Relaxation

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Heading out to Majorca tomorrow for a little brake.
Going to take my ipod (to listen to by the pool), some books (to read for my dissertation), a skipping rope (to keep fit) and a camera (to document my time in the beautiful country).
Any ideas or thoughts I have that could be posted on here will be noted down in my sketch book that I will also be taking out there, and I will make sure to add them when I'm back...

Denim's big new shape?

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I bought a pair of these 'drop crotch' Levi's this time last year.
Had a couple of comments on them, regarding how low the crotch was etc, but now they seem to be one of the 'must have items' on asos.com/
I love being one step ahead of the game.

Typography

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These were originally designed for my behance portfolio, but I don't feel they are quite good enough - There are some seriously slick designers on that site!
Don't get me wrong I do like them, so I'll put them up here, on my 'online visual diary'.
The first design was created while listening to Lenny Kravitz - "I want to fly awaaaaaaaay!" and the other poster is my expression on how I believe the term 'Living the dream' sounds terrible when said, its on par with "bwwooi".

Arrgghhh!

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I'm having a slightly mad design moment at the moment.
I want to do all these things, and I want to do them right away, which means I'm rushing my work and then I'm screwing myself over.
I've recently come up with a character to go with Sick Boy, and I think I like him, I want to love him, but because I want to finish him so quickly he isn't getting designed to his full potential.
So I've come up with this post, I'm going to chuck a load of screen grabs up here, with everything I'm working on at the moment, and I'm going to put my blog back the way it was before I came up with my little sick boy, and I'm going to quietly work on him until I love him, then it will be done.
I understand that my problem is that I have trouble finishing my designs, because I feel I can never quite get to the end, which makes me want to finish them more, which then causes me to like them for a matter of 5 minutes before hating them.
It's a habit I'm trying to grow out of, and I really hope I will soon.

We Are Build

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I have a new favorite design agency.
I found them while watching the 'Helvetica' film, and I had to put it on pause straight away to look up who they were after seeing some pieces of their work.
When Mihael C Place / Build came on the screen, I had a feeling his work would reflect his surroundings, with his Japanese toys neatly placed on the shelves behind him and cool trainers lined up on a nice wooden floor, and I was right.
The first piece of work he showed was the 'On/Off' poster - (That's when I had to put the film on pause).
I don't need to say any more because their work speaks for itself.
Check them out:
http://wearebuild.com

Pixel People

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My laptop seems to get slower everyday, and that's because of the build up of work I've got on it.
It's always nice to look back and see designs you did about 2 or 3 years ago, and this is what this post is.
I made these little characters in 2005 when I was 15 (5 years ago).
Here I've put them next to a picture of the person they were based on.
Great fun!

The Helvetica Disease

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After watching the Helvetica film, I found it very interesting to see different opinions of the font, from highly rated designers and typographers.
I came to the conclusion that I love the font, and it can be used for almost anything if used correctly, BUT designers should not limit themselves to this one typeface.
For this poster I used Pentagon Design, a Bridgend based design agency as the subject for the design.
The reasoning behind this poster is to show how Helvetica is everywhere, almost like a disease, and Pentagon Design were the most recent victims.
I used Pentagon's logo to create DNA, I then changed their DIN typeface to Helvetica, to show the transition of the Helvetica take over.
Just a bit of fun, for my design a thing a day project (when I have time).
http://www.pentagondesign.co.uk

Portfolio Update

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Over the past 48 hours I've designed 2 film posters, one for Layer Cake and another for Sin City.
They are on my online portfolio, but I thought I'd put them on here as well.
http://www.sionrees.co.uk

Cadbury

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I think we should all take a moment to appreciate the quality and creativeness that has come out of the Cadbury TV adverts over the last couple of years.
Here are some of my favorites.

1. The Gorilla drumming to Phil Collins by Sony Bravia = Gave me tingles when I watched it first.

2. The eye brows dance by Fallon = Very comical

3. Flake, directed by Baillie Walsh = Such a stunning piece, communicates "Flake" so clearly.

Hope everyone agrees.

Overlay design trend

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Recently I've been seeing a lot of the overlay effect within different designs.
Some have been logos, and others have been posters etc, maybe it all links in with the new 3D era we are about to embrace?
We all ready have the 3D Films in the cinema as well as 3D TV's in our living rooms, now it's become part of the 'trendy design community'.
I think this style might be one of the new trends, not having hands in your design, (via my previous post).
The top image is the Robyn launches 3D, interactive video found on the creative review blog, the second is a logo from Cardiff Bay based design studio Departures, and the third is a selection of logos found on the logo lounge.

