Saturday, 25 April 2009
The Enemy - Music For The People Album Artwork
Renascent
Friday, 24 April 2009
LED Pong Table
"We've always said, the more Pong the better, so we're the last folks you'll find knocking Moritz Waldemeyer for upping the ante (quite literally) on the previous iterations. Utilizing a fancy Corian-based table, the savvy designer incorporated a series of "LEDs and touchpad sensors" into the otherwise plainly-styled piece of furniture in order to provide a fresh rendition of a heralded classic." (http://www.engadget.com/2006/11/23/moritz-waldemeyer-crafts-led-based-pong-roulette-tables/)
I was amazed when I found this, because 'Pong' is one of worlds most famous games, which never gets boring or old and can be played by anyone. It's great to see old games being re-made and capturing a whole new audience with the latest version. The concept of bringing something old back up to date can be used in design and especially in multimedia, you always see old films getting remade so to create a new animation or motion graphics piece using something from the past could be a great idea for a self directed project
Unusual Typography
Thursday, 23 April 2009
No Legacy Blog
LG Arena vs iphone
Deviant Art Account
Last week I decided to set up a deviant art account to gain some feedback from other students and designers around the world.
"DeviantART is an international online artist community. It was launched on August 7, 2000. DeviantART aims to provide a place for any artist to exhibit and discuss his or her works. As of June 2008 the site consists of over 7 million members and over 57.5 million submissions, and receives around 75,000 submissions per day." (www.deviantart.com)
As I am in the process of creating my final major project, I thought it would be a good idea to add my illustrations to the site to see what sort of response I would recieve as I had been working on them over easter with no feedback from anyone.
Although my illustrations have only been up for about a week, the response has been really encourageing with some postive feedback and people adding them as favourites, which I an delighted with. So far 9 people have added the illustrations as their favorite and I have recieved 4 comments, which say...
Angeline Jolie Illustration:
haitam posted a comment on Angelina Jolie: April 19, 2009, 12:06am
i like the style ,i'v tried it myself too but failed T_T
(fav)
DarkAngelFleck posted a comment on Angelina Jolie: April 18, 2009, 11:41pm
Another good piece, you did a good job at matching the faces. This is alot smoother than the others. Your joker is very exploding and aggressive, the rhianna is like a get wild. Very good work.
The Joker Illustration:
DarkAngelFleck posted a comment on The Joker: April 18, 2009, 11:39pm
I really like this alot. I love the splatter effect you have going on.
Rihanna Illustration:
DarkAngelFleck posted a comment on Rihanna: April 18, 2009, 11:37pm
Another excellent piece. I personally recommend you consider putting a background on it. Nothing too advanced. just like a fade on it with some corresponding colors. Just my opinion.
I was really pleased with the response and my confidence has grown alot since revieving this feedback. I think the idea of showing your work to designers from around the world is a great source to get your work seen at by many different designers. I also find the site as a good research tool as I find myself looking at the site on a regular basis. I will continue to add work to the site to gain some more feeback and advice.
http://aaronnicholas32.deviantart.com/
Free Pitching
Free Pitching
“Imagine a world where you head into work and put in a seven-hour day – heck, lets make it a twelve-hour day- trying to create some artwork or a design so freaking kick-ass that it’ll melt the brains of anyone checking it out. Now imagine not getting paid for it. Welcome to the world of the unpaid pitch.” (Jason Arber, Computer Arts Issue 153, Page 25)
I have chosen to produce my issue and practices debate on the theme of free pitching and discuss how it affects contemporary multimedia.
As a multimedia student, I am quite aware that the design industry is very competitive and you have to be at the cutting edge to go far within your chosen field of design. In the near future, I will at some point come across free pitching so to help prepare for when this happens I will gather a range of resources describing companies and designers views on this controversial topic.
On a recent London trip, I had a portfolio critique with Leigh Hibell from the design agency ‘De-Construct’. After I had shown him my work, I asked him what the companies procedure were regarding pitching. He explained that the company had lots of clients who continued to come back to them such as Adidas but also described how they would also do free pitching to other clients. Leigh was very generous and shown me an example of a pitch they had created, which involved a PowerPoint presentation with details about the company and a short show reel to show the client what they have produced in the past. The PowerPoint then moved onto to the idea behind the pitch and included in-depth storyboards and short rendered animations of their idea.
