OUGD 602// Email Sent to Deep Space Industries

I feel that it is time for me to begin approaching people who I am interested in working with in the real world. Rick Tumlinson is one of the founders of Deep Space Industries, an organisation aiming to mine asteroids sometime in the future. My interest in space exploration has got me insanely interested in the work they are doing so I would love to do some work for them, or at least have a look at some of it.  

http://deepspaceindustries.com/

I sent this email to Rick to ask just that:

THE ROLE OF GRAPHIC DESIGN IN SPACE EXPLORATION: AN OPPORTUNITY.

Dear Mr Tumlinson,

Hello, I’m Luke Rossiter, a Graphic Designer currently completing my third and final year of a degree at the Leeds College of Art and Design in England. I have a huge interest in space exploration, born from a love of science fiction and science fact alike, and I believe organisations like Deep Space Industries are capable of making these incredible concepts a reality.

I am currently working on a dissertation project about the role of graphic design within space exploration and a visual product must reinforce the written element. As we are currently experiencing a second ‘race’ into space by companies like DSI and Planetary Resources, I thought that this would be a great opportunity to put myself forward and ask the question - can I do some graphic design work for you?  

The work could simply be a conceptual project, with no real life application, but where a brief and some feedback from you would be very valuable. Alternatively, I could undertake a live brief, with the objective of my designs being used by DSI. Any work I complete would go towards my final grade. I would personally be interested in developing alternative versions of the DSI logo and the firefly and dragonfly mission patches; nevertheless I would be equally excited to work on any other projects that involve the branding or identity of DSI, mission patches, iconography or signage, for both online and offline usage.

Graphic design is a process of communication, how and what DSI’s visual identity communicates to investors and customers is important. I believe that I can help you achieve a professional visual identity, which also conveys a message of exploration, discovery, astronautics and of course scientific and human achievement. 

This would be a huge opportunity for me; I find what you do hugely inspiring and would love to be part of this industry in the future. If I have not been clear about anything, I apologise, if you have any questions please just ask.

If you would like to see some of my work here is a conceptual re-brand and visual identity manual for the UK Space Agency that I designed last year:

http://issuu.com/luke91/docs/uksa

Kind Regards,

Luke Rossiter

OUGD 602// Final Pitch Email to DHR

I have sent off my final design for the 2013 Christmas card to DHR the international search firm and recruitment agency. I have tried to explain the card in the most clear and concise way possible, perhaps totally over-blowing the whole thing but some of the stuff I've come up with really makes sense, it works as a piece of brand building for them so it is actually quite important. 



Hello Lauren, Frank and Ron,

The DHR Snowflake is my concept for the 2013 DHR Seasons Greetings card.

I understand that the practice of sending greetings cards at this time of year serves a higher purpose than just well-wishing; it is an important marketing tool, an opportunity to improve relationships and spread a positive message about the company and its values amongst clients and the DHR team.
With this in mind, my main focus is to deliver a professional and personalised message.

The card achieves this aim by:

1. Incorporating a strong visual DHR identity. The colours of the snowflake are taken directly from the globe segment of the DHR International logo, whilst the typeface I have chosen, Museo Sans, is used extensively on the DHR website. The DHR logo is immediately identifiable as an integral part of the design. 

 2. Reflecting the DHR business and values. The concept of the snowflake is of many parts coming together to create a beautiful image, celebrating teamwork, diversity and a successful outcome. Like DHR, the various diverse parts interact and support each other, providing a strong yet dynamic structure; the overall shape references the global reach of DHR.

3. Avoiding visual clichés whilst remaining seasonal. The stylised snowflake evokes an icy winter theme, but also contains warmer colours like pine green.  It creates the right emotion without relying on a kitsch Christmas scene. This also facilitates using the card for audiences with a range of cultures and beliefs.
 
4. Balancing simplicity and detail. The message is direct and straight to the point. The snowflake is recognisable but contains many patterns which offer a level of complexity and depth. In terms of design this allows the card to remain both interesting to look at and professional in manner.

In terms of using multiple languages the design is very open for that, I can just alter the 'seasons greetings' text. 

For any personal messages I would advise that you write them below the image, I will demonstrate how the overall E-mail would look below:
If you have any other questions or comments it would be great to hear them too.

Thanks again,
Luke.

Dear X,

This is where you would write your personal message.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit. Fusce ac vestibulum erat.
Lorem ipsum dolor sit amet, consectetur adipiscing elit.

