Projector

It’s been busy times at Projector recently but I thought it about time I’d step back into the shoes of the man-in-the-press-box. Last week three of the crew of the good ship Projector took out a few moments from being consummate professionals and trundled down to Dance City. Despite the enormously alluring contemporary dance class, we opted to attend a Parkinson-esque interview of Michael C Place by renowned design lothario, Adrian Shaugnesssy.

For those of you who don’t know Michael is an outstanding contemporary designer (“I heard he’s the best in the world’ – overheard whilst getting a glass of wine, not exactly sure how that’s voted for?!) who treads on the cusp of art in his graphic design work. He is a definite favourite of mine and it was fantastic to see how he’d developed over the years, from placement work, to TDR moving onto his work under the name Build.

One question raised from the interview was what inspired Michael to start designing, which he replied with the albums covers of seminal designers, such as Vaughn Oliver’s sleeve designs for the Pixies. This led to me to think of what had started me on the path to becoming a graphic designer. Michael Johnson has recently written an excellent article on the same topic, which goes into a lot more detail.

The main point I derived however, from the display of his work and the seemingly relentless, but undeniably good, questioning from Adrian, was that hard work gets you where you want to be. Also obviously being given the gift of immense talent helps too. It’s definitely made me think that despite being diligent I can and will be working a lot harder starting right…………….now. Maybe then that incredible talent might slowly cultivate and begin to manifest itself.

Projector were inspired to become Graphic Designers by: Many things, but for me it was to not be an artist and have a stable income. Very Radical. 

The organisation which has been charged with selecting the design consultancies for the design and print framework for the games, has divulged that a number of the design groups were chosen anonymously, at random. I find it hard to believe that such a prestigious opportunity to do some great creative work is put completely to chance and not by the quality of work. 

You can’t help but wonder if they’ll dish out the medals in the same way? Or maybe they’ll base it on which design agency, on average is tallest.

Despite being amused by the foppish Boris Johnson’s flag bearing antics in Beijing, the outlook does look distinctly bleak. How could we compete with the Chinese opening ceremony when it seems the design agencies being used are picked randomly?

I can only grimace at the all too possible prospect of the welcoming the competing nations will receive. It is destined by fate that we’ll wheel out the poodle permed relic that is Brian May, Lulu dueting with X factor winner Leona Lewis amidst a troupe of breakdancing beefeaters, who will collectively proceed to catastrophically butcher “We are the Champions” whilst hurtling around the Olympic Village atop a London Bus.

Well we can live in hope.

Info from: Design Week

Came across this at the weekend whilst trawling through via http://www.swisslegacy.com

The Graphic Design students at Lincoln University have organised an auction of some well, saliva inducing design trinkets to fund their 2009 degree show under the moniker “Design Auction St. Bride”.

Give them a hand!  All the seats may be booked, however you can still make silent bids and if you wish to scream “Buy! Buy! Buy!” down a phone, in a manner akin to a Wall Street Trader, then there also telephone bids.

http://www.designauction.co.uk/

It’s almost the weekend. It’s been a busy one! See you Monday?

Projector are looking forward to seeing: ’Watchmen’ and ‘Anvil’

With clients such as Bentley, Bernard Matthews and Nestlé, Business Impact is one of the leading training consultancies in the UK.

Having established that their existing communication was falling short of representing them effectively they approached us with a brief to completely overhaul their branding. We looked at the history of the company and discovered that, whilst they had built a great reputation for providing training, they didn’t have a clearly defined identity. We set about articulating what they were about and what their goals where. After the initial research process we came up with a structure that defined their core proposition and values.

The main offering of Business Impact is to improve their clients bottom line figures by introducing techniques which empower their staff and reduce waste. The logo shape presents these offerings in it’s design: the three lines/colours to represent 1: Business Impact 2: The Client and 3: The Trainees. The shape of the gradient represents growth and improvement. Further enhancing these values we have developed the idea of the three lines into graphic components to be used throughout the new communications.

The new identity clearly defines what they are about and gives them a positive, approachable and professional look. By combining ‘business’ like purple and grey colours with a vibrant pink we ensured the brand will appeal to everyone from Managing Directors to the ground floor staff. We wanted the brand to connect with the target audience so we photographed Business Impact’s clients and trainees across the country. Using reportage style, black and white photography to catch real moments of people putting the learned skills to use. We built a library of shots that make a real connection with potential clients. 

Winged over from the printers, check out the watermarked logo on the letterhead. Fresh! 

Projector are currently: Waiting to reward themselves for a hard days work by going to watch Liverpool vs Real Madrid in the Tyneside Cinema digital lounge. Pie and a pint £4.00. Bonus.