Table of contents for May 2018 in Computer Arts

The unique nature of our cover feature – expert insights into crafting a killer portfolio from industry experts – was difficult to execute as an instantly readable cover image. So we recruited illustrator Thomas Burden to make an image that communicated the idea of a portfolio, allowing readers to instantly recognise the theme. At first, Thomas experimented with abstract models of 2D icons and some interesting geometric shapes, but in the name of clarity we gradually honed down the essential elements of the piece for a quieter, simpler image that would let the beauty of the render shine. There was some extensive back-and-forth with the ever-patient Thomas as we jiggled with iPad pens and portfolios and debated the merit of plastic cups vs. cups with handles (steam, or no steam?).…

TOM MAY ACTING EDITOR Tom has been taking the reins of the mag following the departure of long-time editor Nick Carson. Much of his time has been spent dispensing tea, sympathy and copious amounts of Kleenex to his bereft colleagues. MARK WYNNE ART EDITOR Heartbroken at the the departure of his soul-brother/editor Nick, Mark trawled Shoreditch coffee shops, gently weeping into an endless supply of overpriced cappuccinos as he searched in vain for his lost bud. ROSIE HILDER OPERATIONS EDITOR Rosie has also been lamenting the loss of Nick, especially because he used to make her about 100 cups of tea a day. On the plus side, her Earl Grey teabag supply now seems set to last twice as long.…

MATTHEW TWEDDLE CO-FOUNDER & CREATIVE DIRECTOR, ONLY www.onlystudio.co.uk Matthew is co-founder and creative director of award-winning branding agency Only, based in Manchester. He has previously led transformative work for Design Council, Channel 4, Printworks London and Goldsmiths, University of London. KATIE CADWALLADER DESIGNER, SUPPLE STUDIO www.supplestudio.com Katie is a designer and fledgling animator hailing from Wales, and currently based in Bath. In 2017 she received the Rising Star Award at the Design Week Awards. On page 23, she reveals how her new film project is influencing her design practice. DESIGN MATTERS: What’s the worst portfolio mistake you’ve made? — page 22 PLUS: We get three perspectives on Eureka!’s rebrand of the Bristol Old Vic theatre — page 24 Illustrations: Anna Higgie www.annahiggie.co.uk…

When you’re reviewing a portfolio, what kind of things are you looking for? There are some fundamental things. I’m looking for craftsmanship. Are the fundamental aspects of craft there, in terms of typography, composition, art direction, and so on? And equally importantly, I’m looking to see whether your work has solved the challenge you were presented with. Beyond that are the added plusses; the things that take your work to another level. That you’ve extended your approach in regards to that composition, in a different way than people might have expected. That there’s a sense of energy and dynamic to the work, depending on what the work is and what the context was. And from my point of view, I’m also looking for experimentation; the idea that you’re not scared…

Jessica Hische was approached by client Travis Henry to create something “really special” for the limited-edition wine range, and briefed to create designs that felt premium, “like a high-end gift”. The project started with two wines, a chardonnay and a pinot noir, “and I gave myself the limitation of designing with one foil colour plus 2c letterpress (black, plus a secondary colour),” she explains. “The label designs remained the same apart from the colour change and the custom monogram I created for each wine. I tried to have the monogram inform the tasting notes, to have a conceptual tie in, but also tried to make sure there was a lot of variety to each of the designs so that they all felt unique.” According to the designer, the brief was…

“There are a myriad of platforms to help you learn coding,” says Craig Frost, product designer at Pusher. “Take your learning deeper by building something end-to-end using courses from world-class developers and teachers. It’s here where pieces start to click together; where you understand the broader picture of design on the web and the tools available to augment your design process and provide useful constraints to your design thinking and exploration.” _TREEHOUSE (WWW.TEAMTREEHOUSE.COM) Treehouse offers a seven-day free trial to its library of video based coding tutorials. If you like it, you can sign up for a subscription (£20 per month), which allows you to choose from thousands of hours of content covering a wide range of skills and topics, from JavaScript to Python to iOS. _CODECADEMY (WWW.CODECADEMY.COM) Codecademy is…

1. Get a foot in the door “I sent over a creative mailer made of reclaimed wood, and I put a load of business cards and uni work in there,” recalls junior designer Keith Kilpin. He had a helping hand, though: “Luckily my sister works in HR, so she managed to give it to the right people,” he admits. “I made a little plasticine character, but my sister kept that before she passed it on, which is annoying. It was meant to be me in a box.” But Kilpin got his foot in the door at Aardman regardless: “I was meant to be here for a week’s work experience, it’s now four years later,” he smiles. 2. Grow into your role Many of Aardman’s designers started on similar placements. “It’s…

