So I went back to York a couple of weeks ago to meet my hostel client again. It was time to make some big decisions, and in the end, it was extremely productive and rather fun. I’m not going to lie, I’m a sucker for decorating and I’ve never had the opportunity to really do it (after a life of living in rented, damp, mouldy, student type flats), so I was loving the fact I could peruse for blinds, radiators, and wall paints, and they were actually going to be bought and put in a room I was designing! I’ll not reveal too much about what we decided on for the room, but I’ll let you see what we’re working with.
You can see the paint samples I put on the wall! It’s nerdy, but I was so excited! It wasn’t just because of the decorating thing, but it’s just this whole project. I’ll suddenly remember that I’m working for a real client, who’s given me free reign to choose what I want and how to do it as I please. It’s pretty exhilarating.
And did I mention that she owns a bar and restaurant below the hostel? While she ran some errands, the staff gave me as much coffee as I could hold (lots), and made me the most glorious lunch. In all seriousness, I do admire her for everything she’s achieved and wanting to achieve. It’s a pretty gutsy move to let 5 or 6 youngsters hold the fate of your hard earned money, your home, your new business.
Since then I’ve been busy still trying to figure out how the hell I was going to supply the vinyl for my artwork. I got in touch with some people and been bartering time and money, and hopefully everything’s in place. It better be, because I’m heading back down tomorrow morning. Hopefully there will be walls and they should be painted. I’ll then spend a few hours getting my hands dirty. And I can not wait.
First of all..
Sketchblog is being put on hiatus. It has become clear to me now that trying to up an image every Thursday is going to be difficult. I was a bit naive in thinking I could carry on doing what I did, after 60+ hours of my week is taken up by my new job. And in all honesty, I haven’t really been making the time. In fact, I still don’t have a work desk and half my stuff is still packed away in boxes. Like I said though, there’s no excuses. Realistically, it could be another month or two before things resume to normal.
In other news.. I did take a trip down to York a couple of weeks ago. I had the opportunity to meet the client who owned the hostel, as well as the other designers involved in the project, who were very lovely indeed. We were given a tour of the building and also got to choose our rooms to decorate, which was great. Although some rooms only had three walls, the flooring had holes, and there was no ceiling, it was very exciting to stand in a space, which we, the designer, were basically given free reign. Since then I’ve been working on how to get my idea from screen to the walls, and I’m thinking I’ve got less than two weeks to get everything sorted and ready to be installed. I have every intention of being as involved as I can be in the process of making decisions and most definitely want to get my hands dirty, however as a heads up, I have some pre-commitments with work that may clash with the opening of the hostel, expected in late May. But already, I’ve selected colour samples for the walls and have a supplier in mind to reproduce the artwork for wall application, and I’ll be doing what I can to get involved first-hand in York because this project has awesome potential and I want to document the whole project. Expect a photographic post showing the before and after mayhem once the hostel has been opened to the public.
At least this all means it won’t be long before you hear from me again, eh!
Just an update; I’ve finally moved into my flat! I’ve also been mega busy settling into work, but I have booked off time to fly back home to pick up the rest of my things, printer included! Hopefully then I’ll get Sketchblog back up and running by mid-April, however I will have to reconsider the concept. Because I’m working full-time, much of my week will be focused on my job, which is not what my blog is about. I might just sketch anything or in the style of something that inspires me during the week.
I do have some design-related news. First up, my hostel concept got chosen! Here’s the catch-up if you missed out. I’ve been told to expect some follow-up instructions in the next month or so from the client on how to actually implement my idea, which is pretty exciting! I think I’ll also be given the opportunity to go down to York myself to oversee some of the work. I can not wait to see it being pieced together, it’s gunna be absolutely amazing!
Another awesome piece of news is that a couple of my illustrations were chosen by a consultancy company to use on their website, and as a result, I got paid an incentive. A small incentive, but an incentive nonetheless; My first paid job! I took this as an opportunity to design my very own invoice. I remember reading somewhere that the invoice is usually the last piece of contact the client receives, and generally not the kind that they enjoy. This stuck with me, so why not make it pretty to look at!