After viewing this pitch, I was quite shocked to be honest, as I never knew how much time and detail actually went into pitching an idea to a client. Leigh finished off by saying that their pitches do not always win but when they do he puts this down to the idea of the pitch and the amount of detail they go to with the storyboards and the short tests.
Not every design studio agrees with free pitching, such as Purple Penguin Design, who are another design studio who I had a portfolio critique with. I asked Rik Kirk, the director of the company what their situation was when coming to free pitching. He explained that their company are only made up of two people and if they were to do free pitching then they would loose out on money. He said he did not believe in the idea of free pitching as it takes up too much time, which results in not getting paid. Rik went onto say that Purple Penguin Design tend to use the same clients on a regular basis such as Polish Vodka company who they create the illustrations for their bottles and promotional items. Rik added that its mainly the bigger companies that go for the free pitching as they have a larger team of employees who can generate ideas quicker and spend a little time on it between them all, whilst still creating paid work.
After researching more into free pitching I came across a forum where a freelance designer feels he has a unique idea but it is actually too scared to pitch it to someone because he feels the idea will be stolen, “My problem is, I'm almost too afraid to pitch my idea to just anyone. My business model is what I consider to be innovative, but the implementation of it could be done by any good web developer.” (http://www.sitepoint.com/forums/showthread.php?threadid=571860)
After hearing a storey like this, I think something needs to be done and maybe a change in the law or some sort of copyright system being introduced for free pitching. As like this designer, he could show up to a company and pitch his idea for free, they would turn him down and employ someone else to create the idea for a lot less money.
After researching into free pitching I have come to a personal conclusion that it is well out of order. Designers can spend weeks generating ideas and developing these, yet come out with absolutely nothing. I have gathered a range of opinions on the topic to support my points and in the future I will try and avoid the topic as much as I can. I will sum up my point with a quote from Jason Alber from Computer Arts Magazine.
“Let’s make no bones about it, free pitching is morally wrong. It’s right up there with drowning puppies and setting badgers on old people. The only people who benefit are the clients who get this amazing brain dump of ideas at no cost to them”. (Jason Arber, Computer Arts Issue 153, Page 25)
Wednesday, 22 April 2009
Practitioners Report: Grant Gilbert & Tal Rosner
I am going to compare and contrast the processes and practices of two design practitioners who came into Stockport College and describe how they are defined by the external rigours of the industry they operate in. I have decided to talk about Grant Gilbert and Tal Rosner who were both guest lecturers earlier on in the academic year.
I have decided to talk about Grant Gilbert and Tal Rosner because I felt their design work related to my Multimedia degree course more than the other guest lecturers as the work that they have created are similar to briefs that we have had whilst on this course.
There are many similarities between Grant and Tal beginning with how they both studied a graphic design degree at University but found themselves developing into the motion graphics and moving image side of design. Another similarity is how they both thought they had found their dream jobs after graduating but the lack of creative freedom led them to becoming freelance designers.
Grant studied a graphic design course at Birmingham University before landing a job working with Planet 24, where he designed and created title sequences and TV identities. His work with Planet 24 led to what he thought was his dream job at a design agency in New York City called Attick. However Grant felt that his creative freedom was restricted and moved back to London to become a freelance designer.
Tal explained a similar story to Grant’s and explained that he studied a graphic design course at university before completing an MA degree course at Central Saint Martins and graduating in 2005. The success from his course landed Tal what he thought would be his dream job working in the heart of London with a post-production company. However, Tal explained he disliked the whole experience of having people tell him what he can and cannot do and wanted his own creative freedom. Tal decided to leave the company and also become a freelance designer.
I can see the problem that both of these designers had with the design companies and understand how they both wanted to have their own creative freedom. I think if I were put in a similar position in the next couple of years, I wouldn’t take such a big gamble on becoming a freelance designer, with the recent credit crunch it would be extremely hard to find work. I would probably stick with my existing employers but continue to look for work elsewhere and expand on my portfolio in my spare time to show other design agencies.
After becoming freelance designers, the success of both Grant and Tal has been immense to say the least with both the designers having worked for some impressive clients. However, their success stories have been formed in a completely different way with Tal working completely independently, whilst Grant works with a range of different design companies.
