Kathleen Hale

Kathleen Hale is a  British children’s author and illustrator. Hale is most renowned for her series of publications named “Orange the Marmalade Cat”, however I cannot say I have ever come across any of these publications before, unlike with Shirley Hughes where something in my mind triggered from my Childhood.

When doing more research into her work, I realise maybe why it is I never came across any of her work, and this is because it dates back as far as the 1920s, so this could arguably be why it never made it into my life as a child.

When looking at her styles it could be fair to say they are very accurate portrayals, nothing necessarily abstract or obscure about them

Pentagram

Pentagram has a vast number of clients associated with it and this is evident by looking at their back catalogue of work for a wide variety of companies. Pentagram is a design studio that was founded in 1972 by a number of designers in West London. They have worked on campaigns such as Windows 8, WeightWatchers and John Lewis. Interestingly enough as mentioned in another post I am currently working on a brief for Penguin Publications.

The Rebranded Penguin and Puffin Books Logo – http://www.pentagram.com/work/#/all/all/newest/1268/

I decided to take a look into the Windows rebranding and what the new logo might convey compared to the other logo. This is because in my opinion, I think this new design is a step backwards and loses what makes the logo interesting.

Windows 8 launched at Microtropolis, a special public exhibition designed by Mother New York at Pier 57 in New York. – http://new.pentagram.com/2012/10/windows-8-launches/

 

The previous Windows Logo [Top] and the New rebranded logo for the Microsoft Operating System [Bottom]

I can understand where they were trying to go with the new image. The imaged pictured above shows a large add campaign held to gain backing and publicity. And the new vibrant, modern and fresh concept surrounding the new operating system does make it extremely viable as an operating system which is ready for future technologies, however I feel the logo lacks depth and a point of interest compared to the other logo.

Eboy

When first looking into the company Eboy, I instantly became intrigued as to what the company produces and the origins of the company itself. Upon first arrival at the companies main site, it is evident that the main foundations of their work are built on pixel art.

An example of Eboy’s work displayed on their home page – http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/

Further research lead me to find out that the company was founded  in 1997 by Kai Vermehr, Steffen Sauerteig and Svend Smital. The group states that they feel their work is an extension of their childhoods, maintaining the aspects of fun, colour and play whilst creating their artwork. Influences for the group include Lego and Pop Art, and some of their more notable work involved creating Pixel version of major cities around the world, much the one pictured above, depicting Rio De Janeiro in Brazil.

The London version of Eboy’s work, you can see iconic landmarks included in the artwork – http://hello.eboy.com/eboy/2008/10/13/london-poster-slightly-updated/

The company has now also branched out into creating merchandise and also create pixel portraits of people. Their website now also allows you to purchase prints of some of their more famous work.

Saul Bass

Saul Bass is an American Graphic Designer who has also expanding into working with motion picture, and also worked alongside many film productions. Bass is the person responsible for many corporate identities such as the giant American cellular network AT&T and the airline United Airlines

Original AT&T Logo designed by Bass [Left], Compared to redesigned version used from 2009 onwards http://annyas.com/images/saul-bass/saul-bass-old-new-at-t.png

The United Airlines Logo from Bass, which was used from 1974 till 2010 – http://www.huntlogo.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/07/united-airlines-logo.jpg

Bass also worked on creating the introductions and title sequences.

(It’s a Mad Mad Mad Mad World [1963, Kramer] – Opening Credits by Bass)

(Oceans Eleven [2011, Soderbergh] – Opening Credits by Bass)

It is evident by these two example from Saul Bass’ film work, that he has a unique style and is greatly interested in Animation and how simple shape forms and colours can be combined together with colour and movement to represent certain things, and how also text can be incorporated into said animations.

John Maeda

Possibly one of the more well known people in his field , Maeda originally steered his career towards software design and development, however over time became fascinated with the work of Paul Rand and Muriel Cooper. How I personally recognise the name is from publication Maeda created “The Laws of Simplicity”, which sets out guidelines for how to design and how less is more often than not, more.

Maeda’s Home Page – “MAEDASTUIDO” – http://www.maedastudio.com/index.php

You can see his laws of simplicity in effect here. The website is extremely simple and only includes what is needed to into to avoid confusing and bombarding the user.

[http://youtu.be/WAuDCOl9qrk?t=4m55s]

Here you can see Maeda’s design principles and he also demonstrates some of his work he has done in the past

Ian Pollock

When looking over Pollock’s work the word that spring to mind with regards to his overall style is bleak. Although this is just my personal opinion and doesn’t mean I necessarily dislike the work, this is just the overall tone and impression I get from his work.

