Ok, so maybe one more before Christmas!

You all secretly knew I'd be back on here, I can't seem to get enough of the place! Anyway, I thought I'd let you know that my CV and past three months worth of newsletters are now live and available to download at www.liannamaydesign.co.uk/downloads yay! I apologise for it taking quite a while but they're there now, call it an early Christmas pressie. Somehow I've had around 10 downloads of each file today so if you have been one of the lucky ten, please let me know what you reckon to them and if you have any constructive feedback to give me. I know they are rather simple but that is the look I am trying to aim for; bold, corporate and modern with the small twist of flashes of bright colours and quirky language which represents who I am as a person. Once again, I've been working on the pdf booklet today for our Online Promotions brief and with each page I do, I tend to add another to the minimum of 15. So far I have finished around 9 pages and you make think 'wow, nearly done'. No way. I've ended up with around 7 final outcomes due to the expansion of my online presence (website, blog, Twitter, forums, flickr, tumblr, cv download, newsletter download) so now I feel the need to create development pages for them all properly. At the moment, I'm estimating that I'll finish up with around 20 pages (including the reflective report, not including contents and cover) which is scaring me. Anyway, in order to get a bit of feedback, I thought I'd post a few of my completed pages on here for all to have a gander at. Once again, very simple and following formal grid structures. Finding it very hard to achieve high quality print screens which I might have to deal with again later (has anyone else been having this trouble?). Just hope they aren't seen as boring and given a bad grade!

Website Portfolio presentation page

Blog presentation page

Twitter presentation page

CV download presentation page

Newsletter download presentation page

Forum Participation presentation page

Others (Flickr and Tumblr) presentation page

Designer of the Week 9: Adrian Frutiger

I blame year one, semester two of University for my huge liking of this guy. As you may have seen from my online portfolio on my website (shameful plug, www.liannamaydesign.co.uk ), our first solo brief of university life led us down the route of promoting a font for its unique qualities. And that was when I fell for Frutiger...

Ever since, I haven't been able to stop using Frutiger in my work! As a type designer, Adrian also came up with the very popular Univers, OCR-B and Avenir; all very powerful and modern sans serif typefaces. Frutiger to me feels like a refreshing change from Helvetica and I love how I'm now identifying small variations between different fonts and typefaces (probably a good thing seeing as I'm embarking upon a History of Typography module after Christmas)! Anyway, I shall leave you with this very interesting link about Adrian Frutiger whilst I get on with my Christmas shopping; http://www.linotype.com/720/adrianfrutiger.html enjoy guys!

A potential change in direction?

Like a nugget, I was up until 5am this morning pondering over a new direction in branding 'me' as a designer. As you all know, I've run this blog and the corresponding website, Twitter and forums for a while now but I'm starting to feel they're a little boring, especially when it comes to presenting them in my fifteen page booklet. I uploaded a couple of snippets yesterday and got some lovely feedback via Facebook so I've decided to upload some better quality images for you guys to have a look at and let me know what you think. As a person, I'm really colourful and energetic and I'm starting to lean a little more towards my new design to represent and project this. However, the new design to me feels like I've seen it before. Anyway, enough of me rambling on and on, here are the images; let me know what you reckon!

Current website design, very plain and simple but I'm only really liking the homepage, the others seem really boring

Apologies for the poor screenshot, not created a particular layout here, just exampling a potential new logo and colour scheme? Can you read the logo?

Pondering...

I know, I know, I should be having a short break before getting back on the working bandwagon but I've ended up stressing over my online promotions project tonight (what can I say? I like to be extremely efficient haha). Anyways, I've been looking at some layouts and griding bits and bobs up for my 15 page booklet but feel I'm stuck between a rock and a hard place in making it interesting and innovating rather than a mundane 'I love Helvetica' graphic design piece. Also contemplating totally revamping my website with new logos and layouts and everything as I've got myself under the idea that currently, it is rather boring (although the new things I keep coming up with also seem a bit generic). Another issue I'm having it matching my design booklet to the website/logos etc. Do I have to do this you reckon? Is anyone else doing it? I feel like I should but when put together, I start not liking my website as it restricts booklet designs. I need to stop moaning haha! Anyone fancy dropping me a few comments/ideas/inspiration? Would be very much appreciated!