Splash

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Some great 'Splash' photography here, really liking the use of the lighting and colour tones.
(Just a random collection from my inspiration folder).
Check out some more of this fantastic photography by Flickr User: Siebe.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/swarmoeskerken/3365818968/

Bell'

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Got called a 'bell' the other day, and it's made me laugh ever since...
So I made this.

Your Secret

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What a stunning video, that's all that needs to be said.
Your secret from vimeo user Jean-Sebastien Monzani.

Typography in water

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Some amazing posters here created by YouWorkForThem.
I found them when they tweeted about doing something different with the fonts they post.
The project was to collect 5 of their most popular fonts and see how they worked when added to water.
Great idea, great outcome. I'm a big fan.

Enzo Cleaning Products Cards

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Printers delivered the last latest business cards I designed today - Something a little different.

To be Frank...

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Here's a Stunning website created by Bridgend based design studio:
Pentagon Design LTD.
I'm currently doing a placement with them this summer, and I'm really enjoying it.
This site is a personal favorite of mine, because I just love everything about it, from the Browns and Blues to the layout itself.
They have loads of other great pieces in their portfolio, including print and video.
Check them out.

Hi.

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Here's a poster design I did today that uses the Helvetica typeface to create the alphabet.
After making the alphabet I used the poster as a word search to see what words I could find.
The outcome of my word search was: ‘Hi Stu’.
These words are referring to my house mate Stuart Williams, who (through this poster) I am saying hello to.
I then added a hand because I'm waving (through this poster) to my house mate Stuart Williams, while saying "Hi" - Do you like it? - I do.

Venice

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Some absolutely beautiful videos shot by Mark Stockdale Hughes
(More Found on his Vimeo).
He shoots his stuff on a Canon 7D, and many of his films are shot and edited in a day - I really like that.
I've chosen this one to post on here because I just love the shots, placidity and ambiance the film produces, as well as the soothing background music that works really well with the rest of the footage.
Check him out.

"Handy" design tips...

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I'm seeing a lot of these hands within designs recently, here are three different examples I've found today.
The top design was on the Departures Design website for the Ocean Community Services / Ludlow Street Health care.
The middle image is the front cover of a little book I found laying around the studio today, and the bottom image is from Karl Maier and Craig Redman's exhibition (found on the Creative Review website today.)
Are these hands the new style in design? I doubt it, but I might have to do some sort of a design containing a hand, just in case.

SouthLAnd

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Just watched 'Southland', a new series on More4 that started on the 1st of July.
From the same producers as ER, it stars Ben McKenzie (Ryan for The OC) as a 'rookie' police officer in LA.
While the opening credits came on, I noticed the conceptual and subtle design of the typography used for the title, with the L and the A kerning closer to show LA within the Southland title.
This is the type of conceptual design I want to be doing.
Check out the show, it's well worth a watch.
(I'm already hooked, and I've only seen one!)

http://www.channel4.com/programmes/southland/4od#3082528

Bingo

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Some great work here by Mr.Bingo, found him on twitter while setting up the sick boy twitter account.
He's one of those people that can make a doodle you would scribble in the corner of your note pad during a boring lesson, look fantastic, even though a 2 year old could have drawn it.
Check his stuff out - http://www.mr-bingo.org.uk/

Becks, Brown & Gallagher?!

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Becks, Brown & Gallagher all in one? - You have to love it.
Once you have watched the beautifully edited video, take a second to admire the typeface used on the image above. Very nice.
All this is found on the David Beckham website http://www.davidbeckham.com/.

Collaboration

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Got the prints of the business card collaboration me and Rees Snr did last week... they are looking boom ting if I do say so myself!
When you use Helvetica correctly your design can never look bad.

Artofcell

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Some visually pleasing theatrical posters designed by Marcell Bandicksson a Swedish designer based in LA.
It took me a while to decide which of the posters to put up here because I love them, all but I think the Burn Notice ones are my favorite by a very narrow margin.
http://www.artofcell.com/

Days with my father

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Found this on the Black Maths Blog.
In the post I was warned it could make me cry... It did.
I'm very glad I read it though, because it was a very touching and beautiful story.
The tears I produced were ones of sadness and happiness.
An emotional roller coaster - http://www.dayswithmyfather.com/
(Did I mention the photographs were excellent too?)

Catotography

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Some fantastic pictures here from Byron Edwards, a South Wales based photographer.
I've chosen his cat collection to show as they are my personal favorites.
Check him out - http://www.byronedwards.com