If you blinked, you missed it. Summer is over for another year as the rain has decided to make yet another appearance. It doesn't seem like five minutes that I was basking in the Olympic Stadium in stifling hot conditions, moaning about how hot I was. How many weeks now till Christmas?
Anyway, I have had plenty of time to reflect on my situation lately as after a few more disappointing job interviews, I am left wondering what to do for the best. I have changed my CV on numerous occasions and had meetings with careers advisors on the best way to approach applications and interviews but with no success.
I started along this new path a few years ago with some trepidation as I knew in my heart that I should have done it years ago but nevertheless, being bloody minded and stubborn, I felt that I could achieve my goals. The reality is that being employed again isn't going to happen. So, the last few days, other than being a miserable pain in the arse and realising that I have to pick myself up yet again, it's time for action!
Having realised that a lot of my fellow students have picked the business modules, the best course of action is not just to gain the knowledge but to put it into action as I work my way through. The eventual goal is to end up at the end of this course not only with an MA but also a working design studio practice. I have played at it a few times in the past but never seriously if I am to be honest with myself. I think in reality, having always worked for someone else, I am scared of going it alone. I read about lots of students who set up their own studios out of University and its easier because they haven't had that security of a monthly income and haven't been tainted by being employed by somebody else telling you what to do all day. Towards the end I was in a position where I could delegate to others but I was still answerable to someone else everyday. Plus, I really wanted to be in an environment where you had other human beings to talk to and other designers who you could share your ideas with. You end up in a sterile bubble working from home and I think your work suffers because of it.
So it's back to it on Friday and I am going to see what the modules are all about and formalise a plan over the weekend. After all, I don't want to in another 10 years time, still be cutting bits of card up, DJing to drunks and pretending I am Hank Marvin at the weekend!
Wednesday, 26 September 2012
Packaging Round Up
Just a few of my current favourites at the moment.
First up we have a range of luxury biscuits designed by the Edinburgh based Threebrand. It isn't very often that I want to buy something just for the packaging but these are on my list, especially when one of them is lemon meringue flavoured shortbread. It doesn't get much better.
There are so many features that I like from the subtle printing techniques to the typography used. The diet can start the week after.
The second is a new brand of juice drinks from Australia. Their target audience is women or people over 40 who they feel have stopped using juice products because they tend to worry more about their daily calorie intake. Part of their blurb states that, 'the visual identity for this brand is driven around a contemporary expression of innocence and purity, combined with a feminine elegance'.
Whilst I was initially drawn to the logotype on the bottles, I am not quite sure about the design as a whole. The apple illustration works hanging off a stem but I have never seen sliced pineapple hanging off a branch! It just doesn't look right and I feel they should have approached it a bit better.
I did a blog about Johnnie Walker before and the great limited edition bottles. Now to celebrate the year of the dragon, Love have designed some limited edition boxes with the help of Chris Martin again. The full illustration is shown below:
I really liked the earlier designs he did on the blue designed bottles and these are no less brilliant. Some of the detail on the clouds and waves are very indicative of traditional Chinese prints.
Next is a new line of olive oil products. These stood out because I like the illustrations and there chosen subtle colours. The name Elia is from a Greek word which literally translates as Olive. Thinking about how olive oil looks on the supermarket shelves at the moment I don't think these would look quite right. I can understand them wanting a more feminine look but they look more like a beauty product that you would find in Boots or Body Shop.
When it comes to pieces of self promotional material, I always find them a bit too cheesy or wonder how they can afford to make them and send them through the post. As i always say it is just my opinion but here is one that looks really good and another that doesn't cut it for me.
First the good one. Greg Straight is an amazing Illustrator based in New Zealand and he wanted something that could be used to encapsulate his work and show what he was capable of. His finished design is a lovely piece of cut corrugated card that when it arrives on a desk, you cannot wait to open it and look inside. The original premise was to send it to Wallpaper magazine because he had met the Art Director at an exhibition and wanted to impress on him that he could be the Illustrator they were looking for. So along with some help from Think Packaging, Greg now has a great, simple piece of self promotion.
Now for the least favourite of mine. The idea has been used a few times before but when it is designed and executed properly, the results can be very good. But in this case, it doesn't work for me.
One of my favourite films as a child has to be the original Willy Wonka due in part to the wonderful Gene Wilder but its also the sweet shop with its mind boggling array of different sweets. I don't have to go into much detail but needless to say it was all about finding the golden ticket.