Sincerely,

Consultant Name

Title and role

DHR International

Location and Address

T: 000000000 ext. 000|  F: 00000000 | xxxxx@dhrinternational.com

For over 20 years DHR International has been a leading, privately held provider of executive search solutions with more than 50 wholly-owned offices spanning the globe.  DHR’s
 renowned consultants specialize in all industries and functions in order to provide unparalleled senior-level executive search, management assessment and succession planning
services tailored to the unique qualities and specifications of our select client base.  For more information on DHR International, a “Top 5” executive search firm,
visit http://www.dhrinternational.com

 

OUGD 602// Second Email Sent to Propagation House

I have been cracking on with the project for propagation house and developed several logos for Mark and Marina to look over. Here is my second email to the client:

Hello again Marina and Mark,

I've been cracking on with the Logo and have come up with three early concepts that I'd like to get some feedback on from you guys if that is ok?

The first concept is very modern/ sleek, with an aim to be a stylish and rather professional design. The idea comes from the soil acidity icon 'pH', which I think links strongly to the history of Propagation House whilst also denoting the initials of the modern studio. I have balanced out the design with some stylised, descending, EQ bars. This design would work best on a wide range of products from the smallest business card to large banners and such due to its comparative simplicity.




Due to its weight this logo works well overlying photos. We could get some nice big pictures of the studio and lay the website over the top in white, this creates a great opportunity to show off the studio and display large amounts of content on the same page:

The second concept is more laid-back but follows the same principles as the first design. This one incorporates the full name of the studio with an icon. The icon could either represent a speaker facing upward, a rainbow sitting over some terrain or even a sunrise. The aim was to express the idea of the studio being residential/ out in the countryside/ amongst nature, in as simple a way as possible. I have shown the logo here in a dark grey but it works well in just about any colour.

This design also allows for the icon to be used separately to brand items where the text would not be necessary or desired. This offers a high level of adaptability, which is very important if you are into creating a 'brand' out of the studio.

The third and final logo concept I would like to run by you is very different, this idea is inspired by blues and folk style hand-drawn typography. The style is probably more topical to the sort of musicians that you may want to attract however the trade-off is a slight loss of usability. This is because of its comparative size, I don't think is is quite as versatile, although this may not be a problem for you?

I understand that this one is fairly rough at the moment but I think it has a lot of potential, it has a lot of movement, although it could be refined a lot further! You might want to right click and 'view image' to see the larger version if you can.

Thanks for having a look through these, as I said these are works in progress at the moment but if you like any particular idea, or would even like me to go down a totally different route it would be great to know so I can focus my ideas and start mocking up some working examples of the design in various applications (i.e. Website, Brochure, Business cards).

All the best,

Luke. 

OUGD 602// Project Brief Sent to Client: DHR

DHR are a global Executive search firm. I worked for a small office of theirs for around 8 months before coming to university so have an in with them. I have managed to get the head office in Chicago interested in me developing this years corporate Christmas card. This may not sound like a big deal but they send these cards to the heads of some of the largest organisations on the planet, so it is a huge opportunity for a bit of self promotion for DHR and of myself. 

http://www.dhrinternational.com/

Below is the brief as I have put it to the clients, DHR.
I have tried to outline what I think they want within the time constraints of this relatively short brief. I have also tried to use neutral language and outline the rules of the brief in a simple way. For example I have offered for an additional 5 languages to be given. 
Lauren is the head of marketing in Chicago, Frank is the head of European operations and Ron is the head of IT and will be in charge of the distribution. 

 

Hi Lauren, Frank, Ron

 

I have just been catching up on the e-card brief, I have discussed the details of the brief as follows – please do review and let me know if you want to change any aspect of this –

 

E-card will go from DHR consultants to their clients, BD targets, candidates.

Card will be available for all to use, globally, where the theme is appropriate.

Standard wording will be ‘Season’s Greetings’ – keep it holiday neutral as per Lauren’s email.
Theme will be holiday neutral too – ‘winter’ theme.

Aim will be professional and clean, using DHR colour (blue) if possible, and incorporating the DHR logo within or under the image.

Will be a flat image, no animation included, designed and developed by myself. 

E-card will be produced in English language.

I can create a version in other languages if this is required - max 5 languages additional, will need to be short two-word greetings and these will be provided by DHR to myself.

E-card will be seen in the body of the email by preference, so easy to view by recipient.

At this stage I am not planning to use any ‘paid for’ images but will let Lauren know if this changes.  

 

And a few questions for you please Lauren, 

I am planning to make the e-card compatible with Outlook - does everyone use Outlook? 
Are there any restrictions on which typefaces I should use?
Any other points to bear in mind?

Luke.

OUGD 602// Catching Up With Summer Placement

I thought that it would be good practice to stay in touch with Marc at 42 Square. I have sent him an email to see how things are going and to see if the work I did for them ended up being useful at all.