NEXT MONTH CHILDREN’S BOOKS Jim Field outlines the process of illustrating a children’s book. GIVING IN TO DIGITAL Anna Higgie I studied fine art and painting and for a long time was completely against the idea of going digital. I just didn’t see the point of it until I started working professionally as an illustrator. I then had to start making changes to illustrations as requested by clients. This means you have to be quite flexible in the way you work, which makes traditional pen and paper drawing less practical. I very gradually transitioned to digital drawing. Being able to work in layers is incredibly liberating, you suddenly have so much freedom to change things and experiment. I love the sense that no decision you make is permanent, everything can…

For colour, we spent some time looking at a lot of different techniques used by scientists to apply false colour to microscope images. We used these, but pushed them even further for visual and artistic impact. We tried to replicate and emphasise the bright, RGB aesthetic we saw in all of the images that the Crick were capturing in their research. We based our process on a technique called pseudocolour, where a range of colours are used to denote intensity values in a single channel of data.…

Authenticity. It’s at the heart of everything we do. And it’s a theme that runs through this issue from start to finish. It’s a key starting point, for example, in Emily Gosling’s article on how to use hand-lettering in branding. She notes how some huge companies have harnessed the handcrafted trend to present themselves as local and artisanal when they’re actually anything but. Yet in practice, consumers are not so easily fooled. Authenticity may not be something you can measure or even consciously identify, but when it’s absent, your work just won’t connect with people in the way you want it to. Emily’s special report is full of insider knowledge about the right way to do it. There are different ways of achieving authenticity, but increasingly we’re seeing studios build…

GARETH JONES VIDEO PRODUCER Gareth has been busy travelling across the Peak District shooting snow-themed video. He also enjoyed paying Shaun the Sheep a visit over at Aardman Animations in Bristol. NICK CARSON CONTENT STRATEGIST AND COPYWRITER Although he misses the office banter, Nick has been enjoying freelance life, working on some exciting projects with his favourite design agencies. He’s also still heading up CA’s Brand Impact Awards. Production notes PRINTERS TEXT AND COVER CMYK, PLUS PANTONE 871 GOLD METALLIC William Gibbons PRINT FINISHING PARTNER PAPER COVER Precision Special Gloss FSC 250gsm P3–74: Ultra Mag Plus Gloss 90gsm P75–98: GraphoInvent 70gsm TYPEFACES Trump Gothic West, Akkurat, S-L, Simplo, Kondola and Calluna…

Tad Carpenter is a designer, illustrator, writer and educator based in Kansas City. He co-runs design and branding studio Carpenter Collective with his wife, Jessica, and describes his work as “honest, heartfelt and with a strong sense of whimsicality attached to it.” Carpenter uses Instagram to post his illustrations, logos, icons and various forms of design, though adds that he enjoys “taking photos of people interacting with our work,” whether that’s a space Carpenter Collective has designed or an object it created. “How people bring our design into their lives is the real measure of its success,” he says. “The best part of Instagram is the interaction with fellow designers and creative people,” Carpenter continues. “My feed is a range of logo and brand identity work, illustration projects, packaging, rejected…

HEATH HINEGARDNER Principal and owner, Trustheath Design and Illustration www.trustheath.com “The mingling of illustration work with design work in my portfolio has caused confusion my entire professional life. From showing illustration samples in a design interview (“Do you even want this job?”: a creative director) to showing only illustration in my online portfolio (“Heath, is that you?”: a colleague) to simply describing myself (“But are you master of none?”: a recruiter). Happily, those are people I ended up working with. If you too are both a designer and an illustrator, have empathy for the hirer: most people have an immediate problem they need solved. Talking with them to figure out the most relevant work to show is probably the most useful thing you can do.” JACOB LEE Freelance graphic designer…

01 TAILOR IT TO THE READER “It’s vital to tailor your design portfolio (or book, as we call it) to the company you’re sending it to,” explains Louise Sloper, head of art at BMB. “So you’d approach an advertising agency like mine, for example, in a different way to a design studio. You’re unlikely to be doing 60-page brochures here, so it’s a waste of my time seeing that in a portfolio. It may be lovely, but it shows you haven’t understood the job that you’re coming for.” 02 CREDIT YOUR COLLABORATORS “It’s kind of a weird thing,” says Pentagram’s Eddie Opara. “Often, one project in a portfolio stands out, because it’s something one person clearly didn’t do on their own; but there’s no acknowledgment of the other collaborators. I…

