Bits n bobs

When creating my billboard Advertisement i found a sketch that i did in my first year of college, which is of a fashion model wearing a dress with a design on it that i drew from my inspiration of lowry's cubism techniques. This gave me an idea of Advertising an online store for products such as clothes, music, food and other luxuries.

I have found out that keeping all of my old work does come in handy when proffessionalising yourself, also these small sketches help me find out how much my perception on influencial drawing has changed due to university.

Promotional pages

As of today i don't care what anyone in my class has to say about my work due to stupid comments about my background on my portfolio pages and not my rebranding i feel that the lesson today was a waste of time for feedback on my promotional work and now i don't know how i can make this better.
Well ill try again, heres my work tell me what you think about my Promotional work NOT MY BACKGROUND!!

Billboard Design

Letterhead and Web Banner

Business card and Gift bag

rebranding my promotional items

Last night i got into creating my advertising for my brand JSTR which is aimed at the higher class working people who like to spend their money on luxury goods such as expensive clothing, gifts, music and lots more. Heres some of the work i have done up to now please feel free to leave any comments.

On this image i was trying to create a keyboard style outline for my text, this was acheived easily by simply using a inner shadow on the keys, by doing this it gives the keys depth and the illusion that the keys are 3d.

This will appear at the bottom of the billboard advertisement which will be showing what our online networking site can offer such as, downloadable music, clothing and jewelry. all of these will have images in a slideshow on the front of my billboard.

This is my Gift bag which i have shaped like this for more of a unique style, little things that are styled like this give out waves of attention, this can attract more consumer attention to my online services if i put a web address on.

This is my web Banner, i thought seen as though its coming christmas i may as well involve some sort of deal in my banner to advertise money off.
By tomorrow i will have my letterhead, gift bag, Billboard and Business card all presented on here then i will think of a layout for my promotional work.

spreadsheets

Both spreadsheets finisished and layed out nicely, also advert for Harry Halls Garage completed.

Flick Account ACTIVATED!!

Heres my Flickr account guys add me as a contact n lets get rockin. http://www.flickr.com/people/urban_illustration/
Enjoy the Networking!!!!

Just a few layout ideas (Not finished)

When i gained my feedback from the group i was taunted to try to be more creative and play around with my layout to create more of an attractive layout, when planning my layout i wanted a slanted text box but level with my image, also i wanted my image to be broke into sections which are seperated slightly but still able to show an image. Here's a page from my Nortern quarter spreadsheet.

The text is well spaced and easily readable, also the font for the Heading really works well with the subject of the area im talking about.
Here's the other side of the spreadsheet which is not yet completed but will have a photo of the Sacha's Hotel. I may play about with the photo to create a more interesting photo, maybe even take the photo just before the sun goes down so i can acheive a warmish glow to create the feel of comfort.

I didn't want to input alot of info on this page, i just wanted the relevant info about what the hotel has to offer and where to find certain areas for tourist attractionist's. After thinking that this spreadsheet will be going onto the internet i will be drawing my own button's which will be links to online profile making websites such as, facebook, myspace, twitter ........
Biking Round Manchester
When creating my biking spreadsheet i was inticed by how much history Manchester has for its Cycling culture, i found out that Manchester was home to some of the best Cyclists in the world who participated in several challenging races.

As you can see i have still yet to find images around the Manchester area were i can capture images relating to biking. i would like to find patches of mud with bike tracks and dirt hills but they are a fair distance away so i would have to plan ahead to acheive these images.

This is the spreadsheet about Harry hall's bike shop which will be my advert for biking round Manchester, i chose this shop because it had the most cultural meaning behind it and also this shop has alot of history behind it and to this day it still flourishes with good deals and quality customer service.

Fonts for my spreadsheets

Northern quarter
. For this layout i want a victorian style font that can reflect on the times when the industrial revolution was in full swing, this would give the reader an idea on what the article will be about so this technique can also be a way of attracting readers attention.
Greater Manchester & Harry halls
. For this article i want a dirty, rough style font that can relate to the agggresion and messyness in riding around the dirt paths and ramps around the Greater Manchester area.

Ideas for spreadsheets

Northern quarter spread

For my Northern quarter spreadsheet i want one side to be about the History and the other side to be about were to saty in the Northern quarter so tourists who see the article and want to stay somewere were your close to all the attractions like the arndale, the wheel, printworks and obviously the Northern quarter.
. The layout is going to be more creative, im going to play around with the images and try to make a jigsaw type collage of one image, so one image will be split apart but still form one whole image. This technique will attract attention to my target audience and also show creative flair.
. For the Sachas Hotel advert i will be keeping a simple layout but with all relevant info about the hotel itself such as furniture, comfort and appliances in the rooms.

