Table of contents for Spring 2018 in Computer Arts

Stepping into a cover illustration with Kyle is like being taken into a sorcerer’s cave: exotic, thrilling and almost completely mystifying. All you can be sure of is that you’ll step out with some real magic. Our initial cover pitch – a Terminator 2-like flow of liquid metal – was politely batted away by Kyle, who wanted to devise something “less dated”. Sure enough, over the following days he experimented with and honed a scattered pixel frenzy that was all but ready to print… until a flash of inspiration struck. “I want to really push the ART of the rebrand angle,” he explained, before emailing through photos of mysterious eruptions so beautiful and strange that they made us rethink the cover from scratch. We begged an extra 24 hours from…

TOM MAY ACTING EDITOR Tom has been making the most of every moment as acting ed, before handing over the torch to a new permanent editor and going back to his regular gig on sister magazine Professional Photography. MARK WYNNE ART EDITOR Mark spent much of the month on the phone with cover illustrator Kyle Wilkinson, pretending he understood the processes the art boffin was using whilst muttering ‘Yes… Oh God!’ like some sort of sex chat addict. ROSIE HILDER OPERATIONS EDITOR Rosie left everyone else to sort out the cover this month while she was busy preparing for the future. This is her penultimate issue of Computer Arts, as she’s soon to be joining the Creative Bloq team.…

My art teacher once ended our monthly life drawing session with a quick exercise. We first took sheets of paper decreasing in size from A1 to A6, and then lined up materials increasing in size, from a fine-haired brush to a solid block of paint. As the exercise progressed, we were given less and less time to capture the model’s changing poses, with the canvas reducing as each implement grew in size. It was frenzied, instinctive mark-making that made me feel increasingly uncomfortable. The culmination of the lesson saw us grab a solid block of unwieldy, wet, black paint which spawned – in five seconds – the most exciting piece of art I’ve produced. For years, I couldn’t put my finger on why I loved that lesson so much, but…

Sometimes a brand’s heritage must be celebrated. Back in 2008, North’s rebrand of the Royal Mint did exactly that. “This is the only minting institution to have an 1,100-year-old royal heritage,” explains North’s Sean Perkins. North clearly differentiated the Royal Mint from its overseas competitors, combining the Royal Family’s Coat of Arms with a gold heraldic ‘supporter’, symbolising heritage and minting expertise. “The supporter is derived from the Tudor rose, struck on the first gold sovereign of 1489, combined with the geometric shapes of the coin ‘dial plates’ currently in use at the Royal Mint,” explains Perkins.…

Many brands choose to use illustration to do at least some of the talking for them, and if it’s true that an image speaks a thousand words, it’s easy to see why. Whether through content, style, implicit narrative or (likely) all three, an image can communicate what copy and typography often can’t, at once setting out a mood, tone of voice, target audience and attitude in a succinct visual. The idea of using illustration not just in a campaign, but as a core part of a brand’s visual identity is perhaps less common than it once was, and seems more aligned to certain sectors than others. Luxury food packaging, for instance, especially on seasonal ranges: think high-end Christmas chocolate boxes. Or craft beer, a sector that’s seemingly indefatigable when it…

1 SET A CLEAR BRIEF Commissioning great illustration is about great communication. To make sure this happens, set a clear brief covering exactly what you want in an image and the style, as well as the timeline. Make it plain why you’re commissioning that person for that job, and give them as much information as possible to let them interpret that creatively. 2 CONSIDER SPECIALISING According to Hired Guns Creative, specialisation was initially a scary move, but has been “a fantastic thing.” Thirst Craft echoes such sentiments: “This is our story now, and it’s given us a really deep understanding of the drinks industry now and the right questions to ask people,” says creative director Matt Burns. 3 THINK ABOUT SCALE When commissioning illustrations for packaging, remember the canvas will…

The Toronto studio of creative agency Sid Lee was briefed to create new packaging designs for Blue Goose, a range of meat and fish that prides itself on being ‘clean protein’ – the brand’s emphasis is on transparency and tracing the product back to its farming origin. Agency executive creative director and partner Tom Koukodimos says that going down the illustration route and commissioning Ben Kwok was perfect, as it allowed the agency to capture a complex story in its simplest form and “do it in a way that’s unique and ownable, and visually distinct”. The solution sets the brand apart from competitors, which often lean towards simple images showing potentially generic images of farms. “The illustration was meant to feel artisanal, but without leaning into artisanal visual shorthands,” says…

