Blueprint Design

Portfolio

MCR

The Brief

This was a portfolio piece to promote a fictional concert.

Process

I was thinking of ‘romance as submersion within chemistry’ when I remembered I had once scanned my hand into Photoshop and inverted the colours. That was the background sorted. Next I experimented with lots of colors and fonts until I found a good balance.

Technique

Scanner, Photoshop, Illustrator

Opus II

The Brief

Opus II approached me looking for a poster to promote the launch of their new instrument department. Stock would include top brands such as Yamaha and Stentor.

Process

I set to work drawing sketches for the typography, paying close attention to the hierarchy of information in the text itself. I then suggested some basic layout approaches and color schemes. The client was enthusiastic about using golden brown (which recalls the colour of the instruments themselves). The client then suggested adding some texture to certain areas, for which I added the blue sky and clouds – an effective contrast to the heavy type in the foreground.

Technique

Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign

Hy Brazil

The Brief

The band Hy Brazil wanted a poster with an urban combatant look to promote their new Irish tour.

Process

I decided to start with the familiar army stencil (which has a practicality and sense of order and simplicity), and use it in a rather chaotic and aggressive way. I like the way the background chaos seems tempered by the use of red for the band name, recalling the sobering price of war. The script font was used to contrast with the rest of the design.

Technique

Custom brushes in Photoshop, Illustrator.

Haven Interiors

The Brief

This was a corporate identity project to develop skills in multi-format visual identity. The goal was to create a look that was as minimal and professional as possible.

Process

I reduced the color, form and content in order to convey a clean, slick visual identity.

Technique

A vector based approach allowed me to avail of Illustrators 'pathfinder' tool, adding and subtracting negative and positive shapes, until I achieved the effect of vases on a table top.

RTB Media

The Brief

RTB Media asked me to do some technical illustrations of motor parts for a book they were publishing. For this illustration they wanted something simple that would clearly show the difference between a two-stroke and a four-stroke engine valve.

Process

I began by researching the two different valves. I then considered how best I could bring the information together in an accurate and visually consistent way.

Technique

I used Bezier curves (Illustrator pen tool) to draw the outlines, and used gradients to ‘color them in’. Then I simply copied and pasted the valve and piston.

Style Design

The Brief

This was a personal project. I wanted to create a new design logo that was simple but futuristic. I was looking at desktop icons and was totally jumping on the ‘glossy button’ bandwagon.

Process

In my head I saw an egg painted like the yin-yang symbol. I then added red trimmings and a nice sans-serif font.

Technique

Indesign, Illustrator.

Seiko

The Brief

This is a portfolio poster I designed for the Seiko Corporation who make some of the best watch designs I've ever seen.

Process

I became obsessed with an online museum of vintage electronics called pocketcalculatorshow.com and began drawing abstract paintings inspired by some of the interfaces. I quickly developed an interest in Seiko watch design which provides endless inspiration.

Technique

Illustrator's pen and an unmerciful tweeking of a circle to get the pointed arrow.

Artist's logo

The Brief

Colombian painter, illustrator and sculptor, María Camila Mejía Hernández was visiting Ireland and I had the great honour of collaborating with her on designing her logo.

Process

We had a wealth of source material to work from, so we picked a nice textural abstract painting and introduced that to Photoshop’s magic wand tool. Then we put a photograph of some colored balloons behind that. Tricky, but fun!

Technique

Camera, Illustrator, Photoshop.

Four Eyes Lab (Computer Science Lab, UCSB)

The Brief

Four Eyes Lab asked for a logo design that conveyed the new 3D interface technology they produce and didn't use the words 'four eyes', and that the only text state what 4i stood for.

Process

I looked at the recent 3D interface development made by the lab, called Fogscreen technology: a veil of water vapor that allows three-dimensional effects. This seemed like a handy resource for lighting effects, and the violet nebula in the background positions the lab in terms of being at the centre of an exciting and unlimited future for developing science and technology.

Technique

Illustrator

Clarity

The Brief

Clarity wanted a logo that was simple and appealing for their new technology centre.

Process

I proposed the concept of the three crystals, as the company seem to use three a lot.

Technique

Technical style in Illustrator

Drawings