Kinda hard to see as there's no border. What do you reckon to the layout and logo? Boring? Argh!

Another example page from my current website design

A new little idea for a logo but I feel like I've seen it hundreds of times before and I don't really think it's me :/

www.liannamaydesign.co.uk

(there's a little link if you fancy popping over there, having a look and giving me a hand...please?)

In other news, I've decided if all else fails in the world of graphic design/teaching for me, I shall become a cook. I made a mean Christmas dinner today, amazing when I don't even eat veg and had to cook tonnes!

Ooo, whilst I remember, has anyone seen the new Andrex puppies advertisement (which has conveniently just come on TV as I typed that, creepy!)?



Is it just me who doesn't like the new CGI puppies?! Bring back the real, cute ones please Andrex!



Crit Tuesday 8...IT'S ALL OVER NOW!

Sorry for the delayed entry guys, had an evening of utter relaxation as I handed in my pasta work a day early. WOW, all over until 2011 now! I'm sure you'll all miss my crit entry blogs but they'll be back eventually and hey, you might even get the chance to crit some of my personal work over the next few Tuesdays in the Christmas period! In terms of the final crit, despite the morning class being cancelled and only less than ten people turning up, it still went ahead. The tutors said they wouldn't give any detrimental feedback as we had less than 24 hours to make changes and print/bind but it was painful! s with previous weeks, they loved my idea and the poster adshel designs but now they reckon that my magazine advert would have been bettered via the use of purely text and the same images as the adshels. Something which I'd avoided to prevent repetition. One thing I've learnt over this semester is how much tutors change their mind, with two of them really liking my magazine ideas of the past two/three weeks so I'm not letting it get to me, I handed the piece in anyway, o well! Funniest thing about yesterday? They've now all gone back to loving my brand name! Talk about changing your mind guys!

GOODBYE PASTA!

Would very much like to feel better but in the meantime...

...here are a few pictures is a picture of my final bits and bobs (seemed silly posting loads, you get the drift with one picture). Not exactly beautiful or exciting but fingers crossed for a good grade. For some reason, the morning group haven't got a crit tomorrow but our afternoon session has so hopefully the flu will have gone by then and people will be able to understand me! I've got everything finished now (apart from the online stuff what's in for next semester) so I should be able to stop panicking. Should being the key word...oops!

Messy? I know. Good grade? I hope. Fully filled two sketchbooks? Yep *gulp*

So it's Sunday 8...

Apologies for the lack of entries this past week; it hasn't been the best one in history to be honest. First there was the evacuation Tuesday night, faffing about sorting out my binding, 3rd year anniversary with my boyfriend (which was lovely but led you with no Friendly Friday) and then I've been (and still am) ill all weekend. Typical all this comes in time for hand in week. Luckily, I'm all done! I have been for quite a while but you know me by now, nothing like a little bit of wittling in between! Booklet for pasta is all finished and as I mentioned the other day, I managed another media piece. I'll post some photos of the booklet tomorrow in the pre-crit entry. My workbook is also finished, turns out I'd already finished it but thought there was more to do; silly moi! So today's task are burning and labelling CDs and the painful task of reducing file sizes. Then I'm free! Apart from a deadline on the 10th of January and an exam on the 18th but we deserve a break for a while (I'm sure all the other 2nd year G&CD guys will agree). Going to try and sort out some work experience, either in teaching of graphic design (or both) over Crimbo but I'll leave worrying about that till later. In the meantime, here's a little guy from the workbook that I had to work up on Illustrator, I've started to think of him as cute rather than creepy!

Designer of the Week 7: Lianna May Wragg

I know, I know, shameful plug here. I've been sat working on my pasta project all night (which I've finished but keeps wanting to crash on me as I make the file sizes smaller) so in the meantime, have a quick visit to my website, it's getting lonely!

www.liannamaydesign.co.uk

And also keep your eyes on it over the next few weeks. There are some big changes and updates in store as soon as pasta is out of the window! Some coming on here too...