An example of Pollock’s illustrative style – http://eichgallery.org/pollocksepicurus/12.html

http://eichgallery.org/pollocksepicurus/

I think a lot of, if not most people would agree that the work is quite sinister. There are also element of phallic symbols within some of the work giving it an almost disturbed edge.

Even when Pollock is illustrating for a portrait, the tone and style does not change.  Below is an example of one of his portraits included in a publication which to me retains the same sinister and dark style.

Article about Lindsey Buckingham with Pollock’s illustration – http://ianpollock.co.uk/portraits/buckingham.html

Johnathan Barnbrook

Barnbrook has many titles to his name, such as graphic designer, film makers and typographer, which makes sense when looking over his vast and extensive work which has branched out into many areas of ‘design’. Even his homepage for his site emphasises this and does himself justice compared to some of the other people included in this brief

http://www.barnbrook.net – Image of said homepage

Here you can see his work is at the forefront of the site, and creates an instant impact to anybody visiting the site. His contact details are separated into different departments and can be located in the top left so no one is left searching for these details, all other text/links are either isolated in corners of the page and the opacity is taken down slightly to ensure the focus is on the work.

His work with film used an interesting animation style and uses motion graphics to convey a message to its audience.

Frame from the video Remember Tibet (2008)
http://film.barnbrook.net/film_pol_7.html

This is a link to a video created by Barnbrook to explain the politics surrounding Tibet. He uses audio and video without text to explain in detail political issues surrounding this area.

Example of Fonts – http://www.virusfonts.com/about

Barnbrook also has a separate site/brand deditcated to his work with fonts and type. The site “Virus Fonts” was founded in 1997 and is the result of Barnbrooks creations collaborating with  Marcus Leis Allion. It pushes the boundaries of type by creating arguably experimental fonts

Sara Fanelli

http://www.sarafanelli.com/docs/bg03.html – Work done for a pizza restaurant demonstrating argument above

When looking over Sara Fanelli’s work, and more specifically her portfolio I instantly thought of work by Johnny Hannah. With regards to how she combines type with her own illustrations and isn’t afraid to experiment with how text looks.

Just from this piece of work alone you can see how obscure the illustrations can be and how she uses text as its own medium to create an impact.
Coincidentally, Fanelli has also designed a book cover for Penguin publications, which is another brief I am working on at the moment, and granted its not the same publication I am designing for, it is interesting to take a look at work like this to see what penguin deem as a design suitable enough for print.

Not only does Fanelli do work for other publications, she also creates a wide variety of medias, such as a prints and illustrative books, the prints are only available via her website which leads me onto one critisism I have.  Because it is evident that she relies heavily on her website for awareness and also to a certain extent for sales, the site does not do Fanelli justice. More specifically the site needs to be more enticing to the user, more animated and interactive. Also one aspect of the site which I found rather annoying and inconvenient was the way when a link is clicked, the destination opens in a popup window rather than the original.

Fanelli’s design for “The Snobs” [Muriel Spark, 2002, Penguin]

Ross Collins

Born, raised and educated in Glasgow, Scotland, Ross Collins is a an illustrator who has made quite a name for himself in the children’s publication and illustration field. He moved down to London for two years to work on a piece he called “Scribbling Scotsman Abroad”. Educated at the Glasgow School of Art, upon graduating won the McMillian Children’s Book Award for his first publication “The Sea Hole”

More illustrations from the publications – rosscollins.net

Cover from the award winning “The Sea Hole”
– Amazon.co.uk

He has since returned to Scotland where he continues to illustrate and work on children’s publications. Looking through his page dedicated to him on Amazon, it is evident he has quite  few releases behind him.

With regards to his illustration style and way of work, I have picked up a couple of things. Although between each picture book he release there isn’t necessarily a set style he follows, I have noticed that he tend to draw people in similar ways. Below I have created a collage of a lot of the covers from his picture books and you can see the people always have scruffy hair and are drawn slightly elongated

and obscurely

Marketing Yourself! – Denise Chilton

When it comes to selling yourself to a company, agency, or just generally putting yourself out there in any industry, Denise Chilton is someone who I found extremely beneficial in taking a step back and taking a look at myself, and what I have to offer to a potential employer.

What I liked about this particular presentation was the interactivity involved throughout, unlike the majority of the other presentations, Denise encourage participation, group work and for people to express their opinions and ideas.

Things covered within the sessions were things along the lines of first impressions, their importance and how “.. You don’t have a second chance to make a first impression..”. This as well as how to present yourself in an interview situation, and placed massive importance on networking and “putting yourself out there”. All this combined together made it sink in for me how one of the most important factors in this industry, if not the most important, is the social side.

Chilton during the presentation