It was also featured as a favourite entry.
Read about the history of Tart Cards.
portfolio
#typetartsalford submission 12:10 PM
My submission for #typetartsalford exhibition taking place at the University of Salford, Media City on 16th-24th February, 2012.
It was also featured as a favourite entry.
Read about the history of Tart Cards.
It was also featured as a favourite entry.
Read about the history of Tart Cards.
Cheers! for Cool Type 4:31 AM
Logo for new dance, cheer & street group based in St. Helens, England:
Saints Elite
Custom typography work.
Saints Elite
Custom typography work.
Big Chip 2012 Re-design 6:19 AM
Following a triple win
at the 2011 Big Chip Awards, Ampersand Commerce – the leading UK Magento
ecommerce agency – was approached by Manchester Digital to re-design the Big
Chip website for the 2012 awards. The new designs were implemented by Bit
Fusion, the Manchester based software development house that manages the
back-end CMS for the Big Chip Awards website (http://www.bigchipawards.com).
The Big Chip Awards are the most significant
digital awards ceremony in the North West, providing an authoritative snapshot
of the highly competitive region's best digital agencies and freelancers.
In the co-operative
tradition of the creative and digital community in the North West, Manchester
Digital approached Ampersand Commerce to re-design the Big Chip Website for the
2012 Awards because of Ampersand Commerce’s triple win at the 2011 Big Chip
Awards for development of online furniture retailer, Made.com. With a deadline
that overlapped the Christmas retail rush and 10 years of content on the Big
Chip website to keep visually consistent, Ampersand had a challenge on its hands.
The final solution includes abundant white space, bold colours and multiple
typographic treatments for the several levels of headers needed to support the
website’s content. After design approval, Bit Fusion turned around the designs
in a little over a week and the new website was live well before the Christmas
deadline.
“I love the Ampersand
re-design. It’s given the site a fresh new look – stylish and uncluttered – and
it works beautifully with the existing content,” says Shaun Fensom of
Manchester Digital about the quality of work from Ampersand Commerce and Bit
Fusion.
“Ampersand is very
excited to have been asked to partner with Manchester Digital on this
re-design,” says Rachel Tonner, in-house graphic designer at Ampersand Commerce,
of the partnership. “Winning three Big Chip Awards last year was the beginning
of a very busy year for our agency and finishing off 2011 with a cooperative
project like this one seemed a fitting close to the year. It was a great
pleasure working with Manchester Digital and Bit Fusion and Ampersand looks
forward to what the 2012 Big Chip Awards will bring.”
Read more about all three companies.
Read more about all three companies.
Interview with Business Boom Bolton 7:02 AM
The Future of Ecommerce & Magento 11:25 AM
Video editing and design for The Future of Ecommerce & Magento event, part of Internet Week Europe 2011.
#Gastroclub - Branding 2:27 PM
I was approached by the very talented and organised @gastroclub_mcr (Katie Brunt) to brand The Gastroclub, our group of foodies and socialites who Katie brings together once a month to challenge a Manchester chef to challenge our palates.
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The logo took on many forms, as most logos do. But, there are a few times when more than the final are worth showing.
So, here it goes.
Concept #1:
The logo as table, with inter changeable 'toppers' to tease each months event.
Logo:
Twitter badge:
Gastroclub hardcore blogger badge:
And (...drumroll) the final chosen concept:
A simple, but brash representation of what we do as a group. Critique our food, have fun doing so and really get stuck in. I'm not kidding, a few months ago I had a knife in a pig's head.
Logo:
Twitter badge:
Gastroclub hardcore blogger badge:
Website update and informational brochures to come... Stay tuned.
Ampersand Commerce Website 10:45 AM
Web design for website of Magento ecommerce development agency, Ampersand, where I manage the internal branding and marketing, as well as graphic design for select ecommerce clients.
Also, clicking on the images below will bring you to it's live page.
Hand-bound Brochure 10:34 AM
Ampersand IT Win Three 2011 Big Chip Awards 11:47 AM
For Immediate Release: 17 June 2011
Leading UK Magento eCommerce development agency, Ampersand IT had a triple win at the prestigious 2011 Big Chip Awards in the 'Best E-Business Project,' ‘Tasty Website’ and the honourable ‘Anthony Wilson Original Modern’ categories for their development of Made.com - an online design-focused furniture retailer - at a ceremony Thursday night.
The Big Chip Awards are the most significant digital awards ceremony in the North West, providing an authoritative snapshot of the highly-competitive region's best digital agencies and freelancers.
