Healthcare examples

Morning world and welcome to a blustery Tuesday morning in September.

Beaucare Medical
Today I thought I'd showcase a couple of recent bit of graphic design work completed for clients in the healthcare sector, starting with a press ad for Beaucare Medical in Harrogate (shown above). Its a monthly full page ad that appears in Caring UK magazine and focuses on a selection of the products they offer.

Bradfern
Below is the front page of a 2 page A4 leaflet designed for Bradfern in Oldham, again it showcases some of the products on offer for care homes and the like. This is the first of what will hopefully be a suite of promotional materials, each one focusing on different areas of the business.

Actually, I haven't listed the tunes that have been spinning on the Howabout hi-fi for a while now have I!? A man can't design in total silence after all. Well I can't anyway. A look on the iTunes 'recently played' list indicates it's Fleetwood Mac, Prodigy, Ozric Tentacles, Rolling Stones, NWA, Fleet Foxes and Dinosaur Jr. Not bad...

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"The best brochure I have ever had designed."

What a successful and enjoyable graphic design project I have just completed for YorkTest Laboratories in York. I was asked to design a guidebook (page samples above) and diary (page samples below) for their DrinkScan programme, which helps to establish whether customers are intolerant to various ingredients in drinks. Obviously they needed to have the same theme running throughout to make it clear they were sister publications and as the subject matter was drinks, I decided to use a nice, clinical image of clear water as an striking cover (which also reflected the tone of the DrinkScan logo nicely).

The turnaround on the job was very fast - just under a week from the initial brief being taken to print ready artwork being delivered for printing. Not bad for one 16 page A5 document, and one 28 page A5 document. But even better was the feedback from Laura Seaton, Senior Project Manager at YorkTest Laboratories...

"I have been working in marketing for 13 years and it is the best looking brochure I have ever had designed."

Praise indeed!

















The graphic design process was helped by virtually faultless copy being supplied by the client, and we selected a nice array of images to work with (although we padded them out with some additional ones from my archives that I thought would work well). I think it's a great example of the quality of design work that can be produced by Howabout Creative Solutions even when time is of the essence.

We now have a little more time to produce a DL size sales brochure to accompany the diary and guidebook, which again will follow the same theme, so the end result will be a really nice suite of publications.

I really hope to get more projects along these lines as I love doing them, and when I get feedback such as this from clients, the buzz is amazing. Check out my website for further work - the link is below.

Visit www.howabout.co.uk

Wales, Led Zeppelin and art.

Good Monday morning all. I'm back in front of the Mac after a weeks camping in mid Wales. It was awesome despite the mostly rainy weather - a nice mix of culture and campfires, beaches and barbeques, nature and nonsense.

I was pleasantly surprised to find we were camping just a stone's throw from Bron Yr Aur - the cottage made famous by Jimmy Page and Robert Plant of Led Zeppelin and where they wrote much of 'Led Zeppelin III' and various other tracks that appeared on 'Houses of the Holy' and 'Physical Graffiti'. Of course I had to play the song 'Bron Yr Aur' on my iPod while standing round the campfire (on more than one occasion actually), in homage to one of the greatest bands of all time.

We made a visit to the Museum of Modern Art in Machynlleth too (http://www.momawales.org.uk/) which is a fab place. As well as featuring a wonderful exhibition of paintings by Matthew Wood, the place was also gearing up for the Machynlleth Festival and our visit coincided with some great folk music from Chile, which my daughter adored and (rightly so) insisted we stop and listen to a while.

The Centre for Alternative Technology (http://www.cat.org.uk/) was another inspiring place to visit. It's one of those places where, as well as the expected green and eco-friendly solutions for sustainable living that are on display, you will stumble on nice, quirky pieces of design such as slabs of slate featuring typography and carved elements of trees; sculptures of hares out-running a fox; and living-willow tunnels for kids to dash through. I would love to return (and I would love it not to be raining when I do!).

Aberdyfi is gorgeous, the mountains amazing, the sandy beaches fun-filled and the wildlife spectacular. For now it's back to designing and creating though...

Visit www.howabout.co.uk

Work, music and holidays

Busy, busy, busy... that's what I've been lately. Which is great. Hope it stays that way. Actually it will definitely stay that way for the next six weeks or so, what with it being the school holidays. It definitely adds an extra dimension of complexity to the working day when you have a young daughter requiring attention, but its a nice problem to have. It means there will be enforced breaks from the computer screen too, which will be welcome, and also a couple of breaks away from home, starting with this weekends Deer Shed Festival in North Yorkshire. I'm really looking forward to it - I do like my festival fix each summer and this one sounds like a lovely family-friendly, chilled out affair. Despite the fact that we don't get there until Saturday, it's already started well, as I won a Deer Shed hoodie in a competition this week. Fab! I'll be suitably branded when onsite then!