 

 

Hi Marc,

Hope everything is good and things have settled back to normal for you all at 42 Square? I was just wondering if anything happened regarding the 'Tower Hamlets Healthy Living stuff' I was working on, and how it all panned out in the end?

Best Wishes,

Luke.

OUGD 602// Email Sent to New Clients: Propagation House

Propagation House is a residential recording studio in Cornwall. I have got to know the owners Mark and Marina over summer and have worked out a plan for me to create a visual identity for the studio and redesign the website. They have been running the studio science 1996 and have had some amazing world famous acts record there in that time so this is a huge opportunity for me.

You can find their current website here: http://www.propagationhouse.com/

Hi Marina,

Firstly I'd like to thank you for the opportunity to work on this project and also for helping with getting all the bits together for me to have a look over!

I've just moved back up to Leeds and the 3rd year starts tomorrow morning, so if yourself and Mark are still happy with me doing this I'm good to start as soon as possible.

My plan of action would be to have a look over the stuff you send to me and use this as framework to produce a few examples of logos and identity that I think would work well for propagation house. If you guys like some of the ideas I come up with we can move forward from there, which would be great. At the same time there is no obligation for you to use any of the work I produce at all, it will still be a great bit of experience for me, and will still go towards my grading.

Thanks again for everything,

Luke.

OUGD 602// Summer Placement at 42 Square

 I managed to get a summer placement at a design agency down in London Bridge called 42 Square. It was a great bit of experience and taught me a lot, both about being a professional designer what it would be like to commute into London every day. My contact at the studio was a guy called Marc, really helpful with setting me up and going thorugh the processes with me.

The plan for the week was to help develop a new website for healthy living in London schools. On Monday morning we had a briefing and then got to work. I also spent some of my spare time drawing sea monsters. Below are just a few images of the development of the front page of the healthy schools site. I also worked on some graph pages and interactive options pages.

Overall the experience was extremely helpful to my professional practice, giving me a level of experience that I would not have got from doing a simple studio visit.

OUGD 502 End Of Module Evaluation

What skills do you think you have developed through this module and how effectively do you think you have applied them?
During this module I have developed an greater understanding of the practical and professional concerns of individual creative practices. I have begun to think about investigating the personal, professional, innovative and entrepreneurial aspects of the creative industries and communities of practice. And have started to establish an increasingly independent understanding of the practical and contextual location of my individual creative ambitions by getting out there and researching a number of institutions. I have also developed a higher understanding of the communication skills needed to approach said institutions in a more confident way.


What approaches to methods of design production have you developed and how have they informed your design development process?
I have been applying what I have learnt in the other modules to my own personal branding throughout this module, I think that most of the 'design process' skills I have acquired have been from these other modules. In this module I have developed a greater knowledge in other aspects of my design practice, like how the industry works had how to make an entry into this. However I have produced a solid set of business cards and a great website for this brief that has improved my skills in both of these areas. This has in turn given my more confidence to approach studios which my own applied branding in place and a website.

What strengths can you identify in your work and how have/will you capitalise on these?
My strengths have been in the design department for this module, I have produced some personal branding that I am happy with and coded a successful website that runs well. I will obviously be able to capitalise on these by using the cards and site to approach designers and studios out in the real world for the first time since foundation. I have also found that my presentations skills are still good, I did the presentation earlier today and found that it was as easy as I thought it would be. This is a real strength I can capitalise on, being able to present confidently to a group of people will be a big advantage when I have to start pitching to clients and studios later in life. However how this will translate into pitching to strangers I have yet to find out, I am very comfortable in the year group so I want to have a go at something out of my comfort zone. 

What Weaknesses can you Identify in your work?
My weaknesses have been in putting this module to the back of my mind throughout the whole year. This has left me with a lesser understanding of my personal and professional practice than I could have achieved, for which I am greatly ashamed about. I think that with the creation of the website and that I have started to contact studios shows that I have at least started what the aim of this module was to achieve but I still thing I could be further along the road if I had but more focus into this module.

Identify five things that you will do differently next time and what do you expect to gain from doing these?
- Understand that the PPP module is not just tagged onto the rest of the course and that I should take it much more seriously in the future. I only really saw this towards the end of this year when I started looking at studios to contact and realised the importance of listening and working throughout the rest of this module.This will help me be more confident in my knowledge going forward into the third year.
- Blog the studio workshops. I was at all the studio workshops, wrote notes throughout all of them and learnt a great deal during them, however I never blogged any of it. This is a huge waste of time as I could have demonstrated that I understood the workshops here, but totally neglected this. This point it closely linked to point 1, that I did not take the module seriously till it was far too late.
- Have a more driven approach to contacting studios, I can continue to visit studios through my third year and beyond, and I still have loads of time to get involved over summer. Now that I have confidence that I have work to show these studios I feel like I can go ahead and get in touch with something to back up my claim that I do graphics. 
- In the future and In the third year, where we will be doing much more self directed work, I will want to do a lot more for my personal website, to really get the work on there up to scratch in a big way and have more pieces that really stand out. This should provide the site with more punch when I send it off to studios to have a look at it. 
    

