Self Branding // Board

Self Branding // Furthering the Range

After researching and looking into companies personal branding and seeing that they had photographs of their branding applied to lots of stationery, I thought that I would apply mine to a tote bag, which is just a little bit more exciting than stationery.

Crowded Clothing Competition

Just seen this competition which I definitely plan on entering, so I can carry on being creative and carry on with a good work ethnic into summer.  The deadline is the 13th of June which means that gives me time after the submission to work on it :D

I intend to do the festival one - perfect for me and my interests and future goals!

Spring Fling // Hometown // Dumfries & Galloway // Open Artists Studio's Event

The Spring Fling is a Visual Art & Craft open studio event held in dumfries and galloway, Scotland (my home) each year.  The event see's approximately 90 artists studio's open for visitors and this year there are some really exciting projects going on.  Collaborations between artists and muralists cropping up in rural places on old buildings makes for a really interesting scene.

I am looking forward to heading home to get involved in the Spring Fling after submission and visiting some of the artists, crafters and makers studio's.  This is really relevant to my practice as I love craft and would like to try and pursue a career which is craft and illustration based.

A video from the website about the collaboration murals.  It is so exciting to see something like this back home and to see that contemporary art & craft has a place in the countryside as well as the cities.

Spring Fling Rural Mural #SFRM Film from Spring Fling on Vimeo.

Personal Branding // Initial Creative CV

Personal Branding // Online Presence

Above is a mock up of how I would like my website to eventually look.  This is something I intend to concentrate on over the summer.  

I already have my tumblr account up and running and from people seeing this I was then asked to design the Unity Sessions Logo.  I try to keep it updated as much as possible, here is the link...

http://nikkisillustrations.tumblr.com/ 

PPP // Self Branding Photo Shoot

Very happy with these photo's after using flash photography for the first time in the photography studio's.  Lighting makes such a difference.

Studios to Contact // Visit

Initially I was just looking at creative studios within Leeds but could not really find anything that suited what I want to do and the kind of designer I wish to be.  I have started looking further a field to manchester to see what studios there are there and intend to contact them soon.

 Hunting Town Design 

'A Manchester based Design House where people Print, Doodle, Brand, Code & drink Tea.' which is pretty much what I do, bar coding.

I really like the work they produce, especially the illustration as you can see below.  This is a studio that I would like to visit to see how things work and ask them questions about things like: 

• what sort of clients do you get providing illustration briefs?
• any suggestions for my portfolio if I wish to pursue a more illustration based career

 http://www.huntingtowndesign.com/

I love Dust on the South Coast of England

http://ilovedust.com/

I am very fond of the type of work this studio produces.

Self Branding // Elephants Never Forget Concept

Pushing the concept of the elephant illustration more which I used for my self branding business cards, I thought it would be a good idea to laser cut some little elephants to go along with the branding, which will look good in the photography but I also plan on using them as keyrings to give out.

With the idea that 'Elephants never forget' and a little keyring to keep hold of which is so much less disposable than a little business card, I hope that people will remember me more, e.g. clients, studio's, people from interviews.

Volunteer // Scrap // Sunny Bank Mills

After visiting Scrap a couple of times with Emily we both absolutely fell in love with the place, the building it is now in, the art supplies and the people were lovely.  Other than helping out with the scrap facility I would really love to get involved in the work they do there with children, e.g. workshops surrounding sustainability and recycling through being creative.  Doing volunteer work here will really help me in the future get to work with children and also hopefully get me some more contacts within the world of creativity!

I have asked the organisers of Scrap if I can do some volunteer work and they have said yes definitely as they will need lots of help but they have told me to go back at the beginning of summer when I have finished my degree and they are more organised (as they have recently moved locations).

DIY Crafts // Tutorial with Brian // Change in Direction

After our tutorial with Brian Emily and I now see our project in a new light.  We came to realise that we didn't really want to create a step by step manual because it is quite limiting to the overall design, as we had planned to have lots of 'how to's' with step by step photography.

We have now changed our idea slightly, but we will still be able to use the crafts and some of the photography we have so far.  Our deliverables will now be a series of zines.

East Street Arts // 6 Weeks Residency for Graduates from LCA

East St Arts, Patricks Studio (the ones which I visited in November) are offering a 6 week residency opportunity to develop their practice in a professional environment.  I really liked the atmosphere at these studio's and am considering applying for this opportunity.

