Table of contents for April 2015 in Computer Arts

With the frenzy of graduate show season just a few months away now, welcome to our Portfolios special – dedicated to that all-important craft of using your previous work to win more work, whether that’s a commission or an in-house job. With a proliferation of digital platforms to choose from, the very nature of a design portfolio has changed significantly over the last decade. With this in mind, we asked regular CA contributor Adrian Shaughnessy to explore what makes a folio fit for purpose in the modern design marketplace – while our advice-packed second feature reveals exactly what hiring creative directors are looking for. I’m also delighted to announce the launch of the second annual Brand Impact Awards, CA’s international competition to celebrate the very best in branding across all…

Soofiya Chaudry is a graphic designer and typesetter hailing from London. She’s currently studying for an MA in Book Design at Reading university. www.soofiya.com JAZZY NAIL ART Generally the more work I have on, the more elaborate the nail art gets. I’ve even mastered painting with my non-dominant hand. Cheers procrastination! UGLY SHIRTS AND JU MPERS These are a must. I like things to be so bright they glow in the dark. I never really understood the whole ‘less is more’ thing. GARISH COLOURS I fell in love with how tacky these trainers are, they’re my current favourite. Bonus points for mismatched socks.…

Going solo or joining a studio may seem like obvious routes into the design world. But some creatives seek strength in numbers and a trusted network of talent to draw on and realise their wider ambitions. Take Shillington graduate Jack Beckett. Jack began his working life as an art technician, hanging artwork in London galleries. “I’d always been interested in graphic design,” he says, “but I never wanted to be just a ‘designer’.” So, after graduating from the Shillington full-time graphic design course in 2009, he put his plan into action: to build a network of artists, photographers, set builders and developers that could react quickly and economically to projects, whatever the brief. Two years later, The Outside Collective was born. Managing group dynamics in an evolving media sector is…

How would you fill 60 seconds of the world’s attention? Would you charm with your ‘elevator pitch’, that carefully crafted sales tool that assumes people in elevators are there to buy things? Would you show off what you’ve got, who you are, the mediated version of the pick-up line that says, ‘Look how great I am, don’t you want to come with me?’ Or maybe you’d give people a taste of your goods, a little snippet of your delights, like a legalised drug leader, offering the first hit for free. In our time-starved, media-drenched world, 60 seconds is such a precious asset. The folks who sold this precious commodity at the Super Bowl earlier this year even put a price tag on it: $4.5m. So when we get it, the…

Has it ever been easy to land a great job in the design industry? Probably not. But today’s recruits do face a unique set of challenges and how to present a portfolio is one of the biggest. As we’ve already discussed on page 46, portfolio formats are evolving all the time. Just as big agencies and studios struggle with how best to present work to potential clients, designers searching for jobs have all sorts of decisions to make when it comes to creating a stunning portfolio to show a creative director. Do you put it up on Behance and email out a link when you apply for a job? Should you make a flashy iPad presentation to swipe through in the interview? Would it be better to buy a big,…

Three months ago, Håkon Stensholt joined Anti after being recruited by the founding partners Kjetil Wold and Kenneth Pedersen as well as creative director Gaute Tenold Aase. He works a graphic designer, mainly on visual identities. “The portfolio I sent to Anti was a PDF with samples of my best work,” he says. “I have a background as a print designer, so most of my work is printed matter. But I still try to show a variation in the projects I include such as books, posters, websites and various identities. I hope my portfolio reflects my personality as well as saying that I am a skilled graphic designer with good ideas and a creative mind.” He still has a website, which shows some of his older work and he changes…

INITIAL VISION We had a clear vision of how the book should look. The whole book was done in a month and a half. We closed the studio and didn’t do other projects. I did the pictures and Juan did the text. The hardest part was to organise it. We had two folders of our favourite images, but then we had to choose what to include. DESIGNER HELP We asked graphic designer Laie Pradas to work with us. If we had done everything ourselves, it would have looked too busy. The texts needed to be comfortable to read, and the design clean and tidy, so we wanted a graphic designer to supervise the grid, the layout, the typography and so on. MIXING IT UP She initially did a rough sketch…

