May 2012
20 posts
9 tags
Negotiated Major Project
My NMP is finally finished and what a relief! It has been a long journey of experimenting with styles and playing around with hundreds of ideas! For my NMP I worked with two of my friends to establish a collective called Mutton Boon. Whilst the ethos and ideas for Mutton Boon have changed about a hundred times, one thing that has been constant throughout was to create designs and products that...
A Massive Thank You to Rockfield Media
I just wanted to say a massive thank you to everyone over at Rockfield Media. For nearly two years I have been on placement there, doing a day a week in term time and working a few extra days when it has been Easter and Summer. I feel really grateful for the opportunity they have provided me.
Rockfield Media are a full service advertising agency that works primarily with the motor industry....
Minimalism, You Used to Piss Me Off
Three years ago I had to do a presentation on a topic as part of my foundation course. I chose to do it on why minimalism in the art world really got on my nerves. At the time I couldn’t understand by a white canvas, or a box would be interesting or considered art. It didn’t have anything interesting to look at and I couldn’t justify why people would pay thousands for something so simple.
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YouTube Advertising
Just recently I have discovered the wonders of youtube playlists. It allows me to create music playlists and listen to music online legally (without having to pay for a subscription!). I have found though I get annoyed by the constant adverts for the crap music that plagues our charts these days. However, occasionally an advert will pop up that actually grabs my attention. Either one about a new...
Frameworks
Just recently I have been looking into frameworks for various aspects of coding. Frameworks take away the need to do all of the boring preliminary set up when coding a site, such as the same tags you need to include in all HTML files and resetting CSS styles. I have been using HTML5 Boilerplate for a while now, which has all of the files, site structure, CSS resets etc., done for you so that when...
LESS
When at Shape I was told about LESS and shown how to use it. LESS is a way to make coding CSS more efficient as it allows you to have variables and numerous features to streamline the code. I had heard about it but never really used it until at Shape. I now can’t imagine not using it as the time it saves is unbelievable. It takes away the need to repeat code which is absolutely brilliant.
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Instagram
I am new to Instagram as it has only just made it’s way to Android. However, straight away I have found it fun to use and very useful. The main thing I’ve found is it has made me photograph things more. I recently went down to London to a photography talk and to see some exhibitions in the Tate. I found myself photographing everything from the art to the architecture of the buildings around London...
Dribbble
A few months ago I was invited to Dribbble. Dribbble is a website which allows designers to post snapshots of their work in progress. The aim is that it encourages people to provide feedback on work and give criticism.
I have uploaded a few things to Dribbble and haven’t really found it useful in the sense of getting critique. However, I need to build up the number of followers first. I have...
ExpressionEngine
Whilst on placement at Shape, I was shown ExpressionEngine, a powerful content management system that can pretty much do anything you want it to. A content management system allows you to update the website without needing to go into the code or having to modify the design. Once set up, you or your clients can fill out a form and then your site is updated easily.
I have had experience with...
Places I'd Like to Work
Shape
I have been lucky enough to have had a placement at Shape so I already have an idea what it is like to work there. Web and digital are the main areas I want to work in after leaving university and Shape are a company known for creating beautiful work particularly for web. Whilst they are a young and small agency, I feel that has it’s benefits, working closer with team members and it also...
Shape Placement
I spent my Easter doing a full time placement at Shape in Atherton. Shape are primarily a web design agency but also do branding, print and other design. It was certainly a busy Easter with me doing in total about 8 projects in total. Some of which were:
Rest Beauty - I was asked to create 5 different types of logo for Rest Beauty, a new beauty salon opening up at media city.
Photography Icon - I...
What I've Been Up To
My blog has been seriously neglected for some time. There’s been a huge amount going on recently, mainly my final project (which is now finished!) and then placements and freelance work.
Freelance Opportunities
A lot has been happening in terms of freelance. The biggest has been arranging freelancing with the advertising firm I’ve spent the past two years on placement at. Once the final show is...
