We’ve all been there, there’s no need to paint you a detailed picture, client chooses to source their own images and their way of doing this is to punch in what they want into a Google images search, find an image, send you a link, you explain the image is copyrighted and cannot be used, client kicks up a fuss, you end up sourcing legitimate images.
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Posted in Blogging, Freelancing, Graphic Design
The Dawlish Learning Partnership (or DLP) is a partnership promoting learning at the heart of the community, encouraging collaboration between all community organisations involved in supporting learning. Back in March we were approached by the Dawlish Learning Partnership to create a logo for the organisation. The process went well and we created a logo which the client (as well as ourselves) were particularly pleased with. The logo has now been applied to a range of media as such as posters and letterheads.
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Posted in Graphic Design, News, Portfolio, Web Design
Back in May 2009 we posted some geeky items that all graphic designers would like. Then, in September we followed this up with even more! And I bet you all thought we’d shown you all the geekiest items available to you, well after scouring the web (and some great suggestions from our readers) we have another post full of them! They just keep coming! (more…)
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Posted in Design Resources, Graphic Design
Working with colour in graphic design can be a minefield. Pantones, RGB and CMYK can all be confusing and it is sometimes a very tricky concept to convey to clients. We usually hit this problem full force during the logo design process. The clients shiny new logo design will come packaged as an eps, pantoned and ready to use.
However, due to backlight computer screens displaying RGB approximations for the pantone the colour can look very different on a monitor. To combat this, we also create a version of the logo for web, with an accompanying RGB reference. We try to explain the basics (outlined below) and emphasise that you will always have problems with colour matching across different mediums.
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Posted in Colour, Graphic Design
AIS is an International School based in Sydney, Australia. They provide education to the highest academic standard, and have a practical approach to teaching and learning while catering to both international and local students with its integrated Australian and American curriculum.
AIS were looking for someone to re-design their website and found us through our graphic design blog. Several Skype meetings later they accepted our proposal and had a strong brief to work to. AIS already had a team of programmers in house and required us to design and build template HTML pages that they could use to build, edit and expand the website themselves.
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Posted in Graphic Design, News, Portfolio, Web Design
Prioritise is a small business which was established in July 2007 and is based in Devon. It provides administrative, marketing and planning support to consultants and businesses throughout the South West. Managing Director Lucy Ash approached Eightyone Design to design and develop a new logo design and brand identity for the marketing and virtual PA company. (more…)
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Posted in Branding, Graphic Design, Logo Design, News, Portfolio
A little while ago I was given a project and confidently told “Don’t worry it won’t take you long, we’ve got brand guidelines” With a spring in my step I opened the email and glanced down at the lonely half page of A5 which was their guidelines. Needless to say the brand guidelines left something to be desired and consisted of a logo, the correct pantone colours, and accompanying font. As you can imagine the project took longer than hoped as they didn’t have any consistent form of branding and I wasn’t given sufficient information as to what was required. However, we got there in the end and the client was more than happy with the final piece. (more…)
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Posted in Branding, Graphic Design
There have been a lot of articles written about stock photography lately, many of which believe that the use of it damages our creative industry. Rather than finding the perfect solution for a design brief, designers and clients alike log onto sites such as istock, fotolia and shutterstock, complete a quick image search which turns out average images that are far from perfect for their intended use. These photographs or stock vectors are not bespoke and have often been overused. A classic example is the ‘call us now…’ image on a contact page or catalogue showing a man or woman with a headset on! This image screams ’stock’ and should be extinct! (more…)
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Posted in Design Resources, Freelancing, Graphic Design
I know what you are thinking, this is just another article (or rant) dedicated to probably one of the hottest debates in graphic design… spec work and free pitching. Well you are wrong… sort of. I agree that we really don’t need another article based on this subject as there are so many already out there (like this one, this one and this one). All of these are great and tackle the subject in various ways and showcase a wide range of attitudes and thoughts towards free pitching. However, I am hoping this article will be slightly different and maybe question (as it has us) your thoughts towards free pitching and spec work. I thought I would share with you something that has happened to us here at Eightyone Design in recent months. (more…)
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Posted in Freelancing, Graphic Design
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…” (more…)
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Posted in Freelancing, Graphic Design, Logo Design, Web Design
