Julzeez font

Here is a font that I had created on a free program called Fontstruct. This was a lot of fun! It's great that you can look through a gallery that other people have made and you can actually download their fonts to your computer.

For my font I wanted it to look a little tribal. I had a look at a few Swiss posters in our graphics room before we started, but I really wanted to go all out there, just have fun and try out my own thing. The name of it could probably do with changing but overall I think that this font looks good as it had a lot of detail.

Here is what I came up with below, I think they work quite well. Some people also think they looked like Christmas crackers!

Together Trust

When I emailed Helen at Together Trust I was a little apprehensive as I had not met her before when she came in to our college to work with some of the students in our class, so as we had to do a live brief which involved working on a campaign to encourage adults to foster children most people in my class had to work together as a pair. As I have said before I had to work on this project on my own, so I was very nervous when I actually got a portfolio visit with Helen as I didn't really know what she expected from my work.

Here is how I managed to get the interview by email below:




















After I had arranged this I set off on the 28/07/2010 to find Together Trust for my visit. I set off in my car an hour early to make sure that I got there on time. However, disaster struck and I got majorly lost. I rang Helen and she had a few people in the office trying to give me directions, 20 minutes later I got there and was so apologetic and embarrassed. She could not see me that day because she had a meeting so we rescheduled for the same time the following Wednesday. This gave me a huge wake up call and I have now learned that in future I will drive up to the place I am supposed to be visiting so I am not panicking the next day.

As I went through my portfolio she commented on everything that I had done and wanted to know what I thought about the project and how it worked well for me as a person. I really liked this as it showed that she was really taking an interest to what I had done over the past two years. When I finally came to the most recent project for her company of Together Trust she said that my work is something that they would definitely use for their campaigns as it was quite similar to theirs. Helen also said that she liked the fact that I had used my own photography and it did not look like it was posed in anyway it looked very natural which was very nice to hear!

The image below is the one that Helen liked the best:




















I became very comfortable in speaking to Helen as she was such a lovely person, she gave me lots of great advice and she gave me a sheet to look at to improve interview skills, the best graphics online e.g the D&AD awards, tutorials for programs and general sites worth checking out.

I again asked her the same questions that I had asked the previous two people at my other portfolio visits again to see if any of the answers had changed. Here are the questions and answers below:

1. Where do you find your inspiration/ influences?

I don't find my inspiration/ influences by a specific designer or companies. But I do like advertisement such as the Innocent smoothies and the Honda advert. I admire Innocent because it is ethical and good for you. I like looking through Youtube too at quirky bits and pieces. It can come from anything. I think that if you have a natural interest in something then you are going to do broader research on it and perhaps go off and create something that's not what you started thinking of in the first place. Brainstorming is always good.

2. What do you enjoy most about your job?

I enjoy it the most because like I said before I like ethical things in life, so because it's a charity I know I can go home and feel good about myself and hope that I am making a difference with what I do and what we all do as a team. I used to advertise for debt companies but had to get out of it as I just didn't feel right. Don't force yourself in to a job that doesn't suit you.

3. Is there any advice you would give to graduates just leaving University?

Do alot of research about the company you are going to visit, research well where you are going. You have every right to ask the person who will be interviewing you if there is something specific they will want to see in your portfolio, just ask.. there's no harm in it. I would really make sure that you at least have one thing in your portfolio that is relevent to that company as you really do have to be enthusiastic and sell yourself. Tell the employer what you like about their company or if you have created something similar. You also have to make sure that you are ready to mix in and going to work well with an already existing team. You need to be confident and try and get work experience whenever possible to get a good job, look at bigger agencies between the times of, March, April and May time. This is vital because this is the best time that they might be taking people on for the summer. Even if it's just for a week it is still experience and you are still gaining knowledge all the time. Also keep practicing your skills and do live briefs. Here is a link you can go on where you can involve yourself in voluntry live brief jobs.

www.frogspawn.com

Overall, I think that this has been my best visit so far I feel as thought I have had a big boost of cinfidence and I am not scared to put myself out there anymore and go and show companies my work and show them what I can do. All contacts count.