Tal explained that his final major project for university was an abstract film that he created in after effects called ‘Doppelganger’. The idea behind the film was to create an abstract film using strong synchronized audio and visuals, which is similar to what we created for our ‘Rhythm in the City’ brief last year. ‘Doppelganger’ was filmed out the front of train and edited in a kaleidoscope effect using repeated and over lapping footage. I thought the piece was stunning and each frame was thought about in much detail explained Tal.
After his time working with the post-production company and becoming a freelance designer, Tal was approached by two French pianists, who wanted him to create visuals for their music in a similar style to ‘Doppelganger’. He jumped at the chance to create a piece that he had complete control over but explained it was much harder to create than ‘Doppelganger’ because the music was completely different. Following the success from this, Tal was then asked to create a title sequence for an E4 drama called Skins. They wanted something similar to his previous work but with the characters from the drama included in the title sequence. Each episode had to have its own sequence because they were about a specific character each week and had to reflect the characters from the drama. I loved Tal’s response, which were various 30-second sequences that used live footage of the characters with overlapping abstract shapes and colours to what I think ties in with the spontaneous and the rebellious characters of the drama. On the whole, Tal worked independently throughout his projects, which is quite the opposite for Grant Gilbert.
After becoming a freelance designer, Grant decided to work under the name of Double G Studios as he felt that companies would prefer to work with a company name than a freelance designer. Whilst Tal Rosner has always gone by his name and never talked about working under a company name. I personally think that the portfolio and show reel should do the talking for you regardless whether you go by your name or a company name.
Grant worked on a few projects on his own including the branding for More 4 before being contacted by Red Bee Media to pitch for the BBC One rebrand. Pitching being another difference between Tal and Grant, as Tal explained his work has always come through past projects being seen, whilst Grant said he had to pitch for many of his jobs.
Working with Red Bee Media, Grant managed to win the BBC One rebrand but described the initial idea was abandoned but still managed to win the pitch if they came up with a new idea. Working closely with a team, Grant explained they came up with the idea of coming together using various objects within a circle. Grant described the job as being very difficult as there was not as much as freedom to the ident as More4 because the BBC is payed for by the taxpayers. After several months and working with lots of different teams of people, the final idents were shown and have been a huge success and are still being shown on TV now.
In conclusion I feel that I have compared and contrasted Tal Rosner and Grant Gilbert and described how they have both been defined by the external rigours of the industry they operate in, whilst also discussing how they could be applied to my own practise. I enjoyed both the lecturers a lot and since Grant Gilbert’s lecture, I have wanted to create my own channel ident and is the reason I am creating one for my final major project.
Shadowplay: Juno Title Sequence
Shadowplay Studio are multimedia design studio based in Los Angeles who work on a range of media such as motion graphics film titles, advertisements and promotional videos. Since they were formed in 2003 they have built up an impressive client base including Nestle, Safeway and the title sequence for the film Juno.
The title sequence for Juno was the reason I came across this company as I think the title sequence is amazing. It starts of as live footage of Juno walking down the street as it blends to a stop frame animation of the continued walk. What I admire about the title sequence is the unusual colour scheme and the hand drawn effect. The colour scheme uses lots of black and white with a selective colour palette of mainly light blues and yellows with Juno herself being in black and white with a red jacket on. The hand drawn effect animation looks to me as if some frames have been cut out which adds to unusual but effective title sequence. To finish the stunning sequence, the stop frame animation blends back into live footage as the film begins.
I would personally love to have a go at something like this, It would take alot of patience and skill to come up with something similar but it is definitely a technique I would love to use in the future.
Fine Maker
www.finemaker.pl
'Finemaker is the portfolio of Wojtek Szklarski, Polish Motion/Graphic Designer. Currently Finemaker is living in Dusseldorf and working as a Graphic Designer for Parasol Island Studio. Since 2002 Finemaker has worked as a web/motion designer for mixture of design studios in Poland and around the globe.' (www.finemaker.pl)
I came across Finemaker whilst researching into existing TV Idents for inspiration for my own ident. I think his work is fantastic and reminds me of some the illustrators that I have been looking at such as Brand Nu, Aeiko and Soemone but he uses motion graphics instead of still images.
The style that Finemaker uses isn't the style that I'm after for my final major project as I want my work to have a clean aesthetic using lots of white space with a hand drawn approach illustration for each celebrity. However I thought I would include it in my blog because it's great to see a moving image piece in a style of some of the illustators that I have been looking at. I would deffinatley use Finemaker again for reference and as an influence for any future jobs I could get in the near future.
