Table of contents for January 2018 in Computer Arts

If there was a golden rule of cover design, it would probably be ‘Don’t use the same trick twice in a row’ – also known as the ‘Familiarity Breeds Contempt’ clause.* But sometimes an opportunity arises that’s impossible to resist, and despite our four-way split cover run last month (the printer’s floors are still stained with fluoro ink), our annual colour trends report from FranklinTill demanded a different cover for each of the three palettes it identified. With six Pantones available, we chose two colours from each trend for each cover, and converted the rest to their CMYK equivalent (check out www.pantone.com/color-finder for researching your own colours). Oh, and then we threw down the images and actually designed them… * There’s actually only one golden rule: get to the *******…

NICK CARSON EDITOR Despite being November in Scotland, the sun was (intermittently) shining for Nick’s wedding, and it was an incredible day. The silent disco also went down a storm at the Bristol reception the following weekend. MARK WYNNE ART EDITOR Our art ed is thrilled to be on his way to the Us By Night conference in Antwerp. Sadly, the only way he’ll arrive without getting lost en route is for him to be dismembered and packed snugly in Nick’s suitcase. ROSIE HILDER OPERATIONS EDITOR Aside from silent disco dancing and excessive selfietaking at Nick’s wedding, Rosie accidentally met Philip Pullman, saw Danish comedian Sofie Hagen and watched Italian drama Call Me By Your Name.…

The day after the Harvey Weinstein scandal broke, I spoke to the Computer Arts team about writing something on ‘design’s Weinstein moment’. I think both the editor and I half-expected the whole idea to slide, and for the ruckus to blow over, as these things tend to. We celebrate violent men and paedophiles because their work in some way inspires us. We idolise photographers and ‘edgy’ CEOs despite mounting accusations of rape, violence and abuse. Is it any wonder we all expected Weinstein and his alleged horrors to slip quietly off the front pages? Activist Tarana Burke’s #MeToo campaign – revived by actress Alyssa Milano – was the tipping point sexual harassment needed. It’s hard to discredit over 500,000 women as attention-seeking fantasists when all of them are saying the…

The way we interact with colour is changing. We live in a digital reality in which hyperreal and digital-real aesthetics are so ubiquitous that we often can’t tell the difference between synthetically generated and real imagery. Realer-than-real effects, once the dominion of Hollywood editing suites, have been democratised through the advancements of CAD technologies so that creatives in wider areas can exploit the possibilities of boundless digital creation, often to a highly experimental degree. These designers are creating New Age aesthetics. This look and feel suggests boundless movement and is being increasingly adopted by design in the physical world, as product packaging and communication lean towards this idea of an alternative real aesthetic. One of the new wave of artists and designers exploring the digital aesthetic is Lucy Hardcastle, whose…

RICARDO CAVOLO Ricardo is a Spanish artist known for his vibrant use of colour and expressive symbolism. He has created large-scale murals all over the world, and worked for clients including Urban Outfitters, Cirque du Soleil, Google and Nike. He also has his own line of clothing and accessories. www.ricardocavolo.com Spanish artist Ricardo Cavolo is known for his vibrant, joyful paintings, packed with symbolism and somehow unmistakably Spanish. He’s naturally drawn to social misfits and outsiders in his work, which has won him clients including Urban Outfitters, Glastonbury Festival, and Cirque du Soleil (the likes of Google and Nike haven’t been able to resist either). He now has his own clothing line, and his largescale murals can be found all over Europe, North America and the UK. It’s taken Cavolo…

APPAREL For many pro illustrators and designers, securing a commission with a clothing label is among the most coveted jobs out there. But rather than wait for the phone to ring, why not make your own? At a basic level, applying your artwork to a plain black or white T-shirt is super-easy to do, and the buzz you’ll get from wearing your designs out in public will spur you on to experiment further. Artist-led brands such as Johnny Cupcakes and AnyForty had to start somewhere! Screenprinting assures longevity for your efforts, and is a skill that can be mastered through studio workshops such as those run by Print Club London (www.printclublondon.com/workshops). JEWELLERY Enthusiasm for DIY-style accessories shows no signs of slowing down, and transforming your ideas into sellable necklaces, earrings,…

1. Use the client’s experience “We assume nothing,” begins Alice Walker. “We are never going to know as much about a person’s business, or be as much of a expert in their industry, as they are.” “Talk to them, spend time with them, listen to the way they articulate their business,” is her advice, and Tom Moloney agrees: “There’s a humility to it,” he adds. “It’s not like: ‘This is your strategy, get on with it.’ It’s much more democratic.” 2. Talk it out naturally “We’re sat around the table, working it out together,” adds Moloney. “Sometimes it’s as simple as getting rid of all the fluff that people are saying, and just going, ‘Ah, underneath all this, you said this.’ “When developing messaging and strategic positioning, if it comes…