Impact Digital

Even though the owner of Impact Digital is my Uncle, I was still quite nervous to show him my work as he has been doing it for over 25 years. His company is linked with Printing.com which is becoming a huge franchise all over the world, they offer cheap printing but still of a high quality, they are becoming well recognised to big trades.

I asked my Uncle Chris if he could help me use the printing techniques I had learned on the Printing.com course that I had previously been on. So he said yes and I used good quality matte paper and CMYK coloured ink for my portfolio print outs.

Overall, he seemed very impressed with my work and has asked me to come in to his shop to get a bit of experience to when I finish University and get a full time job. I consider myself to be very lucky as it is hard to find some graphics companies that will give you the experience with no qualifications.

I think that the course that my uncle sent me on really helped me understand colour and the way things are managed and printed. Here is a quick Youtube video to show the printing press production below:



Some of the things that my Uncle creates for his clients are:

Designing
Business cards
Showcards
Booklets
Letterheads/ compliment slips
Web design
Leaflets - folded
Leaflets
Packaging
Posters
Advertising
One- piece mailers
Photocopies and many more...

If you have a look at the label on my dashboard you will be able to see the full experience that I had during the 3 day course I had at the main Printing.com head office in Trafford Park.

I asked him the same questions that I asked at Lorraine Rowland Design to see if I got any different answers so that I could compare them, here is what he replied:

1. Where do you find your inspiration/ influences?

We're always looking out for new design ideas, checking out all types of new media including TV advertising etc. Creative Review and the Creative Review Handbook are great resources of new design concepts etc.

2. What do you enjoy most about you job?

Its always nice to see your work being used whether on the web / advertising hoardings / in print. Its most satisfying when the client is happy with the design work and more importantly that it is creating a positive impression of their business.

3. Is there any advice you'd give to graduates just leaving university?

Being able to design is one thing, in some respects its difficult to teach someone to be creative. I would always advise that graduates gain some real experience in their chosen discipline - its counts for a lot to a prospective employer that not only are you creative but that you can see a piece of work through to the finished product. Being able to make your designs work technically and on all levels will greatly enhance your job prospects.

I totally agree with what my Uncle is saying that if you become successful for a portfolio visit then you need to make your work relevant to that company. Also getting experience to help yourself later on in the future would be a massive help.

I just can't wait to now start helping him out on live jobs for certain clients to see how this fast paced industry really does work.

Lorraine Rowland Design...

When I went to visit Lorraine Rowland herself I was very, very nervous as this was my first portfolio visit. I had sent her an email asking her if there was any possible way I could meet with her for 10 minutes. Here is what I wrote to her in an email below:






















I didn't receive an email back, which did not really surprise me
as I know that Graphic Designers have a lot of work on and of course
she was the boss of the company so I was very lucky to have some of
her time to myself.

I chose this company to ask for a portfolio visit as I think that
what they do is very similar to the things I want to produce when
I leave University to find a job.
It is very much based on working with advertising. Some of the clients
that they deal with are listed below:

A selection of clients
4imprint
Amber Jewellery
Appleton Thorn Village Hall
BioElite Telecom
Forrest Recruitment
Grace Scaffolding
Greystone Telecom
MRC- The Flava People
Perfumes-4u
Plastic Formers

They concentrate mostly on: Advertising, Brochures, Exhibitions,
Incentives, Logos, Packaging, Photography and websites.

Lorraine Rowland's company is based in Timperley Village I think
that is a good area for being able to work with no interruptions,
there is not alot of hustle and bustle so it is easier to concentrate.


I did was I said I was going to do and followed up with a phone
call on the Monday morning, 05/07/2010 and spoke to Lorraine and
she told me I could go in on Thursday 8th July 2010 at 14:00.

I arrived and showed Lorraine my portfolio. I basically went through
my work and she asked me any questions that she had as I was going
through it. She was a very nice lady and gave me some good constructive
criticism for my work.

I asked her a few questions whilst I was there as I understand again
that it is hard for people to get back to you sometimes when you want
something doing quickly as they have far more important things to be
thinking about.