Charlotte Olsen wanted to design something to use as a piece of self promotion that would make her stand out and also show a bit of her fun personality. If you are going to mimic a golden ticket then the least you can do is try to make it look like a golden ticket and not just like a normal bit of paper that you have printed at home. Plus why would you offer a 10% discount if you really have 100% raw talent in the first place. It doesn't bode well if you are already underselling yourself, surely. Also, I really do not like how she has split the word 'talent' on the main wrap. Its a shame because it could have been executed so much better but it has ended up looking quite poor in my opinion.
First up we have a range of luxury biscuits designed by the Edinburgh based Threebrand. It isn't very often that I want to buy something just for the packaging but these are on my list, especially when one of them is lemon meringue flavoured shortbread. It doesn't get much better.
There are so many features that I like from the subtle printing techniques to the typography used. The diet can start the week after.
The second is a new brand of juice drinks from Australia. Their target audience is women or people over 40 who they feel have stopped using juice products because they tend to worry more about their daily calorie intake. Part of their blurb states that, 'the visual identity for this brand is driven around a contemporary expression of innocence and purity, combined with a feminine elegance'.
Whilst I was initially drawn to the logotype on the bottles, I am not quite sure about the design as a whole. The apple illustration works hanging off a stem but I have never seen sliced pineapple hanging off a branch! It just doesn't look right and I feel they should have approached it a bit better.
I really liked the earlier designs he did on the blue designed bottles and these are no less brilliant. Some of the detail on the clouds and waves are very indicative of traditional Chinese prints.
Next is a new line of olive oil products. These stood out because I like the illustrations and there chosen subtle colours. The name Elia is from a Greek word which literally translates as Olive. Thinking about how olive oil looks on the supermarket shelves at the moment I don't think these would look quite right. I can understand them wanting a more feminine look but they look more like a beauty product that you would find in Boots or Body Shop.
When it comes to pieces of self promotional material, I always find them a bit too cheesy or wonder how they can afford to make them and send them through the post. As i always say it is just my opinion but here is one that looks really good and another that doesn't cut it for me.
First the good one. Greg Straight is an amazing Illustrator based in New Zealand and he wanted something that could be used to encapsulate his work and show what he was capable of. His finished design is a lovely piece of cut corrugated card that when it arrives on a desk, you cannot wait to open it and look inside. The original premise was to send it to Wallpaper magazine because he had met the Art Director at an exhibition and wanted to impress on him that he could be the Illustrator they were looking for. So along with some help from Think Packaging, Greg now has a great, simple piece of self promotion.
Now for the least favourite of mine. The idea has been used a few times before but when it is designed and executed properly, the results can be very good. But in this case, it doesn't work for me.
One of my favourite films as a child has to be the original Willy Wonka due in part to the wonderful Gene Wilder but its also the sweet shop with its mind boggling array of different sweets. I don't have to go into much detail but needless to say it was all about finding the golden ticket.
Charlotte Olsen wanted to design something to use as a piece of self promotion that would make her stand out and also show a bit of her fun personality. If you are going to mimic a golden ticket then the least you can do is try to make it look like a golden ticket and not just like a normal bit of paper that you have printed at home. Plus why would you offer a 10% discount if you really have 100% raw talent in the first place. It doesn't bode well if you are already underselling yourself, surely. Also, I really do not like how she has split the word 'talent' on the main wrap. Its a shame because it could have been executed so much better but it has ended up looking quite poor in my opinion.
Wednesday, 5 September 2012
Playing Catch Up!!
The last couple of weeks have seen me very busy trying to make new things for Coastal Dreams and trying to sort out a new website for it. The website is next on the list and has had to take a bit of a back seat as I have been involved with a pop up shop and a few opportunities on various market stalls.
Firstly, the pop up shop was really good and got me some great exposure on the Lichfield High Street. I had two consecutive Saturday's in a great position. It has proved that the idea is sound as everyone loved the stall and it brought back a lot of childhood holiday memories for people, which is what i was hoping for. The only downside to designing coastal inspired artworks is that it is quite seasonal and as there are quite a few Christmas craft markets coming up, I am wondering if I should make up all my Christmas inspired pieces as well. Not quite sure how they would sit together on a website though, even if I made sure they were in different sections. More thoughts needed.
The reason I am playing catch up is that I have slightly taken my eye of the latest packaging designs from my various sourced websites. I suppose it may also be the case of how many jobs I have been applying for as well which can be quite time consuming and also pretty tedious!
So, on to my current favourites of the last few weeks which have caught my eye.
The first one touches a nerve to be honest. Not because the packaging design itself but the awful way that companies farm for work using crowdsourcing. No wonder it is getting harder to convince a client that you are the right person for the job when they believe any Tom, Dick or Harry on Facebook or Twitter can do the same job. Link this with the world of unpaid pitching and you have a very bleak picture for the industry. It is alright for the major players in the industry as they can afford to ride the storm somewhat but for the smaller agencies and freelancers, how are you supposed to compete.
