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.

Libido Café

The Brief

The band Libido Café wanted some CD artwork that was colorful and energetic. The band encouraged my freedom on this project.

Process

I wanted to make something that was pixely, yet not just an image with deteriorated resolution. I wanted the pixel effect to give a lively character to the photo, rather than just obscure it.

Technique

Camera, Illustrator, Photoshop.

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.

SXSW 2011

The Brief

I have been planning a trip to the South by South West festival of music, film and interactive in Austin Texas. I want to go there because it's a great opportunity to contribute to both music and interactive.

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 also took an interest in Seiko watch design as well as 1920s fonts such as Morris Fuller Benton's Broadway.

Technique

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

Drawings