Raw power Taking your photos in RA W format gives you a great advantage in post production. The extra data it captures means you can make use of Photoshop’s full range of powerful editing features. For portfolio photography, I find Clarity can enhance the image in ways that Contrast and other adjustments can’t. Don’t use more than a touch, but you’ll notice improvement every time. Little blemishes For those stray hairs and specks of dust, the easiest and most straightforward tool I use is the Spot Healing brush tool. This tool makes your photo studio seem as clean as a Swiss hospital. Split personality Create a clipping mask around your subject and treat the background shadows separately. This gives you greater control over the subject and also allows you to…

GAVIN POTENZA Gavin is an illustrator and designer working out of Brooklyn, New York. In 2010, he was named a Young Gun by the Art Director’s Club and his work has featured in many books and magazines. Gavin illustrated this issue’s cover, as well as the portfolio special report on page 46. www.gavinpotenza.com MARK BONNER Mark began his career with a D&AD New Blood Yellow Pencil, which he earned in 1991 as a student at Kingston University. He went on to co-found top agency GBH in 1999, and is D&AD president for 2015. He writes about his involvement with our Brand Impact Awards on page 22. www.gbh.london EMMA THOMAS Emma is a designer and co-founder of A Practice for Everyday Life (APFEL ) with Kirsty Carter. The studio is known…

Lazy Oaf founder Gemma Shiel has come a long way since she began selling handmade T-shirts at a market stall back in 2011. Graduating from university with a degree in textile design and screen-printing, the designer went on to launch one of the most forward-thinking independent fashion labels in recent years. Moving on from T-shirt designs, Lazy Oaf has expanded into all kinds of products, from dresses and shirts to purses and phone cases. Featuring in-your-face aesthetics, the attire takes its inspiration from cartoons, junk food and cute-as-heck critters with plenty of humour for that extra spark. Having previously released collaborations with Looney Tunes, Batman and Garfield, its collections garner the attention of fashion lovers all over the world. Shiel takes care of most of the illustrations herself, bringing in…

ABOUT THE WRITER D&AD president Mark Bonner graduated from the Royal College of Art in 1993 and worked at The Partners, Carter Wong & Partners and SAS before co-founding multi-disciplinary agency GBH in 1999. www.dandad.org www.gbh.london The recent GraphicsRCA: Fifty Years Exhibition has got me thinking. As I squeezed down memory lane at the Private View night in an inevitably vain attempt to look at the work, I was struck by the retrospect view of what graphic design is from such a futurefacing bastion of education. It left me feeling like I work in a world a million miles away from the dusty print and posters I saw on there. I hardly recognised my own profession, it has changed that much. In today’s technological revolution, the graphic designer has never…

LUSH L ETTERING In 2013, Dalton Maag was approached by Lush and asked to help the company rebrand itself in a more neutral and contemporary way. “They wanted a tool that would allow them to set text in a way which was comparable to the handwritten style they use all over the place,” says typeface designer Riccardo de Franceschi. “So we collected as many samples of letters as possible from them, selected the styles we found most appropriate and came up with five different digital versions.” Every letter had two alternate versions, while the most-used letters had three alternates. “On top of these we created ligatures, and selected them according to not only frequency of use but also the way the Lush handwriters write, and therefore what letter pair combinations…

KAREN JANE HEAD OF DESIGN, WIEDEN+KENNEDY LONDON Karen has been working at W+K for eight years now, starting as a designer, then as an art director, then as design lead, and finally becoming head of design www.wklondon.com KJETIL WOLD CREATIVE DIRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, ANTI Based in Oslo, Kjetil leads teams at multidisciplinary agency Anti, covering identity design, advertising, TV production, illustration and fashion. www.anti.as STEVE R ICHARDSON CREATIVE D IRECTOR AND CO-FOUNDER, MR B & FRIENDS Steve has been working in the creative industries since 1990, including spells at Interbrand/DD B in New Zealand and London-based agencies Bell and The Field. ww.mrbandfriends.co.uk JEM ROBINSON CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ALLOFUS Jem has 10 years of design experience under her belt, with five of them in UX/interaction design in particular. She oversees the design…

Last year, illustrator Damien Weighill landed freelance work on a project for AllofUs creative director Jem Robinson. The project hasn’t been launched so we can’t show it, but Robinson thought he was the ideal person for it. It began with his portfolio and went on to an interview before he was brought onboard. Weighill has several portfolios that clients can look at – two online and two printed. One is on his agent Jelly’s website, which is carefully selected. “First I send the guys there everything that I produce which I feel has been a success. They will put together the portfolio from that pool of images and then between us we will periodically discuss whether anything should be added or dropped. It’s invaluable for me to get Jelly’s input…