The Other Stream
www.theotherstream.com
The Other Stream is the online portfolio of freelance designer Richard Roberts. Robert was born in the UK but now lives and works in the USA and although he is only 18, has had his work shown in Computer Arts and for the band Omega Code's published fan art book.
I came across Richards work from an issue of Computer Arts and was amazed by his unique style of illustrations. His illustrations are very abstract with lots of shapes, lines and colours involved and tends to use the a similar colour palette on each of his illustrations.
I think it can be an important part of getting your work recognized if you produce a similar style throughout your work. If I was to see another piece of his work on another website or magazine, I think his style would be easily recognizable. I am trying to build my own theme in my work starting with my final major project. I am using a style in my final major project now that I want to continue working with as I am satisfied with what I am producing and I have had some positive feedback from Purple Penguin Design, my tutors and on deviantart.com
Art Department
www.art-dept.com
Art Department are a New York company who were formed in 1995. The idea of the website is to showcase the work of some of the worlds best illustrators, photographers, make up artists and production companies amongst other subjects.
I have used the site for a number of years mainly to look for inspiration from the illustrators on there such as Miles Donovan who created the Rihanna print above. I thought I would put this on my blog to share the resources with my classmates although we are getting close to the end of the year, I hope it comes in handy in some way.
Tuesday, 21 April 2009
Purple Penguin Portfolio Critique
When I arrived at Purple Penguin, Rik greeted me and we discussed my course and what I have been creating over the last couple of years. I then started with the PowerPoint and shown him the existing logo and a few logo ideas that I have created. He said that he prefered the blocked out logo with the explanation on the right as it stands out clearly and is grammatically right rather than the explanation mark being on the left. He also explained that he would maybe change the colour of the background in the logo to red as this is E! Entertainment Televisions existing colour scheme and changing the colours would be quite a dramatic change and maybe unrecognizable to existing E! viewers. I agree with Rik completely on this and its great to have someone who designs logos for a living amongst other things saying he really liked the logo so far.
I continued the PowerPoint presentation and shown him the schedule list I have created so far. He said that he liked the transition as each program comes up but didn't think that the circles tied in with the channel logo that I had created and again said that he would change the colour of this to E! existing colour scheme. He said he would maybe use one of the shapes from my logo to show each program in. These schedule lists were only a test to see how I would fit live footage into a shape but I agree with his comments again and will explore and develop this idea.
I then moved on and shown him my ideas for my main ident. So far I have only created illustrations for each theme but he seemed to really like these and made several positive comments about them, which I was pleased to hear. I also shown him a little test of my masked illustrations I created in after effects and he seemed to like these too and asked me how I created them. He said the transition between the celebrities and the theme title should also have the same theme as the TV schedule. He said keeping a theme throughout gives a channel its own identity that would be easily recognized if it had a theme running throughout.
I finished the portfolio critique by showing him my Box channel ident I created last year which he seemed to like. He hasn't used 3D before but he liked the simple idea with the growing neon elements. I then lastly shown him my online portfolio, he said the white space worked well and emphasized the information on the screen which is important for the audience. I explained that I had gone of the layout of my website and was thinking about creating a new one, he advised me to use a website called wordpress.org that lets people create their own website using templates or creating their own template for free. This will be good for my final year show maybe if I'm running out of time to get a website online.
Rik's comments and advice was really helpful and educational and I will apply this changes as I continue to develop my final major project. I came out of the critique very happy and very confident that I will create a really good final piece. Rik said he will be happy for me to send over any work for his advice and would love to come to the end of year show. He also said that if a motion graphics piece came through to them would I be interested in doing some work on it, which I immediately answered yes! By going to Purple Penguin it has give me more confidence to work as hard as I can over the next few weeks to try and create the best work I possibly can.
After checking my emails when I got into college I received an email of Rik,
Hi Aaron,
Regards - Rik
Hi Rick,
Thanks alot for letting me visit the studio and giving me feedback on my work so far. You gave me some really useful advice for my final major project that I will definitely take on board on and make changes.
I think the final year show will be around the 5th of June the tutors told me but it lasts for a week so hopefully won't be while your away.
Thanks for the website link, I will have a go at creating one once this project is out the way and have it ready for the show. I shall also use the business card website too.
Just like to thank you again for letting me visit and I will email you if I need your advice on anything else, if not I will send my final piece over as soon as it's complete
Regards
Aaron