Here's a brief contact report:


1. Where do you find your inspiration/ influences?

Well, really it depends on the client,
because we advertise I don't necessarily
think about specific artists, I watch
adverts, look at billboards that kind of
thing and I remember what I think has worked
well and sometimes use it for some clients.
When you have clients that come back to you
alot you will find that most of the time they
want the same style so you already know what
they're in to and what they want.. Otherwise,
most of it comes from the top of my head!


2. What do you enjoy most about your job?

I like having new challenges with clients
and doing things differently for example,
as the same clients I was speaking about
before I like trying to show them something
new that they would perhaps not normally go
for. Also, things such as exhibitions,
just a whole new look on things really.
New clients, completely different and new
for new ideas.



3. Is there any advice you'd give to graduates just leaving University?

The best advice I can give is to improve on
clients needs for example the Together Trust
work you have done recently is good when you
go for a job interview perhaps.
Always make sure that your portfolio relates
to the client/ workplace you are going to see.
Also another good thing to know is a bit
of background knowledge about the company so
you can have a detailed chat with the employer
and say how you can benefit their company.

Overall, Lorraine said that she was very
impressed with my portfolio and she was
mostly impressed with my Together Trust work
which is my most recent project. I really
enjoyed going to this visit as I feel it has
boosted my confidence for the next ones to come
and has given me more of an insight as to how to
go about my communication skills for future employers.

3 day graphic printing course at Printing.com

During the start of the summer holidays of the end of my second year I managed to get a placement on a graphics course in Trafford Park learning about how Printing.com works and how it is run. I was absolutely amazed by what I found out and what I saw whilst I was there. It really was an amazing experience.

We started off doing a little bit of an icebreaker on the first day then went straight in to the nitty gritty of doing intense learning about colours, the scientific explanation of how we can see and how it applies to graphic design and print. I was in a group of about 10 people that were a lot older and had a lot more experience than I did which I found at the beginning quite daunting, it made me panic slightly every time we were given a quick brief to do as I was worried that I would be unable to keep up as these people had their own businesses for years etc. However, I was fine and if I did get a little bit stuck I was not afraid to question what I did not understand which I am very glad of.

The two photographs below show a few notes that I made to help drill certain measurements and colour opacities and settings in to my head. They did tell us that we didn't need to write notes as we would have been given a pack with all the information given, however, I think that if I was to write things down at the time I would understand how and why this was said at the time. I am a very visual person and it can jog my memory quickly when I see something that I remember so this worked really well for me.































The image below is what people that work at the franchises of Printing.com all over the world use to check their work for the client. They have to go through a sheet almost like a questionnaire on what they have had to change etc. I found out that this was an extra charge and sometimes this has to be done before they could even start designing on it.















Here we received hand outs, booklets, leaflets, swatches etc which was very useful when we got given quick briefs to do as we could keep referring to these things for colour perspective and how much the job would cost in total.






























Below was the main brief that we got to do on the second day. We were given 30 minutes to check the brief first and see what the client wanted and their needs for a business card. Then we had about 10 minutes to upload the job on their local Intranet called Flyerlink. This took a while to do and at every stage you nearly complete the job you are working on you have to change the status. It works quite well this as the printing people can see where you are up to and more importantly the client can too.
We did a sort of role play and had to give each other our designs and then comment back as if we were the client. The tutors wanted us to all change something on our designs which meant going though the whole process of checking again, which didn't bother me because I understand that this is what really happens in the real world!
Here is the brief I specifically got given below,















Here is the invoice below,















This was my final outcome, I then had to send it back off to the client to be proofed which means they have to sign and say whether or not that is how they wanted it and if not what they want you to change.















Normally the proof would be sent by email, but I found that looking at it on screen is totally different to actually printing it out as the sizes are deceiving. So the best way in my opinion is to get the client to come to the shop or send it by letter then less printing errors occur in future.















