Photography Session

Professional Photography //

As part of my self branding project, I produced a small box for my cup cake idea. The only problem I came across with this part of the process was that as it was a late design decision, I didn't have time to get a slot in the digital print room. This would have allowed me to print information about myself onto the box.

To overcome this, I had the idea to take really high quality photographs of the box using a lighting kit and good camera so that I could mock up what it would have looked like on photoshop.

The set up consisted of two warm lights on each side of the canvas pointing to the centre. The canvas was a thick white sheet hung from the ceiling and rolled out down to the floor. This gave for a completely blank background with strong lighting coming from two angles. It also gives the effect as though the object is floating in nothingness apart from the shadows created. This environment makes for a perfect setting for photography.

Some of the photos produced are shown below...

The Mock-up...

Cupcake Toppers and Box - Self Branding

Cupcakes & Toppers //

I’ve been in contact with a couple of Graphic Design studios in London. One of the studios has been in touch and has offered me a number of weeks experience in the summer. Even though they have already offered me work, I took this opportunity to be creative in ways in which I could promote myself as a designer wanting to work in their studio..

To do this I first explored their website to find out more about the studio and the members of the team. I found out a wide range of unique information about them, one aspect of their team that I thought to use to my advantage was the fact that they enjoy regular bake-offs at the office...

This gave me the idea to produce something cake related and send it to their office. This would include my details including my Bēhance URL. The cakes would act as a sort of self promotion as well as being a tasty treat for everyone working there.

I got in contact with a company that offers personalised cupcake toppers. I sent them two colour ways of my logo and information. 

The edible ink is printed onto rice paper. The colour isn’t exactly what I was after but I am glad that the smaller text is still legible on such a small scale.

I have then applied these toppers to shop bought cupcakes. I have photographed them professionally so that I can upload them onto my Bēhance page for people to see.

As the intended recipient is a studio in London, I will be delivering the cupcakes personally when I return home over Easter. However, this still requires the production of some sort of box in which to put the cakes in to. 

This gave me an opportunity to provide more information about myself on various faces of the box. 

I first created and printed some nets for various sized boxes. I made one that fits only one cupcake, and one that would fit two.

The maquettes are pictured bellow...

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

For the box I have used a thick brown stock at 280 GSM. This means the box is stiff and strong enough to hold it’s shape and protect what is inside. I decided to use brown stock as professional cake boxes you see today are usually of the same material and I wanted to give my own work a similarly professional look and feel.

As the design decision to produce a cup cake box came very late into the process, I was unable to get a slot in the digital print room. This would have allowed me to print information onto the net of the box. 

However, I have used photoshop to mock up what I would have printed onto the box. This info includes contact details for the recipient if they were to want to get in contact with me.

Design Strategy Presentation

Presentation Idea Research //

creative ideas to make a presentation engaging and different from the rest.

1. Use your audience

- literally use them in my presentation

- don't as rhetorical questions, ask actual ones and wait for a real answer

2. Don't fear the funny

- there are plenty of ways to add humour that takes some of the pressure off of me

- sometimes even a long pause is enough to make them laugh

3. Incorporate videos, memes etc

4. Take the time to brainstorm

- all out-of-the-box ideas

- make a list

- Watching Mileha Soneji talk about life with Parkinson, she begins with a story of her family and her childhood which then leads on to the topic of Parkinson.

- One way of connecting with the audience is on an emotional level. Telling a life story will get people emotionally invested in what you are saying.

- Ivan Coyote speaks about something very close and personal to him.

- This immediately gets the audience attached and fond of the speaker and so the pressure is immediately reduced and the speaker can relax

- I could use this by saying something I wouldn't usually say in front of people.

- Sean Follmer uses videos on the big screen to visualise what he's talking about whilst he is talking about it

- I could have a show reel of all my best bits of work and inspirational designers playing whilst I talk so that the pressure off of me as well as showing them what I am talking about

- For my presentation I will be showing examples of my work, both successful and unsuccessful 

- This will give my presentation a bit of depth and will allow me to show some mistakes I've made along the way.

- I will try an implement a bit of humour to engage with the audience but it is not my main focus

- I will be focusing on making my presentation fluid and cohesive. I hope to use my confidence and social side to the best of my ability and make the audience feel as comfortable as possible.

- I'll be using minimal slides and text and do most of the talking from notes

I am using a square canvas for all of my slides and will use a 6 column grid. This will help the presentation look slick and professional whilst also communicating my eye for detail and being a neat person.

I've also scoured the web for interesting and creative ways for laying out my presentation. The layout is a very important element as it is the only visual aid the audience will have when I'm speaking so what is up on the projector must successfully communicate exactly what I'm saying in order for people to understand and stay interested.

I want to keep my slides incredibly simple so that the audience isn't too over whelmed with visual aid and so it doesn't appear cluttered or messy. 

I am going to use the soft blue colour that I often use in my presentation. My 'B' will feature on every slide as a brand or logo.

