This post is intended for small to medium business owners, individuals running not-for-profit organisations, and also marketing managers. To give ideas on how a creative approach - design, illustration or a combination of the two - can enhance your output and help engage with your audience. And, crucially, for any spend to be of good value for you.
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Fonts - A Basic Guide to Licensing and Where to Buy
A previous client of mine, a marketeer working on a client’s website, asked me for some advice about fonts. She wanted to use some creative/fun fonts but was unsure where to get them from and what was involved with regard to licensing.
There are so many font websites out there, it can be pretty confusing. So I thought I’d share the advice I gave her in case it could be useful for anyone else.
These pointers are intended for people who want to have a basic understanding of font use and licensing, particularly for websites.
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Two New Portfolios - Illustration & Brand Work for Creative, Environmental and Education Clients
Two new ‘taster’ portfolios - one for illustration and one for branding. Each portfolio showcases work I have created for clients in the creative, environmental and education sectors, with some work for charities also.
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New Brand? Important Information You Should Include in a Design Brief
This is an update on a previous post which outlined some questions to answer before briefing a new logo design.
Revised, improved, and building on my experience of working on new brand designs for a range of clients, I have now updated these questions to include some additional crucial information, and turned it into a PDF document, ready to fill in. DOWNLOAD HERE
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How Much Does Illustration Cost? A Client Guide to Illustrator's Fees
In this post, I will outline the main considerations I focus on when quoting for illustration work. Also included is a link to download a handy PDF which will help you collate the crucial information needed when briefing an illustrator and asking them to provide costs for your project.
Read MoreShaun in the City - Process
The Shaun in the City Bristol trail is now well under way! 70 giant sculptures of Shaun the Sheep created by by a host of artists, designers and celebrities have been set free in locations around the city, and they'll be there until August 31st... if you're in Bristol you will have no doubt spotted some! At the end of the trail, the sculptures will go to auction, along with the additional 50 Shauns that formed a London trail earlier in the year - all to raise money for children in hospitals across the UK. For more information, and to keep updated on the latest sheep related news, please visit the Shaun in the City website
I was fortunate enough to have been selected to create 2 Shauns for the trail, which I worked on in November last year, and the second one a few months back in February. I've put together a couple of 'photo-stories' to document the process of each one.
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Some of the kids in action...
School Shaun!
Earlier this year I had the pleasure of working with Henleaze Junior School on their Shaun the Sheep sculpture, for the Shaun in the City schools project...
Read MoreShaun in the City!
I've been particularly quiet in terms of social media and blog posts of late. The main reason for this is that aside from my usual workload I have also been busy painting for Shaun in the City - a project organised by Aardman and the Grand Appeal to create over 100 giant sculptures of Shaun the Sheep, which will appear as two different art trails in Bristol and London and raise money for children's hospitals across the UK...
Read MoreNeed a new website? 15 questions to help define your requirements
To coincide with the launch of my own new website, I thought I'd share a list of questions I ask clients who approach me to design a website for them. (And yes I did try to answer the questions myself before embarking on my own re-design!)
Now these questions are essentially to gain an overview of your business and what you need a website to do for you, as well as who it should speak to...
Read MoreInitial sketch for client approval, before creating finished vector artwork
Process: Initial sketch to final vector artwork
In the process of revamping my portfolio website, inevitably some things didn't quite fit or were cut to make room for newer projects. In a quest to pare down to a minimal approach, I focussed on primarily showing the finished, polished work I produce. However, I do think that it is still useful to show some of the process involved in producing the work I create.
The image above shows very simply the method I have gone through to produce a finished vector illustration...
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Client happiness is directly proportional to the proximity of their creative
Look Local! - The 'How' and 'Why' of working with local creatives
Are you in need of a designer or illustrator for your business/project, but not sure how to go about finding one who’s right for you? And also what would be the point in narrowing your search area?
If that sounds of interest, I have written a guest post over on the Drawn in Bristol Blog, sharing thoughts on why it makes absolute sense to start your search close to home...
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10 Questions to answer before briefing a new logo design
So, ‘Logo Head’ on! You need a new logo/brand for your business and are at (or nearly at) the stage of briefing a designer - if that sounds like you, but you're struggling to formulate exactly what it is you want and need, keep reading...
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'MakeStuffOuttaThing' - Alphabet Doodles
I like making stuff out of things, and need to do more drawing, so have decided to combine the two in a little sketchbook project.
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Illustration Rocks!
Illustration as part of your brand...?
The buzz around illustration and graphic design generally seems to me to be at an all time high at the moment (admittedly I follow a lot of illustrators and designers on Twitter and Instagram, so my view may be a little skewed), but events like Pick Me Up and Pictoplasma bring illustrative art forms into focus and celebrate the many top artists, designers and illustrators working at the top of their game. In short, Illustration Rocks!!
In this post, I have tried to break down how illustration could work for you, if you are a business, venture or organisation looking to connect with an audience. Obviously every business is different and with specific individual needs, so this really is intended to be a starting point, a pause for thought...
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8 Steps to choosing the right designer or design agency for YOU!
You are a business or start-up and know you need some help with the design side of things...You have a particular goal in mind and realise that some creative input and ‘designer knowledge’ would help you on your way.
But where to start…? You’ve never worked with a designer before (or worse, have previously had a bad experience) and you don’t know any personally. There seem to be so many design places around, but the jargon they use can be confusing and do they all offer the same thing? Read on, hopefully this post will put you at ease...
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Client Feature: Edwards. How to connect with potential clients on a human level
How to win clients or customers in a busy marketplace… a common issue for many businesses.
Edwards are an independent Bristol-based estate agent, who I have worked with over the last couple of years. The problem they face is competing against larger and more established agents to get a foot in the door (quite literally) with their potential clients. The plus point is that Matt Edwards, Managing Director, is keen to do things a bit differently…
Read MoreGromit Unleashed - Process 02
Following on from the previous post, here is the process involved in creating my second Gromit, "Blazing Saddles" for Gromit Unleashed.
Read MoreGromit Unleashed - Process 01
For those that don't know, Gromit Unleashed is a public art exhibition led by Aardman Animations which will see 80 x 5ft tall fibreglass sculptures of Gromit unleashed in Bristol for the summer of 2013.
This post will show the process involved in creating the first of my dogs "Grrrrromit".
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World Bike Clocks - Free Desktop Wallpaper
The Work Cycle is a celebration of the Cycle to Work culture. This very stylish website is basically a homage to bikes in the workplace, people who love cycling to work and companies who embrace the whole bike culture.
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