Wheelscape response.

Just sent the email to Wheelscape. I tried my best to avoid taking a long trek to Bristol, but I think it might be a good idea to go. If I hadn't of heard anything from Zen about a brief i would of gone down to Bristol to sort this out asap as it is a good opportunity. However I do not want to overload myself with work for the project. I feel this would just be a bad move.  All these emails will be included within the client liasing folder on the hand in.

I don;t really want to be turning down either of these for their work so I am trying my best to get the most out of each situation without overloading with work. Head hurts.

Wheelscape progress

I have received an email from Wheelscape who are inviting me to their office for an informal design meeting in the office. This is all good however it is in Bristol! So it is a little far to be travelling when the Zen project along with other things re keeping me a very busy person during these times.

I am unsure whether I should go all the way their. on the down side it is far, and i am currently working with Zen on thier project .which is a big project in its self. However Wheelscape has many benefits such as i'd be working with something to do with skateboarding, I am also still waiting for the Zen brief to come through properly. Which I will be following up on in the next day or two.

I think I will take a day or two to decide on this.

Week 5 Actions.

After week 4 I feel as if I am not directly sticking to the actions set on here. But instead using them as guidelines, as I often re-define the importance of some other none listed things throughout the week.

I have managed to look a bit more into some already researched topics and i have 90% completed self branding. This is about as far as that list goes though. Even so i have managed to complete a rationale and get feedback and complete my artist biog. On top of this i have done a first draft Gantt chart. So overall I am happy with this weeks development even though I did not do what i originally set out to do.

Week 5 Actions.

• A little bit more on already researched topics.
• Begin researching into competition of Zen Web Solutions.
• Begin research into Zen Web Solutions and Zen internet's company history.
• Second draft of Gantt chart
• Write up and finish development of Artist Biog.  

2nd client

Even though the Zen web solutions brief is more or less in the bag. I am still thinking about taking on a potential brief from Wheelscape. This is only based on my hopes as to what they might set. As they have hinted towards a print  based document sucjg as a portfolio or brochure for themselves. And obviously I am excited to be working with a skateboard based company.

Stefan Sagmeister

After learning and watching a TED talk with Stefan Sagmeister I was intrigued and impressed enough to buy his book entitled "Made you look". Which is a collection of his studios work. After looking at some initial examples of his work on his site. My overall impression of his work particularly with branding is he goes beyond basic principles of branding, and thoroughly strong brand and identity concept which often has a very simple look to it to create a very unique look to it.
I hope to gain some good creative influences from this book, which may help either my own personal branding or for my client project.

Meeting with Lee Matthews

So I had my initial meeting with Lee Matthews from Zen Web Solutions at Zen internet. It couldn't really of gone better. He mentioned the brief or actually project I would be working on which will be a re brand for Zen web Solutions themselves as they are currently looking into it.

He was very enthusiastic about helping out which was greatly refreshing to see and also helped me to relax a little, and aloud me to relax a little rather than being my usual nervous wreck during interviews and  Overall I don't think there is much different I would of done, I got all my questions cleared up and he mentioned sending the full brief for the project early next week.

All in all it went great.

WheeeeeelScape.

I can't help but stress how excited I am about the potential with working with WheelScape skatepark for a brief. Keep thinking this could be my ticket into the biz I've wanted to work in for a long time!
Still I'd like to remain calm and keep seated.

Week 4 Action Plan

This week I need to push forward on branding for myself to enable a more professional approach for when needed. It will also help my research documents to be come easier to manage as well as quicker to complete.

• Look more in-depth into my already researched topics. 
• Finish developing branding for myself. 
• If I gain a client create a draft copy of my brief for the project.
• Also create a draft copy of the statement of intent to go alongside the brief. 

I did not manage to get much done last week, however the recent interest in new potential projects has sparked some motivation for me to get some of the less creative stuff such as some outstanding research out of the way to clear a path for the creative work. 

New options

Having sent out soem emails over the weekend, I have already recieved a couple of promising and interesting replies.
The most exciting reply i have had is from Wheelscape.com who design and build concrete skateparks around the UK. This is great for me as i have a huge interest in skateboarding. So the chance to do some work for these is almost a dream come true for me.

I have also recieved a text message from Green Deal Consortia, who is a small company based in my local area of Urmston. This might be a good option based on how close and reletively easy it potentially is to gain good feedback and consulting with as a client.

Meeting arranged with Zen Internet

After speaking with my brother about possible work with Zen Broadband, he has stated it is probably best if I come in and speak with the graphic designer there. He arranged for me to come in on Wednesday 17th October between 14:00 and 14:30 for a quick chat.

