Raw Material Project: Development 01

I've finally got some invaluable inspiration for a cultural, artistic, music related logo; the Bob Dylan poster by Milton Glaser. This poster became a cultural icon and the colours of Bob's hair represents its diversity.

I took the idea and tried to create a more simplistic style to the curls and implement it into the logo design for Raw Material, but something just doesn't seem to click! The logo seems to represent 'a' style rather than different, cultural styles.

Wild Typography

Don't we all just love crazy typography designs? Some designers have literally taken their type off the page using materials including hair, cigarretes, toothpaste, underwear, and even condoms to create beautiful 3d typographic works. From Vladimir Zivkovic’s Google Earth project, to Arjan Benning’s pinched skin alphabet, these designers are working with anything and everything to push the envelope.

Here are some of those designs:


Amandine Alessandra (http://www.amandinealessandra.com/)


Arjan Benning (http://www.arjanbenning.nl/)


Auto Ban (http://www.autobahn.nl/)


Handmade Font (http://www.handmadefont.com/)


Juan Camilo Rojas (http://www.camilorojas.net/)


Richard J Evans (http://www.richardjevans.com/)

Stop Motion Animation Workshop

In this workshop we were reqiured to create a 30 second animation using the iMotion software on iMac. I must admit, I wasn't really a big fan of animation, but attending this workshop has definitely opened a new door for me in the world of design!

As a group, we used a wooden manakin for our animation. Coming up with a storyline didn't take too long as everybody had great ideas straight away. To create the animation, we used a camera and moved the manakin ever so slightly and took a picture every time we did so. It is a long process, which is the only downfall, but watching the final outcome just gives you a buzz!
I didn't believe it would appear effective at all, but the final outcome was so unique, fun and creative that I was craving for more and eventually downloaded the iMotion software for my iPhone!

Here are some images from the workshop (unfortunatley the video file is too large to upload, but we're working on getting that up on the blog):

Book Binding Workshop

For a while now, I've been keen to learn and understand the process of book binding, then I suddenly got my chance! We had a workshop with David on how to create two types of books; a perfect bound book and a single section hard-cover book. The workshop was very practical and we used many traditional materials like card and needles.

I must admit, looking back at the two books, a perfect bound book is most definitely the easier to make. The only negative that still confuses me is the need to fold the pages on the side that will be turned by a reader. It seems useless as the inside of the fold will clearly not be used anyway, but then again, you would only have to print on the side that will be folded over so it may save money on printing costs.

Below are some images from the workshop:

Tord Boontje (HP Mini 110 Netbook)

I've just bought a HP 110 Mini Netbook for my Fiancee. There's some amazing artwork on the notebook by the newly appointed professor at the Royal College of Art, Tord Boontje, a world renowned designer from Holland (http://www.tordboontje.com/).

It's also the worlds first notebook with HP imprint 3D and the attention to detail is crazy (http://h20424.www2.hp.com/campaign/tordboontje/ap/en/index.html). There are 3 layers of floral design each on top of one another to create a beautiful and elegant 3D effect. It's hard to see the effect on a picture, to get the real feel you have to see it with the naked eye.

Here are some pics of the notebook:

African Beach Calligraphy

If you like sand, water and calligraphy then look no further!

Andrew Van Der Merwe is an artist who specialises in calligraphy and has 20 years experience in this subject. He carves huge letters in the sand using various instruments and leaves no footprints too! Most of the forms you'll see below draw inspiration from African writing systems.

He says: "Calligraphy is the hardest part of design. Any calligrapher worth his/her salt will understand this. Even wordless writing must have a logic, a system of movement, a poetry."

'City of Melobourne' Branding

Having just got briefed on the 'Raw Material' project by David, it seems like it's going to be a very interesting project indeed.

Since the project is a re-branding of the Raw Material logo, I thought I'd look up some recent examples of some brands that have caught everybody's attention. One that comes to mind is the Melbourne brand, which was given a $240,000 facelift and the result was a big 'M'.

It replaced the previous 'M' and 'leaf' symbol introduced in the early 1990s:

Cr Doyle said the old logo was "a bit daggy" and Melbourne needed a new design to reflect its cool sophistication on the world stage.

The Difference

'Ads of the world' is an online archive of the best and most interesting advertisements from across the world. Today I came across an advertisement on their site that uses four simple pictures to explain the difference between marketing, public relations, advertising, and branding.

The site is a great source of inspiration and is useful if you want to see what kinds of advertisements are successful in various different markets.

Click here for the site: http://adsoftheworld.com/

Portfolios on Demand!

Hi everybody! Hope you've all had a pleasant winters break and happy new year!

While i've been enjoying the beautiful arctic snowfall over the Tyne (not really!), I came across a selection of "at-a-click" resources for printing a professional portfolio. While we all know PDF portfolos are key for creatives seeking to maximise their reach, the print portfolio remains an important self promotional tool.



Here are the websites:

1. Lulu (http://www.lulu.com/)

Lulu is a self-publishing colossus with themed book templates where you can upload your own layouts for publishing. The prices seem reasonable too.

2. YoPhoto (http://www.yophoto.co.uk/)

In YoPhoto you can download their bok creation-software or elect to create bespoke books themselves.

3. Bob Books (http://www.bobboks.co.uk/)

Bob Books is a consumer service but with provision for design professionals. Creatives can design their own photobooks in conjunction with Adobe software like Photoshop and InDesign.

4. Diginate (http://www.diginate.com/)

Diginate is not exactly a photobook service, but it offers spot UV poster prints which would interest those keen to join the growing number of people placing portfolios on a folded poster. The prices seem a little hefty, but the prints are definetly worth it!