We also found out a little bit about spot printing, which is where you can get gloss printed on to whatever you want to on your work. The tutors only really touched on this as I think most of the class knew already how to do this and they weren't really there to teach they were just there to explain about how Printing.com actually works, which in my opinion is fair enough. As you can see below we were given big A2 sheets of swatches including CMYK colours and Pantone colours. I learnt that if a client wants Pantone colours the printer does not have the ability to print that bright. So that's why the swatches were invented to show the client what could be used instead or as close as to the colour that they originally wanted.
































We were also given a tour round the actual printing building where we saw the huge presses printing at such speed. The noise in there was incredible! Very Loud! Most of the machines were I think German or Swiss and when they had stopped they played nursery rhyme tunes which was quite annoying at times! But it seems that all the guys that worked with the paper didn't seem phased. I went in to a room aswell where they had smoke shooters from the corners of the room to keep the room at a consistent temperature so that the printers did not buckle up. This to me was a little bit different as I felt like I was entering a science lab! The whole experience was just brilliant and I would love to go on another to learn and expand my knowledge more. My tutor told me that there is a video on you tube that a guy created from the printing lab and he has made a plasticine model and sent it round all the presses to show the method in which they print and put things together I haven't found it yet but I will do!

Alan Fletcher: Fifty years of graphic work (and play)

During our second year we had to visit the CUBE Gallery in Manchester City centre to see an exhibition that Alan Fletcher had put on for people to see. It started on 21.01.2010 until 03.04.2010. Alan Fletcher to most people is seen to be the 'most celebrated graphic designer in Britain' by the Observer and 'one of the giants of 20th Century design' by the Guardian, along with Peter Saville. Peter Saville actually opened Fletcher's exhibition on Thursday 21st January 2010.

Alan Fletcher (1931-2006) was co-founder of Fletcher/ Forbes/ Gill in the 1960's and Pentagram in the 1970's and created enduring graphic schemes including the identities of Reuters amd the V&A. In his role as Creative Director of Phaidon Press he had a major impact on book design and forged links with a new generation of graphic designers.
By synthesising the graphic tradtions of Europe and the US into a spirited, witty and very personal style, Alan Fletcher has defined modern graphic design in Britain since the early 1960's. The exhibition at CUBE explores the ingenuity of Fletcher's commercial work for high profile clients, including Olivetti. ICI, and Lloyds, alongside the personal projects in lettering, collage, and illustration, with which Fletcher has entertained himself- and us- over the years.

-(Taken from a hand out given at the CUBE Gallery)

The exhibition mostly included original sketches, posters, objects and archive footage celebrating fifty years of the designer's work (and play).

I found the day quite entertaining and started to understand Fletcher's wit in different styles of his work. I went home and really thought about who he has worked with and what he had acheived in his life and he really in a genious in the graphic industry. I took photographs of the work that I thought appealed to me the most below. I would definately go to another of his exhibitions.

Together Trust...

We were set a brief to design 3 different campaigns to persuade and to help children of all different ages to get adopted by people that were/ are ready to take on the roles of being parents. I really enjoyed this brief. It took me a while to get my ideas together as I wasn't very well and had to miss a little bit off University time which meant I had to work on my own for this. I wasn't too fussed about this but in my opinion 2 heads are always better than one. However, I ended up really enjoying this project and working on it freely and independently.

I decided I wanted to go down the photography route on this as I had the idea of being a role model and putting that over to people that wanted to be parents or I was even aiming it at people that perhaps had never even thought of fostering so it could have been a good opportunity too. I also took photographs of children getting in to mischief just to show people that these children are human and it is a lot to take on, they need to know that before they get involved.

So I started to get a few pages of brainstorms together to see what I could photograph children in.. Here is some of the evidence of this:


































After this I got a few children who I knew together and started taking photographs of them dressed up to show different scenarios. I took about 70 photos but I will show you the ones that I think are the best up on here now. The bit that I mostly enjoyed was going to the ambulance and fire service and dressing the little boy Jack up in a chefs outfit in a real restaurant kitchen it was funny! At the bottom of the page shows where I have played around with some of the different photographs and made them in to actual foster campaigns for Together Trust. This brief really was enjoyable and a lot of fun!


























































































































































































































Here are my 3 finished design campaigns for Together Trust below (2 would not upload due to an internal error but are in my portfolio):