_COLLABORATION IS KEY “The best sites are those that have been designed in a collaborative environment,” says Sean Masters, creative director at Leicestershire marketing agency Masters Allen. “Designers should work closely with developers, using tools like Adobe XD to help build an understanding between both parties as to how functionality or user stories can best be implemented.” _KEEP THINGS SIMPLE “Too many sites are unnecessarily complicated for visitors’ needs,” adds Masters. “Designers need to remember the importance of keeping the design simple and not over-engineering a site’s navigation. This includes ensuring that loading times are kept to a minimum. Using flexible assets like Google Fonts and Font Awesome, along with a stripped back design approach, really helps here – even with video use.” _USE TESTING TOOLS “Chrome and newer versions…

1. Make it about them, not you When I pitch business to a client, I spend very little time talking about us, and a lot of time talking about them. They’re generally aware of the work: they’ve seen the Sonos project; they’ve seen our work with Unilever. They don’t have to spend the next hour hearing about that all over again. It’s like going out on a date and all you hear about is the girl’s six last boyfriends. The client doesn’t want to hear about our last six boyfriends. They want to talk about what we could be doing together. 2. Make the client a collaborator Ola Bowman is the director of the Design Society museum we collaborated with in China. But he’s an incredibly sophisticated thinker about design…

NEXT MONTH CREATE PAPER ART Mel Edwards on how she makes her incredible paper sculptures. JIM FIELD Illustration and animation director Jim Field is an award-winning illustrator, character designer and animation director, who has worked on a variety of projects, from music videos and title sequences to advertising and picture books. His first illustrated picture book won the Roald Dahl Funny Prize in 2011; since then he has illustrated over 40 children’s books. www.jimfield.me CAREER CHANGE Jim Field I sort of fell into illustrating children’s books. I was working as an animation director and a freelance illustrator for seven years; I codirected with my university pal Benji Davies under the alias Frater. We directed commercials, title sequences and music promos, but work was drying up as it became so competitive…

Some cameras are a bit digital-looking and kind of ‘constrasty’, which makes them better suited for VFX oriented work, while others feel a bit softer and a bit more human. The Alexa Mini fits into the latter, and we chose it for this reason. It not the most high resolution of cameras; it’s 4K as opposed to 8K. But it’s got a lovely softness and depth to the way it captures colour, which to me means it sits very well with the analogue way of making a colour print out in the darkroom.…

The Association of Photographers (AOP) was first formed in 1968. It aims to promote and protect the worth and standing of its members, to vigorously defend, educate and lobby for the interests and rights of all photographers, especially in the commercial photographic industry. www.the-aop.org Getting the photo you want depends on briefing your photographer correctly. We spoke to AOP agent Siobhan Squire and a photographer she represents, Ben Stockley, to find out the best way to go about this. How should art directors brief a photographer? Siobhan Squire: It’s always nice to have a scamp rather than just a written brief for advertising work. It’s also great if creatives have some idea of the scale of the job before briefing. A good creative will be available for a discussion with…

As head of art at BMB London, Louise Sloper oversees the creative agency’s visual output across multiple integrated platforms. Here, she explains how her childhood fascination with the power of light informs her work. I have a fascination with light. How it can mask and illuminate. How, as kids, we chased our shadows down the street. The excitement of a firework display, the magic of fairy lights on the Christmas tree, the sensory heightening lasers in the nightclub and those kitsch fibre optic starbursts from the ’80s! How it can uplift and manipulate our emotions. I remember my youthful delight at writing out my name with a sparkler on bonfire night, and later learning that some of our greatest artists had that same fascination. I studied Picasso, Man Ray and…

Are you the same person you were 20 years ago? Of course not. We all need to change and grow in order to prosper — and the same applies to brands. But just as with personal change, when change to a brand happens too abruptly, or heads in the wrong direction, it can be wildly counterproductive… and the history of branding is littered with cautionary examples. So in this issue, we take an in-depth look at how to reinvent and reinvigorate a brand in the right way; building on existing brand equity and extending it, without throwing the baby out with the bathwater. Oh and, by the way, when we say ‘in-depth’, we mean it. If you prefer short and snappy list features, then by all means head to the…