There has been a flurry of graphic design activity with York Test Laboratories (in York) this month with a swathe of mailers coming through the studio (a selection are pictured above) - they are always nice things to work on too.

As well as that I have been helping out at Kariba in Harrogate, and continue to work with Acceleris MC, also in Harrogate, and Bradfern in Oldham. Oh and I've created a logo and collateral for Red Cat Property in Harrogate as well. One of the 'To Let' boards is shown here, so look out for them dotted around Harrogate and the surrounding area.






















Almost as important as the work I've been doing is the tunes I've been listening to. This week, Fleet Foxes' 'Helplessness Blues', Gruff Rhys (who I saw at Harrogate Theatre this Monday playing a suitably brilliant, unpredictable, funny and unique gig. He's a talented fella, that man), Thievery Corporation and Death in Vegas.

Visit www.howabout.co.uk

Glastonbury (I should be there).

It's been a funny old week this one. The week felt odd to start with on Monday. There was graphic design work to do, quotes to submit and the usual marketing jobs to done, but something didn't quite feel right. And then I realised. It's Glastonbury week and I wasn't going to be there. I don't go every year by any means but me, my wife and young daughter went last year and the year before and it feels wrong not to be there this year. Oh I know it's going to rain and get muddy, but I was there in 2007 when it was like a monsoon for the entire weekend and still had a brilliant time (although admittedly I didn't have my daughter there that year as she was only one at the time).

I know I can catch it all on TV and the radio (in fact I'm tuning in as I type) but I don't know whether that makes me feel better or worse about not being there. I hear there are already folk whining about the appearance of U2 (but when is there not whining about the appearance of a particular headliner or lineup) but the festival is so much more than just about the live music. Since we started taking our daughter, I've seen less and less live bands but had a better and better time, as I get to see stuff I otherwise never would have (and I can remember what I saw when I get home too, which is always a bonus!).

As the festival takes a break next year it means the earliest opportunity to go back there is 2013, but I'm gonna do my best to make sure we are all there then. There really is no place like it. To soften the blow of missing it this year, we are going to attend Deer Shed Festival in North Yorkshire next month, which I am looking forward to. Oh and Gruff Rhys at Harrogate Theatre too.

Still, this week the likes of OCS, Beaucare and new clients Red Cat Property and Bradfern have kept me busy and means that Howabout Creative Solutions continues to produce a varied portfolio of graphic design work for clients regional and national.

Visit www.howabout.co.uk

KierTalk

It's been a few weeks since the last blog from Howabout Creative Solutions in Harrogate and that is largely due to the busy work schedule recently. I have been working on a variety of interesting design projects for a variety of both regional and national clients. It has certainly meant long hours, but really that's what gives me a buzz - I do love what I do.

One project that has really been fun to work on has been 'KierTalk' (with Charley Durham from Acceleris), the newsletter for Kier Building Maintenance. It's a 16 page tabloid magazine, and I've picked it up (from a graphic design point of view) at issue 7. Although the client considered implementing a 'design development' from the existing look (and liked the visuals I produced) it was decided that, for the sake of continuity, to run with the established look. However, that didn't mean there wasn't room for creative thinking and with that in mind I tried to inject some new design ideas into the layout. Headline fonts had a punchier look, pictures interacted more with the text, and graphic devices introduced to highlight facts and figures. The end was result was well received by both Kier and Acceleris which is great news and means that a really good platform has been established for the next issue.

Of course a few killer tunes have helped the creative process and what better way to choose the tunes by picking random letters from the alphabet. Wednesday was brought to me by the letter 'S' - Sisters of Mercy, Smiths, St Etienne, Stooges, Stranglers, Super Furry Animals and Seasick Steve, while Thursday featured 'P' - Penguin Café Orchestra, Primal Scream, PiL, Public Enemy, Polyphonic Spree, Police and Prodigy. I think like this way of choosing my tunes.

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Bit more Inspiration

As promised from the last blog, I have attached a few 'live' photos from Acceleris's 'Inspiration Station' room in all it's glory. The results look even better now that the furniture is in place too, particularly as some of the colours from the graphics are picked out in the colour of the tables, stools and bean bags. It's nice to see the room being well used by folk as well - and there's even a quick poker lesson laid out on the blackboard wall - brilliant!!

Other work continues apace including one or two other projects for Acceleris (including a nice chunky tabloid magazine) and some new projects for Beaucare Medical.

I've also had the opportunity to work with my old mate Mark Frudd (http://www.markfrudd.com/) on a project, which has been nice. He's a very talented illustrator and is creating a gorgeous map of Harrogate to drop into a supplement for Acceleris. If you get the chance, I'd highly recommend checking out his stuff.

Inspirational music on the Howabout hifi recently has largely been provided by The Pogues, The Charlatans, Nick Drake, The Libertines and Dinosaur Jr. Niiiiice

Visit www.howabout.co.uk