Wyke farm's range of cheeses has had a facelift which was initially put out to tender to a few select design agencies but then in their supposed wisdom, decided to rely on its fans on Facebook to help! Now I am all for social media and I do like using it daily but I feel this was a step too far.
It has just showed how the company couldn't put their faith in the talents of an agency or even pay the going rate for the work. On the Design Week website it states that Wyke Farms said, " the company was committed to accepting the wisdom of the crowd" In my opinion they need committing for allowing the design process to be trivialised on social media.
These are the sort of packaging designs that really appeal and I am sometimes quite envious of that I didn't think of it first. I really like the story idea as it makes the brand come alive and makes it easier to engage with.
BrandOpus have recently re branded Butterkist Popcorn. The reason I chose this was I really like how the design subtly uses cues from the golden age of cinema, especially when you look at some of the old film producer logos. Whilst the main Butterkist logotype stays the same, each different flavour has had a different type treatment. Very nice and a definite improvement from the old design.
One of my favourite sources for new Packaging Design is the Dieline website. I feel like I have been missing out these last few weeks as I haven't had much chance to catch up on some of the latest designs until now.
First, a student design for a brand of Limoncello. Besides liking the drink anyway, I love how bright and vibrant the new designs are. I hope that there is a chance these go into production because they would look fantastic on the shelf and I can see these gracing the tables of Italian cafe's. To be honest, if these were going into production, I would buy the set along with the glasses just to look at. Designed by Tiffany Moy who is studying at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, the idea came from researching Italian ceramic painting and the floral design of the fruit plants.
As an homage to the Andy Warhol's work based around his Campbells Soup Cans and also to coincide with it's 50th Anniversary, they have produced some limited edition labels for their condensed soup range. I think this was a great idea to celebrate one of the icons of Pop Art and it doesn't do any harm to keep reminding people what a great artist he was. His soup can pictures were extremely iconic and have been reproduced over and over again because of their bright colours and readily accessible subject matter.
Lastly, I have picked another nice piece of simple typography. A new range of Organic Baby Food called So Baby has just launched with a really nice considered design by the agency Mayday. They are one of my favourite agencies because I really liked their work for Clearspring which has some great simple graphic design along with some lovely considered embossing on the packs.
The pack designs for So Baby are very fresh with a thoughtful colour palette. There are also some nice bits of illustration which blend effortlessly together with the overall brand design. What I also liked is the pack design which looks very similar to the Food Doctor range of snacks which uses a plastic container enclosed with a cardboard wrap which gives you a lot more surface area to print all of the legal requirements away from the main focus of the brand design logo.
So that's a quick roundup of some of my favourites at the moment. As I said previously, we are off to the Paralympic Games on Friday where we have tickets for the Athletics inside the Olympic Stadium which we are all very excited about. Hoping to get some good photographs this time as I am taking the better camera with me so looking forward to photographing a few 'arty' shots.
I don't want to dwell on it too much but at the moment, the plans are not working out at the moment so i am having to pick myself up yet again and refocus on something more positive. Unfortunately I am having to return to the dreaded world of being a mobile DJ until Christmas, just to get some much needed money. This is going to be harder than it seems because the reason I packed it in last time was due to getting very fed up with having to deal with stupid, drunk and abusive people. Trust me there is nothing worse than being stone cold sober having to deal with alcohol abusers!
So because I am getting no design work or job opportunities at the moment, I have recently changed my CV yet again which seems to be getting a few more replies. Also, I need to produce a lot more work in terms of a portfolio. The latest plan is to get nearly a dozen more packaging designs completed for a solely specialist portfolio. Then I really could do with some more obvious graphic design examples such as basic branding, leaflets, posters, newsletters etc etc. It may be alright when going solely for Packaging Design positions but I am having to lower my sights and need some credible, well produced commercial work so at least I have a better chance of getting an entry level position which then allows me some income to pursue my dreams of becoming a Packaging Designer.
That's more than enough waffling for now as I need a cup of tea.
Firstly, the pop up shop was really good and got me some great exposure on the Lichfield High Street. I had two consecutive Saturday's in a great position. It has proved that the idea is sound as everyone loved the stall and it brought back a lot of childhood holiday memories for people, which is what i was hoping for. The only downside to designing coastal inspired artworks is that it is quite seasonal and as there are quite a few Christmas craft markets coming up, I am wondering if I should make up all my Christmas inspired pieces as well. Not quite sure how they would sit together on a website though, even if I made sure they were in different sections. More thoughts needed.