Crit day tomorrow...if I'm not snowed in!

Wow, I don't know what it's like where you're reading this from but it's belting it down with snow here in Leeds! Great way to get into a Christmassy mood but bad times in terms of getting to the crit tomorrow. Which happens to kind of be the final crit as by next week's final crit we need to have already printed! Anyway, I'm not going to bombard you with posts and images for tomorrow, need to keep up that sense of mystery (plus I'd need to save loads of files as jpegs from pdfs and I've got more things to be doing than that haha).

As you know, I haven't really changed much since last week, just changed the font sizes slightly for each media and added better pack shots. Been messing around this evening putting things into situe (aint sure whether we definitely have to do this but I always enjoy this section the best) and I'm nearly done. Need to get cutting and sticking all the pages in my sketchbook but in the meantime, have a gander at a select few of my pieces and let me know what you reckon!

Magazine double page spread (with slightly larger text from last week's entry)

Magazine single page spread (double sided)

Magazine single page spread (double sided). Conveniently placed next to a pasta recipe in a woman's glossy magazine!

Adshel/poster design with slightly larger text

Poster in situe (not sure if I really like this one)

Gunna get a move on now, stick a few more in situe, get some cutting and sticking done and wrap up!

So it's Sunday 7...

As you guys have gathered, Friendly Friday isn't a weekly thing like my other blogs so apologies again for not entry on Friday. If anyone wants a recommendation on here, send me a message and we can talk it through!

Anyway, in other news, I've once again spent a nice weekend at home amongst all the snow in Sheffield. The marketing report was sent in on Thursday, I've almost completed the Illustrator workbook and my pasta adverts didn't need much changing. Yet still I've been sat working! I'm currently getting my second pasta brief booklet ready to be printed after the Tuesday crit (fingers crossed nothing much more needs changing after then) and placing my adverts in situe. Currently I have 8 different outcomes across 2 media channels so I'm a little worried as the outcomes aren't very different from on another and the 2 channels are a little boring. Should I try coming up with another media outcome? I've made all the adjustments proposed to my pieces and they do look a lot better with the font sizes a little larger so I'm feeling kind of happy about that! I would post them up today but I'll keep you in suspense and post them tomorrow in my pre-crit entry (haha)!

In the meantime, here's a little piece I found about a year ago whilst trawling the web for inspiration. It's not of any relevance to my current project but it gave me a little giggle as I was searching through my computer the other day:

Ahh the impact of a simple illustration, gotta love it!

Designer of the Week 6: Antoine et Manuel

Another blast back to my A Level results here!

Antoine + Manuel

I absolutely adored these guys at A Level and gained much inspiration from them during my project developments as their work is so varied and exciting. Not only do the use digital media but they have created many pieces combining mark making and digital manipulation to create one-off unique pieces.

Hand rendered piece. The messy look and unstructured text really work for this piece and the experimentation with paint shows that PCs/Macs aren't the best ways of producing spectacular graphic design pieces

Wallpaper design. Even though it's extremely busy, I think I'd still have this on my walls! Or maybe just a feature wall...

My favourite piece by Antoine + Manuel, this heavily inspired one of my projects at A Level where I completely renovated the Sheffield transportation system, using this as inspiration to create a new tram map

The stark contrast between the vivid colours and greyscale imagery here is very eye-catching and impressive, a combination which I may try out in future projects

Sorry for the shorter blog tonight guys but I hope these images and link sets you off to go explore the world of French graphic design. Marketing report is finished, handed in online and to be handed in tomorrow by another team member so I'm off out now to celebrate (by watching the new Harry Potter film haha)!

It's Monday, that can only mean one thing...

...Pre crit entry! Well, it hasn't half been a stressful week. I've come up with a new concept which I'm not 100% confident with but I reckon that's because I'm waiting for tutor approval (so I hope I get that tomorrow afternoon!). The marketing deadline is this Thursday so I've been very pre-occupied with that and I've only just really got round to knocking out some visuals for the crit. My sketchbook is also pretty lacking at the moment in comparison to my previous brief but after Thursday I'm 100% back on the pasta (and Illustrator but the less said on that, the better). Anyway, enough of me ranting and rambling about work, here are some of the visuals I've got ready to present tomorrow.

