Table of contents for October 2017 in Computer Arts

Celloglas has provided us with many distinctive foil cover treatments over the years, but rarely more than one at a time: manufacturing the plates (one per foil), multiple passes through the press, plus the cost of the foil itself, makes for an expensive process. Nevertheless, we initially decided to push our luck and ask for four foils, representing the three metallic colours of our Brand Impact Awards trophies (silver, gold and shiny copper) and red for the BIA logo. Ultimately, logistics (and economics) dictated a different approach. The final cover includes two instead of four foils, and to allow them both to be stamped in the same pass, each was designed to fit in vertical, parallel strips. Bright red and metallic silver Pantones replaced the other foils, and for some…

NICK CARSON EDITOR Nick enjoyed two camping trips this month – the first for his stag do, where he shot more than 30 clay pigeons despite a thudding hangover; the second spent in a yurt with his little niece and nephew. MARK WYNNE ART EDITOR Stunned by the calibre of work in our BIA feature, Mark turned proudly to Nick and exclaimed, “Isn’t it an amazing industry we work in?” Nick paused. “I think you’ll find that you work in publishing, Mark...” Oh. ROSIE HILDER OPERATIONS EDITOR Rosie went on a long weekend to Hamburg to visit a friend. All was going well until she attempted to run along the canal path, where she promptly fell over and twisted her ankle. She’s still hobbling.…

A recent report issued by the Department of Digital, Culture, Media and Sport made for rather depressing reading. Despite the good news that design in the UK is thriving, employing 57 per cent more people in 2016 than 2011, it revealed that the industry is mostly white, male and from ‘more advantaged groups’. Compare the figures to the national UK working population (UKWP), and the results are even more unsettling. While the UKWP has almost equal numbers of males and females, the UK creative industries is made up of 63 per cent males and 37 per cent females. The report, did however, reveal some cause for optimism. Between 2015 and 2016, the number of designers from black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) backgrounds increased by a whopping 49 per cent,…

Formerly at IDEO and Johnson Banks, Pali Palavathanan founded five-strong London studio TEMPLO to work on projects with real-world impact. The studio has helped shed light on human rights violations in Sri Lanka, totally overhauled the UN’s brand communications to be more humancentric and counts Amnesty International, London School of Economics and Plymouth College of Art as some of its clients. What barriers did you face entering the design industry? My parents are both from Sri Lanka, they emigrated in 1963 for work. Being second generation is interesting – there’s a lot of stigma within my culture, especially around creative subjects. There’s a myth that you won’t make any money and worries about how you’re going to survive. I chose graphic design and rocked the boat massively. Once there, there…

FUTURE TRENDS IN BRANDING Stuart Youngs (pictured) – founder of Texture, and Caroline Till, co-founder of FranklinTill, discuss the latest aesthetic movements in branding, and how designers can embrace new technology in meaningful ways. THE ROLE OF WIT AND HUMOUR Branding consultant Louise Kyme (pictured) and Jim Sutherland, founder of Studio Sutherl&, talk about how to use humour successfully in campaigns, and how brands can establish empathy. TAKING THE RIGHT RISKS Dave Wood (pictured), GBH’s design director and Sue Daun, ECD at Interbrand, debate the importance of taking risks, and highlight the factors that come into play when risk taking in small or large agencies. Watch the videos on our YouTube channel: www.bit.ly/ca270-bia2017 THE BUTCHER THE BAKER HIGHLY COMMENDED: ARTISAN by The Partners www.the-partners.com When the owner of a Dundee…

1 LEARN SMART OBJECTS “One of my top tips is to learn how to use Smart Objects,” says Andrew Kitchener, junior designer at Ragged Edge. “Keeping things editable is the key – there’s nothing worse than trying to edit a file that’s all unnecessarily rasterised.” 2 GET YOUR SHADOWS RIGHT “With retouching and mock-ups, it’s all about the shadows,” adds Kitchener. “Drop shadows are handy and quick, but for 99 per cent of things, they’re totally inaccurate. Always look at how light and shadows work on objects in real life, and try to apply that on-screen.” 3 MANAGE YOUR TIME “The biggest mistakes you can make are bad timing estimation, lack of organisation and rushing the job,” believes atom42’s Elena Morán. “Every task has parts you won’t enjoy as much…