At first glance, using red, white and a circle as required in the brief seemed quite simple, but there was a risk that my final artwork would end up looking quite similar to that of the other creatives doing the challenge. I focused on creating something simple that was also original. In my first video, the camera zooms in to Japan’s flag. I wanted to create something that got people excited about the Tokyo Olympic games. By describing the athlete’s dynamic performances in the flag, I’m hoping viewers will get that feeling of excitement. For the video where athletes are painted with the Coke logo, I wanted to use 3D. You can’t see the whole logo in one frame, but it fills in across the sequence. The logo is invisible…

Having created a kit full of illustrations that the client could use, we suggested a skills swap weekend with them where we could demonstrate ways of using the imagery by installing illustrative scenes at the Wide Horizons centre in Wales. We put them up on the walls with fun facts dotted along the hallways and in bedrooms. During the same visit, our team were taken abseiling and canoeing in the valleys, experiencing the adventure and learning that Wide Horizons offers first-hand.…

Colour is a wonderfully evocative design tool, with the right palette packing an emotional punch as well as boosting aesthetic appeal. And as our cover feature attests, palettes can also express wider trends that span graphic design, fashion, products, and more. In our annual colour trend report (page 40), longrunning CA collaborator FranklinTill identifies three distinct movements, with accompanying palettes. Like the trends they represent, these are fluid, expressive and adaptable: lazy eye-dropper users need not apply. On page 58, you’ll find an in-depth guide to making it as a designer-maker – whether you’re tapping the lucrative Christmas gift market, or keen to kick off the new year with an exciting new income stream. Thanks to the inexorable rise of Etsy, Not On The High Street and other global platforms…

ARKET Arket, the newest H&M brand, caters for upmarket essentialist needs across homeware and apparel, adhering to consistent considerations of quality and simplicity. www.arket.com LESS Less cosmetics reduce complex, laborious skincare regimes down to three simple steps. The brand’s core values are ‘objectivity, naturalness and a consequent reduction to the essential.’ www.welcometoless.com…

Designer Mike Kus has always had an interest in photography. “I joined a photography club at school, where I shot and then developed pictures in my lunch break,” he recalls. “Post-school days, I left photography behind and it wasn’t until the iPhone 4 was launched that my interest in taking pictures was rekindled. For me taking pictures is a spontaneous action, it is a response to my surroundings at any given moment.” Kus’ love of photography has grown to become part of his professional life, and he has partnered with many companies through Instagram including Land Rover, LG, Victorinox, Getty and San Miguel. “I work with brands that have a synergy with my work and that want to tell an experiential brand story,” he says. “I like to share images…

ROB CLARKE Type and logo designer www.robclarke.com “I find working early in the morning and late at night the best times. In the morning there are fewer distractions, but also I feel more positive and energised about the day ahead. After lunch I find my mind wandering and I become more easily distracted, and a little drowsy. So I try to take a break from around 3pm until 7 or 8pm. After that my creative juices should be flowing again, but the atmosphere is more relaxed as I don’t feel the pressure of answering emails or phone calls. I try to switch off when going to sleep, but often have a pad on the bedside table, ready for the best idea I’ve ever had to ping into my brain at…

Last year, we presented a colour story titled Material Reveal. This was a celebration of the organic beauty of unadulterated natural materials and was driven by a backlash against industrial, mass produced design in a homogenised minimalist aesthetic. This shift towards crafted material colour is showing no signs of disappearing, but the muddy earthen brown hues have evolved into saturated terracotta and burnt sienna shades. Designers are reinitiating intimate connections to tactile materials, products and spaces, embracing a creative regression. They are devolving fabrication techniques in order to reconnect with matter and craftsmanship. The imprints of techniques and processes are embedded in the aesthetic outcomes of new crafted products as designers employ slow, laborious methods and allow material origins to dictate final outcomes. Surfaces are rough-hewn and natural, appealing to…

01 FOCUS ON HOW YOU’RE FEELING The first step in protecting your mental wellbeing is to pay attention to how you’re feeling, so you notice the warning signs before it’s too late. “I’m really conscious about my stress levels and my energy,” says Cavolo. “I take care of myself as I never did before. And I realise this is perfect for my creativity and energy when I come back to the studio.” 02 STRUCTURE YOUR WORK DAY When you’re self-employed and set your own hours, it’s a real danger that you never properly stop working. To avoid this, build structure into your day like you were working at an office. “I don’t work during the weekends, and I stop working every day about 7.30pm,” says Cavolo. “It’s just about having…