Concept: You don't have to dress to Impress. My brand of pasta is all you need to impress. Don't need to spend stupid amounts of money (reflecting the cheapness of the brand also even though it looks expensive). Slightly reminiscent of original packaging. Comparison of pasta shapes to items associated with dressing to impress. Plays around with male/female dressing up, slight idea of romance, dinner dates etc...

MAGAZINE SPREAD: BOW TIE/FARFALLE

MAGAZINE SPREAD: CUFFLINKS/PENNE

MAGAZINE SPREAD: NECKLACE/SPIRALI

MAGAZINE SPREAD: EARRINGS/FUSSILI

Feeling slightly ok about the magazine layouts, have a feeling the copy might be in question tomorrow but I went for a formal and clean layout to reflect the brand values and give the feeling of a jewellery/perfume advert etc. Thinking of placing these in women's and men's glossies (so the paper it is printed on also aids the look of the design), appealing to my target marketing and also attracting their attention (works nicely in terms of the male/female dinner date kind of feel.

ADSHELL: FARFALLE BOW TIE

ADSHELL: PENNE CUFFLINKS

ADSHELL: FUSSILI EARRINGS

ADSHELL: SPIRALI NECKLACE

Little unsure about these adshell ideas (placed in adshells at bus stops and on daily commute routes to attract my target market). Kept the same tagline and concept but limited the additional information given. Unsure on whether to include an image of the packaging again? Or would this be a little pointless? Rather than picking up on the comparisons, in these instances I've merged the images so the same idea is translated across yet in one image. Do you still understand the message and see it?

My only issue with these pieces is I don't want people to think low of them as they are rather simple but I wanted to get over a sophisticated and minimal look like the packaging. What do you guys reckon? Drop me a comment and let me know what you think! And fingers crossed for me for tomorrow, I can't bear changing my idea again and to be honest, it's growing on me a little...

So it's Sunday 6...

Sorry for the lack of Friday entry guys! Spent another weekend at home trying to wind down and looking at potential career moves with my Mum. Anyway, the week is here; our business report deadline! Eek! I think we're just about done, just need to compile things are write about them. Sadly, this has left me with very little time to work on my own pasta stuff, with limited development since the last time I posted about it (sorry guys!). Hopefully, I might have something to show you tomorrow in my pre-crit entry. In the meantime, have a quick look at a few of the designs I created on behalf of the group marketing report; fingers crossed for us for a nice grade!

Marks and Spencers advert to promote the new floor plan layout

Floor poster promotion in situe

University campaign to encourage clothing donations

University campaign to encourage small donations

Larger campaign duo poster

After the hand in on Thursday, I'll be back to my normal self and posting lots of pasta bits and bobs!

Designer of the Week 5: Flight of the Conchords

Well, in today's case it's going to be kind of a design of the week. I have spent ages searching for the artist's name and whether or not the pieces were done by an individual or various designers but anyway, today's showcase is on the art of Flight of the Conchords. In case you don't know Flight of the Conchords are a band from New Zealand, popular also for their HBO TV show. A little bit of a spoof/funny rock band, this is reflected very much so in the artwork for their series, albums and promotions. Recently, I've been falling back in love with the more hand-rendered look and the band certainly grab on to that style and run away with it.



As you can see, the band is really colourful and mad. For their recent tour, the due created a tour poster individual to each date. This piece is much more extravagant than the one I got in Manchester! 



A little different from the hand rendered look, I love the simplicity of this piece in contrast to the previous image. No corporate image seems to be kept by the band, with the sporadic nature of the designs and fluctuation in style itself becoming their corporate image

This piece, for FOTC's second album, once again uses sketches rather than pure digital artwork. Despite the sombre looks of the pair, you still can't help but laugh at the sight of a random duck on the artwork!

