OUGD602 - Personal Branding

To create a unique and professional identity for my practice, my personal branding across website, CV, invoices and business cards is consistent to my general design aesthetic.


The typefaces used across printed and digital platforms is GT America Black Extended Italic:

Business card design, featuring personal information on the front and prominent projects on the back:

Two CV designs - a standardised white version and a black version for appropriate occasions:

Invoice template for client work:

OUGD602 - PPP Module Evaluation

Module Evaluation

This module how allowed me to greatly expand on the skills and knowledge needed to advance my future career as a freelance graphic design post-graduation. Contacting a variety of industry professionals allowed me to gain important connections that could be utilised further in the future for internships or possible employment. A number of the creatives I contacted did not respond to my communication, which indicated that communication skills could still be further improved. However, networking and discussing my work work has given me more confidence to approach professional creatives and ask for feedback in order to improve my portfolio. Continuing to work with my collective Shy Bairns has opened up many more opportunities, including working with The Tetley and being selected for New Contemporaries 2018. This has elevated our status as a group and given us more confidence to push the collective into a small business post-graduation. Ending this year as Editor-In-Chief of NEST magazine has given me a wealth of skills in editorial design and publication production, and I have gained connections with multiple print facilities that will be vital in my future career.

OUGD602 - Business Card Design

A business card design for potential freelance work.


Front

Featuring my initials in the right hand corner and key information about my specialisms cascading down to lead the eye directly to my website.

Back

Featuring logos from the most prominent projects in my portfolio to give potential clients an overview of my work without adding in the additional step of searching for my website or social media.

OUGD602 - Bloomberg New Contemporaries Typeface

This year Bloomberg New Contemporaries are working with the design studio HATO to create the branding for the exhibition and the catalogue. HATO have developed a system that allows the selected artists to create a collaborative typeface that will inform the overall branding, and as selected artists, Shy Bairns was invited to participate.

HATO created a simple font tool that allowed artists to add and subtract weights to existing letterforms. The letters were presented through a range of words representing modern and historical contemporaries, from Picasso to the Kardashians.

This was an exciting, if indirect, opportunity to work with the HATO. I had previously contacted the design studio enquiring about an internship, but had no reply. Working with New Contemporaries could potentially open up further avenues of communication with HATO in regards to work experience of possible employment.

OUGD602 - Contacting The Gentlewoman

The Gentlewoman describes itself as 'a magazine for women of style and purpose'. It celebrates modern women of style and purpose. Its fabulous biannual magazine offers a fresh and intelligent perspective on fashion that’s focused on personal style – the way women actually look, think and dress. Featuring ambitious journalism and photography of the highest quality, it showcases inspirational women through its distinctive combination of glamour, personality and warmth.

They recently advertised via their instagram account that they were looking for a graphic design intern. 

The magazine holds many of the same values as myself, and their style of design is something that I aspire to within my own personal practice. The following message was sent via the email provided:

Hello!

I saw your instagram post about needing a Graphic Design intern, and wanted to enquire about the position!

As a designer I specialise in editorial design and publication production. Identity and representation form a large part of my practice, particularly focusing on the LGBT community, which would make me highly suited to the magazine. Working with The Gentlewoman would be a fantastic opportunity for me and I would be excited to bring my ideas and enthusiasm to this position.

Attached are a couple of examples from my portfolio and my CV. Further examples can be supplied if needed.

Many thanks,
Erin Blamire

Attached were samples of my work, including NEST issues 10 and 13, and About Honey. There has been no reply as of yet.

OUGD602 - NEST Website

To further NEST as a platform for the university's students the magazine should exist beyond the printed issue. There is also no existing system to archive past issues, launches or workshops. To resolve this I created a website for NEST.

Content for the website had to include individual pages for each issue of the magazine, as well as an information section. Due to the restrictions of creating the website under the Leeds Arts Union name, I was required to use Wix as a website building. There are many limitations to using Wix, the primary one being that websites created through Wix are not responsive to different screen sizes. Therefore all content has to be placed inside of a specified grid to guarantee it will appear on all platforms.

However, this resulted in a simple yet effective layout, featuring menu options along the top of the website and drop-down sub-menus for navigation between pages.

As each issue of the magazine so far has featured its own unique design and colour scheme, it was important to have a minimal colour palette for the website to allow the information to be conveyed clearly without overwhelming the user. For this reason the only colours used throughout the website's design are black and white.


Landing Page

An interactive landing page that features the NEST logo in stroke. When touched by the users mouse the logo reverts to solid white. The website can be entered by clicking the logo.

Intro Page

An introductory page that features a video trailer about the magazine. This is the first page on the website to feature the menu options in the top bar.

About

The about page features a selection of frequently asked questions detailing the history of the magazine, the process of submitting work, and where students can find out more.

Issues Menu

As there is a substantial archive of past magazine, a drop-down menu from the Issues tab with links to each issue and other printed material allows for easy navigation.

Issue 01

Pages for the early issues feature only basic information with a scrolling slideshow of the magazine and details of the date and editor. Further information about the work submitted or any launch events is not available.

Issue 02

Issue 03

Issue 04

Issue 05

Issue 06

Pages for the issues created under the previous editor Josiah Craven feature information of the students featured in the issue and the printers used, but any further information about these issues is not available.

Issue 07

Issue 08

Issue 09

Issue 10

The issues produced by myself feature more extensive information, including a series of professional portfolio shots and photographs from the issues launch event.

Issue 11

Issue 12

LGBT Zine

Also included is a zine produced as part of the university's LGBTQ+ History Week.

NEST Unseen

As a means of providing exposure for all students who submit to the magazine, rather than just those selected for print, a new feature called NEST Unseen was created. Unseen is an infinitely scrolling gallery that features all the work that is received, including details of each student and the work.

Contact

A basic contact page which features an interactive email address link