WORK WITH EDITIONS People are usually willing to pay more for limited-edition products. The production costs aren’t as bad as you may think, and charging a higher price means more profit. “It is smart to work with editions, or even endless editions,” says Felix van Dam of We are out of office. A black cactus pin is one of his shop’s bestsellers. “You do the design once and multiply it. That’s what makes a pin a nice product to work with. We screenprint or risograph print the backing cards ourselves, and when the pins arrive from our supplier we spend a few hours putting pins on cards. We’ve sometimes made up to 1,000 new pins to sell in one evening, which in our eyes makes it quite a lucrative exercise.”…

Improving your typesetting abilities is a process of learning the rules, then learning to break them. “You need to learn the accepted rules and basics,” says Luke Tonge. “Understand hierarchy, learn about rhythm and visual flow, figure out the difference between readability and legibility, get your grammar, punctuation and consistency nailed. Then… forget the lot! Fall in love with abstract and expressive type, hand lettering and brush work, collage and experimental, barely legible type.” The point he’s making is that type can sometimes be a dry subject if all you do is follow the rules. “But it needn’t be, you just need to know how and when to break them,” stresses Tonge. “Study typographic legends like David Carson, Neville Brody and Jonathan Barnbrook. Explore the output of typographic outsiders such…

1. Keep spinning plates of all sizes Koto’s global rebrand of Coca-Colaowned Fanta required a complex account management process that ranged from the main rebrand to a myriad of detailorientated, research-heavy smaller tasks, like what a logo looks like in Thai or Arabic, or on a tiny label versus a massive billboard. “It’s very much a case of being a collaborator,” says Katey-Jean Harvey. “We speak constantly on Google Hangouts, and it’s like: ‘What can we do to help you get what you need?’ We know they’re moving at a million miles an hour behind the scenes, so we use our time difference to our advantage, and make sure they wake up and have files when they need them.” 2. Embrace the unpredictable “No two days are the same, which…

I was inspired by the shapes of the elements we were given, and decided to take the most important ones – the circle, the bottle of Coca-Cola and the Asakusa Kannon – as symbols to communicate the characteristics of Tokyo. Those shapes were fascinating and I decided to use their symmetry as the basis of my artwork. I scribbled down some ideas, and when I had chosen one I started to compose the different elements and to sketch it out geometrically in Illustrator. To give it more depth, I switched to Photoshop and coloured in the composition, concentrating on the colour balance of the artwork and on the details at the intersections and triangular parts.…

A greements are very important to have in place before starting work on a commission. At the AOI, we supply a document called the AOI Acceptance of Commission form, which can (and should!) be used by illustrators when they don’t receive a contract from their client. This two-page document may seem unremarkable and brief, but is 100 per cent industry standard and legally binding. As much as we wish tricky situations didn’t happen, they often do, and it’s best to be backed up when those moments present themselves. Long-standing member Sara Fanelli religiously uses the AOI form in her professional day-today life. She tells us about her most recent legal experience... Sara Fanelli: After I have agreed on a fee with the client, I then send the AOI Acceptance of…

RICARDO CAVOLO Spanish mural artist Ricardo discusses life on the ‘B side’, how he’s learned to cope with mental health problems and the importance of vibrant colour in his work on page 50. www.ricardocavolo.com ALICE WALKER Director of verbal strategy at London studio Koto, Alice reveals how the right client conversations can reveal all you need to formulate a strategy – part of our video profile on page 76. www.studiokoto.co GEMMA GERMAINS Gemma is senior content strategist at digital agency Dare. On page 20, she considers whether design is having a #MeToo moment as she explores the power struggles at play in the industry. www.thisisdare.com ABI OVERLAND Brighton-based designer and illustrator Abi shares how she makes a living by applying her designs to ceramics – part of our feature on…

LEAN STORAGE BY MAP www.mapfurniture.com BORING COLLECTION BY LENSVELT AND SPACE ENCOUNTERS As stated on the designer’s website, the Boring Collection "does not pretend to be beautiful" and "does not claim attention". In its sheer simplicity and modesty, the collection becomes bold and suggests absolute confidence. www.space-encounters.eu FranklinTill Studio is a forecasting agency and creative consultancy that works with lifestyle brands across the disciplinary spectrum to provide research-based insights that drive creative innovations in materials, colour and design. It creates reports, publications, exhibitions and events with the aim of making its research both accessible and inspiring. It also edits and produces two magazines, published by View Publications, which you can buy from www.viewpoint-magazine.com. VIEWPOINT DESIGN Viewpoint delivers visual, editorial and statistical information to brands, designers, agencies and consumer insight teams…