Using open-source eCommerce platform Magento, Ampersand IT created a bespoke solution for Made.com that met all their business's requirements. In addition to paramount functions, such as secure payment processing, through the application of specialised integrations the Ampersand IT team were able to incorporate consumer-friendly modules such as a cash-back referral scheme; a custom checkout process; and a tracking system, to allow Made.com customers to monitor the progress of their goods from manufacture to delivery.
The Made.com website has processed tens of thousands of orders since its launch in March 2010, proving the platform's worth, and propelling Made.com's business into profitable growth. Made.com's operational team, up 30 from 6 pre-launch, now boast order books that equate to the delivery of one shipping container per day, and its operations are well-positioned to continue expansion.
The judges said of Ampersand IT’s development of Made.com:
”Back in the day when the web was supposed to solve everybody’s problems, a site like Made.com (which makes use of the Internet to cut out the middlemen) would be cherished. In today’s world of risk-averse scaleable solutions, Ampersand IT have used open source technology to deliver an incredibly usable and great-looking site, showing that free spirit and entrepreneurism do still exist.”
Welcoming all three awards on behalf of Ampersand IT, Managing Director Darryl Adie, stated:
“The whole Ampersand team is ecstatic to have gained such phenomenal recognition for Made.com at Big Chip 2011. Leaving the night with three awards, including the Tasty Website Award as chosen by the public, has more than exceeded our hopes. Our team prides itself in growing from a culture of excellence, delivering some of the most challenging projects in eCommerce. These awards not only recognise the hard work of the whole team, they inspire us to continue striving to build some of the most successful projects in eCommerce.”
Further Information
About Ampersand IT
Ampersand IT help Enterprise customers develop and improve their eCommerce operations using open-source software, specifically Magento. Based in Manchester's Northern Quarter, Ampersand IT is an innovative and successful agency that is a trusted source of Magento expertise for Enterprise businesses all over the world.
About Made.com
Made.com gives consumers access to great design at affordable prices by connecting them directly with furniture makers through the Made.com eCommerce store. By stripping out the middlemen and connecting customers with the furniture makers directly, Made.com offers designer products that are up to 80% cheaper than the high street.
Press Contact
Rachel Tonner
Marketing Manager, Ampersand IT
Direct: 0161 236 5504
New Business Contact
Darryl Adie
Managing Director, Ampersand IT
Direct: 0161 236 5504
Work in progress: Marathon Challenge 9:00 AM
Banner in progress for branding elements of a 20 marathon challenge 2 very brave men are taking on to benefit Cancer Research UK. More details to come.
Hand drawn type over photography.
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Hand drawn type over photography.
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April in New York 5:56 PM
Well, now an officially married woman, I wanted to share some of the design I created for the ceremony and reception.
Flyer for EXPOSURE 5:25 AM
Flyer design (Photo by Gina Mielke) for lovely photography/clothing/bric-a-brac store on the 3rd Floor of Afflecks Palace in Manchester. Run by Gina and Stef, this store sells limited edition photo prints on T-shirts and hoodies from local photographers, as well as (working!) vintage cameras and typewriters for very good prices. Check them out! www.exposure-manchester.co.uk
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Happy Holidays! 12:01 PM
Well, it's the first of December and it's snowing in Manchester. I can't remember the last time the holidays said "hello" as loud and clear as this year. Remember there is no better cure for the Christmas cold than hot chocolate! Happy holidays, all.
(Postcard designed by me)
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(Postcard designed by me)
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Future Artists Holiday Party 12:04 PM
(logo and flyers designed by rachel graham)
Join us for a holiday networking event for for those of you who work in the arts. Great networking opportunities, gallery of Future Artists members work (like mine!), speakers, and good music.
Future Artists is a place of diversity via creativity, created out of a need to deviate from the monoculture of the established arts, film and media scene.
All profits from this event will go towards the creation of our event on March 7th with Channel 4's 4Talent, Mofilm.com and BBC North. Get involved! See you on the 4th.
Date: 4th of December, 2010
Place: The Factory, 112-118 Princess Street, Manchester, 7:30pm
For tickets and more information, click here.
Featured work on Central Station 2:54 PM
I am very excited to say that today my work was featured today on Central Station, a online social network for creatives. Thank you!
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New Studio 4:06 PM
Sigh, just settled into our new place. Manchester is an amazing city. Loving the vibe, loving our apartment. Finally got down to some work today, painting a piece for my in-law's living room. Still in progress, but I'm finding the space I can work in now amazing.
7 hours, 14 Designers PART TWO: AGI Open 2010 5:47 PM
This is Part Two: Click here to see part one.
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Following Sarah Fanelli was Pentagram's Abbott Miller. Through his work he explained that process IS the project. With that thinking, he explained his theories about different kinds of projects and how he goes about them.