STUDY TASK 10// PPP End Of Year Presintation

Creative CV

Bit more work has to be done before I send this off anywhere but it is a good concept for now, with strong like to identity and brand of myself. I've taken inspiration from the Effektive mailer but haven't gone all the way with this yet. 

LIFE'S A PITCH// Links to Logo Work on DP Blog

Not long to go and I've realised all my life's a pitch work is on the work blog: Here are some Links to the Logo Development work:

http://l-rossiter1114-dp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/lifes-pitch-overout-e-flyer.html


http://l-rossiter1114-dp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/lifes-pitch-overout-logo-design-2.html

http://l-rossiter1114-dp.blogspot.co.uk/2012/11/lifes-pitch-overout-logo-design.html

On another note I wasn't able to attend the Pitch presentation, so this was not documented here.

Personal Website

lukerossiter.co.uk

My website is now up a running at the address above. This is great news because it means I can start sending it off to studios. I designed the things so that the logo and information stays fixed on the page. When the user scrolls the content moves and this all sits in dwusers easy slider, a great program that edits itself into the html with some jquery code. This means the whole site can be put on one page in a manageable way. I'm really pleased with the way this site has turned out, its simple, the information is all there on the main page and the contact details and branding are all at the front. Hopefully when creatives view the page they will be able to ingest a large amount of the content without getting bogged down because of these design decisions.

STUDY TASK 8// What is a Creative CV?

Effective:
South Block Studio 107
60 Osbourne Street Glasgow G1 5QH
Telephone +44 (0)141 271 4721
studio@effektivedesign.co.uk

Espen Hansen:
mail@esphansen.com
Vollenlia 110B 1390 Vollen, Asker, Akershus, Norway

Passport:
+44 (0) 7850 981 901 
Studio 5, Duke Studios,
1st Floor,
Munro House,
Duke Street ,
Leeds, LS9 8AG 

Two Times Elliott:

Studio 112
Great Western Studios
65 Alfred Road
London W2 5EU

Info@2xElliott.co.uk
+44 (0) 20 3214 3133

Edenspiekermann:

edenspiekermann_

Barentszplein 7 II

1013 NJ Amsterdam

The Netherlands

Tel.: +31 20 550 6300

Fax: +31 20 550 6399

info@nl.edenspiekermann.com

Uniform

Third Floor,
Link 19,
9-19 Bold Street,
Liverpool,
L1 4DN
+44 151 709 9055  

OAT: 
248 Beacon Street
Somerville, MA 02143 
617 800 2636  
Rory@oatcreative.com
Jen@oatcreative.com  

Studio Output: 

Studio Output / London
Unit 4, The Piano Works
117 Farringdon Road

London EC1R 3BX
+44(0)20 7239 9270
london@studio-output.com

Why Not Associates:
why not associates limited
22c shepherdess walk
London N1 7LB
united kingdom
t +44 (0)20 7253 2244
f +44 (0)20 7253 2299
info@whynotassociates.com

Futurebrand:
2 Waterhouse Square
140, Holborn,
London EC1N 2AE
United Kingdom
P. 44 207 067 0010  

STUDY TASK 7// Samples Of Work

Effektive:

"We designed these two colour litho self promotional mailer/resumés for approaching Sydney based agencies at the end of 2008. The idea was to create a promotional piece which would have impact and showcase work examples and information as well as become a physical example of work in itself. The response to these was excellent and resulted in a variety of interviews at some of Sydney's top agencies."

Strengths: Bold Imagery, shows a range of work in a simple but effective way, not too large to need to throw away to save space, not too small to throw away because its worthless. 

Weakness: Begining to look dated due to the number of people who have copies this idea.

Opportunities: Designed to express themselves as a creative team. Worked well and resulted in a number of opportunities. 

Threats: Threat of the mailer looking dated by the time it has been copied to death and loosing relevance.

Espen Hansen:
"I believe that the key to optimize a marketing strategy is to use visual communication to reach the right target audience."
Strength: Bold focus on target audience. Throws out trendy design for hitting target.

Weakness: Not a modern looking design that other designers may find a bit out of date.