1 USE TYPE WISELY If hand lettering works with the overall brand – its origins, its ethos and its audience – great. If not, avoid; people will see straight through a tech giant trying to look personable using nothing but a scripty typeface. “It’s got its uses, but I feel it’s a lazy approach sometimes,” says Kyle Wilkinson. 2 WORK WITH THE PRINTERS Specialist typography often requires specialist finishes: embossing, foils, and spot colours, for instance. So it’s best, where possible, to work as closely as you can when it comes to printing the project (preferably, be physically present). That way, you can see the colours, finishes and other elements as they’re done. 3 KEEP IT BEAUTIFUL “For a logotype to be ‘great’ it has to be beautiful – in…

Learning to code might seem like an unnecessary step, particularly if you’re working exclusively in print design. However, if you think you don’t need to code, consider the following two things. Firstly, you never truly know what you or your studio is going to be working on a year from now. And in an industry increasingly focused on digital, it’s never a bad idea to future-proof your skills. Secondly, learning to code doesn’t mean going all-in and becoming a fully fledged developer. Even if you end up grasping only the very basics of code, it will still help you enormously in communicating your visual ideas to the developers who are tasked with implementing them. “Learning to code is the most exciting step I’ve made as a designer, but my original…

1 USE CODE TO HELP YOU GET OUT OF A RUT “As a recent design graduate, I felt like I was hitting a slump after doing four internships in a row” says Trang Minh Nguyen, a designer working in Berlin. “Learning to code helped me escape this toxic mindset and open up a new realm of possibilities, especially when it comes to generative design.” 2 MAKE SOMETHING “Think of a project you want to do, pick a language, and just start making,” advises Nguyen. “Get in the habit of creating. Have endless curiosity, look things up, read books, watch tutorials, wake up early so you have a fresh mind. Something will fuck up along the way and that’s okay.” 3 ASK THE EXPERTS “Ask lot of questions and if someone…

Almost 30 years ago, Wallace and Gromit went to the moon on a Grand Day Out that would launch them into global fame, and earn them a place in the hearts of the nation. A string of hits later, and Bristol’s bestloved animation studio is still going strong. And for the past decade, its interactive department – which was founded off the back of a Channel 4 online animation project, 4mations – has grown in tandem. Aardman Interactive’s first official employee, group creative director Daniel Efergan, shares how it happened… As Aardman Interactive’s first employee, did you help build the concept of the department? There was a seed that started it. A guy, Paul Deane, who now works at the BBC – he’s like the grandfather of interactive – pulled…

AOP 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 When you commission a piece of photography do you own that finished image? Can you use it indefinitely? What’s the difference between intellectual property and copyright? What do photographers mean by licensing an image? AOP’s legal and business advisor Nick Dunmur demystifies all this and more. In the absence of anything to the contrary, when a person makes a piece of creative work, regardless of whether it was commissioned or not, that person owns the intellectual property of that work. This is a fundamental right and…

KATIE CADWALLADER Katie is a designer at Supple Studio in Bath, and received the Rising Star Award at last year’s Design Week Awards. On page 23, she explains what she’s learned from plunging into cinematic history. www.katiecad.design MATTHEW TWEDDLE Matthew is the co-founder and creative director of Manchester branding agency Only. On page 20, he argues that redefining what success means to you is key to a better work-life balance. www.onlystudio.co.uk EMILY GOSLING Emily is a London-based art and design journalist. She is a senior editor at AIGA’s Eye on Design and editor of Type Notes. On page 58, she explains how to craft an authentic brand using bespoke type. www.emilygosling.com DAVID BICKNELL David is the co-founder of Brown&co, a ‘new kind of design agency’ launched in 2017. On page…

A chieving a balance between work and life is something I’ve always struggled with. At every stage of my career I’ve made the next creative challenge the most important thing in my life. But was I losing something in the process? Last September, I went to the Brand New conference in Chicago and heard Tosh Hall, creative director at Jones Knowles Ritchie, speak about his relationship with design. He talked about the need to strike a balance — for the sake of his sanity and to the benefit of his creative output. The message got through and I knew it was important to make a change… but old habits die hard. Those habits were initially forged during my first professional job out of university: artworking nightclub flyers and their promotional…

