design. photo. illustrate : create

This is a self initiated investigation I carried out as my final major project.  I created a brief that looks into two women at twenty-one, divided by half a century.  For this project, I explored my grandmothers life at 21 and compared it to that of my own, in present times, with an aim to uncover the apparent differences such a timescale can have on young womens aspirations and life choices.  
Through exploring historical and social restraints from yesteryear, I wanted to understand and embrace the impact of change over time and the beauty of time past and present...

My route is this “double read” editorial piece, which consists of two books hardback bound, side-by-side, as one.
One is designed to the time and style of the 1950s and the parallel book to current design trends.  They will be formatted in such a way that the reader will have to read them simultaneously, in order to gain the full insight into these two contrasting lifestyles.  Bellow is a sample of how two books interact together.  These are the six opening spreads, out of thirty that complete the book.

Topman have an elite clothing range known as Topman Design and after doing a placement with them, I decided to rebrand them as one of my minor projects towards my final year work.  (see older posts for their current identity)

I came up with a new name, brand identity and also a promotional fashion show handout, in the form of a lookbook/zine, which contains various spreads which then fold out to an A2 poster.  The piece revolves around the theme of unraveling the story behind the clothing range and the season trend.  Clothing tags and promotional t-shirts were some other items also created.

Here are my business cards!  If you get one of these then you're special, I'm only doing 100 of them, becuase I'm screen printing them by hand and I only have a little press.
There are two versions, these ones are opaque white ink printed onto fluro stock - sorrieeee if you get my other "un-neon" version, they're not quite as fun...

This was a brief set by the RSA, to design a set of stamps suitable for young adults.
My route has a focus on childhood nostalgia.  Almost everyone is able to be nostalgic about their childhood, which they can then express through these stamps.
Each individual stamp has a different beginning statement, which the sender will complete and make their own, using the rub on letters provided in the pack.  Each stamp will be unique to the sender, and because of this, every stamp will be different, as everyones childhood experiences vary completely.  The design of the stamp is predominately typographic, however I devised a generic background image, that reflects the quality of memory that is recalled in the mind that is not quite complete, which is usually a little bit fuzzy or blurred.

Alongside these stamps, I created four postcards to inspire the sender, and also supplied the gold transfer lettering for customising the stamps, all presented in a little box.

Another typography project from my second year.  The brief set was called "the something diary" and with this we had to create a diary on any theme we wanted, with the focus being on typography.  
I chose to defeat the object of a diary and produced the "do nothing diary" with the aim to help people to remember to take time out to relax, instead of arranging more within their busy weeks, hence the black paper - no organising allowed!  
Each week had a chill-out tip and full page devoted to Sunday - the official day of rest.

This is an entry for a YCN compitition brief for FeelGood Drinks.
The brief asked that you spread "feelgoodness" and raise brand awareness.  “Spreading Feelgoodness should get people involved, it MUST be fun (if it isn’t it won’t catch on) and above all is should make people smile.”

I came up with the idea of taking a fun angle on the relationship between the shapes of fruit and the theme of feelgood.  I then focused these ideas down, and applied them to unusual but appropriately fun and engaging communication formats, with the intension to be spread...
Such as these little mini ads in the form of post-it notes, which would appear in magazines and newspapers - the reader would then use as they please - spreading "feelgoodness" in the process.

This was a little afternoon project I created as a response to a breif set by my University's marketing team, to design the Summer Shows poster for all art, design and media disciplins.  My thinking behind this one, was that almost all concepts behind art and design start with paper, whether it's brainstorming or sketching.
I created this still life set-up completely out of paper (apart from the frame) upon my wall and then photographed it in a theatrical and eyecatching style.  I quite enjoyed myself, it got me away from the mac for a little while!

I was selected by local design studio Empress who are based in Penryn, to design our University's student handbook, which gets given to every new fresher just before they arrive to Uni.  I worked with one other design from my year, and also a photographer and illustrator.
Together we took the design from concept to completion, whilst being over-looked by Empress.  For this design we decided to create a falmouth/penryn "alphabet" to use throughout the A-Z info section, by taking photographs of text around and about the university's local area.  We also decided to split the three terms into three colour ways and have an inter-changeable front cover pocket with three cover choices within the pack.

 www.empress-design.co.uk

Last summer i did three weeks work placement with Topman, working with on fashion graphics and illustrations for following seasons trends.  I also had the chance to go to one of their fashion events, where they showed their Topman Design line, which is one step up in price and quality from their Topman highstreet range.  I was not really that familiar with this Topman Design range, but was pleasantly surprised when I saw it, it's high fashion with an obvious designer feel.  however one thing I felt let this range down considerably was the branding for it.  So I went away and decided I would re-brand them as one of my minor projects from my final year.

Bellow shows their existing logo which I feel does not reflect the range at all.  I decided to re-name then London Topman (branded London TM) - which reflects the London feel and look of the range, by playing with the trademark mark and the word Topman.

I then went on to create a promotional "look book" to be given away at shows to perspective customers and industry buyers.  I will post this at a later date.  

This is where i'm spending a lot of time right now, geeking it up. 

Only 12 weeks left until the final hand in!