We always work together on all the projects. We have the same background, and it’s really easy to communicate between us. We have the same style of drawing and think very similarly. We still draw with pencils – the pencil drawing is the part that takes more time, because it’s the one that we put all the effort into. Then I do the inking work and Alejandro does the colour. Whatever field we’re working in, we always initially brainstorm individually and then brainstorm together until we have the idea. We then decide what direction we want to take – sometimes we develop Alejandro’s idea, sometimes mine. We have so much confidence in each other, we can be really sincere with our criticism. We argue a lot, but that’s good for…

NICK CARSON EDITOR Nick enjoyed filming next issue’s Designer Series documentary over at GBH, and is already making plans with fellow Brand Impact Awards judge Mark Bonner to take this year’s contest to the next level. JO GULLIVER ART EDITOR Jo left the market town of Corsham this month to move to Bath (where Computer Arts lives). She also had an odd recurring dream about smoking curly cigarettes; tweet your interpretations to @jogulliver. TIM HARDWICK OPERATIONS EDITOR Tim spent much of the month huddled in front of his gas fire after temperatures took a tumble and winter winds whistled through every gap in the Georgian windows of his hilltop flat. He’s moving underground. RICH CARTER DESIGNER Rich watched England’s rugby victory this month but still doesn’t know how penalties get…

Although primarily known for their award-winning movies, Aardman Animations also creates forward-thinking and userfriendly games, websites and apps for kids. Ricky Martin is a member of its digital department, helping to develop new ideas and properties. Earlier this year, he combined his talents with his passion for getting kids creative and launched a new weekly TV show for CBBC – Art Ninja. Dabbling in expert animation, mind-blowing drawing and painting skills, the show aims to get kids creating their own unique art. Tell us a bit about Art Ninja... The road to Art Ninja is a long story for me. Dot To Dot productions in London was looking for a recommission of its previous art show, but the CBBC commissioner had other ideas (thankfully for me) and got them to…

TATE LIVERPOOL The Albert Dock www.tate.org.uk/visit/tate-liverpool We’re lucky enough to have one of the world’s most famous galleries on our doorstep, hosting major exhibitions from the likes of Warhol and Magritte. It’s also housed in one of the former warehouses of the iconic Albert Dock. The spectacular views looking out onto the river never fail to inspire. BALTIC TRIANGLE www.baltictriangle.co.uk Liverpool’s Baltic Triangle is a hive of activity and a great place for creatives to work and play. Photographers, recording studios and acclaimed art and design festivals all call the Triangle home, so inspiration is never too far away. Grab a bite to eat or just hang out at Camp and Furnace’s eclectic warehouse. Bold Street http://bit.ly/1A8BbH1 Our office is based in the heart of Bold Street, surrounded by a…

We partnered with Engage to host Future15, a two-week pop-up festival of tech and design in the FLUX Lounge. Each exhibitor was hand picked by us and curated to showcase the hottest trends for 2015. On display was a veritable feast of immersive products set to change the way consumers interact with brands. They covered the whole spectrum of technology, including the latest LEAP Motion technology teamed with Oculus Rift, an array of wearables and dynamic projection mapping. We know that people see through anything that’s too salesy. In this postdigital age, brands have to make things with more integrity, things that appeal to us more as human beings. Tech can enhance this by being the platform on which the story is told or where the experience takes place; the…

I’m writing this on the eve of the opening of our sixth annual Typeforce show. By the time you’re reading this, we will have celebrated the work of 25 up-and-coming artists and designers with well over 1,000 other people from around Chicago. Typeforce was conceived by myself and my friend Ed Marszewski in 2009. As two type-lovers, Chicago-enthusiasts and overall communityuplifters, we came to the realization over coffee that our city was losing some of its best talent to the coasts. The reason was that collectively we were doing a poor job of celebrating those who were rising up through the ranks. As someone who is often on the hunt for great collaborators on my team, I hate seeing designers who came up through Chicago bailing for places like New…

Who really needs to bother with a physical portfolio in the age of the internet, the Retina screen and the memory stick? Designers hoping to be hired for permanent or freelance positions can display their work on websites, blogs, Behance pages and social media networks, allowing employers to review work online without the hassle of ‘portfolio reviews’. But does this mean that it’s time to give the heave-ho to vinyl art bags with their vicious clips, tatty plastic envelopes and zips that jam? What about the arty boxes favoured by more image-conscious designers, or the flight cases that look as if NASA has engineered them – should they too be turned into landfill? It’s easy to answer ‘yes’ to these questions. Especially when you remember that your most important portfolio…

