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.