APORVA BAXI Co-founder and executive creative director, DixonBaxi www.dixonbaxi.com “Absolutely. Take the #MeToo movement. Although not designed as a brand, the hashtag has come to embody a powerful idea that has become a worldwide phenomenon. With a clear purpose and message behind it, this otherwise commonplace phrase has become a recognisable symbol that carries a potent message driving social change, thus acting as a brand. The hashtag itself has superseded the need for a logo – arguably the hashtag is the logo – while the black attire worn at the Golden Globes acted as a visual signifier or uniform for those supporting the movement. The same can apply to any brand – but only if it authentically embodies an idea, and if social change is a part of that.” VICTORIA…

https://en.ony.ru Moscow-based design agency ONY and branding icon Michael Wolff have collaborated to create a striking new typography-based identity for Future London Academy, an establishment offering immersive learning experiences for creative professionals and innovators from around the world. While exploring London, ONY noticed two recurring elements in the city’s architecture – triangular shapes and refraction – and brought both into the identity. The team created a library of 3D buildings referencing the city’s main architectural and cultural symbols, before layering the models onto the brand’s type and images to create an abstract refractive effect. “It echoes the idea of Future London Academy: knowledge through the lens of London,” explains ONY’s Anna Sytina. “The library of 3D objects can always be extended, giving the brand an unlimited way to experiment and…

1. LET FORM FOLLOW FUNCTION “Incremental tweaks can help brands address certain functional issues, without jeopardising their equity and reputation,” says North’s Sean Perkins. “Lufthansa is a great example of this approach: incremental change, with huge effect on recognition. Masterfully successful, in my opinion.” 2. MAKE A BRAND DIGITAL FRIENDLY “If you’re going to change anything, you must have a good reason. Something should be fundamentally broken, or substantially shifting in the market,” says The Clearing’s Richard Buchanan. “Making sure that brands are fit-for-purpose, particularly digitally, is what people are most concerned about. If not a digital-first strategy, they need a digital-friendly strategy. Look at Audi: it’s got to work as a badge on the front of a car, but also a 16x16-pixel favicon.” 3. MAKE EVERY CHANGE COUNT “Tiny…

Together Design has worked with education brand Pearson for the last three years. As the lead agency for its global rebrand, Together Design “created hundreds of pages of guidance in many different languages,” says creative director and founder Heidi Lightfoot. Illustration was a vital part of this new approach, enabling easy, direct communication across numerous languages and cultures for a company that has over 30,000 employees. Together commissioned five illustrators located in different parts of the world including Singapore, the US, Australia and the UK to create hero illustrations “for communicating big themes”, as well as producing designs in-house for infographics, pictograms and patterns, to create a comprehensive “kit of parts” visual asset library for Pearson’s global operations. “It was important to have different illustration artists around the world that…

Back in the ‘olden days’ (before 2010), most web design involved the creation of two separate websites: one for desktop, one for mobile. Then Apple introduced the iPad, and everything changed. Before long, the number of different devices hitting the market was increasing exponentially, and it was becoming impossible to design a bespoke website for every single one. To meet this challenge, a new discipline emerged, which its creator Ethan Marcotte dubbed responsive web design (or RWD for short). The basic principle of responsive web design is that, rather than create a separate website for every device, you write one lot of code that will seamlessly adapt your site to whichever device it’s being consumed on. This explains why any quality website created in 2018 will have a totally different…

1 LACK OF EMPATHY “The biggest mistakes you can make when it comes to responsive web design are the following: treating the web as if it were print, not putting yourself in other people’s shoes, and making assumptions,” says Bill Kingston of Elixirr Creative. 2 LEGIBILITY ISSUES “A common mistake I’ve found newbies make is the use of tiny font sizes on mobile,” says Joel Maynard of Superrb. “Bigger fonts may not be as visually pleasing from a designer’s perspective, but text has to be legible, otherwise it may as well not be there.” 3 TEXT WRAPPING “Issues with text wrapping are common,” says Chris Robinson of ustwo. “It’s easy to design layouts that look perfect, yet the moment you use variable ‘real’ content it becomes a mess. So it’s…