SUBTLE RE FINEMENTS This small project was for a well-established premium juice brand made by Rivella and involved a refinement of the logotype. “The idea was to do something which honoured the heritage of the logotype but also brought it into line more calligraphically and more consistently in terms of how the letterforms are treated,” explains designer Stuart Brown. “The original logotype is on the top and the modification on the bottom [see above]. You can see how we sharpened up the connections. The existing logo looked rather lumpy and not so well-defined at smaller sizes, so on packaging it tended to blur a little. The original also had some weight distribution and contrast issues, so the work in the modification was to address that imbalance.” Find out more about…

BEHANCE www.behance.com A basic site is free, but a professional area costs $11/month. Template options and 2GB of space are part of the free package while the paid-for version gives you a customised URL and the ability to show HD imagery and videos. CARGO COLLECTIVE www.cargocollective.com You have to apply to join this portfolio site – presumably they check your creative cred before approving you. The free version offers 100MB of space for your projects but when you pay it’s unlimited. Some HTML and CSS skills may be required to get your area looking just so. SQUARESPACE www.squarespace.com This solution is very ‘in’ at the moment. The excellent templates result in a slick style of presentation that makes it easy for visitors to focus on your work. It starts at…

TAILOR YOUR PROJECT “Make sure your portfolio is a genuine representation of you and the work you want to do more of,” says Karen Jane at Wieden+Kennedy London. “Tailor your work selection to the conversations you want to have when you are presenting it.” WEAVE A NARRATIVE “Remember the storytelling; anyone can mock up a good visual,” points out Anti’s Kjetil Wold. KEEP IT PRESENTABLE “Your portfolio itself – the container that holds your work – is also an opportunity to show that you can design and demonstrate that you understand audience needs, so design that too,” advises Jem Robinson at AllofUs. “If the work is great but the portfolio site it sits on is a mess, I’ll reject it.” PICK YOUR BEST “Include your best, and only your best…

1 Complex job We coordinated a variety of workshops with the airport teams, to help them understand what a brand is and how LLA can become one. We have this approach for every project, but for an airport it’s substantially more complex, there is more to get your head around. 2 Core essence Those workshops crystallised the notion of ‘Simplicity with a smile’. That’s what we labelled the core essence of the brand. After presenting them back to the LLA team, that idea became the foundation of the work that followed. Whatever we do, on a top level it reflects that. 3 Breaking convention When we designed the logo, we wanted to break with convention and not represent flight or motion in any way. Secondly, it had to work as…

PROJECT FACTFILE BRIEF Spanish publishing house Norma Editorial gave Brosmind free rein to create a luxurious book of not only their extensive portfolio, but also their personal story and the origin of their creative partnership. CREATIVES Brosmind www.brosmind.com Laie Pradas www.laiepradas.com Norma Editorial www.normaeditorial.com PROJECT DURATION One and a half months LIVE DATE November 2014 BROSMIND DESIGN BROTHERS The Mingarro brothers, Juan and Alejandro, were born in Huesca, Spain. Juan studied graphic design at Elisava Design School in Barcelona. Alejandro studied industrial design at Elisava Design School, Arnhem University of Art and Central Saint Martins. THE DESIGN BRIEF Alejandro Mingarro Last year we did a small exhibition of just 20 illustrations for which we published a small portfolio book, What’s Inside, for the gallery. In it we explained the story…

PROJECT FACTFILE BRIEF Paris-based advertising agency Heaven contacted Vallée Duhamel to collaborate on an ad that would highlight the unique functionalities of Samsung’s Galaxy Note S-Pen. They wanted to represent each of the features through ‘real objects’ in the daily life of a user. STUDIOS Vallée Duhamel www.valleeduhamel.com The Workshop www.workshopmileend.com Heaven www.heaven.fr PROJECT DURATION Two months LIVE DATE 12 January 2015 THE DESIGN BRIEF Eve Duhamel We were contacted by Heaven, an advertising agency responsible for the Samsung Mobile account in France. We were happy that it wasn’t a pitch and that they wanted us to collaborate on this project. They wanted to showcase the Samsung Galaxy Note S-Pen’s functionality and various features, and had made previous films, such as Daydream of a Penspinner, which had been very successful.…