International Research Project
A few weeks ago I took part in an experiment that looked at the effects of technology on the way we think. The groups were split into two, one which had the aid of a computer, the other which didn’t. Both groups were set the same brief, which was to create the identity for a drink vending machine software company.
I was in the group that didn’t have access to a computer. It made things incredibly...
Salford Carnival
A few months ago Salford University hosted the Salford Carnival at Islington Mill. This event was a chance for students to get their portfolios reviewed by industry as well as attend talks by professionals.
The day was a huge success and I really enjoyed it. It was very beneficial as it was great practice for talking through your portfolio and the advice given was invaluable. The first person I...
Light It, Shoot It, Retouch It LIVE!
A few weeks ago I went down to london to go see Light It! Shoot It! Retouch It! by Scott Kelby, a chap who runs online training for photography and photoshop. Photography isn’t one of my strong points so I felt it was a great way to learn some new skills.
Among the things taught were how to set up lighting in shoots, how to photo retouch and how to properly cut out hair (which was very...
April 2012
6 posts
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March 2012
16 posts
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Freelancing
Since the start of third year, I have began trying to start up freelancing with the intent of building up a client base and getting frequent work by the time I graduate.
I have been really surprised by how well it is going. In the space of a few months I have been working on web designs for two Manchester based music nights/labels, a website and advert for a small car garage in Rochdale and I...
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Salford Type Foundry
timisherwood:
Next meeting is tomorrow, 12:30, soft pod. hoping to see Mel and Si’s progress with the website designs, as well as Paul’s and Kris’s logo variations. All welcome
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Swinton Lions - Freelance
I am currently working with Wayne Marsden (an ex-salford student who now Freelances) on a new project for Swinton Lions. It involves creating branding and then designing and developing a website.
Wayne will be primarily working on the branding and web design whilst I will be also involved in the web design but also coding the site and implementing it into a content management system.
I am really...
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Retrofuzz
One of the design agencies I did a portfolio surgery with at the DNA Carnival was Retrofuzz. Retrofuzz is a web design agency who work a lot with the music industry working with clients such as Lady Gaga, Noel Gallagher and Nero. I was particularly interested in seeing them at the Carnival as firstly their client list is unbelievable, but also because my portfolio was primarily web based so I...
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Shape Placement Taster Day
This Easter I will be doing a placement over at Shape, a design company who works primarily with web but also does print and photography. Web and digital are the main areas I want to work with after I graduate, so this placement is going to be fantastic to learn how a web agency works and learn lots of tips and techniques.
On the 15th of March, I popped into the studio for a taster day, to see...
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Rockfield Media Placement #9
Today (14/3/2012) I have been working on a few different interesting projects. The first was to finalise the acupuncture website I had been coding up. This involved checks to the HTML, CSS and ensuring it was accessible and search engine friendly.
I then spent the afternoon researching into e-commerce options for a potential new client who wants to sell jewellery online. After a few hours...
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It's Been a While
It’s been just over a month since I’ve updated my blog. This is because there’s been a huge amount going on, which I’m about to post about. Therefore, I warn and apologise for the large number of posts about to flood your screens
February 2012
49 posts
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MuttonBoon Seminar Feedback
Today we had to pitch our idea to a few students and our tutors. We had some really great feedback which we have already acted on. For the past few weeks we’ve been talking about what we’re going to do without actually doing anything, and due to how relaxed we are with things we’ve let the weeks go by without bringing these ideas to life.
We’ve now set ourselves a daily...
MuttonBoon Typography
Another slight change to the approach of MuttonBoon as the previous approach wasn’t working for us. The only difference now is we design what we want, in whatever way we want but work to our strengths and interests. Prior to this we wanted to make use of puns/wit etc but we all struggled with this. I tried to illustrate some ideas but I wasn’t happy with the outcomes.
What I will be...
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MuttonBoon: The Brief
Mutton Boon Brief
We are a small team of 3 people (known as Boons) that produce beautiful, hand printed/made artwork that we sell online through our website. The artwork is a reflection of our personal styles and interests but each piece must include a hand printed element to it or make use of special print finishes such as spot UV. Our work is exciting, original and shows off the beauty of...