The Glastonbury Project // Submission

When I saw the call for submissions for the Glastonbury project, I jumped straight on it.  I took my original drawing of the tipi and painted it with watercolours to get the fun festival vibes going a bit more.  Katherine was happy to receive my submission and I'm happy to be a part of a festival zine.  Can't wait to see the final outcome!

Business Card Printing

So I've been looking at a few different printer companies who print personalised business cards and have came across MOO again, http://uk.moo.com/about/printfinity.html.  I remember getting a sample pack from them last year and could immediately see that it was good quality. 

The option of using sustainable 100% recycled and recyclable stock is convincing me to perhaps choose them to print my cards with.  Sustainability is important to me and I really want to start introducing it more into my work, and become more informed about how I can actually do this.

Also in a batch of cards you can have different designs - which is great for me because I am considering featuring a couple of different illustrations on the cards.  This also means I can pick out the card I think most appropriate for the viewer :).

Self Branding // Illustration Idea's // Development

I have began with drawing out a tipi and a merry go round with my signature elephant doodle instead of horses.  I personally think that pictures can say so much more than words, but that's probably because I love drawing.  This is why I feel that it is important that I use illustration for my self branding/ business cards.  Also I am playing to my strengths as my typography skills are not as good as I'd like them to be.

So here are the original drawings

 

After digitalizing them and adding colour and playing around with them further:

It is hard to decide between which looks better, the yellow or b&w.  Initially I tried to use bright colours but quickly decided it was quite offensive to the eyes so have experimented with softer pastel colours as you can see above.

To help the decision I have played around with the illustrations on a business card layout.  To make it easier to decide I intend to do some test prints, as things always look different when printed than it does on screen.

I feel like this illustration really translates some of my personality and portrays how I have personality in my designs.  It shows my love for elephants, fairs and festivals :)

Self Branding // Time to Tackle

So I've been thinking about how I would like my self-branding to look recently and thought I'd get started on designing.

I have begun by listing what I want my branding to communicate to the viewer.  Here are a few important points I need to communicate:

• My Skills & Interests
• Graphic Design/ Illustration/ Crafts
• Fun Loving, Friendly, Up for collaborations
• Care for the environment
• Audience (Where I'd like to work):  Festivals, Children's Art Classes, Crafts, Freelance Design Work.
• I've listed illustration as my strength - design wise
• Other strengths I would say are friendly, approachable, easy to get on with

PPP // Online Presence

Okay so it has taken me til now to get the confidence in my work to actually start putting it out there.  I'm easing myself in with a tumblr account, however I do intend to create/ design a more professional website - perhaps not code it though!

Here is a link to my tumblr so far... http://nikkisillustrations.tumblr.com/

I am hoping that putting my work out there might open opportunities for collaboration with people outside of college :)

Business Card Research // Inspirational Designs

These scanned business card are ones which I have collected over the past year which I really like.  

I especially like the black illustration on white card with the die cut and little charms hanging which came with a hair accessory I bought online.  Little touches like that make the card so much more memorable.

'The Bindi People' business card is also a years calendar on the reverse side.

The two pink business cards have also been spot varnished which adds a nice effect.

Images of good business card design which I have found online:

This one is really clever as you can see it is a bobby pin holder and a business card.

It was good to me to look at some other illustrated business cards to see the layout and the use of white space on this one really supports the illustration.

I would love to print on a sustaibable stock, I'm not sure whether this one is but the effect of printing colour onto brown stock looks really good while also having a sort of "eco-friendly" look to it.

This is the business card I came across which I liked the most.  It's very inventive, a little envelope filled with confetti.  Idea's like this are just a little bit outside of the box and are very memorable.

I also came across this on pinterest.  I think the colour pallet works really well.  The coaster is a really good idea for self branding.  I'd like to have a go at making some coasters.

PPP // Final Presentation // Slides

 

Notes:

Slide 1

Hello everybody this is my PPP presentation

Slide 2

So I'm going to start from the beginning.  I came onto the course not actually knowing that much about graphic design and wasn't sure exactly quite what I wanted to be for definite, but I always knew I had to do something creative.  So I gave everything a go and began experimenting with different processes.

Throughout Second year I realised that illustration and image making was my favoured way of approaching a brief and tried to make it work for the briefs we were given… some which succeeded and some which didn't.

Slide 3

So now at the end of third year I still wouldn't categorise myself to be just a designer or just a something else.  But a graphic designer, craft maker and illustrator.  Being able to write our own briefs I think has really brought out the best in everyone's work, including my own.