Above is the TV series cover for the second series of the programme. The use of the oversized heads became a trait for the series, featuring on the posters, DVDs and show titles

Their first official album on a major label once again plays around with the idea of chaotic imagery. Colours used are very vivid and I feel that everytime I look at this piece, I spot something new which I haven't seen before

Poster to coincide with TV series. Love the copy beneath and the reference. The simple lines drawings upon the baby blue background work great

Something all you designers out there will recognise, a brilliant parody of the infamous Milton Glaser piece. It's great how you can still recognise the pair even in this get-up!

There's nothing better than design that doesn't take itself too seriously and makes you laugh and crack a smile!

Crit Tuesday 5

Ahh feedback. Didn't shake as much today! Anyway, got a bit of feedback for my few ideas. Pasta filled adshell went down the pan which is a shame but to be honest, it was only really a pie in the sky idea. As I explained to the group, I didn't really have a strong concept yet and they really picked up on that. This week they LIKED the name! Amazing how they changed their minds. So now they want real emphasis on the name in order to create a concept (Make an Impression, Only takes a few minutes to make an Impression etc). Hence this very short blog entry. I am currently brainstorming a few ideas and trying to think of something new. Something similar was mentioned in the crit today and I'm potentially working on the idea of how you dress to impress, incorporating the pasta shapes into certain items (eg. earrings, bow tie etc) with some sort of tagline that you don't need these items to make the best Impression. All very wish washy at the moment so I'm going to run off now and work on it.

(UPDATE: here's a quick mock up of the little idea, let me know what you reckon)

Does it look like an earring vaguely? Reminiscent of my packaging in terms of size and placement? More info and text to be added obviously

In other quick news, I've also been looking more into my options after university. As you all kind of know, I have been looking into the MA course in Advertising and Design at Leeds University but recently I've been wanting to look more into teaching and maybe art therapy. Shall keep you all updated on how this little research experiment goes. And actually, whilst I'm at it, I'd like to thank all the regular viewers of my blog, I've cranked up well over 1000 views in the month since I opened it and amazingly I've attracted a regular flow of viewers from America so hi guys!

Am I the only person who seems to prefer PCs to Macs?

Probably because of how long I've used them for in comparison to Macs (well over a decade in comparison to just over a year) but I still can't get used to them. Spent half of my class today with my little finger searching for Ctrl. The class in which we got our workbook! Seems like my kind of thing, 23 illustrations what we've got to work up on, well, Illustrator. Didn't get far in class but I've been having a little go at them since I've been home, I can't believe we have three weeks to do them for half of our grade, seems rather nice of Leeds Uni! On another note, it's pasta crit time tomorrow...DUH DUH DUHHH!

Spent the past week just coming up with some ideas for campaigns and the media which I could use to portray the campaigns etc. Had a few ideas but seem to have stuck on one, rather simple idea (which I am hoping is approved tomorrow as it would make my life lovely). Running with the unique windows of my brand as the selling point, using them across the potential campaign to create a strong recognition of the packaging and design when seen in store. Literally thinking black background, gold/pasta filled windows on. Potential tagline of 'What's your Impression?' or something along those lines (trying to include the audience and asking them which shape of the range is their favourite; I'm thinking this line is gunna need a lot of work). Very minimal, much like my lil' cylinders and I'm scared the tutors may think 'oh, what a cop out' but simple sells right? In terms of media, the simplicity of the design makes it easy for my to create adshells, billboard, an animation (for tv or web), website, promotional carrier bags and a magazine campaign. We're only meant to be doing two media but I may end up doing more to make up for the simple look. Maybe. Anyway, one of the ideas was to create a structure within an adshell which could actually hold pasta, recreating the packaging itself and creating that bit more interest. May be hard to create this across other areas of the campaign though. Anyway, here are a few sketches and pages from my sketchbook with my other ideas too (none seem quite as strong/desirable as my main idea so fingers crossed for me tomorrow guys):

Initial brainstorm

One of my messy sketch pages

Another messy page of my brain exploding

Neater ideas

Few more ideas including a concept of people not impressing as they haven't used Impression. Not the strongest of ideas...

You can kinda see what I mean with the bold and simple thing. Few ideas for outcomes

Few more media ideas

Bold and effective? Or a bit too simple? Let me know what you think, remember, it's got to reflect my brand and its values!