DO get bad ideas out the way early “We get as many people involved as we can from the start, from different skillsets,” explains Harry Ead. “We have a creative sprint, where we spend a week or two doing everything you can imagine. Stuff that’s wrong, stuff that’s right.” The most important thing, he adds, is not to worry about nailing it first time. Thierry Nahayo agrees: “Make all the wrong decisions first, and smash those out the way,” he grins. DON’T be afraid to rip stuff up “I enjoy making mess. You can always tidy it up afterwards,” says Ead. “We print lots of stuff out, get everyone around, and it’s a communal effort to get the idea. It’s hard to get that kind of viewpoint when things are…

NEXT MONTH VECTOR WIZARDRY How CorelDRAW 2017 could transform your vector technique TONY RODRIGUEZ Digital illustrator Tony is an American illustrator living and working in Atlanta, Georgia. His award-winning editorial portraiture has donned the pages of Rolling Stone magazine, GQ and The New Yorker, to name but a few, and he currently teaches Illustration at Savannah College of Art and Design. www.tonyrodriguezillustration.com SPINNING TALES Tony Rodriguez I started out as a kid drawing the characters from my favourite Disney flicks while using a variety of materials. My interest in art took a turn when I stopped copying the characters line for line and instead used them as I saw fit in my own story. It was the storytelling portion of drawing and the realisation that I could put a spin…

KEEP EXPERIMENTING Download Unity and start playing with it. It doesn’t take very much to pick it up and there are so many tutorials online. I learned from 12-year-olds on YouTube. Of all the game engines, Unity has the most online support. PRACTICE STORYTELLING Try as many experiences as you can to see what works and what doesn’t. You’re designing for a medium that is so much more of an experience and your interactions within that are important. Think of things in real life and how they could relate. CREATE ATMOSPHERE I’m looking for scene references everywhere. What makes something believable? Things that have worn down, scratches in the wall – it’s the details. But this doesn’t have to be presented in a photorealistic way, it could be stylised.…

Every year, it’s a genuine pleasure to see all the hard work that goes into the Brand Impact Awards come to fruition as we reveal the incredible calibre of the winners. 2017 is no different, and we have 47 world-class projects on display: 16 are highly commended, with just 11 winners. But it’s not just about bringing home trophies. Making the BIA shortlist at all is no mean feat, and in our special report we’ve tapped the wisdom of all 32 shortlisted agencies. Print readers can enjoy two foils on the cover, courtesy of our print finishing partner Celloglas – a sophisticated matt gold, and a striking shiny copper are a nod to our Winner and Best of Show trophies. There are also two colourways: most are slate grey, but…

ROSIE HILDER OPERATIONS EDITOR COMPUTER ARTS www.rosiehilder.com Rosie is a journalist and editor who joined the CA team in 2015. She was previously deputy editor of Time Out Buenos Aires in Argentina. Unless you have several hours to spare, don’t get her started on the branding of period products in Latin America. JAMIE ELLUL FOUNDER SUPPLE STUDIO www.supplestudio.com Jamie is creative director and founder of Supple Studio in Bath – a team of four working with a host of clients including Arjowiggins Creative Papers, Channel 4 and NSPCC. On page 21, he argues that small studios are best placed to face the future. DESIGN MATTERS: What can the design industry do to encourage diversity? – page 20 PLUS: Three perspectives on the recent rebranding of sportwear brand ASICS – page…

Around 70 per cent of UK design students are women but just 12 per cent of London creative directors are female.Here, five creatives reflect on the hurdles that female designers face... HEIDI SHEPHERD Senior designer, GBH “Women who display leadership qualities in the workplace are oen labelled as mean and unlikeable. Women are told they should be nurturing, nice and altruistic. When we have these gender qualities engrained in us, it’s hard to brush them off. Recent campaigns like Ban Bossy have helped, but more needs to be done to allow women to display leadership qualities.” KATH TUDBALL Design director, The Partners “Many young women simply do not see creative careers as compatible with raising a young family, and are making early choices accordingly. The fact that the youngest women…

