Jane Amelia Parker, graphic designer, based in Holloway, London N7
Showing posts with label Thinking Eye. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Thinking Eye. Show all posts
A real estate brochure
Imagine having a house on the Mediterranean that's so big and gorgeous that you can afford to engage a photographer to take some aspirational images and have them put into a short-run 250mm square 20-page saddle-stitched brochure with wrap-around flapped cover...
Above are the initial designs. Not all the spreads shown, but you get the drift.
Motorcycle magazine and press ads
If you have ever flicked through motorcycle magazines you will have noticed that most ads are loud, packed with images and over-colourful.
For MotoEvolution's diverse range of bike products we wanted to make the ads a bit classier but without looking out of place on the same page.
CoreFiling icons, ads and info sheets
Here is an update on the initial designs for CoreFiling ads.
As you can see by the two pairs of ads below, the final versions were much stronger and more colourful.
The colourful branding continues across other items – I have also designed, created and tweaked a set of product icons for use on the website and packaging. They also appear on the A4 information brochures which I have designed to follow a template using CoreFiling's house fonts.
Smaller icons have also been created for use in the browser bar, however at the time of writing, these have not as yet been implemented.
Ditto the redesigns for the website.
Watch this space!
As you can see by the two pairs of ads below, the final versions were much stronger and more colourful.
The colourful branding continues across other items – I have also designed, created and tweaked a set of product icons for use on the website and packaging. They also appear on the A4 information brochures which I have designed to follow a template using CoreFiling's house fonts.
Smaller icons have also been created for use in the browser bar, however at the time of writing, these have not as yet been implemented.
Ditto the redesigns for the website.
Watch this space!
Designs for CoreFiling teaser ads
CoreFiling wanted to create a series of ad pairs featuring photographic images that illustrated their products. The ads were booked to appear on subsequent right hand pages, whereby the first ad intrigues and the second ad on the following spread clarifies the solution and the specific product on offer. Ads needed a coherent design that identified them as part of the CoreFiling brand, yet to be distinct as a product.
My initial designs are shown in columns 1 and 2 above. After a lot of picture library research, I found a family of images that illustrated the problems and solutions. It wasn't easy! Then, I applied a palette of six distinct colours. I was keen to hold onto a repeated element on each ad, hence the graduated and black panels.
After discussion with the client, a second set of designs was created, as shown in 3rd and 4th columns. The client wrote larger stronger messages which I aligned across the ads linked by leader dots. And the colours were made stronger.
At a later stage the colours chosen for each product changed again and the approved final magazine ads feature solid colour panels on the right hand side. I also designed and created scalable vector icons in two sizes. See here for the subsequent designs.
After discussion with the client, a second set of designs was created, as shown in 3rd and 4th columns. The client wrote larger stronger messages which I aligned across the ads linked by leader dots. And the colours were made stronger.
At a later stage the colours chosen for each product changed again and the approved final magazine ads feature solid colour panels on the right hand side. I also designed and created scalable vector icons in two sizes. See here for the subsequent designs.
Cake craft & decoration magazine
Cake is a magazine packed full of useful information for cake decorators. It clearly indicates how to create some truly stunning effects with sheets of sugar and food colouring.
But the magazine needed a revamp that would not alienate its readership. The brief was to bring it up to date without completely changing the friendly look and feel.
The tidy-up involved new typefaces to separate the editorials from the step-by-steps, and a stricter though more adaptable 7-column grid with runners, folios and section headers.
The banner heading on the cover also needed amending as the old one used up too much space and did not work very well at small sizes. The basic designs below show how I originally tweaked the old logo and spun it slightly anti-clockwise. At a later date, after conversations with the client to recommend a change, I completely redrew the Cake logo script from scratch and supplied a scalable file. It can be seen bottom right, on the December 2013 front cover.
But the magazine needed a revamp that would not alienate its readership. The brief was to bring it up to date without completely changing the friendly look and feel.
The tidy-up involved new typefaces to separate the editorials from the step-by-steps, and a stricter though more adaptable 7-column grid with runners, folios and section headers.
The banner heading on the cover also needed amending as the old one used up too much space and did not work very well at small sizes. The basic designs below show how I originally tweaked the old logo and spun it slightly anti-clockwise. At a later date, after conversations with the client to recommend a change, I completely redrew the Cake logo script from scratch and supplied a scalable file. It can be seen bottom right, on the December 2013 front cover.
Braybrook & Britten small catalogue Autumn 2012
Design and artwork for B&B catalogues is only started when the new products have been photographed. Many items are carry overs from previous catalogues and, unless there is a good reason for a whole page repeat, they need to be juggled about so that customers do not think they are looking at last year's version again.
In 2012 there was no large catalogue but the bulk of the product shots, namely the jewellery items, still needed to be scaled at actual size before being further reduced to 80% for here. During the rough layout stages items get moved around a lot from page to page until the client is happy that we have achieved the best spreads to sell from.
In 2012 there was no large catalogue but the bulk of the product shots, namely the jewellery items, still needed to be scaled at actual size before being further reduced to 80% for here. During the rough layout stages items get moved around a lot from page to page until the client is happy that we have achieved the best spreads to sell from.
