hope I am offered more work.