HOLLY KIELTY Having began her career as an art director, Holly is now creative director of brand language at Design Bridge. On page 23, she reflects on the value of good ideas in an increasingly fearsome world. www.designbridge.com SEAN THOMAS Over 17 years, executive creative director Sean has worked for everyone from start-ups to global giants. On page 20, he discusses how leaving your comfort zone can lead to some surprising results. www.jkrglobal.com LOUISE SLOPER As head of art at BMB London, Louise Sloper oversees the creative agency’s multiplatform output. On page 98, she examines why her childhood fascination with the power of light continues today. www.bmbagency.com NICK MEEK Nick is an internationally acclaimed photographer working in fine art, editorial and advertising. On page 92, he explains how he combined…

Barrington Reeves is a graphic designer based in Glasgow. With his studio Too Gallus, he mostly helps new businesses and individuals turn their ideas into reality. He guides them through the design process of starting a business, covering everything from brand discovery, positioning and logo design, right through to creating brand guidelines and websites. “I try to take pictures of everything that inspires me, whether it’s a cool vintage car with awesome colour combinations or something I’ve seen out and about in the city,” he says. “My camera roll has turned into this awesome visual diary that I can look back on and take inspiration from when I start a new project.” Reeves loves Instagram because he says it contains “such a wealth of amazing design that it always pushes…

www.thirstcraft.com After designing the bottle for Wild Island Gin, drinks branding studio Thirst was tasked with designing a second edition, Wild Island Sacred Tree. Inspired by the gin itself – which is infused with hand-gathered botanicals from the small Scottish island of Colonsay – the studio looked to the island’s ripe bramble vine to create a deliciously juicy colour palette using watercolour. “The brief was to capture the essence of autumn on the island, and the wonderful bounty of berries and botanicals it produces,” explains creative director Matt Burns. Thirst paired the autumnal colour palette with a simple wordmark that gives a nod to the island’s Viking heritage. When it came to applying the fluid watercolour design to the bottle, the texture was printed on both sides of the transfer,…

www.kylewilkinson.co.uk Rethinking, repositioning and redesigning brands is a staple task for many design studios. Although start-up organisations will always be a blank canvas by definition, it’s fairly rare for an agency to develop a totally new identity system for a client. As a creative exercise, rebranding poses a unique set of challenges compared to branding from scratch. This is simply because, for want of a better phrase, there is creative baggage attached – and that baggage was often the work of another agency. In the following pages, we’ll explore three of the most common strategic approaches to the rebranding process, complete with insightful advice from some of the world-class agencies that have triumphed at CA’s Brand Impact Awards in previous years. These key routes include drawing on a brand’s heritage,…

1. FIND THE ENDURING BENEFIT “Heritage just for heritage’s sake won’t work,” argues The Clearing’s Richard Buchanan. “There has to be something at the core of the brand to give you that connection. Mini reflected popular culture in the 1960s; the ‘Mini Adventure’ campaign repackaged that in a more urban way. It’s not just graphic or verbal veneer: there must be an intrinsic benefit.” 2. DON’T PASTICHE THE PAST “Limited editions can be a good way to stir nostalgia in people, and remind them of why they fell in love with a brand in the first place,” says Design Bridge’s Chloe Templeman, giving the example of a ‘retro’ Irn-Bru edition that was reminiscent of her childhood. “But brands have to continually move forwards. It’s about taking inspiration from past brand…

Launched by the eponymous Canadian designer after he left Pentagram in 1985, Toronto-based brand consultancy Bruce Mau Design has gone from strength to strength. Despite its founder departing in 2010, the agency has continued to win awards and attract big name clients from across the world, including Sonos, the V&A and ASICS. Here, we talk to some of its creatives, including president and CEO Hunter Tura, creative director Chris Braden, senior strategic designer Kar Yan Cheung and graphic designer Kyosuke Nishida, to uncover the secrets of their success… You pride yourselves on ‘mission-driven design’. What does that mean, exactly? Hunter Tura: It means branding ‘the mission’, rather than the product, service or building. So we start by defining the higher purpose of an organisation, and focus on developing a brand…

The thing that was wonderful about this project was that we had quite a lot of pre-production. Usually when I shoot print campaigns, I’ll attend a few meetings, see the visuals, send a location plan, jump on a plane, and go and shoot it – all in a couple of weeks. In this case, we had more than six weeks before we even started to look at locations. So there was plenty of time to talk to each other, surround myself with the right people, think everything through. That’s not always possible, but if you can swing it with the client it can really make a difference to the result.…