Design By Alex

University Branding

alex — Sat, 12 May 2012 22:29:31 +0000

My new branding/logo for all of my current work:

the Alpine

alex — Sat, 12 May 2012 21:52:43 +0000

Wow, I totally love coming across new music artists, being an obsessed musician since the age of 7 I have to discover new sounds and ideas that create an emotional response other wise I find I cannot sustain a lengthy relationship, since the dawn of YouTube the visual performance of the artist has become an equally powerful medium for direct communication between the ‘listener’ and ‘performer’. The band ‘Alpine’ struck me on both of these levels, both harmonically and visually, the sound is a crisp dynamic progressive combination of both electronic and acoustic instrumentation which resonates deep within one’s imagination, the combination of the almost odd and eccentric melody and the unusual female harmony which run throughout all of the tracks coupled with their extremely artist video’s this band are out there somewhere in some kind of grey – white -black space….

This is my particular favourite, the guitar hook stands out but doesn’t not overwhelm the soft vocal interplay that both vocalists use.

Check out the motion graphics in the first verse…nice.

Motion Graphics Typography

alex — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 22:08:58 +0000

Here is my very first attempt at animating, and I would like to say that I am now addicted to Adobe After Effects!! Animation Rules!!

Life Drawing at Bobs

alex — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:28:57 +0000

Arvo Part Cello

alex — Wed, 25 Apr 2012 20:09:39 +0000

I have been listening to the most incredible music of the Estonian composer Arvo Part, whilst listening to a track named Silentium I became very inspired and thought of the Cello, Violin and the strings and the movement of the player.

Click the image to see the big version

Painting Emotion

alex — Sun, 22 Apr 2012 15:35:51 +0000

This is just a quick post today, I wanted to share two paintings I have made recently which I feel explore my love for colour. Basic colours are used on white cartridge paper to achieve instant attention.

Sketching Glyn Dwr & Montgomery

alex — Sun, 01 Apr 2012 17:36:20 +0000

We’ve been very fortunate with the weather lately, last weekend I sketched all day in Llangollen and it was absolutely cooking hot!!

Today was another amazing day here in North Wales, I decided that a relaxing afternoons sketching wouldn’t go a miss! So I headed off up to Montgomery where there are the remains of a once beautiful 13th Century Castle.

The remains of the castle present themselves as very large Welsh Brick structures overlooking the Shropshire flood plains and the Barron Hills of North Wales.

I also managed a quick sketch in the Studio Space at Glyn Dwr University this week.

The North Wales School of art and design is situated in an old Victorian Hospital right near Wrexham High Street. There are still very small remnants of the Old Hospital and one happens to be in our studio space. There is an original Gas Mains pipe shooting through the wall, that you dont take much notice of, but I happened to be working on a light box near this pipe the other day and marvelled at how large and spectacular it is! I didn’t finish the sketch, but its a step 1, and I shall return to make a more thorough drawing of it after easter.

Montgomery Castle

Gas Pipe

Sketching in Llangollen – 24th March 2012

alex — Sat, 31 Mar 2012 15:46:54 +0000

Sketching day, is my most favourite day, and it is a real treat to be able to go out and to sketch with the Master of Illustration, John G Swogger.
On saturday the 24th we went to Llangollen and ended up at the Railway station.

You can read lots more about our day of sketching by going to the Inside Out art blog and reading the full post by John;

Inside Out Blog

Here are some sketches I did on the day, these are black ink on Cartridge paper.

10 laws of Simplicity inspired poster

alex — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 20:31:43 +0000

John Maeda’s 10 Laws Of Simplicty

Typographic Poster in response to one of the laws of simplicty

I have worked up several sheets of typographic responses to John Maedas 10 laws of simplicty, this is a must read even if your not a designer as I feel a lot of the theory behind the laws can apply to modern society in both the emotional responses we have as well as aesthetic and functional.

I have chosen to show two versions of a response the the eight law which states;

In Simplicity we trust

These posters used a basic rule of thirds as well as some individual grid systems that worked with the particular rhythm and angle of the letter forms.

Poster 1

Poster 2

Lanyard Printing – Meat Is Murder

alex — Thu, 29 Mar 2012 12:22:06 +0000

This video which I found on tube explains a great process for screen printing onto a lanyard.