Braybrook & Britten small catalogue, Winter 2011
Seasonal product spreads appear in these pocket editions. Also included are many repeat spreads from the full size general B&B catalogues, but it's not just a simple job of scaling down as all of the fonts change for ease of legibility, plus the grid is slightly different as this one isn't perfect bound.
Having Rudolph on the has proved popular, so he, or one of his other sterling silver reindeer friends, has been on the cover of the Christmas catalogue in 2012 and 2013 as well.
Having Rudolph on the has proved popular, so he, or one of his other sterling silver reindeer friends, has been on the cover of the Christmas catalogue in 2012 and 2013 as well.
Braybrook & Britten discount leaflet
B&B catalogues are designed to be stylish, clean and easy on the eye. But every now and then a stock clearance is needed to make way for new products. This particular 8pp A5 leaflet was inserted into Sunday magazines and the like. The aim was to make it say 'sale' and 'reduced' without looking tacky.
Ideas for redesign of B&B catalogues
The client noticed that some of the best selling pages in the B&B catalogue where those that had bleed images or coloured backgrounds, and suggested that we introduce some coloured panels to the general design.
A nice idea, but it was a tough call. The cufflinks spreads already use squared-up panels, but they are all small products – applying the same idea to other pages which show items of varying shapes and sizes, especially in the jewellery section where they need to be shown at actual size, makes it hard to create a grid that works without looking too messy.
Shown below are the initial ideas I came up with, using random colours in blocks (colours would obviously be specifically mixed for each page to best enhance the products).
But, realising that this would make each page an even bigger jigsaw puzzle than usual, plus creating further photographic and/or repro work, this idea has been shelved for the time being.
A nice idea, but it was a tough call. The cufflinks spreads already use squared-up panels, but they are all small products – applying the same idea to other pages which show items of varying shapes and sizes, especially in the jewellery section where they need to be shown at actual size, makes it hard to create a grid that works without looking too messy.
Shown below are the initial ideas I came up with, using random colours in blocks (colours would obviously be specifically mixed for each page to best enhance the products).
But, realising that this would make each page an even bigger jigsaw puzzle than usual, plus creating further photographic and/or repro work, this idea has been shelved for the time being.
John Cullen Lighting product catalogue
What a job! This product brochure, showing John Cullen's full range, was a tough job to produce, what with all the images to collate, diagrams and illustrations to draw or re-size, dimensions and spec to be added on at artwork stage, etc. The pictures down the right-hand edges show off some of the products in situ. This is the second version of this catalogue I have produced; products are always changing or being added/deleted.
As I write this I am in the process of designing the 'sister' design brochure which is picture-led and inspirational.
Brochure design for bespoke kitchen company
I designed this in close conjunction with Iain. Our client wanted the brochure to be clean, modern and use plenty of white space. From the client's large database of images we chose what we considered to be the best ones and, using these as inspiration, invented a flexible grid and a palette of earthy yet contemporary colours to complement them.
Sadly, probably due to the current financial climate, the client pulled out and the project has been shelved. Fingers crossed they change their minds as this would have been a lovely piece of print.
Initial designs for full page ads
The client, a bespoke kitchen maker, was a bit vague as to what was required; what look to achieve for their high-end advertising campaign. There was even talk of producing a new logo. Using three very different images, Iain and I came up with a few rough ideas to show them how each might be used in various different ways. One of those images is shown here.
The project has been shelved for the time being.
Braybrook & Britten mini catalogues 2009
Two smaller brochures for B&B ; a 12pp insert and a 48pp Christmas mailer based on the full-sized September version.
These are not just scaled-down versions of the earlier ones, but re-styled and re-jigged pages as the fonts all change for these smaller editions for ease of legibility, so everything has to be cross-checked for erroneous line breaks, mentions of 'actual size' etc.
Braybook & Britten catalogue 2009
64pp plus covers. Layouts for B&B catalogues are planned once all the products have been photographed. All jewellery has to be shown actual size and this means it is always a major jigsaw puzzle. During the rough layout stages items get moved around a lot from page to page until the client is happy that we have achieved the best spreads to sell from.
Shown here are pre-press pdfs, hence some really rough cut-outs; the extensive Photoshop work, to merge and montage some images together, is done by the repro department at the printers.
Braybrook & Britten catalogue spring/summer 2008
64pp plus covers. Layouts for B&B catalogues are planned once all the products have been photographed. During the rough layout stages items get moved around a lot from page to page until the client is happy. Add to the mix that all jewellery items have to be shown actual size and it becomes a sparkly puzzle. But the end result is always worth all the effort.
Present Direct catalogues
A5 84pp catalogues. Every spread was a jigsaw puzzle of position, size and proportion. 8 different colours at the foot of the spreads indicated the type of products and they had to be fairly simple being as the pages were already busy with product. One year it was bright footers and the next, pastel shades.
Braybook & Britten mini catalogues and inserts
Additional to the 2 main B&B catalogues produced each year.
Braybrook & Britten catalogue 2007/8
64pp plus covers. Layouts for B&B catalogues are planned once all the products have been photographed. During the rough layout stages items get moved around a lot from page to page until the client is happy. Add to the mix that all jewellery items have to be shown actual size and it becomes a sparkly puzzle. But the end result is always worth all the effort.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)