Here are a few highlights:
"A poster is a short story hit by a car." Meaning you have to portray a whole concept and or mood within one space. "A logo is a very small piece of architecture." One example if this process I adored was his branding work for MICA (Maryland Institute College of Art). Using the view out of the modern building onto the historic building, he created the logo (see below). It was the rhythmic lines of the main building’s facade that inspired the lines that separate the letters of the new logo, and the last slanted line references the slanted glass shape of the contemporary building. He had to reflect the unity of the old and new within one mark, and did it beautifully.
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| Image copyright MICA |
"Signage is type having sex with architecture." My personal favourite. He went on to explain the branding of the new Cooper Union building for the Advancement of Science & Art in New York. He based the logo off of an old stone sign from one of the other school buildings, which reminded him of Gridnik. He then worked with the architects to intigrate the logo into the building, outside as well as inside. See below.
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| Image copyright Pentagram |
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| Bottom of stairs in Lobby of building |
German studio, Cyan (founded by Daniela Haufe and Detlef Fiedler), was next up to discuss their process. They explained that unfortunately a lot of it does come down to leveling their clients expectations with the clients budget. In adorable broken English, the partners explained their projects over the last few years including posters for sound design festival Singuhr.
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| copyright Cyan |
They also have created a book about the life, process and work of Paul DeMarinis. Sometimes the project is about conveying someone else's process.
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| Copyright Cyan, Book available to purchase on Amazon (text in German), click here. |
Stefan Sagmeister took the stage next. He has just been in Bali on a year of rest and personal craft. He wonders, "what makes a happy designer?". He said that one of the things that would make him happy is to do more of the things that he likes to do and less of the things that he doesn't like to do. That makes perfect sense. It's okay to be a niche designer, it's ok to pick and choose. Just make sure you always like the end result, or why do it? Stefan Sagmeister is known for wild public spectacles and creative typographic beauty. Like his installation of Euro coins for experimentdesign in Amsterdam which was later removed by police.
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| Copyright designboom.com |
He also spoke on a similar point to Abbott Miller: logo as a small piece of architecture. He was asked to design the identity for the Casa da Musica building. Such an icon was the building itself, but Sagmeister was bored of all of these "architectural logos". So, he decided to come at it at several angles, literally. He also designed a color algorhythm that could take any photo and grab the colors to fill the logo. See examples below.
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| Casa da Musica building designed by Rem Koolhaas |
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| Final Casa da Musica Logos, from all angles of the building |
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| Example of color generator at work |
Lastly, Sagmeister encouraged everyone present to keep a diary. Not only is a diary a record of your life, but it "supports personal development". Process is life, and all of your experiences that have developed you.
Swiss designer Bruno Monguzzi is was the second to last speaker. "The HOW defines the WHAT," said Monguzzi. He told this lovely story from his mentor, Antonio Boggeri, head of Studio Boggeri in Milan. "For what other purpose is a spider's web but when it's beauty is broken by a fly." He said that statement follows him still to this day. He talked about how sometimes one has to disobey briefs, rules and trends. He feels that students today are too focused on fashionable typography, instead of substantial typography that holds weight with the reader. To make an active example, he went to the middle of the stage and yelled, "Maria!!!", like the call of an angry father. Then, he turned his back to the audience, and like one would do in middle school, put his hands around his back to look like he was making out with "Mmmmmmariia...." That was my favorite bit.
Last, but definitely not least, was Pantagram's Michael Bierut. An amazingly energetic presenter, he spoke of how his process consists of making mistakes and fixing them. He explained this through a project he did with schools in New York City's lower income areas. He was charged with the job of graphic designer for the new Libraries being built throughout New York for lower income schools. Each library was being built by different architects, but each had to have it's own unique yet uniform feel. After reading the brief, he came back to present what he thought were brilliant branding and marketing ideas. It turned out they were not at all what the client was looking for. He admitted to the audience that had not read the brief well, and he thought he would just get all designer-y and tell them what they needed. But, he realized, he forgot what it was that the children needed at the school. A place to read, relax and learn.
At his next proposal, this was his idea:
Perfect, a mark that could actually be placed in any typeface available in schools and still have a logo effect (i.e. L!BRARY). After branding the libraries, he had to make every building different and unique to each school. Using children who attended each school, he collaborated with several artists to make portraits (shown below) for the walls of each building. Click here to see the other L!BRARY designs.
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| Photo copyright Pentagram. |
The 11th of October, 2010 was an absolutely incredible day in Porto. I feel so lucky to have seen so many of my influences speak and to have been a part of the first AGI Open conference. Thank you to all who spoke and all who made it possible.
Back to Part One.
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