artdesignetc.com

So today I completed my first piece of freelance web design. I designed a website for friend and ex-colleague Octavia Winrow who is a great graphic designer but also does some brilliant paintings! You can view the website at www.artdesignetc.com

Trip to the printers

On my last day at Croudace the Graphic Designer was kind enough to arrange a trip with the print management company we used to both their print management office and design studio and then on to a printers.

The owner shows us how the plates are made for litho printing
The metal sheets are fed through this machine to imprint the design

One sheet is used for each colour of CMYK
The plates are then loaded into the printing machine..
Each section of the printer is for a different part of CMYK
The reverse of the plate is printed onto a roller and then onto the paper
Paper is cut to size
And loaded into the machine
Pots of ink
Machine to check accuracy of colours when printed
All pantone colours are made using these inks
And measured using these pantone scales
Machine cutting paper to size

There were stacks of paper and ink everywhere. The machines were so loud it was hard to think straight! There were also machines for folding booklets, creating multipage booklets with staples and digital printers. Amazing to see a real life printing press and helps to understand how to design for print when you see how the process works in real life!

This is where I have been hiding for the past 3 months..

So the reason I've not really been very active for the last 3 months is that I have been very busy working for Croudace Homes Group

Here is a quick look at some of the things I got up to whilst I was there..

When I started the Graphic Designer was just working on rebranding the company.. So i assisted with this and with other everyday tasks such as adverts, leaflets and brochures. Here are a few photos from the rebrand

The girls sporting the new company colours on launch day:
Playing with the new company branded Rubick's cubes:
The newly branded company mug I worked on:
The newly branded company keyring:
With the rebrand of the company came redesigning adverts, brochures, booklets.. Such as the published advert below:
And invitations to open weekends:
And brochures for new developments:

This doesn't show the half of what I got up to in my 3 months at Croudace, but just a little sample of the work I did while I was there. I had a brilliant 3 months, learnt loads and made some good friends a long the way!

I've been a little bit lost in the working world..

I'm currently working full time in a graphic design placement so I have not had much time to work on my own stuff, but over the last week or so i've managed to squeeze out a few bits and bobs..

i'm loving this pro-activeness i've discovered in myself!

yesterday, i saw a flower and it's shape inspired me, i took some photos and today, after working on my pdf portfolio for a few hours i decided to make motif based on the flower i saw yesterday. here is the first result of my experiment.. not sure what to do with it next..

i was clearly feeling very pro-active

Yesterday i was clearly feeling very pro-active as not only did i get quite a lot of the work i needed to do done but i also started a self initiated project making a repeat pattern.. some of my first attempts at the pattern can be seen below..

working on my portfolio

So i've started the long list of tasks my tutor set me to do to my portfolio, first on my list, turn a letterpress poster i made into a book jacket from a series about conflict and peace..

surface design exploration

Today i met with my tutor about fixing up my portfolio for my year out, she looked at the pattern i had used to make a wallpaper and suggested i tried applying this to plates etc and apply it to something to show use of the pattern in my portfolio. this is pretty much my dream job, so i took great pleasure in adding my pattern to a crockery set, i wish i could have this made up in real life!!
this is just a start, i can think of a million things i could apply this to!

so it appears to be world cup time again..

i am not a fan of football, but i believe "felines" is much better than "three lions" so here is my take on felines/ three lions on my shirt!

new website LIVE

So my new website is now live at rosiesimons.co.uk but my one last design decision, small i know, lies on the design of the background..

This page is currently live with the larger scale background..But there is also this background in a smaller scale..

logo, header?

So, as i prepare to apply for work placements for my year in industry, i decided i didn't like my website and wanted something simpler and easier to use with all my up to date work on so people can look me up when i apply for placements.. just in the first stages currently but hoping to get it done and live asap! Had to change the colours slightly to be "web colours" but slightly more subtle now..

defining the times..

Cover..
Contents..

Spread 1..
Spread 2..

Spread 3..Spread 4..

which one to choose..

i thought the photographic cover looked much better, but when i printed the covers out to do small test runs the graphic one was much stronger than i had thought and now i don't know which one i prefer! both need some touching up to finish them off though..

photos form a better approach?

completely new approach.. think maybe this fits better with the spreads I have designed..

jacket jacket jacket

getting there slowly..