DYSLEXIA Dyslexia can cause difficulty reading and writing, as well as affecting timemanagement and the ability to keep track of information. To help: give instructions verbally; provide text-to-speech or speech-to-text soware; allow meetings to be recorded; use easy-to-read fonts (for example, Verdana, Arial or free specialist font Open Dyslexic); and provide wri_en information on coloured paper and using screen tints. HEARING IMPAIRMENTS Adapting your studio for deaf or hearing-impaired employees can include some spatial and technological tweaks. Rethink workspaces to situate regular collaborators opposite each other so lips and faces can be seen easily; minimise background noise (particularly in meeting rooms); video call rather than conference call; provide hearing aid-compatible phones (or an induction loop); subtitle video content; and provide recognition speech-to-text soware or a BSL interpreter if/when needed. MENTAL…

RADICAL SPORTSCARS AUTOMOTIVE by The Allotment www.theallotment.co PURSUE A PASSION “Changing a brand with a cult following and status requires empathy, insight and a deep understanding. It helps when that brand is a personal passion. That was the case for us with motorsports, and we jumped at the chance to immerse ourselves in racing.” JAMES B ACKHURST CO-FOUNDER AND CREAT IVE D I R ECTOR, THE A L LOTMENT WINTER MILK BARS & RESTAURANTS by Anagrama www.anagrama.com USE YOUR SURROUNDINGS “Creating compelling branding is about noticing what’s going on around you: there are million of ideas in front of you. With the Winter Milk project, the first thing that popped into our minds was Wes Anderson, and that’s how the initial idea was born.” DANIEL A GARZA CREATIVE PARTNER, ANAGRAMA MANCHESTER LITERATURE…

Farting gorilla Who wouldn’t love a farting gorilla? This character was immediately one of the staff’s favourites. I like it because I rarely draw ‘real’ animals so it was something new for me. I made it super cheeky and it seemed to resonate with people, so that’s great. Broken arm doodle I like this doodle as it responded to the brief, so it’s satisfying. Yes, sometimes, even I want to feel like I’ve met a brief! It’s made me think I should include more characters with things like this - especially now I’m making picture books for children. Goldfish with legs I don’t know why but I’m tickled that this little character is a fish with legs. It’s perhaps a comment on evolution and a kickback from the weird creationist…

JAMIE ELLUL Jamie is the founder of Bath-based Supple Studio – a team of four with a host of big name clients. On page 21, he explains why he thinks small studios are best placed to face the future. www.supplestudio.com PALI PALAVATHANAN As part of our feature on diversity in design, starting on page 36, Pali describes the barriers he faced entering the industry, and how his studio TEMPLO aims to make real-world impact. www.templo.co.uk MARTA SZYMANSKA With a background in features and commercials, Marta currently works as a producer at DixonBaxi. As part of our video insight on page 76, she talks about the studio’s six-stage workflow process. www.dixonbaxi.com TONY RODRIGUEZ Tony is an award-winning illustrator, whose portrait of Bill Murray recently won a WIA. On page 89, he…

EMMA BLACKBURN Managing director, West of England Design Forum www.wedesignforum.co.uk “It’s time to tackle the lack of women in leadership roles in design. The most powerful, potentially transformative thing we can do is encourage local design leaders to be open about how they practically support women in design. It does, after all, benefit them too. As design strategist Lynne Elvins says: ‘Teams with more women demonstrate higher collective intelligence and bigger innovative success. Diversity encourages the search for new information and perspectives.’ We should celebrate agencies where workplace equality is flourishing, and actively endorse those that can find flexible working solutions for parents returning from leave.” ALEXANDER PRYOR Freelance graphic designer www.pryorcreative.squarespace.com “Folks in the design community need to prioritise the need to be genuine and empathetic when it comes…