Biking round Greater Manchester

This spreadhseet will be fairly interesting because all the info about biking around Manchester is all from my experiances of riding round and finding areas for me to let loose and free my mind, im sure other people are the same as me with biking and like to explore new areas and the best spots, so doing an article on riding spots in Manchester has focused my writing skills.
. The layout will be visually the same on each page im going to go for the arrow shapes to represent direction and speed, this will also reflect on traffic aswell, some images will be shaped as arrows but mainly the text will be outlined with a dark colour so its more visible.

More ideas for spreadsheet designs

After recieving my feedback it has made me think about the whole layout for my spreadsheet, im more than capable of creating a more attractive/creative layout which would attract the attention of my target audience. For my Northern quarter article im going to include the sachas hotel as accommadation for tourists who want to stay over, this would attract students from other parts of lancashire instead of just greater Manchester, the info im going to be putting into my article is going to be minimum but the relevant info will be there. Im glad i received this feedback because it has give me more self esteem because people know i can do better so i want to up my game and show myself what i can do.

Grid ideas

Grid ideas
For my layout of my spreadsheet i want to keep a simple grid layout due to my spreadsheet being a very simplified idea. I wanted my text next to my images in each spread, each peice of text that is next to an image is talking about that image or that area this makes the article easy on the eyes and easy to read.
This is a good layout for an article but i will be using less images and less text so i can acheive attention from my target audience.

i like the black background but i dont think my images would work with a black background because they are photographs not images like these on this article. Layout is an important factor in designing an article because peoples attention is drawn towards imagery more than text but if the text is next to the image but in a more understandable context than its not too hard to read (easy on the eyes).

This is my basic layout for my doublepage spreadsheet on the left will be the article for the Northern quarter and on the right will be the article for biking round Greater Manchester.

screenshot of my spreadsheet

This is a screenshot of my layout for my double page spread, i have put the relevant information in the article and now i want to look into backgrounds and colours.

Ideas for spreadsheet

I found a fair amount of relevant info about the Northern quarter and i have narrowed it down to the most important details and simplified them so they are not boring to read, i don't want my audience of students to be bored reading loads of info about the industrial revolution.

These are my layout ideas for my double page spreadsheet that i will be using i feel that the top design would be most interesting because everything is laid out neatly, everything is visible and the image will be clear and out of the way of the writing.

Trying to find information about riding round manchester is fair difficult to find on the internet so i wrote this myself from my experiences of riding round greater manchester.

Here is the narrowed down info about the northern quarter, as you can see i have done a quick draft of the early history, the 20th century and the Northern quarter of today.

photos of the Northern quarter

Looking around the Northern quarter there are still signs of the industrial revolution lurking around the corners of buildings and in the back streets were tell tale signs are still there today, this place is a very historical place and these photos show some of that life still here in Manchester.

Afflecks palace, probably the most popular shop in the Northern quarter area because of its many floors and many misceleaneous shops inside.

You can still see that some of the buildings haven't changed such as this. The windows arches are still old fashioned to this day, keeping the history is very important it makes people remember why this place is popular.

I f you can see close enough the building has initials on the top arch which say L.J & C Cooper which must of been the owners of this building at the time it used to be a cotton mill.

Modernisation is still happening with the buildings in this area due to health and safety, some buildings were sadly taken down due to poor materials and weathering.

This building stood out to me very much, just because of the plants growing out of the top and also were the paint has been worn away from weathering.

Luckily i got round the back of one of the buildings which had a gap were i could take a photo of the interior. As you can see a lot of the materials that were used then are in the back, sadly we cant see them but it gives you a feel of what environment these cotton mills were in and the atmosphere these people used to work in.

This was the entrance to the fish market, i love how the statues at the top are kept in good condition and covered with a netting to stop damage from the public.

This Art Neuvou has still been kept up to standard, i love the detail and all the swirls that surround the woman in the middle its almost as if its an entrance to someones home back in the victorian period.

ideas for my articles.

- Northern quarter has alot of important and interesting information which will attract alot of student attention.
- The curry mile is very popular among couples and quiet nights out, i feel that this wouldnt be suitable for students due to not being intersting enough, i want an article that will catch peoples attention with good imagery and good context.
- Manchester shopping centre would attract alot of student attention because of the popularity of shopping in manchester is huge and is continuing to grow as more students are attracted to this area.

Northern quarter
. I need to take photos of the area such as shops, old abandoned mills if possible and also the environment within the area.
. Maybe a photo of a mill could be taken, then a rough illustration using a ballpoint pen of what the mill wouldve looked like in the industrial revolution.
. collage photos would be a good idea for the layout of this article but not too much, i want people to be able to read my article in small chunk instead of just a page of writing, which is very boring seen as though all us students are reading through books of research alot of the time.
. Find images that relate to the historical laidback culture, this would be a good way of communicating to art students. ( Imagery is the evolution in human communication)

Manchester Arndale shopping centre
. I wnat photos of the interior design, not just the small but also the obvious detail.
. Its also coming Christmas soon so what does the arndale have to offer?
. What festive plans does the Arndale have to offer this Christmas?
. Maybe i could shape my information about the arndale into the shape of the arndale, reffering back to the evolution of human communication.
. Also the Arndale is like the Trafford centre of Manchester so maybe i could come up with some sort of entrance to the arndale but more attractive.