Self Evaluation

The presentation went extremely well form my point of view. I have to admit I was a little nervous before stepping up to present. I had thoroughly learnt the structure and content of my presentation so that I felt a lot more confident on the day. 

The more prepared you are, the easier it becomes.

I ended up talking for a lot longer than I set out to, 3 and a half minutes longer to be exact. This is because towards the beginning, as I started to see heads nodding and people smiling, I began to relax a bit more and so I started to expand on all my points. 

I will probably be marked down for going on for too long, but I am glad that I lasted the whole 7 minutes.

The comments I received about my presentation were mainly concerning my confidence and ability to voice my own opinion.

In my presentation, I spoke about the fact that one thing I've learnt about myself this year is that I am currently suited to a directors roll for a number of reasons.

My audience picked up on this more than anything and they were concerned that I need to listen to others more before voicing my own ideas. I do agree with this to a certain extent however I am not overly out spoken and I do always make sure I let others speak and have just as much of a say as myself.

This was the only feedback I received which I have taken as a positive. 

In all I'm happy with how it went and look forward to seeing my feedback in full and work on improving it.

Self Branding - Cupcakes

Cupcake self-branding //

In the summer of 2016, I will be looking to do a placement at a Graphic Design firm in London called Kino Design. 

So that I can guarantee a job there this summer, I visited their website to learn more about there company in order to win them over. One thing they mention on there is the fact that they love a good bake off. 

This gave me the idea to send them cupcakes with my details on them. 

Keeping the cupcake toppers simple and straight forward, I have included my name, Bēhance URL and course title. The colour Ive chosen is one of my favourite and is a colour that I will use as an identity. The colour is a soft bluey purple; Pantone 7452 C.

To make sure the cupcakes reach the office in one piece, I am designing a cardboard box to encase them. The box will include some more information about myself.

Self Branding - Logo Design

Personal Logo Design //

As part of studio brief 02, I have decided to look into designing a personal logo that I could use to promote myself both as a designer and person in general. 

To begin designing a logo, I first had to decide what I wanted to communicate about myself and my design practice.

I've narrowed it down to 3 aspects; Aspiring Graphic Designer, Skier and Drafter 


Graphic Designer

I have only recently entered the world of Graphic Design and am therefor still finding my feet in the discipline. I am unsure as to what area of design interests me most and so I aim to explore as many possible avenues to get a good feel of the spectrum of work within design.

However, up until now, my main interests have been in publication design and typography. because of this I have started off my logo design process using type only...

As my initials read 'BB', I thought that this might be a good place to start. I have selected a few typefaces that I like and that I think would work well as the primary stage in my logo development. Helvetica is my favourite typeface of them all, it's clean and simple and reads well both in body text and headings. 

I have experimented with reflecting the letter B onto itself which has created an interesting shape that I will bring forward.

As I have included drafting as one of my prominent skills and interests, I have further experimenting by hand using hand-rendered type. 

The next step was to make the letters come together and look more like a logo. To do this, I've experimented with frames and negative space. The reason for choosing a triangular frame for some of the experiments is because I want to start introducing one of the other aspects I wish to communicate through the logo; Skiing. 

Skiing and just generally being in the mountains has always been a huge passion of mine and has played a huge roll up until now. This is why I will include it in my self promoting as it is a big part of me as a person. I also try and combine this passion of mine with studio briefs as much as I can.

I have then played around further and produced the logos above. They are very much more geometric than the first. I've taken the negative space from the BB and skewed and rotated them. 

One idea that came to me after I produced these is to use these four squares as frames. For example, the four frames could be filled with images of myself as a person or designer to promote my skills and interests within my logo design...

Following on from the logo development, I noticed that when I tilted the two BBs on their side, a shape similar to a mountain range formed. This game me the idea to take this further and see how I could develop it.

I've tilted the four negative spaces 45 degrees to the right which has created an image of 4 squares sitting on one corner. I then noticed from this that it looks like a mountain range reflected onto water; I added a thin line to show this. I then removed the square on the far right as I thought that the logo was too wide. I also thought that even with removing a square, it was still obviously two capital Bs meeting in the middle.

I took some inspiration from the logos I found above. I looked into logos that use mountains as well as ones that use a similarly simplistic style to my experiments. The top right logo is my favourite out of the lot and is the one that influenced my development the most. 

I worked on the logo a bit more and came up with some new and interesting shapes, however I think that I am happy with where the logo is at and have decided to keep the tilted BB shape.

One criticism of the logo from my peers is that it is not obviously my initials at first glance and only becomes obvious when it is explained. This is a major set back as the BB element is the one that is the most important. At the moment, the logo looks more like a mountaineering or ski company as apposed to a personal logo. I started experimenting with different shaped b's to see if I could come up with a similar logo but that is more obviously my initials.

Above I have illustrated my development from the initial BB idea through to the mountains logo. I've then added a colour which suits the skiing and mountain aspects of the logo design and is also a colour that I like to use in other work. 

Above is the idea of filling each square with an interest or skill of mine. This could be translated over a number of different projects, uses, briefs etc.