Hopefully this goes well and I can obtain a brief and a working client for this project.

REMEMBER TO TAKE NOTES.

In the mean time i will email some others about a possible client project. I hope to use the site www.freeindex.co.uk as it lists hundreds of small companies across the UK.

Week 3 Action Plan

Week 3 Action Plan

• Client brief draft, if anything an indicitive version of the brief. 
• Email, lots of potential clients and start a client contact folder.
• Identify and document my competitors. 
•  If a potential client arises, create a short rational about it. 

Artist bio first draft

Nick Ainsworth born 1991 in South Manchester England, is a Graphic Designer who currently still resides in his home town of Manchester. His main areas of design are layout and editorial as well as branding, however he also uses his own photography within his work. Nick graduated from Salford University 2011 from a two year HND Graphic design course. During this course Nick took part and learned of in numerous areas of design from web, to packaging, animation video production and video editing. At the Salford end of year show he was awarded with a student award for graphic design on the HND course. He then went on a gap year from education where he worked on a few personal projects along with a few clients. In 2012 he returned to education to  complete a BA degree course in Creative Media and Visual Communication course at The Manchester College. After education Nick plans to get a junior level or better job within graphic design, either working for a company or working with an agency. Aside from design Nick is also interested in skateboarding and has been skating since an early age.

This is a first draft of my artist biog, it covers all the information I think is relevant from research and looking at other short artist biog's.

I think this is good enough first time round, however it may be subject to a little change if i feel necessary later on in the project.

Possible client soon.

I spoke to my brother briefly a few days ago about a possible brief from his work. He has come back with good news, the seem very interested in helping out, and they are going about to try to arranging something for me.
Good news indeed.

Bio bullet points.

To start this artist bio, I need to think of a few points to base it about.

• Quick overview of background born 1991
• Based in Manchester
• What I currently do in design.
• Education history briefly
• Notable achievements?
• Currently up to?

I think with these points i should be able to get around 200 words, well maybe. 

In order to get a slightly better understanding I will look at some existing bio's for designers and artists etc. to get a better idea of what content should be in there.

logo ideas.

I have quickly over the past couple of days spent a little bit of time developing 2 potential logo's.

The first idea.
This logo is more or less complete, only unsure about colouring of the orange. However I think if it is left quite open and colouring could be subject to change and have no true colour, allowing some flexibility.

The second idea.
There is a few still undecided things about this logo if I were to use it, such as colouring and whether or not i want the word "creative" there, however the general look is there to it. I originally had a square rather than a circle, however I removed when i added the word creative. as it made the whole logo look too blocky. On its own though, I think it was on even par with the circle, mainly down to preference.

I think I will continue some development into these, and progress to a business card with both to see how they look when branding becomes a factor, and it is not just a stand alone logo.
I will also try to seek out some quick feedback from some sources if possible, as i do not want to spend more than another 2 days on the entire branding thing for myself.

What i want from my logo.

After looking through a selection and variety of logos for freelance designers, to get more of an insight into what i would like my own logo to look like i have decided on some things.

• I would like it simple and iconic.
• I want it to be my initials.
• Doesn't necessarily have to have my full name in it, as it will hopefully be almost always on something with my full details on it such as business card, or website in the future. 

In short I want to use this as a good basis and example of what I want my logo to be.
image taken from http://www.john-williamson.com/ 

Logo/self branding thoughts.

If i am to appear professional to clients, I need to have a brand identity. This is actually something which has been bugging me for a few years, I personally find branding yourself THE hardest thing to do in design. I am just never satisfied with what I come up with.

However, since I more or less NEED a brand identity for this project, I am somewhat forced to create one and fast. I am not seeing this as bad, maybe a real short deadline is what I've needed to be able to finally brand myself. 

business card

Having to create a business card for myself has reminded me off one of the greatest movie scenes of all time.
I seriously love this scene.
From a design point of view, being able to invoke that kind of response in someone is probably what we all secretly want.

Week 2 actions

Week 2 Actions

This week i will be looking into and following up on any leads of work i can find or create.

• Follow up on freelance.co.uk. Find 5 decent looking briefs/work posts and contact the poster. 
• Ask my brother to see if his place (Zen internet limited) has anything they would like doing. 
• Contact my work (MUFC) to see if they have anything they would like doing.
• Get my business card up and going. This is crucial if i am to be having i am to be having contact with anyone in person. 
• Get in contact with past friend from Salford to see if he would like any work doing for his business.
• Ask around my local area (Urmston) to see if any of the small business's would like some free work either in branding or advertising. 
• Make contact with the 2 businesss's on Liv's list.

Hopefully if all these actions are followed through properly i will be able to generate a good client with some work.