SHOW ME THE DETAIL Louise Sloper, head of art at ad agency BMB, wants to see your work in as much detail as possible. “My biggest bugbear is when portfolios are created as if they’re presentation boards, and the pieces of work are like thumbnails,” she sighs. “That’s crazy, because I want to see detail. I want to know, especially if you’re a younger designer, that you understand kerning. I want to know that you’ve used the right logo and that’s it’s not been pixelated or gone a bit funky. I don’t want to view a video that’s tiny; I want to see all the craft that’s gone into the directorship and creative direction of it.” This principle applies to both physical and online portfolios. “I do see a lot…

SAIMAN CHOW Born and raised in Hong Kong, Saiman Chow’s family moved to Los Angeles when he was 15. Since graduating from Art Center College of Design in 2001, he’s gone on to work for a roster of big-name clients including Apple, Adidas and Nike. See more at www.saimanchow.com From intricate stopmotion animations to digital illustrations and fine art, the work of Saiman Chow never ceases to astonish. This multi-disciplinary artist, director and designer was born and raised in Hong Kong, and then emigrated to Los Angeles with his family at the age of 15. After graduating from Art Center College of Design in 2001, Chow gained early attention and accolades for his Art of Speed animation, commissioned by Nike. His boundless sense of imagination has since won him commissions…

Stranger & Stranger is a packaging design and branding agency specialising in alcoholic drinks. The majority of the agency’s projects use specialist craft skills when it comes to typography, and one stunning recent standout project is The Prisoner’s $100 reserve, Deranged, which uses a black bottle with tally-like inscriptions forming a charmingly scrappy, edgy, and hand-created aesthetic. “The Prisoner is a wine icon, it has attitude and has succeeded fantastically well despite, and maybe because of, it not being a traditionally researched consumer facing brand,” says Stranger & Stranger founder/CEO Kevin Shaw. “The perfect brief was simply to extend that attitude to a higher price point, aged wine. Short briefs are best and we spend a lot of time crystallising the ask. If you can get a brief down to…

ISSUE 277 APRIL 2018 • Upgrade your skills and get a better job • The 10 must-read indie magazines • Here Design on how to balance multiple disciplines in a studio ISSUE 276 MARCH 2018 Discover the top 25 illustrators to work with this year, improve your logo craft with our 10 golden rules, and get pro portfolio advice from agency Handsome Frank. ISSUE 275 FEBRUARY 2018 Have your best year ever with our advice for conquering obstacles and achieving your dreams in 2018. We also look at how to use brand guidelines effectively. ISSUE 274 JANUARY 2018 We reveal the hottest colour palettes for 2018. Plus: how to succeed as a designer-maker, build a global reputation overnight and get better at typesetting. ISSUE 273 DECEMBER 2017 Create brand 'you'…

1. Pull together as a team Aardman Interactive uses the waterfall and agile styles of project management. “Rather than the producer telling everyone what to do, the team works together to make decisions. It’s an open, collaborative method,” explains producer Hannah Jones, who has recently qualified as a Scrum Master. The team compiles a wish-list of features with the client, and prioritises them. At the start of a two-week sprint they set a plan, then review progress at the end. “I can’t remember a time when we didn’t work like that,” shrugs senior designer Gavin Strange. “It feels so natural, and the bones of it are easy to understand. Some of the lingo can be a bit baffling, but you need to take away the bits that work for you.”…

The First Folio, a published collection of William Shakespeare’s plays dating back to 1623, is the main reason anyone knows about the Bard today at all. So it’s a hugely important document to the Globe. We were keen to examine it and look for cues that might help give the Globe’s printed materials a distinctive editorial approach. We quickly realised that if you removed the old-fashioned typeface and the decorative elements from The First Folio and just look at it as a layout, it’s radical and modern-feeling. It even has an approach to imagery, both in the included portrait of Shakespeare and also in the decorative flourishes. We started off by converting these to image boxes and drop cap boxes to create a starting point for layout. It was then…

BE GUIDED BY PROCESS The scientific processes that the Crick Institute used to create the microscopic type were all new to us as an agency. So we had to be very adaptive to the results of the process, and allow them to define our approach to some extent. FIND INSPIRATION IN THE CLIENT What’s being worked on at The Crick Institute has the potential to change, or even save, all of our lives at some point in the future. Really, all of us should be fascinated by the great work they are doing. LEARN FROM EACH OTHER By combining both artistic and scientific processes, this collaboration was really a microcosm of the topic of the exhibition itself, and both parties learned a lot from it. Just being in the building,…