Opportunities:Clear that the branding is for tough sportswear, other likeminded clothes manufaturies may get in contact. Possibility that disregarding trends will lead to timeless design.

Threats: That this style will look ever-more dated in a few years time and the branding will need to be updated.

 
Passport:
As the name Passport suggests, travel is a large source of inspiration for us. Where you are born; where you grow up; where you study; where you work; where you visit affects everything from choice of colour to application of type – and we like that. Our branded stationery needed to reflect all of these interests. We wanted it to feel classic but contemporary, formal yet approachable, whilst taking care to present a close attention to detail that we pride our work on. The printed collateral includes personal photography collected from our travels to add a strong, individual element to the identity.
 
Strengths: Bold and up to date design style with a solid use of colour and attention to detail. Appreciation of simple design means that the aesthetic is unlikely to look bad in the future.

Weakness: Everyone is doing this sort of photography now. Branding only applied to small everyday items.

Opportunities: Strong personal visual identity reflects well on aspirations and for clients.


Threats: Being a small studio will require a lot of work to get noticed.

Two Times Elliott:
"A refresh of our corporate stationery, identity and website. The idea was to create an understated, simple and tactile set using a combination of GFSmith papers, foils and embossed details."



Strengths: Again a simple idea with bold design. Solid use of colour and concept.

Weaknesses: Probably not the aim but a lot of clients may not see the beauty in the style. Will probably look bad in a decade, so they will probably refresh their visual identity again.

Opportunities: Croporate stationary reflects well on the practice as a whole.

Threats: Again they will probably have to refresh their design styles again after a while.

Edenspiekermann:
"TCHO – that's highest quality fair trade chocolate manufactured using the most modern technology in a gigantic warehouse in the San Francisco docks. The challenge for Edenspiekermann is to give this gourmet's experience a face. The possibilities are endless, as TCHO is still in the starting blocks." 

Strengths: Strong link to brand identity and a real sense that the clients needs were met. Expensive and finished well.

Weaknesses: Some of the patterns look like a kaleidoscope. Perhaps also the foiling is over the top in my opinion. 



Opportunities: Interesting to see a cutting edge design studio take on something old and established like chocolate. 



Threats: Applying this sort of design to an item with an established visual identity may backfire. I also thing that the whole thing could took a bit 70's what with all the browns and orange in a few years time.

Uniform: 
"Abandon Normal Devices (AND) is a major regional festival of new cinema and digital culture already in its second year and is driven by an exciting new partnership between three of the UK’s leading art and culture institutions. Cornerhouse in Manchester, FACT (Foundation for Art and Creative Technology) in Liverpool and Folly in Lancaster have joined forces to collaborate on the exciting task of creating a new festival from scratch."


Strengths: Use of visual puns and satire are a strong way to convey a message in an intelligent way. 

Weaknesses:

Opportunities: Being part of a startup festival is probably a great experience, and provides the designers will an interesting creative challenge. 

Threats: Looks like a protest logo.
 

 
 OAT:
"With a "naughty child" and a face full of noodles, we knew we would have some fun helping this British-based restaurant group transition to the us market, by expanding their brand through illustration and design for onsite collateral, apparel and advertising."

Strengths: Plays to the consumer and market well. Strong use of application of design.

Weaknesses: Some illustrations and overcomplicated colour pallet are a weak choice in my opinion. 
 
Opportunities: To help a British brand work internationally. Will bring fame and monies.

Threats: That the branding does not go far enough to capture the imagination.
 

Studio Output:
The BBC Concert Orchestra hosts an eclectic array of concerts and produces bespoke promotional material relevant to each event. 2012 saw two concerts exploring extreme emotional states, under the names 'Exstatica' and 'H7steria'. We created a unique look & feel to promote each event, reflecting both the themes addressed in the music and the emotions felt by the audience.

Strengths: High level of visual imagery and interesting use of  bold colour and layout.

Weakness: None.

Opportunities: To be involved in an unusual form of music and contribute to a cultural experience.

Threats: None

 

Why Not Associates:
"Corporate identity for xtreme information’s media resource service showcasing commercials and promos."

Strengths: Simple identity will a great example of application that really shows off its diversity. Easily reproducible.

Weakness: None.

Opportunities: Level of refinement is beyond a lot of other identity examples here. 

Threats: None. 

Futurebrand:
We are proud to work with some of the largest, most dynamic and future-focused companies in the world to create future brands.


Strengths: Have experience in re branding airlines. Simple logo with patriotic imagery.

Weakness: Like the old logo could look out of data in a few decades time.

Opportunities: Expand reputation for good airlines re-brand.

Threats: See weaknesses.