Wednesday 18 May 2011

PP - Identity (Promotion)


Following on from the logo design, I felt there was more I could do to increase m profile at the auction. The most obvious idea was to produce some sort of business card or promotional item. (I was actually surprised when it came to it that there weren’t more people with the same idea as me..) The range I produced would need to be attractive visually, as well as remaining functional and practical in size and design. I have had concerns in the past that there is often wide divergence in the style of my work, so much so that images do not sit easily against each other. In order to remedy this I either had to find a way of displaying some element of my work that represented a wider style, produce multiple versions or begin to tighten my personal discipline or style.



Though I experimented with several different designs beforehand, I eventually opted for multiple variations.




This was the basic design template I devised, clear and stylish with a purposeful separation of the text and imagery, so as to let each stand on their own. I did not want to overcomplicate the design as the cards would be no larger than a credit card, but still needed to make sure my details were clear and complete.
Of particular interest here was the struggle I had deciding on how I should describe myself. As I have mentioned previously, by using the label ‘Illustrator’ you are linking yourself into the collective persona of the industry. While this is not undesirable, I did feel it was slightly prescriptive, however wide the field of practice actually is.





I specifically did not want to use the term ‘graphic design’ though it has featured in my work in the past. I am much more comfortable being described as an illustrator, designer or artist, and felt the digital nature of my work needed to be further highlighted.



These are some of the variations I settled on. Originally I had included some using characters based on existing intellectual properties, but felt it was questionable practice to use work based on someone else's design, and did not want to risk my kneecaps being crowbarred or something...
Or snubbed at a social event.

Since producing these cards, however, I have considered changing my working name to MANYHEADEDMONSTER in line with my current blog. It was perhaps a symbolic action prompted by my move to Blogspot, and to be honest, its a lot harder to fit a name that long on my business card.

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