What’s your favourite part of the graphic design process?

July 2nd, 2009

Favourite part of the design process

A client recently came to us with an excellent idea for a site and I couldn’t wait to meet with them and get stuck into designing the visual. However when I thought about building the site I could feel a mild headache coming on. This got me thinking, what’s your favourite part of the graphic design process? I realise every project is different and some projects are a pure pleasure from beginning to end whilst others are just painful from the outset. However I still think there must be one part of the process where you think “I’m really looking forward to working on that…” Read the rest of this entry »

Some examples of our latest Flickr Photography

June 18th, 2009

Some examples of our latest Flickr Photography

Back in February I posted about my new hobby - photography. I set up a flickr account and for the past 4 months I’ve been snapping away at anything thats taken my fancy! I’ve posted a few of my favourite shots below: Read the rest of this entry »

How would you improve your graphic design studio or office?

June 1st, 2009

How would you improve your graphic design studio or office?

Just lately, we have been wondering how we could improve our graphic design studio to make it a more creative workspace. Whether it means adding a huge mural on the wall or simply designing some graphic art, we feel it could do with a bit of a change. After all, an extravagant and funky working space should give you an extra boost of inspiration! This led me to start looking at unusual and creative offices. Here are a few offices and creative spaces that take that concept to the extreme:

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Vintage and Retro 70’s Designed Architecture

May 27th, 2009

Vintage and Retro 70's Designed Architecture

Our regular readers will know that we really enjoy vintage and retro design. From old record sleeves to cars, we love the look of something that appears to have travelled in time from the past. We recently got looking at vintage and retro architecture, particular from the 1970’s. There is something so memorable about 70’s inspired architecture, the hard edges and cold concrete mixed with chocolate and cream colours. No wonder so many modern buildings are starting to take inspiration from this era. Read the rest of this entry »

How do you design something you don’t like?

May 19th, 2009

How do you design something you don't like?

This blog article is about something that I am sure happens to all designers at some point in their career - You are asked to design something you don’t actually like. Now it’s not that what you are designing is wrong, in fact it’s perfect for the intended market. However, you yourself are not the target market and the brief does not encompass your style. Therefore, you do not like what you are actually creating. 

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7 essential Wordpress resources, hacks and plugins

May 12th, 2009

Essential Wordpress Resouces

As we keep mentioning, we recently redesigned the Eightyone Design website. Over the long and painful 7 months it took us to get the new site up and running, we uncovered a lot of things we didn’t know about Wordpress. Ranging from plugins to hacks, we found there were a great deal of ways you can customise Wordpress to suit your needs. So I thought I would share with you some of the Wordpress resources I found and used for the redesign of our website:

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14 Items All Design Geeks Must Have!

May 5th, 2009

15 Items All Geeks Must Have!

Last year we published a post outlining what a graphic designer would take back to school. Since then, we have seen a number of what can only be described as ‘geeky’ items which I am sure you will all appreciate: Read the rest of this entry »

WBR World Beach Rugby Launches Their Summer 2009 Clothing Range

April 28th, 2009

WBR World Beach Rugby Launches Their Summer 2009 Clothing Range

We always know summer is approaching when we finally see our latest t-shirt and clothing designs available for sale on the WBR World Beach Rugby Website. It has once again been a long process since we started work on this seasons clothing range, but it is great to see the finished products now being sent out to Lovell Rugby’s loyal customers.   Read the rest of this entry »

13 beautiful examples of vintage 1970’s photography

April 21st, 2009

13 beautiful examples of vintage 1970's photography

There’s something special and unique about vintage photography. I’m not sure if it’s the grainy texture, the over exposure or the unsaturated colours that appeal to me, but they all seem so warm and inviting. I seem to have collected a few images with this vintage charm as my favourites on Flickr and thought I would share the images and their Photographers with you. Read the rest of this entry »

20 Cool RSS and Twitter Icons

April 14th, 2009

20 Cool RSS and Twitter Icons

Following the recent re-design of the Eightyone Design website we are now questioning the inclusion of some extras in the site design. First off is the RSS icon. Do wee need to have the RSS icon displayed on our website in order for users to instantly recognise they can subscribe to updates from us? Secondly is the Twitter icon and accompanying feed. Should we include our latest tweets on our blog? Similarly, should we also include a twitter style icon to allow people instant recognition that we are actively using Twitter? Read the rest of this entry »