Charlie Hole Project-One step further...

After deciding that parcel packaging was a great step in the right direction for Charlie, we began thinking bigger, better and more elaborate in order for Charlie to get noticed and appreciated. Ideas were thrown around, we thought though, the bigger, the better! Why not take everyday objects and make them look unusual and surreal by putting them in an unusual environment and wrap them up in parcel paper, like the press pack box.

Well! after a crazy night of wrapping up a coffee table, dining chair, guitar, cup, place mat, picture frame, standing lamp, a plate and a table lamp in parcel paper, we had a studio shoot with Charlie interacting with the objects and the pictures came out absolutely amazingly! I've never been so proud of the work I've produced along with Dan and Luke. We really have made a good team! But with the added inclusion of Charlie and Jim, None of this would have been possible! Thank you guys!

Charle Hole Photo Shoot.

As requested by Jim Cregan, we all went out on a photo shoot down the beach with Charlie to get some shots of him on location for the press pack and his website. Here are a selection of some of the shots we got from that day.

Charlie Hole

After Dan, Luke and I had a powerful brainstorming session, we came up with a set of difinative themes in which we feel he and his music fit into well. It's essentially him and an acoustic guitar in the limelight, similar to existing artists like Jack Johnson, Newton Faulkner and Jason Mraz. Therefore, we researched into the way they are portrayed through design and we found similar themes throughout like hand rendered type, illustrative, grainy photography and natural materials.

So, in preperation for meeting Jim Cregan, We have created some mood boards of photography, illustration, etc as well as producing some rough ideas of our own which we all think suit Charlie's style perfectly. We all really liked the idea of parcels and parcel paper with white string, especially for a press pack to be sent to record labels and radio stations.

Screen based communication hand in time...

After a busy few weeks with three live briefs on the go and finishing off my website, its been a bit of a rush to get everything on time. I managed to get my website fully functional and up and running on the internet but my research and development work took a back seat.

I've produced a website that I absolutely love! I think it reflects me as a designer perfectly. It's innovative, very different to other websites out there and it has a lot of scope for other uses. I've basically built myself a template in which I can base websites I make in the future without it getting old or boring.

If I'm completely honest, I don't care about the grade I achieved for this because I know I have produced something that I am more than happy with and can use for a good length of my career ass a designer. It's been so helpful, this brief, in terms of finding a job in the future that a grade seems irrelevant.

Not another live brief!

After finishing off the lingerie leaflet, once again, Mat Desmier came to us with an exciting opportunity. Jim Cregan (see here), musical legend and all round nice guy, wants us to work with Charlie Hole (see here) on producing a press pack, EP cover and album cover for his launch into the music industry with also a chance to have a few photo-shoots with Charlie to get any pictures we need and they need.

This is a great opportunity for luke dan and me and can open some serious doors into the design industry and the music industry. Jim Cregan is seriously connected! He's written countless songs for people including Rod Stewart, played guitar for countless people, the latest being Katie Melua. So for him to see potential in Charlie Holes talent and also our talent is quite a complement.

I shall be working very hard for this man!

Live Brief!

Luke, Dan and myself have been talking to Mat Desmier from the enterprise pavillion and he has given us a live brief. It's for the arts institute's study abroad programme in Brazil! Basically, we have to produce an A3 poster accompanied by a leaflet to be used in Brazil. That means all the copy has to all be in Portuguese! 

The main thing they were looking for in this was that it was 'obviously' British whilst 'avoiding' London connotations as they wont be in London, they'll be in Bournemouth. It also would have to involve an obvious element of fashion as it was for the fashion course at AIB. 

Cracking on!

Now I'm finally back from Christmas, I've been getting on with the creation of my portfolio website. I kept looking over Christmas at different websites and formats, etc. and I'm now satisfied that I've seen almost every style and format possible! I've gone with a simple HTML based website because I wanted to make it easily updatable and accessible but because I wanted to have an element of animation or fluidity involved, I will integrate some javascript into it.

I have come across loads of javascript that I like and decided to plump with a version I found which uses pop out windows inside the webpage! sounds interesting, I know!