The reason I am playing catch up is that I have slightly taken my eye of the latest packaging designs from my various sourced websites. I suppose it may also be the case of how many jobs I have been applying for as well which can be quite time consuming and also pretty tedious!
So, on to my current favourites of the last few weeks which have caught my eye.
The first one touches a nerve to be honest. Not because the packaging design itself but the awful way that companies farm for work using crowdsourcing. No wonder it is getting harder to convince a client that you are the right person for the job when they believe any Tom, Dick or Harry on Facebook or Twitter can do the same job. Link this with the world of unpaid pitching and you have a very bleak picture for the industry. It is alright for the major players in the industry as they can afford to ride the storm somewhat but for the smaller agencies and freelancers, how are you supposed to compete.
Wyke farm's range of cheeses has had a facelift which was initially put out to tender to a few select design agencies but then in their supposed wisdom, decided to rely on its fans on Facebook to help! Now I am all for social media and I do like using it daily but I feel this was a step too far.
It has just showed how the company couldn't put their faith in the talents of an agency or even pay the going rate for the work. On the Design Week website it states that Wyke Farms said, " the company was committed to accepting the wisdom of the crowd" In my opinion they need committing for allowing the design process to be trivialised on social media.
Another of my favourite agencies, Taxi Studio have just worked on the re brand of Westonbirt Ice Cream. Now called Harriet's Jolly Nice, I really like the typographic treatment of the name and the choice of colour palette. I also like the fact that there is a different charming story associated with each different flavour.
These are the sort of packaging designs that really appeal and I am sometimes quite envious of that I didn't think of it first. I really like the story idea as it makes the brand come alive and makes it easier to engage with.
BrandOpus have recently re branded Butterkist Popcorn. The reason I chose this was I really like how the design subtly uses cues from the golden age of cinema, especially when you look at some of the old film producer logos. Whilst the main Butterkist logotype stays the same, each different flavour has had a different type treatment. Very nice and a definite improvement from the old design.
One of my favourite sources for new Packaging Design is the Dieline website. I feel like I have been missing out these last few weeks as I haven't had much chance to catch up on some of the latest designs until now.
First, a student design for a brand of Limoncello. Besides liking the drink anyway, I love how bright and vibrant the new designs are. I hope that there is a chance these go into production because they would look fantastic on the shelf and I can see these gracing the tables of Italian cafe's. To be honest, if these were going into production, I would buy the set along with the glasses just to look at. Designed by Tiffany Moy who is studying at the Academy of Art in San Francisco, the idea came from researching Italian ceramic painting and the floral design of the fruit plants.
As an homage to the Andy Warhol's work based around his Campbells Soup Cans and also to coincide with it's 50th Anniversary, they have produced some limited edition labels for their condensed soup range. I think this was a great idea to celebrate one of the icons of Pop Art and it doesn't do any harm to keep reminding people what a great artist he was. His soup can pictures were extremely iconic and have been reproduced over and over again because of their bright colours and readily accessible subject matter.
The pack designs for So Baby are very fresh with a thoughtful colour palette. There are also some nice bits of illustration which blend effortlessly together with the overall brand design. What I also liked is the pack design which looks very similar to the Food Doctor range of snacks which uses a plastic container enclosed with a cardboard wrap which gives you a lot more surface area to print all of the legal requirements away from the main focus of the brand design logo.
So that's a quick roundup of some of my favourites at the moment. As I said previously, we are off to the Paralympic Games on Friday where we have tickets for the Athletics inside the Olympic Stadium which we are all very excited about. Hoping to get some good photographs this time as I am taking the better camera with me so looking forward to photographing a few 'arty' shots.
I don't want to dwell on it too much but at the moment, the plans are not working out at the moment so i am having to pick myself up yet again and refocus on something more positive. Unfortunately I am having to return to the dreaded world of being a mobile DJ until Christmas, just to get some much needed money. This is going to be harder than it seems because the reason I packed it in last time was due to getting very fed up with having to deal with stupid, drunk and abusive people. Trust me there is nothing worse than being stone cold sober having to deal with alcohol abusers!
So because I am getting no design work or job opportunities at the moment, I have recently changed my CV yet again which seems to be getting a few more replies. Also, I need to produce a lot more work in terms of a portfolio. The latest plan is to get nearly a dozen more packaging designs completed for a solely specialist portfolio. Then I really could do with some more obvious graphic design examples such as basic branding, leaflets, posters, newsletters etc etc. It may be alright when going solely for Packaging Design positions but I am having to lower my sights and need some credible, well produced commercial work so at least I have a better chance of getting an entry level position which then allows me some income to pursue my dreams of becoming a Packaging Designer.
That's more than enough waffling for now as I need a cup of tea.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)