Using District Thin, grey and pink, I matched my invoice with the identity of my portfolio. Like the re-design of my portfolio, I enjoyed creating the layout for this too. I think I’ll have to conjure up some layout projects for myself in the near future.. Until then, I’ll try to keep up with posting. Although getting this job has been awesome and part of my new year’s resolve, design ignites a part of my mind and heart that no other can. So be it a little sketch, a project update, or even a creative book review, design will continue to be apart of me, and my new, working life in Newcastle.
Sorry for postponing Sketchblog, but seems that blog maintenance isn’t going to be as easy as I thought! For a start, I totally didn’t take into account how I was going to up my sketches without my trusty scanner, hm! So I figured the easiest way is to not make promises I can’t keep, so until I have moved into my own flat (with my scanner) and settled into my new job, which may take up to a month or so, I’ll try to post as much as I can. In the meantime, enjoy some of my last images of home.
Trying to battle a full-on viral attack, I’ve tried to concentrate on work and have been going back to basics in my design process. Since reading Logo Design Love by David Airey (really recommend this for learning about the logo design process), I’ve been very conscious about my approach to projects and as such, decided to ditch the 100% techno approach and pick up the pen again. I’ve noticed my increasing bad habit of going straight to screen when conceptualising, although this hasn’t, to my knowledge, marred the results as they have been generally well received, it’s a bad habit nonetheless. I’ve got an illustration project on the go at the minute and have applied this technique by mind-mapping and basically word associating before doodling, and even then I began sketching freely on paper to explore all possibilities before hitting the screen.
It felt a bit silly at first, but once I had a collection of keywords, several images immediately came to mind, as opposed to coming up with one or two ideas off the bat and running with them straight away. The process of elimination looks at as many possibilities as possible, and it’s this exploration that strengthens the eventual final concept. As well as trying to be more aware of the thought process behind the product, I’ve actually really enjoyed going back to pen and paper. I’ve always admired the clean, cut, boldness of vector images, but there’s just a charm that comes with using analogue instruments; The rough edges, uneven spacing, even the mistakes. What do you think?
So the next time you hear from me, it’ll be from the other side of the Irish Sea, which will be a first for my blog, I think! I haven’t got a flat sorted out yet, so I’ll be doing the gracious thing of squatting at Le Éléphant’s flat while he is away working. Ahh flat-hunting. It’ll be refreshing viewing places that don’t (I really hope they don’t) have mould on the curtains, slugs in the sink, ants in the drawers, and brown paisley carpet.
Have you been going analogue this week?
It’s not often I put up photographs, but during a drive around the countryside with my darling wife Miss Mizi (“My-zee”), I was given the rare opportunity of shooting with a D-SLR (courtesy of Winnie Shek). Not only this, but I discovered this beautiful location just a few miles out of my town. I had only ever heard of it, but never realised it was so close to home! Apparently it’s haunted by a ‘grey lady’. The creepy atmosphere was definitely felt driving down this spectacular stretch of country road at 5mph with some epic instrumental being played in the background (thanks, iPod shuffle!).
So the last three days I’ve been pretty under the weather, but there is still much to tell. Mizi’s visit has been the highlight of an otherwise shady week. It’s been a long time since Mizi’s been in Northern Ireland, mostly because she’s just spent 18 months in Japan! So it was very lovely to see her. While she was over, it was also Chinese New Year, a time of sugar loaded cake and red envelopes. I went out clubbing with family to celebrate, which turned out to be very messy, indeed! I shall think twice about ordering in quadruples to “beat the bar queue” next time.. What I thought was an unusually long hangover seems to actually be some sort of bug, so many pills and concoctions have been ingested! This is not boding well with a new logo project I have just undertaken, but I won’t let it dampen my scheduling spirits.
Last and not least, I’m moving back to Newcastle next Thursday. I could have announced it earlier, but I only found out a couple of days ago myself. I was meant to go to Manchester next week, but obviously this is of higher priority. Still means having to fly for the 5th time this month though (grumble). And I’m afraid that’s all the details I can reveal at this moment in time. Frustrating, I know!! But no doubt, exciting times lie ahead :)
Been on any adventures this week?
Click on the image to download.
