Focus and fruit

Solace Focus, November 2011 issue

Hello from Howabout Towers.

Here are a two recent projects I have been working on. The first one is a quarterly pdf magazine for the 'Society of Local Authority Chief Executives and Senior Managers'. It's quite a nice publication to work on, although the content is fairly dry and there isn't a huge amount of opportunity to be creative with images. It's very much information driven - clean and concise with an easy navigation system and external email and web links. It usually runs to between 45 and 60 pages and has a relatively quick turnaround time. The supplied copy is written to a fairly polished standard, so text amends after design has begun are pretty light, and that obviously helps immensely with the whole process.

YorkTest Laboratories direct mailer

The second project is for YorkTest Laboratories, for who I do a lot of design work. Featured here is the latest direct mailer, aimed at customers who have taken an initial food intolerance test but can now go into more detail with a second test and find out which foods specifically they are reacting to.

As ever with YorkTest design briefs, there is good potential to mix some nice typography with great images of food and drink. It's sometimes tempting to use multiple food images as there is a whole array of ingredients that are tested, but on this occasion I thought it would be good to focus on just one really nice image. I think the interaction between image and copy works well, and the curve of the bubbles leaves the all important space top left to include the recipients address.

Please click on the link below to see further examples of my work.

Visit www.howabout.co.uk

Photography exhibition

This is a recent graphic design project that I did for Acceleris in Harrogate for their client the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society. My brief was to design an invitation (shown below) to a wonderful photography exhibition and also the accompanying exhibition brochure (front and back cover spread, and inside spread shown above).

The Shipwrecked Mariners' Society put on the exhibition called ‘Celebrations of the Sea’ – the world’s first photography exhibition underwater featuring images of individuals whose lives are dominated by the ocean. It opened at the Sea Life Centre in Brighton on 21st October and then travels around several more Sea Life Centres through November and into December.

It was a brilliant project to be part of - not only was there the opportunity to be creative with the design of the brochure and invite, but the images from the exhibition were, of course, amazing.

The brochure briefly featured each of the people represented in the exhibition, as well as highlighting the work of the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society themselves. As they state in the introduction to the brochure...

'Celebrations of the Sea aims to honour the maritime industry’s unsung heroes. From the fishermen who brave the UK’s stormiest seas and traditional lobster pot makers who keep precious traditions alive to our most talented celebrity chefs who transform fish into some of the nations favourite dishes – all are celebrated in this unique and special photography exhibition.

'Born out of a partnership between national maritime charity the Shipwrecked Mariners’ Society and renowned underwater photographer and TV Producer Kate Westaway, the project is a celebration of those hardworking individuals who work in and around the sea.'

Without a doubt, this is my favourite graphic design project that I have worked on this year and I'm very pleased with the end result.

Please click on the link below to see further examples of my work.

Visit www.howabout.co.uk