You probably know the basics: there are nine ‘protected characteristics’ on which employers cannot discriminate. These are age; whether you have a disability; your race; your sex; your sexual orientation; if you are undergoing gender reassignment; religion or belief; pregnancy or maternity; and your marital status. But some of the Act’s intricacies are complex… DIRECT VS INDIRECT Direct discrimination seems pre_y clear. You can’t, for example, be sacked for coming out or for ge_ing pregnant, but ‘indirect’ discrimination can also be illegal. An example of this could be disciplining a person because of poor a_endance that’s caused by a disability. POSITIVE ACTION It’s not illegal to positively discriminate, but there are a few caveats. You can help under-represented people overcome their disadvantage by offering targeted internships or placements, but when…

brand impat awards. The great and the good of branding filled London’s Ham Yard hotel in September for the fourth-annual Brand Impact Awards, Computer Arts’ celebration of the best branding from all across the world. One of the things that sets the BIAs apart from other design awards is that work is judged in context. As well as a strong concept that’s beautifully and consistently executed, judges were asked to consider whether the project stands heads and shoulders above the rest of the market sector for which it was designed. Over the following 24 pages, we’ll showcase all 47 inspiring projects that made it past the judges’ discerning eyes onto this year’s shortlist – and provide pearls of wisdom from the 32 different agencies that created them. So read on…

Editing images – cleaning, enhancing and manipulating them – is one of the most common tasks given to junior designers. That’s partly because seniors assume you have some ability with Photoshop (if you don’t, you’re in trouble). And it’s also because there’s a lot of this kind of work to do. Image editing is the bread and butter of design agency work, and is performed not just by juniors but team members at a range of levels. Scott Kimble, image creation director at London design agency BrandOpus explains: “Every photograph that we produce in-house has to be edited. “If say, we had a shot of some food, we might add steam to it and make it look nice and hot. We’d add that in afterwards, because it’s very difficult to…

1. Broaden your horizons According to Dixon Baxi Evans co-founder Gareth Evans, film-making has a significant role to play in the evolution of the parent agency too. “It’s a space to play; to exercise ideas that perhaps don’t have a space in commercial projects,” he argues. 2. Get some breathing space “You must have clean air to do the work,” says Evans. “Having senior people with one leg in demanding client projects, and another in a difficult, unfamiliar space, is not a recipe for success.” Accordingly, while Dixon and Baxi straddle both agencies, Evans is now full-time on Dixon Baxi Evans. 3. Trust your vision On the commercial side, Francesco de Souza is a strong advocate of throwing yourself in the deep end as a new director. “Even if you…

CUSTOM-BUILT PCS Our PCs are custom-built, but a PC with a minimum spec graphics card will do for Oculus or Vive. CINEMA 4D Our studio uses Cinema 4D for the 3D. I use Maya, but that’s just because I’m old-school. SUBSTANCE PAINTER Substance Painter is fantastic. You’re texturing on 3D models and you work with all the different channels, from the colour to reflection to the normal maps and all these types of details, which you need for this kind of work. UNITY Unity is a game engine. You can download the plug-ins and then start assembling objects and putting a simple scene together. GOOGLE BLOCKS This is a very good prototyping tool that I’m starting to use more. OCULUS RIFT At Found, we have a four-camera tracking set-up, the…

Jeremy Leslie, founder and creative director of magCulture, has over 30 years of experience making magazines. He explores what artist Tom Phillips taught him about chance. The idea of chance as a tool for creative guidance has intrigued me ever since I saw Cracked Actor, a 1974 BBC film about David Bowie. Stoned out of his head, sat in the back of a stretch limo winding round LA in the middle of his Thin White Duke phase, Bowie explained the influence of William Burroughs’ cutup technique on his lyrics for Diamond Dogs. The idea you could subjugate such decisions to chance was a sensational idea to a lazy teenager. Later, I discovered more about Burroughs and his experiments with chance, and became fascinated at a more serious level. I was…