Visual Identity

I feel as though my visual identity is (slowly) coming together! I'm basically just embracing my 'doodles' and seeing how I can take them further because they're more about exploration of myself and my interests rather than a response to a set brief. So far I'm noticing a lot of pink with black ink and I think it creates a sort of 'creepy-cute' aesthetic - which I think kind of describes my interests pretty well. At this point, I'm thinking about how I can alter my creative CV to make it look more like this because at the moment it feels a little bare. 

Pattern

As I've been quite focused on pattern recently (mostly for OUIL503), I've been using pinterest much more to gather ideas:
Follow Sophie's board Pattern on Pinterest.
I found some examples of some really simple repeats that are just made up of a single image. In some cases I think these look quite boring but if the single image is well crafted then it might be an avenue I explore. I've also not really tried using traditional media to create a pattern - I think I could create some interesting shapes and textures and pull them together digitally. If I make something I'm happy with then I could put it onto business cards and products.

The Printed Peanut

I came across The Printed Peanut at the Hepworth print fair and instantly fell in love with the use of colour and the kind of low-fi aesthetic. The whole stall matched the artwork - there was a lot of pinks and blues which made it all really attractive. What I found most striking about the artwork was how it existed: traditional party games, notebooks, compact mirrors, soap packaging etc. I just thought they were all interesting platforms for illustration and she was clearly responding to a gap in the market. If I were going down a different route for OUIL505 this would've been great research but when I think about the bigger picture and where I want my work to exist in the future, I think I'd like it to be on products like this. 

Hepworth Print Fair

I just thought I'd post this because it feels good to have people posting about my work and spreading the word!

The Hepworth Print Fair

About a week ago, we were all contacted about the opportunity to sell work at the Hepworth Print Fair on the 21st-22nd March. There were no fees and we would be manning the stalls ourselves, we just had to find our own way there. I thought this would be a really great opportunity to sell some work,  meet other artists and illustrators and put myself across as a professional. 

Overall I think our stall looked great - it was a nice collective of work and the quality was good. I think the variety of work encouraged a lot of people to spend more time looking and spark up conversation. I did note that a lot of the other stalls (who had clearly done it before), had lots of racks/interesting ways of displaying work and you could see their identity coming through their presentation. 

I took along some business cards and it was interesting to see that even an older audience were picking them up over some of the others. 

I really enjoyed the whole experience and it was a great way to learn about all the things you don't really consider such as a float, print racks, taking shifts to man the stall and how to make the most of the space to get people interested. As I wasn't there on the Sunday, hopefully I find out at the meeting that I sold a few more prints!

Elea Lutz

I absolutely adore Elea Lutz's pattern designs. I'm really interested in creating repeat pattern at the moment and I think it's great that they can be applied to so many things. As I am also interested in packaging design, I think it would be a good idea for me to start exploring how i can apply various patterns to packaging and how often this is done. 

When a pattern is applied to something, I think it creates scope for a whole range of products - which ultimately is something I'd really love to do with my own work. 

Visual Identity

To add to my visual identity/online presence I used one of my business card designs (here) to make a web page banner.

I chose this design because it's the one that people say has the most impact and it's these business cards that people picked up over the others!

Creative CV Progress

So far I'm happy with the colours I've chosen because I think they're quite representative of the colour palettes I like to use in my personal work. However, I'm not sure about the format anymore. I was initially going to make a concertina out of this but I think it might be a bit of a pain to print & fold. If I didn't want to stick two ends together then I'd have to print it on roughly A2 paper and I won't always have access to that sort of printing. 

I could always make it into another form of folded booklet however?

Creative CV (Work in Progress)

Today I think I made quite good progress - I've decided on a format (concertina - the image above was just so I could see each page together, I'm not sure how to do the final layout yet), developed most of the artwork and decided on a colour palette that I think reflects my practice a little. I still need to add all the text and the rest of the illustrations, but so far I really like the overall aesthetic. I may have to move some text around and possible add a boarder but so far so good. 

Initial Creative CV Design

So far I haven't written this as you would a normal CV. I just tried to use my own voice and with the aid of my illustrations, hopefully this will help readers understand my personality a bit more rather than trying to write about myself formally. 

I've used a concertina format because that's how I feel the content would best be read. If I put all of this on a flat piece of paper, I don't think it would flow as well - a book format will guide the reader through. 

I'm going to stick to a minimal colour palette using only my favourite (but still tasteful) colours. Since I'm not that great at writing neatly I'll probably use digital type to keep everything uniform - I'll use two different fonts at most. 

Packaging Research

For OUIL505, I am looking into Product & Packaging. I've been really interested in designing packaging for cosmetics for a while now and I actually think my practice would fit in quite well with it.
I don't really like producing things like editorial illustrations because I find it very hard to illustrate a specific text. I think my work is much better suited for decorative elements to convey a theme or attitude. 
I am interested in how illustrated packaging can make a product more appealing to buyers and I would find it really satisfying seeing my work on a shelf somewhere.
By identifying where I think I want my work to exist now, I can develop the appropriate skills for this area of illustration and in level 6, I can tailor my portfolio to these kind of jobs. 

Creative CV Initial Thoughts & Research

Follow Sophie's board Creative CV Examples on Pinterest.

I've been thinking about the format for my creative CV and so far I've liked the examples that are folded. I definitely want it to be double sided - perhaps one side could be writing and the other an image/pattern so it can double up as a poster (this might make people want to keep it more?). 

I need to make my creative CV reflective of my skills, interests and personality whilst remaining professional. In terms of visuals, I have no idea where I'm going to start - so I'm going to begin with the writing.

Content I need to include will be:

• Who I am
• Education
• Previous employment
• Skills and attributes
• Interests
• References - available on request?