Article ideas

The first thing i need to think of is what can attract attention to students, so the choices i have narrowed myself down to is interesting history to the subject and also still popular today because of there history.
. Here are my 3 ideas that i thought would be most convenient for an interesting article.

- Northen quarter ( most obvious decision due to the amazing history of this place )
- The curry mile ( not too sure if i want to write an article on this due to not being aimed at the right audience )
- Manchester arndale shopping centre ( very popular and i thought it could be like the trafford centre of manchester )

My article will be layed out usinf Adobe indesign, this program will help me use a bleed around my document which will boost my presentation and also be more presentable as an article, this will also prevent clipping.

mediacity illustration complete

Overall this illustration has taken me 2 week to plan and i am happy with the final design if you have any ideas on how to better this then please feel free to tell me.

Its not very bright or colourful but it catches attention because of the dark colours, this technique has helped me understand shade and depth a lot more.

print screens of development

Developing my work wasn't as easy as i thought it would be i started using the fountain pen tool then continued using it until i completed the whole illustration, this has helped me thicken up my design so then i can work with it on photoshop.

As you can see i have outlined the whole illustration, now i need to work on the small detail to make sure there are no gaps so the colour doesn't overflow.

Now that everything is all tidy and there are no gaps now i can start to think about colour and composition, i want a rough sketchy style to this so i can attract the correct age group i have been aiming at.

When i transferred the file over to photoshop and started to colour i found that a gap wasn't filled in properly so i then had to go back to illustrator and tidy up this little patch, this shows that we need to look at the small detail as well as the big.

final designs

when i was trying to think of the layout for my illustration i wanted buildings in there because i feel the architecture is the most eye catching thing about the place and this needs to be noticed by people who haven't been to visit.

This was the basic layout that i wanted to work with i'm happy with the decision of using type in my illustration it kind of professionalises the whole illustration.

I got the idea of using the shapes from the buildings at mediacity on the buildings in my illustration, sometimes its better to pay attention to the small detail as well as the obvious detail.

I also need to look for a block font on the internet, maybe dafont.com would be a good choice to look at first.

The pattern on the side of this building was difficult to neaten up, it almost looks like a chocolate bar but the diamond shapes are windows and the bars are steel.

i thought adding a bit of 3d to this peice would create good contrast and i have found out that darker detail in an illustration attracts attention.

Illustration layout ideas

I have decided to use a circle boarder and work inside of the circle so i can then make a symmetrical design so it looks tidy and professional, but i suppose an illustration doesn't need to look neat and tidy.

I have been concentrating a lot on the amazing architecture but i need to think about the small detail instead of the obvious detail. I'm going to look back at my photos and figure out what i can use to make a successful illustration.

The illustration on the left i really like because it has good imagery, its simple, its symmetrical, but it doesn't stand out as much as i would like it to do.

Ideas for illustration

Here are several small ideas that i wanted to inout into my illustration, i have thought of different images that relate to different things about the media city itself, what it has to offer? how the public can benefit? and also the birth of something in Salford that can boost the creative flair of imaginative students.

This illustration reflects on the beautiful architecture that is around media city, i feel that these buildings attract a lot of attention. ( imagination attracts attention) I want to create an illustration that is symmetrical yet simple but basis its attention on the architecture.

At first i did want some sort of character to make my illustration have a bit more creativity and imagination but i felt that this design was way too childish for my target audience of 16 - 24.

I thought that gates opening an entrance to the Media city would be good to represent the opening of something new like the gates to a creative world. Maybe i could make these gates look a lot more important.

This was another quick design of the cityscape, but i decided to advertise the characters to see how i can make a relationship between the buildings and the characters. It seems possible so i will persist in trying to create a good concept between the both.

This has to be one of my favourites because of the character holding the banner over the cityscape, i like the way the banner hangs over the buildings at the sides. The robot itself looks welcoming in this pose, maybe the character holding the banner is what is creating the relationship between character and building.

Dont really like this design it looks too shabby and wouldn't work well to attract attention to the correct target audience.

Trees are a good way to represent the birth of something new in Salford that can change a lot of things. Using illustrations to represent different things is a very powerful way of human communication.

well these are all my design ideas for my illustration please give feedback on what you think could look good.
Thankyou.

promotional page

Business card, delivery and advertisement promotional items finished. I have gone for a minimalistic style so its not too busy for people to understand, i have made sure all relevant information is there for customers to get in touch.