PPD // Personal Branding & Buisness Card

So far the concept for my business cards is to be as plain and simple as possible, I want the design to be minimal and consistent to the branding of my website and tumblr but at the same time be a piece of print that people want to hold onto and keep. I'm considering quite a few ideas as listed below;

What do I want to say about myself? What do people need to know? What is necessary? How can I cut it down to a minimum amount of information but at the same time fully communicate with my viewer?

Stocks

Wood? Paper? Acetate? Vinyl?

Information needed

Name, Phone Number, Website, Email

Shape

Rectangular, hexagon, circle, polygon?

Messages I want to communicate

I want my card to be sophisticate and elegant but at the same time communicate my interests in print and hand rendered illustration.

Below are a few examples of business cards I've seen online that really appeal to me, Every one has something intriguing and unique about itself, It leaves you wanting to know more purely because of how well they've been crafted.

Below are a few of my different experiments with lettering and working with my name In general. From the PPD sessions with Jane I think my main focus was what am I going to call myself, how can I communicate my personality but still remain professional? I want to use my Initials but I don't want viewers to associate W.C with water closet. So far my idea's consist of William Cotterill, Will Cotterill, W.Cotterill. WillC, W.C, IAMWILL.

My logo and visual recognition needs to communicate my skills and persoanlity, below are a few visual examples of work I've been influenced by;

My sketches are mainly influenced by the contextual examples below;

My sketchbook Pages;

Art boards / logo colour ways;

 

Mockups

PPD // Studio Research

Over the summer I'd love to visit some studios, just purely to grasp a feel for the type of design environment I would feel comfortable entering into. I want to start to understand how real life works in the world of design and the only way to achieve that is experiencing it first hand. Below are a few of the studios that I'm really fond of, some are way too far away to visit in the near future but with preparation and money I'd love to travel to visit some of these studios.

C100 Purple Haze - Germany

http://c100purplehaze.com/

Burn Everything- Liverpool

Branding, Identities print and multimedia

http://www.burneverything.co.uk/

Fig Tree Network - London

http://www.figtreenetwork.coma collection of thinkers, designers, dreamers and doers who, whether based in London, Paris or Hong Kong want to do great work for ambitious clients.

HiggsonHurst -London - Illustration

http://www.higginsonhurst.com

 

Onlab- Berlin

http://onlab.ch

B&W Leeds

http://www.bandwstudio.co.uk

 

VIX- manchester

http://www.may-ninth.co.uk

PPD - Logo Devlopment & Personal Branding

So far I've come up with lots of Ideas on Illustrator towards my own personal branding but designing for yourself can be particularly confusing and tricky as I never seem to be happy with what I produce. As it could be potentially viewed by clients and businesses I want to give off a optimistic/charismatic and positive impression as soon as they see my branding, but this is literally impossible to create when in the mind of a perfectionist.

This is some of the experiments I've been doing In illustrator working with A 3d panelled W I've made;

PPD // Group Tutorial Prep

1. What is Industrial experience?

-Working on a live brief outside of college.
-Working for a print company or copywriters as a team.
-Getting to converse with people already working in industry or profession being able to give modern, up to date constructive advice.
-Getting a placement/internship with a studio or agency.


2. What can you learn from industrial experience?

-What type of job you want to end up working within.
-You can extend your practical experiences and skills, focused on the area you aspire to work in.
-How to produce work to a industrial environment working to high standards and dealing with everyday situations.
-How real life deadlines work.
-The way to deal with clients and customers, giving the customer exactly what they want.


3. What form/format could industrial experience take?

-Doing a Live brief for a client or customer.
-Internships and Work Experience.
-Visiting various Offices and studios.
- Work shadowing watching a leader/staff member within a workplace.
-Collaborations with existing designers/artists/illustrators.


4. What areas of industry are you interested in?

-Screen Printing
-Web Design
-Illustration
-Branding and Identity
-Sign writing/typography?


5. What are your concerns about industrial experience?

What will be my main area of graphic design to focus on in terms of finding a subject I will feel most confident and comfortable working in.

What area of the world I want to work in, I don’t want to live in the U.K much longer and I would love to move abroad, What areas offer what? in terms of the trade I decided to go into.

With the current economy it gets harder ever day to afford things, I would love to travel from city to city visiting different studios but funding it could be difficult. It’s hard to get your work out into the public eye without paying the cost.

Do I have enough experience and skills to be accepted in the area I want to work in? It’s hard to gain recognition without experience and backing, so having this extra boost would be a big help.

PPD // Why Am I Here - What do I want to Learn?

Identify and explain 5 reasons why you chose to study on this programme.

-To gain foundations and a stepping-stone towards getting a good job.
-To learn and develop as a designer, widening my knowledge on graphic design.
-Leeds is an artistic and current city for design.
-The course is very well known and prestigious.
-I’d get a chance to focus and narrow down my creative aspirations.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to learn during your time on the programme.

-How to use all the main adobe programmes inside out.
-I want to learn about print and print methodologies, what is appropriate for a desired outcome.
-I want to learn about type and how type is correctly formatted and edited within design, how type can work as image and type manipulation.
-I want to know how to create live websites with dream weaver.

Identify and explain 5 skills that you think are your strengths.

-Drawing/hand rendered/digital/illustration.
-Composition
-Working with other people/collaborations.
-Presentation and layout
-Creativity, Working with 3d.

Identify and explain 5 things that you want to improve.

-My time management.
-I want to refine my drawings skills so that I have a consistent style of illustration.
-I want to improve my skills within illustrator, learning more about vector artwork and basically developing my software skills from first year.
-My knowledge of the history of graphic design
-My client base, contacts for work.

Identify and explain 5 ways that you will evaluate your progress.

-Make regular action plans.
-Keep note books documenting all my current and up to date ideas/dates/etc.
-Arrange regular feedback sessions with peers and tutors.
-Constantly evaluate work load, and project management.
-Evaluations and module feedback.

Identify 5 questions that you want to find the answer to.

-WHO AM I IN THE WORLD OF DESIGN? I need to find my feet and plan for the future but how can I achieve this without knowing what area of design I want to go into. I hope this year helps me to determine my prospects as a designer from here onwards.

-HOW DO I BUILD GOOD RELATIONSHIPS WITH CLIENTS? How do I deal with clients in a professional manor, handle queries, pricing etc?

-CAN I WORK ABROAD? Do I have the skill and ability to work abroad, is this easily achieved, how do you go about contact foreign design studios?

-HOW MUCH WOULD IT COST TO SET UP MY OWN CLOTHING COMPANY? I’ve had previous projects in the past setting up miniature clothing companies, but now I feel I’m at the stage where its time to step things up a notch, I want to create a professional brand of apparel, and doing this properly is going to need financing well.

-HOW DO I START MY ONLINE STATUS?