Slide 4

You probably all know, because I feel like I talk about it a lot, but a massive interest and influence of mine and has been all the way through the course is Music Festivals, especially seeing as we're coming up to summer and their only round the corner.  Some of these slides will give you more of an insight into what I actually find inspiring about festivals.

Slide 5

I've managed to work my way up through some roles at music festivals, starting with stewarding, bar work and last summer got to work with the Art & Deco team for a week before Eden Festival started doing all sorts of jobs, some creative and some not.  Gaining this experience has helped me to realise that this is something that I would love to go into - whether it be designing for festivals, creating decoration or even working at them or running a stall.

Slide 6

Currently working on some wristband designs for a small charity fundraiser festival in Cumbria "Wild out West" and am hoping to get more work similar to this in the future.  The festival is a charity event to raise money for a couple to go over and do some volunteer work helping out in a community in Gambia.  As you can see the design so far has been inspired by African Patterns.

Slide 7

A personal goal for me and a few friends is for one day to be able to do some work for Shambala Festival which showcases some awesome and extra ordinary art installations.  This is a magical interactive light up jelly fish - WOW

Too much fun club, this illustration is epic.  It's also really lovely to see work being produced throughout the festival by a team of people who are willing to chat away to the festivalers

Happy Slap Boutique I have always found inspiring.  They are a collective of people who provide stage make up, prosthetics and circus skills performances.  The amount of effort they put in I find absolutely mesmerising.

These are all the sorts of things which inspire me and would love to get involved in in the future.

Slide 8

Moving on from that, another strong interest of mine which I have only become more and more aware about in our third year is caring for the environment and I think I would enjoy working in this realm in the future

Slide 9

This interest is evident in the Save the Bees Awareness Campaign which I have designed this year.  It is the project I enjoyed the most so far.  I feel like if my work has this sort of purpose behind it, I believe in it so much more and would love to be able to make a difference to helping our environment through the use of design

Slide 10

SCRAP

In the summer I have sort of organised (still organising) for me to volunteer at scrap, which is basically a warehouse full of materials which were originally destined for landfill and are sold there at very low prices. 

Emily and I have recently spent quite a bit of time there and both find it a really creative and inspiring place to be, as it is situated at Sunny Bank Mills (where they had the ones to watch exhibition) and the Mill buildings have mostly all been converted into a creative space in some shape or form. 

There they also have Arts Outreach Programmes which gives young​ people of all ages the opportunity to be involved in a broad range of creative projects. The projects are all designed to raise awareness of environmental issues, whilst encouraging creativity and developing social skills.

So I'm hoping to get involved in this too, as working with children is also something which I'm interested in doing.

Slide 11


This also ties in with possibly doing some work experience at the fingertips art studio which is also at sunny bank mills (my new favourite place).  I have contacted Steph from here and she has said she'd be happy for me to do some experience work with her, so now we just need to organise when is suitable for both of us.  In order to do this I will have to do a CRB check too, as I will be working with children.

Slide 12

So just to reflect over my time here.  I feel like I have picked up many different skills
Software Skills (considering I'd never even opened illustrator in my life before starting here and now it's a tool in my everyday life)

I'd like to say my punctuality, the fear of Fred definitely made that better, I remember Me, Lisa and Hannah getting bollocked on like the second day of first Year for being a couple of minutes late - well that set the standard for the rest of the year, better of not turning up at all than walking in late.

Working under pressure, I now feel like I work far better under pressure than no pressure at all.

I think my design skills have improved

Since being at Uni I have started to love cooking and love trying out new dishes :)

Craft.  Emily and I have been working on a DIY crafts brief, a lot of work has gone into it and it keeps on evolving.  Here are a few shots of craft ideas and regeneration projects which will be part of the finished zines.

Chair found on the streets of hyde park, my new lil proj, which I have sanded down and am now weaving the back, which I think is starting to look good.

Travelling

So for the future (fingers crossed beginning of next year) my boyfriend and I are going to travel to Indonesia and Nepal.  In nepal we're hoping to do some volunteer work for an organisation called WWOOF (organic farming opportunities) which will give us an opportunity to work within a small community, with hopefully some lovely people in some amazing surroundings.  I am hoping to get involved with working with children over there too.

Lake Pakhora - chill reet oot! :) with the view of the himalayas in the background. :)