What is Graphic Design?

"aaaaa load of slosh!"
"designing graphics"

..I found this video on the CR blog and thought I'd steal it :)

Album cover image in process

Here's a sneaky peak at an album cover I'm making for a local DJ duo, Health&Safety. Using their 'brand' colours - red and blue I've given the album a seductive but sinister feel, reflecting their music.

  

Loving this music video for Flobots

Very slick design and concept.

Ad Land

I've been a bit of a book worm, researching for my final year dissertation on advertising. I've really enjoyed reading Ad Land by Mark Tungate. It's a great insight into how the advertising industry has evolved into what it is today and some of the main people involved. Great quote from 1960s Ad man Howard Gossage the relationship between advertisers and consumers:

"Advertising may seem like shooting fish in a barrel, but there is some evidence that the fish don't hold still as well as they used to, they are developing armour plate. They have control over what type of ammo you have, when the trigger gets pulled, and how fast your shot moves. Oh, and they're not all in the same barrel anymore'.

Developing the characters for 'Roadmannerz'

I've been designing the quirky character personalities for the Roadmannerz website. Here's how I came about the design for the Mumbai Traffic Cop:

After sketching out a rough version, I created the final character in Illustrator, exaggerating his glasses to give him his too cool for skool personality.

With the style decided, I found reference material to make sure the cop was recognizable.
I looked at several character styles. I favored the bizarre and distinctive style of the South Park cast.

Another inspiration was the simplistic style of the characters on The Cuban Brothers designed by Clusta

Visit to Interbrand, London

I visited global branding company, Interbrand today where I recieved helpful feedback and advice on the presentation of my print portfolio. I feel that branding and advertising is the direction I want to head in.