Summer 2011

I've been non-stop busy since the start of July and have to apologise big time for not keeping you updated about what's been going on.. and also apologise because this is going to be one hell of an update!

So I started the summer by receiving my results! FIRST CLASS HONOURS! chuffed :) Then I was off to London to exhibit at New Designers 2011! Being chosen for this by my university was excellent, and what I'd been working so hard towards all year long!

Here are a few pics:






I had lots of positive comments about my work which was really nice to hear, after staring at your work for so long it makes you a bit unsure whether it looks good to other people! I had quite a few conversations with industry people and emails from people who had picked up my business cards which was really great too! As I'm currently only looking for freelance work to do alongside my MA I replied to these companies letting them know, but hopefully when my MA is done these companies will be looking for me again :)

I had a great time in Camden for that week with people from my class and If you hadn't been there with me I wouldn't have got through what I did. Big special thanks to Rejane, Alice and Dan.

Next was my birthday, and then graduation! Jam packed month and that was just the first two weeks!

I'd post a photo of my graduation here, but I'm sure you're not too interested in that!

So.. graphic design time sheets have been pretty choc full too! I started with the design of Cwmbran Craft Fayre, a venture between me and my best friend and business partner Michaela Rossiter. Check out our Facebook page here for details: Cwmbran Craft Fayre

Here's my design for the colour poster:




This has been an ongoing design project as we've started promoting the fayre starting September 11th, our 10,000 flyers are arriving this week ready to flyer bomb Cwmbran, the internet has been bombarded with adverts and posters are appearing everywhere! In other craft news, we are appearing at every Craft stall event that we can get to! so far we've been to Chepstow Show, Caerwent Show and Caerleon. Next stop Rogerstone!

Here are some photos from Chepstow:








Another design job i've completed this month is a logo for Crystal Creations. Check out their Facebook page; Crystal Creations





I'm currently finishing my website project for a client, it will be finished by this Wednesday. The link for this website is, www.twileansolutions.co.uk I did not design the logo. Check back soon for the completed website!

Other projects I have on the go are logo designs for 'Adam and Eve' Crochet designs and 'Cut it out' paper art designs (my own project).

This update has been so incredibly brief, I need to set aside time every other day to update this, if I ever find five minutes!

In the meantime, I hope you're all well :)

Laura.

Jammie Dodger Adverts

So these are the adverts, finally released four days ago! It was so great to sit in the marketing presentation, big thanks to Burtons Foods. Also had a great discussion with the marketing director Mandy.

These adverts are great, and for anyone interested.. here's the youtube channel Dodger Monkeys they should be uploading the 'making of' video too I think, I'll let you know! It was really great seeing how they made it out in America :)

.laura

Jammie Dodger - Marketing Presentation

Last week I had a great opportunity to go into Burtons Food factory in my hometown to sit in for a presentation from the Marketing Director about the brand new advertising campaign hitting our TV screens at the start of May.

This advertising campaign comes due to the creation of Toffee and Choccie Dodgers, and a complete rebranding of the product. The design has really been brought into 2011 and is definitely a product that competes against the biggest in the biscuit market.

The presentation was really interesting, it was really great to hear all the branding information I learnt last year in university actually put into practice for a real company with real budgets.

Check out the article below, it explains the design considerations of the agency that handled the project.
Jammie Dodger Rebrand Article

There isn't anything online for the TV adverts yet, we were the first to see it! It has three monkey puppets tempting a mum to choose the dodger that they represent. It really connects with kids and parents which is what was set out in the brief, their market research was so thorough which is to be expected with such a massive budget on the line! I really think the adverts will be a success, can't wait to see it on the TV now :) I'll post the link as soon as it's on youtube!

.laura

books!

These are the majority of books and journals i've collected related to graphic design over the last four years :)

And here are some that I'd really love to add to the collection...

Nice to meet you too - Victionary


Naive: Modernism and Folklore in Contemporary Graphic Design


Impressive Printmaking


Invitation Only - Victionary


...just to name a few, I could go on forever. oh how I love books.. print will never die :)

.laura

viva

I had my viva (final presentation for the tutors) yesterday.. once again I was so nervous, for what turned out to be a perfectly normal chat about my work. It has to be said, they hype the vivas up so much, although if you have the work done then it's a breeze I guess you only really need to worry if you've not done a lot!


So for anyone interested, they told me if I stopped working now.. and handed all the projects i've done so far I would get a 2:1! Which I'm very chuffed about, however, I'm not the type of person to sit back and relax and think everythings gonna be fine. I'm determined to push my work to the limits so when I graduate I know I really put my all into it :)

I haven't had much of a 'student' social life over the past few months and I'd like to justify that with the grade I get when I leave!


Anywho enough of the personals, I just wanted to update everyone with some of the surface pattern brochure project i've been working on... here's one of the adverts that will be appearing in Elle magazine, Selvedge magazine and Craft magazine in the next month.



I'll post up the layout work asap :)

.laura

crochet hippo

My first (and probably last for a while) crochet hippo :)
I find crochet relaxing and quickly rewarding, I'm hoping to sell these and other designs asap

.laura

Self Branding

It could be said that creating your own logo as a designer would be a doddle! You design logos for different people/clients/businesses on a regular basis, as a designer it's quite often a basic skill...

HOWEVER, don't be fooled, designing for yourself is one of the hardest things i've done yet. How you want yourself to be perceived by others is very complex. The best way I found was to sit myself down with a pen and paper and write down what I felt I wanted to represent me visually... just as you would do with a client!

I already have my freelance name 'UnicornFeathers' but to apply for jobs I feel this would become confusing to prospective employers, are they employing an individual... or is this an established agency? So I stuck with my name 'laura adams', which to me seems very plain, there are sooo many girls with this name and not just in the UK. I created so many sketches and development work for my logo, literally a sketchbook full. Throughout this process I found I was trying much to hard to create something unique and AMAZING, when really.. my work should show my talents and my logo should be kept simple..

so here it is! after all that jibber jabber..



and here it is applied onto a business card... a possible layout :)



Let me know what you think!

.laura