…about my job is getting started.
I am currently working on revamping a client’s web site. The original site was created two or three years ago, but the client has now decided it’s time to get things up to date. They also want to be able to maintain the site themselves.
The first step was to get the hosting moved somewhere sensible. That’s now been done, so I need to get on with tidying things up and getting the overall layout into something cleaner and more modern. The thing is, if I am honest, I am usually better at starting from scratch. Working with an existing site and content—even a site I designed originally—is not something I find easy. I need to migrate the content to a newer layout without losing the look and feel of the original design, but my creative side keeps telling me I should be creating something completely new.
That is my task this week, then. To stop procrastinating thinking, to get some ideas down on paper, and then transfer those ideas on to the screen. I sense this week will be fuelled by some good music and plenty of strong coffee!
It has been a while since my last blog post here. I have been busy on projects that have nothing to do with Imagic Design’s core business. The way things are panning out in 2012, I need to now concentrate more on ID to get things moving again. The thing is, I get easily distrac…
…SQUIRREL!
The next few posts are links to videos from the UK Design Council. The videos set out to explain what graphic design is, what a graphic designer is, and why graphic design is important.
It’ll help you understand what I do, and why it may well be important to you and your business.
It has long been remarked upon that the man digging actually seems to be struggling with an umbrella, and Calvert wishes she had made the shovel more shovel-like.
Kinneir and Calvert's designs changed the British landscape and they became a role model for modern road signage all over the world.
There has been growing recognition of the work of Kinneir and Calvert over the past few years. It is nice to see the Design Museum has finally caught up nearly five decades on.
I cover many bases in my work. As well as the logo design, web site design, technical illustration, art and photography, I also sub-edit, do a spot of copy writing as needed, and also publish books.
Book publishing?
Well, yes.
Back in 1996, I published a book written by a friend of mine, sadly no longer with us. Edwina Kissick was a long-time resident of the village I live in, on the edge of what has become the urban sprawl of the Medway Towns. She had written the core of a book on the history of the local area, and asked me if I would help her get it published.
I set the text, produced the maps and illustrations, scanned the images, and designed the book’s layout. At the time, I worked for a medium-sized printer, so we had the book printed and bound through my contacts there.
A Steep High Hill, a history of Blue Bell Hill Village, was produced in paperback, and sold like hot cakes. We always intended to produce a second edition, with corrections and updates. Meanwhile, research the Eddie had done on the original book allowed her to produce another, Walderslade: the wooded valley. Again, typeset, design and laid out by me, but this time printed through an online publisher. There were also notes on another local village, Lordswood, but they haven’t made it into print—yet.
Sadly, Eddie died before we could work on revising A Steep High Hill. However, another friend and writer took on the challenge of updating the original work, and we republished it earlier in 2011. We also plan to produce a photographic history book of the area, and I keep thinking about putting a lot of the content of the two published books into a web site, something Eddie and I had discussed before she died.
Anyway, what I’m trying to say is that as well as all the creative stuff, I can also design and publish books. They say everyone has at least one novel in them, so if you’re itching to see your work in print, drop me a line.
Having been asked to embark on a new logo design for friend Scot Baston over at Zooming Feet, I was left initially with a very open brief which is often a designer’s nightmare.
You see, often a client will actually have little idea about which direction they would like their branding to take or indeed how they want to be portrayed by the world and potential future customer. It’s my job to get inside my client’s head, advise on and interpret their vision, however vague that initial concept is and commissions don’t get any more inside someone’s head than this one.
I find it hard sometimes to convince people my job is not just about drawing pretty pictures.
I’m pretty sure most of us have tons of old photos stashed away from the pre-digital era. Having been a keen amateur photographer for most of my adult life, I have several drawers stuffed with prints and negatives that date from the early 1980s onwards—and I’m sure you have at least one dusty shoebox of old photos on top of the wardrobe!
We want to get them up on Facebook, Google+, Flickr, or emailed to relatives on the other side of the world. The thing is, now we’ve moved into a digital online world, how can we share those images easily with friends and family?
Scanning them into your computer, obviously. Scanners are actually pretty cheap these days, and pretty good quality. Some of them can even scan negatives so you don’t need to find the prints, or worry about finding a high street store that can still handle such old fashioned things as reprints from negs.
So you buy your scanner, set it up, scan a few photos, set about retouching them to restore fading, or getting rid of damage—and then the enormity of the task hits you. How long will it take to scan all those photos, let alone restore and retouch them? You realise you have better things to do than to spend hours each day for weeks on end, scanning, retouching, sifting the rubbish out, saving…
So the photos go back in their boxes, and the scanner gets used for the kids to scan fun stuff to share on Facebook. You keep meaning to set aside time for the project, but the longer it slips the less likely it is you will ever start it properly, let alone finish it.
The answer is to contact me. Imagic Design offers a professional quality scanning, restoration and archiving service. I’ll take that shoebox and diligently scan the photos. I can work from prints, 35mm negatives, slides, all the way up to such esoteric formats as 5in x 4in transparencies.
How much does it cost? Well, it depends on quantity, how much restoration might be required, and what storage medium you’d like the pictures sent back to you on. I will be happy to give you an estimated cost. Just drop me a line.
This leaflet dropped through my letterbox yesterday. It’s a local butcher doing their best to drum up business with lots of offers for fresh meat and produce for Christmas. I applaud their efforts, I really do.
There are, however, several things I would have advised them to consider—if they had been bothered to employ a professional designer to produce the leaflet.
Red and green? Really? That’s Christmassy circa 1955, not 2011. I guess they had a two-colour option from their printers and went with it. Unimaginative.
The design looks like something knocked up in Microsoft Word. I don’t think it was, but it looks like it. Yes, there’s even the token festive clipart dropped in. At least they didn’t choose Comic Sans…
A4? All the information would fit into an A5, or even a DL leaflet. Again, unimaginative. Straight in the recycling bin with barely a second look.
Oh, and spelling. Not a typo, but consistently spelling a word incorrectly. Did you spot it? Several people must have seen this, and either ignored it or passed it without comment. Sloppy.
All these are reasons why I think you ought to consider contacting a professional designer.
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