Final identity

www.studioco-lab.co.uk is live

As we have bought the domain already, we both felt that we should put something up even if it's just the site name and our contact details. So after some discussion on the design of it, Ian managed to code a holding page up, which is based on his current website. The holding page showcases thumbnails of a mixture of our work, with a few GIFs thrown in there aswell.

www.studioco-lab.co.uk

Prospectus Pitch

Our design boards for pitching for the LCA Prospectus. We developed 3 different routes, 3 different specifications and a the required spreads.

Studio Co-Lab Portfolio

As part of our first Studio Co-Lab and collaboration since 2nd year, Ian and I have spent a couple of evening working on the pitch for next year's prospectus. As part of the submission, we were required to submit a portfolio of our work aswell, which was a good chance for us to put our work together for the first time.

Here is it:

Final business card design [for now]

Front & back respectively.

Proposed specification:
540 gsm black / ebony one sided white foil

Developed business cards 02

Further developments, I've changed ; I've taken my favourite design and make some minor tweaks to it. One of the biggest difference with these is the size of the card itself, which has been reduced in height my 10mm.

Business Card development

I'm well aware that I'm at the point where I really need to start getting some business cards ready for the end of year show and for when I graduate. Eventhough I am planning on gaining some professional experience through internships and placements for the first year of graduating, and ultimately getting a job out of it, I would still need business cards for picking up freelance work. This also ties in with our joint venture of studio co-lab with Ian Prentice, which would act as a loose freelance partnership between us both, which would also allow us to pursue other opportunities.

My last cards were laser cut onto 4mm acrylic, which was impressive to hand out but was only a viable option for short amounts. I'm now looking to print between 500 - 1000 cards which would last me a few years hopefully. I think 500 would be a safe amount really but looking at some of the quotes I've been receiving, I'm a bit tempted to go the extra bit and get 1000 instead.

Here are some development anyway, straight away I've changed from the initial portrait orientation to landscape as it feels a bit more standardised but also something that I'm a bit more used to looking at, I really don't want to be fed up with my own business card after a few months so just tried to focus my design on pure function and with a considered approach.

I've decided not to use colour purely because of 2 reasons:
1. I can't decide on one
2. Don't want it to date so quickly, so focused on perfecting the layout/type and keep it neutral. 


Also 2 reasons for designing just for 1 side:
1. I can barely manage to afford foil for one side let alone duplex!
2. I'm not putting a full address onto my cards so felt that having it both sides meant that both sides would looks really bare especially as I don't particularly want a 'logo'.

Open publication - Free publishing - More business cards

A selection of my personal favourites.

Progress Surgery - Rob - Elmwood

Setting up Studio Co-Lab

As mentioned in our PPD presentations, Ian and I have been planning on setting up a business initially for freelance work together. In the recent few weeks, we have registered the company, and purchased our domain ready for a website launch soon!

Level 06 PPD Presentation

Open publication - Free publishing - More graphic design

Easter Placement : Design Project

During the easter break, I was very fortunate to gain some professional experience at Design Project - definitely one of my favourite design studios outside of London. I was asked initially to pop round for a week to see how things went, but got offered to stay for a 2nd week eventually.

to be continued...

Printed promotional material?

Currently contemplating whether or not I should/need to develop a printed promotional piece ready for when I graduate. I've always had the intention to develop a mailer pack of some sort to post out to some of my favourite design studios but have waited till this point as I didn't feel that my work was of the standard that I wanted it to be yet. Initial ideas of these promotional pieces could potentially be a small newspaper, a folded sheet of A2 etc.

However now that I've had my website up for over a year now and the ease of just emailing people and receiving feedback electronically seems so efficient, I'm starting to question the need of producing a printed piece. I am aware of the benefits and the appeal of a printed promotional materials, but as I'm starting to identify who/what I want to design and to position myself as a designer for when I finish, I'm still left questioning the need for it and what I would get from this.

Because of the feedback I have been getting on my work, and the types of studio's that I will be targeting I think i'll just stick with my website for now and emailing a PDF instead. The printed promotional piece could potentially be something I'd leave behind during a studio visit or something to consider having for the end of year show that people who are interested could take away with them.

Placement : RAW

Sometime over reading week, I was offered a paid placement at Raw Design studio in Manchester for a month which will start straight after I graduate. This is great news for me, not only for the opportunity to gain experience while getting some sort of payment, but the fact that this will be directly straight after I finish the course.

I haven't really got any plans as to where I'd like to settle down after the course, I have my eyes set on a few places in the UK aswell as potential destinations overseas and in Europe, however all that takes a lot of planning so this is definitely great timing for me to gain some experience straight after. I'm quite terrified by the idea of not having anything planned after so this extra month of having some sort of schedule should be good.

Raw design is a relatively small scale studio who do a range of things from branding to printed materials for commercial and cultural clients, which is exactly what I'm after. I went to see them in summer 2010 and have since kept in contact via email, which has paid off! Overall I'm looking forwards to the experience. should be a good one!

Below are a few samples of their work taken from their website.

Placement : Qubik

Since November last year, I've been going to Joe's studio for a one day a week placement on and off, depending on how busy college work got. More recently I've picked this back up now that the dissertations been submitted. Although I do have quite a lot of work on from college, I feel that having a single day out of uni would be a good additional practice, which is also manageable alongside everything else that I have on. It makes me manage my time and days more efficiently knowing that I have a day less than everyone else to be in the studio, which makes more committed to my work I guess. So far, it's working out alright, I'm getting decent professional experience, getting a different taste of studio culture than my previous placements and working on quite a diverse range of work quite often for the cultural sector.

What I enjoy about the experience from Qubik is that it's a small design studio so getting feedback on my work and the dialogue is very casual, unlike other placements when I'd probably only get to see the art director once every 3 days while I'm there. In general, I'm enjoying the experience and hope to continue this for a few more weeks and see where that goes.

Studio Visits : Sandy Choi

Studio Visits : Co Design

Studio Visits : Eric Chan Design

Studio Visits : Tommy Li Design Workshop

Studio Visits : Sixstation

The 2nd studio visit while in Hong Kong was with Benny Luk - founder of Sixstation design studio.

In general, the discussion I had with Benny from Sixstation was again quite insightful and at times off putting in terms of working in hong kong. He went through my portfolio picking out questions and challenging my thought process which gave me the opportunity to explain my decisions and design practice.

One of benny's main points was that I needed a bit more variation in my folio, he complimented on my use of typography and that my knowledge, skills and ability with using type in my design was evident in the work, but if I was to consider working in Hong Kong, I should really consider experimenting and including other types of work such as digital media, motion and web etc.

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Studio Visits : Milkxhake

During the reading week I took some time off in Hong Kong. I was aware that this would most probably be the last time I'd visit the place while still as a student so wanted to make the most of the opportunity to network and ask around about the design industry in Hong Kong. I was fortunate enough to arrange meetings throughout the week with 6 of my more admired design studios in Hong Kong, ones that showed a great flare in ideas, quality and type of work for a design studio in the city that related to my practice and aspirations.

The first studio I went to speak to was Milkxhake
A studio that I've been following since 1st year so was very excited to have been able to meet up with the co founder - Javin Mo, who has an admirable client list, collection of quality work and achievements for a 2 man design studio in Hong Kong.