Martin Bloggington: October 2010

Sunday 31 October 2010

Could probably do with a quick swim in the Media City 'pool' to wake me up and inspire some illustration.

Early O'clock

Forgot about the clocks going back, so got up an hour early. Will put it to good use, and have so far viewed most of my HND groups blogs, and commented on them. Also trying to get my head around the printing.com guidelines. Un sure about the black .25pt for the overprint part. Never heard of that before.

Friday 29 October 2010

Added some drawing ink for definition

May try some ink washes, and pure pen and ink versions for comparison.

Wednesday 27 October 2010

something resembling an illustration

Quickly pen tooled and vectorised image

The image becomes too abstract and distant from the message I'm trying to communicate. I may need to home in on one aspect that makes MC unique and iconic for this style of illustration to work.

Sketch 3 - mission simplify

There was too many shapes to make this illustration simple and adjustable. I have noticed more possibilities for developing this illustration the more I simplify it. There seems to be scope to include some type within the design, possible spelling out MediaCity somewhere. Although I will not compromise the whole image if it does not work, just to incorporate this.

Pink is the colour of Salford

This secondary illustration is in pink, which is the colour of salford City Council who planned this venture. Re-developed on the site of the old docks. Part of the North-Wests historic power base in the shipping and textiles industries of the previous two centuries.

First sketch for study

This is a from freehand sketch of the main site of Media city. I want to simplify the amount of shapes needed so people are sure it is MediaCity without it being so complex.

Reading everyones blog

I just viewed everyone's blog to gauge where I'm at, and how much there is to do. I'm going to start the drawing now and post some initial sketches later on.

This is the main high impact photograph from the website.

A good place to start for my research drawings
http://www.mediacityuk.co.uk/gallery/index.htm

My statement for Media City

http://www.youtube.com/officialmediacityuk
The introductory animation for MediaCity has an un-ambiguous message, looking forward and casting a vision of the future of creative and digital media in Manchester.

My illustration will be aimed at young people & students, keen to find out more about what opportunities they can expect from this new venture. I want to capture a sense of optimism and positivity within my illustration.

Friday 22 October 2010

Media City cycle trip pics

After cycling to Media city and the surrounding Salford Quays on my day off recently I took these pictures. Although it is still under construction, you cannot fail to be impressed with the bold modern architecture! A real statement of intent for the future of the creative industries in the North-West. After our group exercises on Thursdays session I really feel like I want to find out more about the possibilities this new venture will open up for me professionally. An illustration will be brewing in my subconscious as I tap in these words, and by Sunday they will have some life on paper and inside my computer.

I'm going to make my time management skills No 1 priority this week!

This is my confused face Omar

Thursday 21 October 2010

http://imgfave.com/search/graphic%20design

Inspired? No? then feast your peepers on this website

http://www.norwichdesigner.com/blog/tag/illustrations/

Display board

InDesign print document with bleed and slug.

Sunday 17 October 2010

A bit of sunday afternoon fine tuning!

The fiddly tweaking of my logo is taking some time and some perseverance. Nearly done!

Friday 15 October 2010

Check this out for some colour inspiration!

COLOURlovers is a creative community where people from around the world create
and share colors, palettes and patterns, discuss the latest trends and explore colorfularticles... All in the spirit of love.
www.colourlovers.com

Wednesday 13 October 2010

MPD logo in lights

Cool Brands 3 Apple Macintosh

What is left to say about Apple? They have sucked the life out of any non-believers with total domination verging on brain-washing (ha ha ha - as I type away on my i-Mac.) A friend of a friend works in the Apple shop and said that when the table tops needed replacing in the Arndale centre, they flew in a specialist team from America to fit them at huge cost. Has this company maintained its beliefs and values? That could be argued so, as many of the manufacturing processes are supposedly environmentally friendly and sustainable. I have converted from PC to Mac this year and do admit that my prejudices were mostly unfounded. They have managed to maintain a constant brand identity which can compete for the tops spot. Well done Apple pat yourself on your big fat back!

