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Showing posts from October, 2016

Hanley's New Quarter

Stoke-on-Trent's newest development sees a corner of Hanley transformed into an exciting new build of shops, restaurants, hotels and car park space. The new logo in my opinion isn't that great and could do with some refinement, the white on bright yellow doesn't work that well on screen and looks fuzzy in digital formats. Printing processes might allow the logo to darken down slightly however this means the cohesion between the different types of media format could be lost. The logo shown in concept art on the images shown above is quite a nice application of the logo since it removes the colour and refines the logo to just an outline and type which against the architecture of the buildings is quite effective.

Oasis Drinks Adshel

Oasis who produce flavoured juice drinks in the UK market have recently created these tongue in cheek quirky ads that aim to poke fun at the typical impression that advertising, and specifically adshel advertisements have on the general public. The post above clearly states why Oasis need to advertise, to reach their sales targets, majority of companies however wouldn't deem it even remotely acceptable to broadcast this across the nation on adshel prints however Oasis are daring enough to do so, and I think it works. Having this variation od advertising that is so blunt and so to the point it's borderline rude cause you to remember and recall the brand, most people I spoke to about this advertising campaign agreed it certainly had an impact on them, especially in situations where an element of disbelief would arise.

Bombay Bicycle Club Tour Visuals

Visuals created for their 2014 UK Tour The visuals seen throughout the video shown below were produced exclusively for use during the Bombay Bicycle Club 2014 UK Tour, they were matched and inspired by the album released by the band that year titled 'So Long, See You Tomorrow'. Bombay Bicycle Club - Touring Video and Animation Design from Adam Young on Vimeo . Having witnessed the stage setup in person, I would agree that the composition of the screens against a backdrop of the band is a great way of showcasing the look and feel the Bombay Bicycle Club wanted the audience to embrace. The visual style was created using warm colours set against character and animal designed created by hand and inspired by Indian textile and art design from centuries ago. This revokes a retro, slightly earthy feel which I believe adds warmth to the stage as well as the album cover itself which which also carrying the design elements when wrapped together in the circles appears slightly

Peter Pan

I was immediately drawn to the stunning visual appearance of this novel, a republication of the classic I believe the aim might have been to distance the publication of the imagery made famous through the Walt Disney animation of the same name. The use of colour, typography and graphical style has ensured this book is of the very highest standard in terms of it's appearance and approach as as adult orientated book that even though the target audience is of an older generation the illustration used throughout is still if not more beautiful than the equivalent children's book. I feel it evokes elements of nostalgia in the reader. I first noticed this book when scrolling through the website of MinaLima, the duo design team also came up with the great visual identity seen throughout all of the cinematic Warner Bros Harry Potter universe, films and theme park attractions. More recently they have crafted designs for Lush products seen in the UK, each one featuring bright col

Rhyno

I recently created a new visual identity for my own design work, Rhyno follows on from the logo I launched with the name just over a year ago, assigned a study project to craft an identity to sell my skills through I settled on Rhyno. I've been happy with the name and the soft, darkened tone of purple ever since yet the logotype never appealed to me all that much, seen below it shows how I edited the type and incorporated a tusk into the bowl of the R. Using Gotham as my typeface, I felt it represented a modern clean style, and the tusk in the letter R was a nice quirky way of tying the logotype back to the name. The new logo came about after I started to develop my website, needing a favicon icon for my site, the existing logo simply wouldn't be visible at the typical 16 x 16 favicon size. Therefore I began to come up with ideas for an icon of my own, again incorporating a visual representation of a Rhino to tie in with the Rhyno name. Seen below is the new l

Spotify 2015

Spotify launched a new visual identity last year that would be seen throughout social media and incorporated into it's online, desktop and mobile applications. The new logo, seen above on the right follows the recent design trend of flattening and brightening an existing logo, this to the average user, of Spotify's target market of teens to young adults will appear to make the brand look fresher and more current compared to it's quickly outdating previous logo. I feel part of this refresh comes as through force from the mobile app design team as the previous logo won't have matched up that well to the current Android and iOS mobile operating systems in terms of their visual style. The new visual style incorporates imagery of featured artists displayed in a duotone format, I think this looks great and suits a brand like Spotify, where the product they offer is not something that can be easily visualised without imagery of the artists well. Gra

Manchester

I enjoyed the recent trip to Manchester and the places we visited once there because it broadened my thoughts I guess to the wider world or design studios and how they sit within a big city such as Manchester. I feel that Manchester is a very design led city in that everything has a strong and successful design quota that is met throughout the city, compared to my local city centre; Hanley where branding, advertising and signage seem second rate as opposed to the Manchester approach that I felt gave off the impression that if it is designed well it will communicate equally as well, ensuring a successful design process. When we visited Textbook Studio in Islington Mill, I was amazed to see such an array of work spread out across every surface of the three storey studio space, each area had a distinct feel, clearly reflective of the artist or designer that worked in the associated space and the uniqueness of each piece of design work produced.

Nando's

Nando's has recently refreshed it's identity to keep the brand looking fresh and current. The logo itself has been simplified and reduced down to three colour ways, a 'PERi Red Pantone', black and white. This allows the logo to breathe, with a flattened design and new distinct custom typeface for the logotype which sits nicely against the custom type they already use. The use of neon colours in the new branding material used throughout print and digital media is an invigorating change for Nando's as traditionally they would use much more earthly colours and tones. I think this is a response to the increase in younger customers dining at the restaurant and Nando's wanting to tap into this market even further by distancing itself from other high street restaurants like Pizza Express, Frankie & Benny's, and Chiquito's. The continued use of the font that has been used since Nando's inception is great in my opinion is good because as

Scarefest Map

Alton Towers Resort released the 2016 Scarefest map, and as expected it's busy and complicated. Working at the Resort myself a common issue for guests is getting lost even when they're following the map! And I can understand why, I think that the map is complicated to view, offers no real scale and location base to the real life counter part and in the end causes more confusion than help. Using a full colour palette the map is visually interesting and the juxtaposition of playful and scary elements is a great summary of Scarefest in general. The map even includes a 'Where's Wally' of sorts in that people should hunt for the four main Scarefest characters on the map. An annoyance I find from a practical point of view is that the map isn't useful in terms of it's scale and location. For example, it situates the Tree Top Quest adjacent to the rear of Sharkbait Reef, when infact these two attractions are at opposite ends of the park and are at l