GEMMA GERMAINS SENIOR CONTENT STRATEGIST, DARE www.thisisdare.com Gemma is a senior content strategist at Londonbased digital creative agency Dare. 2017 marks her fifteenth year in the design industry, yet she couldn’t identify the Creative Cloud icon if her life depended on it. Luckily, it doesn’t. CRAIG WARD DESIGN DIRECTOR www.wordsarepictures.co.uk Craig is a British-born design director based in New York. On page 23, he discusses how having children caused him to re-evaluate his career, and why he’s recently decided to give up his agency day job and take the plunge back into freelance life. DESIGN MATTERS: When are you most creative, and how do you plan your time accordingly? – page 22 PLUS: Three views on North’s rebrand of the Science Museum Group – page 24…

As an antidote to everyday mundane stresses and pressures, we are finding release in regression, replacing highbrow pursuits with honest and innocent play and reverting to childlike experimentation and inquiry. Our increasingly urban environments are witnessing a transformation as shared city spaces are reinvented as convivial play spaces both literally and metaphorically. The city is no longer a drab grey industrial landscape of concrete, metal and motors, redolent of utility and business. Instead it is a vibrant, energetic, constantly evolving entity – a sensory landscape that is inspiring a refreshed playful approach across design categories from visual communication to fashion and interiors. Designers are rediscovering the creative and intellectual value of play, remembering that the act of play is itself a learning experience and route to creation. We are seeing…

ETSY Etsy is easily the most popular of craft-driven retail sites, but with popularity comes stiff competition. “Etsy are great at promoting sellers via their social media, tagging you in posts if they feature you, and allowing you to share social links on your shop,” says Kim Lawler. Keeping on top of updates can be timeconsuming, but with 30 million active users, its global reach is a big draw. Etsy attracts an audience that most creatives could never reach by themselves. Not On The High Street is more exclusive, but costs £199 to join and its profit share is higher (25% vs 3.5% for Etsy). INSTAGRAM Whilst not strictly a platform for selling to customers directly, the potential reach and engagement offered by Instagram has long been harnessed by the…

1 TAKE YOUR TIME “Getting typesetting right is something that will largely come with time, says Michelle Stocks of Nelson Bostock Unlimited. “So just keep practising, and don’t get put off when it doesn’t look good immediately. I recommend looking at a lot of inspiration too, because it helps you get an idea of what works well together.” 2 KEEP STUDYING “First you need to learn the tools: font size, leading, tracking, horizontal and vertical scaling, paragraph styling, language settings and grid systems,” says Maya Walters of Hogarth Worldwide. “Then you need to extend your knowledge: there’s always something new to learn. Read a book on typography and set challenges for yourself to put your new skills into practice, such as working on a personal project.” 3 READ BOOKS For…

1. Discuss ideas in diverse ways “Personally, the most difficult challenge at work is communication,” admits Ravi Vasavan, who’s worked as a freelance designer at various studios in London, Melbourne and Sydney for over a decade. “At Koto, it’s a loud environment. We love to throw ideas around, and it’s working out how I can stand up when everyone’s talking to get my views across as well.” Slack is a great tool for levelling the playing field, he reveals: “We throw so many ideas on there, and everyone can talk at the same time. People stick ideas on the wall, and then maybe one or two people are on their phones texting ideas onto the screens, so I can read what people are saying.” 2. Put reasonable adjustments in place…

After I discovered that the Olympics are held over 16 days, I decided to create a different piece of artwork for each day of the event. Every day is different and has its own unique qualities but also has similarities, so my approach was to translate all that into a series of different images. When you watch the final video you get an overall feeling of these differences, but you also see one element that doesn’t change, which is the circle and the Coca-Cola identity. I began the artwork in Photoshop before moving to Illustrator to create the illustrations and elements. Each piece was compiled and merged in Photoshop. For the video, I worked in After Effects and exported the file using Media Encoder.…

A broad audience Wide Horizons work with children from two to 18, as well as teachers. Careful choices across colour, typography, tone of voice and illustration were used to find the right balance between playfulness and maturity. Education first From learning about the life cycle of organisms to the kinetics of kayaking, Wide Horizons is grounded in education. This is what differentiates the charity from ‘adventure holiday’ competitors and what makes teachers want to book. Stretching a budget Illustrating a kit of school objects that can be combined to make endless further illustrations across subjects from the curriculum and using them to augment existing photography removes the reliance on costly photo shoots whenever new collateral is needed.…

I’m a graphic designer through and through. When someone asks me what I would do if I wasn’t a graphic designer, I say I’d be an unemployed graphic designer. It’s what interests me and it’s all I can, or want to, do. So it’ll be no surprise that my long lasting fascination is for poster design. I have a small collection. Each one I have framed in my home represents some moment of some importance in my career. The first poster I bought was by A.M. Cassandre, the famous Dubonnet poster, I bought it in New York in the late 1990s. I was there because my partner David Turner was President of Judges at the Clio Awards. We had a unique and fun night at the awards ceremony, when he…