Cool Brands 2 BBC 6 Music

I listen to BBC 6 music frequently on the DAB radio in our kitchen. They definitely deserve their place among cool brands because they epitomise (for me) understated coolness. They ooze quality, diversity of music and good taste. Becoming a successful brand within an already packed online and digital radio market must have been no small feat! Their brand identity is solid and simple, fitting nicely under the BBC umbrella and forging a secure place for themselves to bloom.

Tate Modern appraisal

I absolutely love the Tate modern in london having been there about 5 times since it opened. Some of my paintings and mixed media pieces for a show I did in 2008 were using the image of the Millenium bridge that opens onto the Tate modern entrance.

They have a strong brand identity, and have four galleries in the UK. I have been to three of them! Tate have managed to make art accesable to many people through being open and engaging with their gallery spaces and modern un-stuffy approach to customer service. Plus they are all free to enter! Tate has to be one of the most recognisable gallery brands in the UK.

FINAL logo trial 6

Scaleability taken into consideration this is the best option. It is simple and distinctive enough to be seen at 8mm.

FINAL logo trial 5

Think I will go with this design...for now. Let's see how it works being scaled up and down, also in-situe.

FINAL logo trial 4

I have added a 'd' shape on the end of the logo to incorporate the 'Martin Pearson Design'. This makes it too long and loses it's balance and composition.

Final logo trial 3

dotted outline version.

Final logo trial 2

The elipse and text have some merit, but I will keep working on it. Possibly need to make the text bolder.

Does this work?

By adding some supporting text and giving it a box it becomes probably too big. Think I will scrap this idea.

My third logo

I spent quite a bit of time developing this logo, and wanted to perhaps tweek it to make it more obviously mine. I plan on adding some text and experimenting with a border.

Tuesday 12 October 2010

Logo 3 on it's way folks.

As you climb the walls in expectation (cough, cough) I have decided to re-jig my first year logo of my initials. I always wanted to re-use it anyway. I think I will add some text and possibly try to bring it all together that way? Here is a version of it I did in black ink on magenta and yellow. I will blog the updated and vector image soon. I promise!

After walking past Gap in Manchester yesterday.

I noticed that the logo has not been rolled out to the shops yet. Perhaps they are just gauging opinion, and letting the online community do they crit for them? Also the Eithel tower was roundly slated after it's construction too. Oh no, I just compared a crap logo to an amazing feat of engineering. Oh well, nobody noticed...yet!

Friday 8 October 2010

Logo design 2

I have used part of the re-cycle logo but simplified it to one arrow, with the thought of scaleability in mind. I have used Helvetica Lt Std, and adjusted the kerning and leading to make the text more balanced.

Logo design 1

For your consideration my first concept logo design. Also the name Martin Pearson Design, which I have trouble warming to, as it is in my opinion too plain. Ok, we will see. Thoughts kindly appreciated!

Thank you to all who commented on my blog presentation!

I will take your comments and move forward with my designs. It's good getting honest feedback (honestly.)

Martian design

After searching for some kind of meaningful and thoughtful name for my design company. I thought to use my name (oh how original) but the name Martin means from the god of war, and the planet Mars. So the name Martian design stuck in long enough for me not to dismiss it as cheesy and cliched. Although there is a very successful designer (if the fancy website is to be believed) with the same name in New York. http://www.martiandesign.com/
Ok I think this is too much of a similarity to consider this name. Back to the brainstorm!

Thursday 7 October 2010

New Gap logo discussions on design forum

The old Gap logo was quite iconic, and now is seems to have been re-branded and the response is mostly negative (on this forum anyway.) The major criticisms are that it is likened to word art, or a company from the mid nineties. Personally I don't understand how it can work in B&W, or be adaptable enough to warrant such a simplistic logo.

Look here to see the full discussion; http://www.designforums.co.uk/logos-identity-branding/6255-new-gap-logo.html