I decided my portfolio was in need of a re-design, and the result is minimal and image-orientated – my favourite combo! Since freelancing on various projects, it’s been a while since I really sat down with my portfolio, so when I did I realised it was in need of a little Tender Loving Creativity. I removed the bounded header and footer so space was better utilised for images to make the work the focus and to give each piece room to breathe. To compliment the new minimal look, I exchanged Hit The Road for District Thin, and I swapped rich blacks for a muted grey. I really enjoyed the process of this re-design as layout design is not something I often get to do, but am really interested in. I’d love to know what you think of it.
Sparking off the portfolio re-design was the end of the Hostel concept project, which has been upped into the portfolio section. The concept has been submitted for approval with many other graduate designs. I heard that the client was considering concepts based on York primarily, which came to light when I had already submitted my concept in. But no matter, as I’m quite pleased with the end result and enjoyed going back to my roots of doodling characters.
Last and not least, Happy Chinese New Year and Valentine’s to one all. I wish everyone good health and prosperity in their lives. This is the year to overcome any self-doubt and really go for it, in anything and everything that you do. I’ll leave you with these soppy pictures of what I received from le Éléphant; the best Valentine’s card I’ve ever seen, and my first ever bouquet of flowers, a dozen red roses :)
Things have been pretty slow around here this month, but let me assure you there’s been all sorts of crazy going on behind the scenes. I’ve flew four times in two weeks, the first to chaperone my sister to a uni interview and the second for an interview for myself, and now I’m scheduled for another flight of the chaperoning variety later this month. That’s SIX flights in one month. I didn’t think I could fly any more than I already did when I was living in Newcastle! So that’s been a big part of why activity’s been jilted around here and subsequently, was the obvious subject choice for February’s first Sketchblog!!
As mentioned, last week I had an interview; All will be revealed, if there is a positive outcome, of course! I also spent some time putting on the finishing touches on the Hostel project. I vectorised my aquatic chums and played around with some patterns, and I was rather pleased with the result. So much so, I made it into a rather fetching desktop wallpaper! And into this week’s Sketchblog.
I’ve also been redesigning my CV and updating my portfolio, creating a fresh, new look for 2010, but that too will be revealed at a later date. Sunday, maybe?
So how has February begun for you?
Gosh, what I thought was one week of unexpected events is actually running into the next! I got an e-mail out of the blue a couple of days ago, which has resulted in me doing some travelling across the waters to attend a very important meeting this weekend. This means that unfortunately Sketchblog will be late again this week, so apologies, please bear with me. I’ll be back in the ‘office’ on Monday.
[Edit] Make that Thursday night!
Here it is, finally! January’s final Sketchblog Thursday entry. My goodness, what a crazy week. As you know, I spent the weekend polishing up my Hostel concept to send off, which is still awaiting feedback by the way. Things have been pretty slow at CP HQ since Christmas, though that’s not to say I have little else to be getting on with! From Tuesday to Thursday, I was in Newcastle with my little sis playing responsible chaperone. She had an interview for university so I did the noble thing and made sure she was well prepared prior to her interview day, before fattening her up at a sushi and noodle bar and taking her on a massive shopping spree (found my dream shoes, at last), then onwards to a gorgeous cocktails bar. Oh yes.
The big news of the week was Granpop moving into our home. He had fallen ill whilst he was living by himself in England, and now that he has recovered and out of hospital, he’s moved across the sea and in with us. My granpop is one hell of a dude, no messing, so I’m pretty happy that he’s here. It’s nearly been a week already that I’ve been temporarily lacking a bed/room/desk/all my crap, but no more! Come Tuesday, a brand new bed is arriving, with which we’re using to set up a permanent room for Granpop. As you can imagine, productivity has been pretty low being without a desk, so it’ll be nice to have the ‘office’ back.
While I was in Newcastle, I went to see ‘The Road’ with le Éléphant. Oh my days. It was rather.. intense, to say the least! I guess I wouldn’t recommend it much. It’s a bit heavy on the psychological trauma, without actually showing or explaining anything. I’d much rather tell urge EVERYONE to watch Zombieland instead.
How was your week?
