Graphic Design Portfolio

Blatant Design Rip Offs or Just Inspiration?

Written by Jacob Cass on Wednesday, May 28, 2008 – 12:48 pm

Copy

Here is another list (first post here) of possible graphic design rips off. I’ll leave it up to you to decide whether these pieces are plagiarised or just inspired. The designs that were designed first are the ones on top but who knows where their inspiration came from?

“Don’t worry about people stealing your design work. Worry about the day they stop.” - Jeff Zeldman

Some resources on how to deal with plagiarism and what to do if your design gets stolen.

2008 Semi-Permanent Design Conference Review

Written by Jacob Cass on Sunday, April 6, 2008 – 1:03 am

Semi Permanent 2008

Here is some graphic design news… On the weekend I went to the well respected two day design conference ‘Semi-Permanent‘ that was held here in Sydney, Australia. I am going to give a short review / summary as well as some interesting information about the conference.

Sorry there are not many pictures in this post… I would have liked to have showed more of the artist’s work however I went over my download limit and my net is at 56k now so hope you can understand. Only 10 more days till I get my full speed back… I must remember patience is a virtue. I couldn’t stand it so I upgraded my plan.

There is some pictures on Flickr of the actual conference.

So what is Semi Permanent?

In my words… two days of inspiration and industry insight (and envy).

From the Semi Permanent website… “To put it simply Semi-Permanent is a design event. It consists of a conference and side events which include exhibitions, competitions, workshops and parties. It’s a week long celebration of all things design. Graphic Design, Film, Art, Illustration, Web Design, Photography, Visual Effects, Animation, Graffiti, Motion Graphics, Stop Motion; all these things and more. Semi-Permanent explores the diverse and exciting design world bringing together exceptionally talented artists and designers to speak at the event.”

The entry was AUD$100 for the two days as I am a student however for non students it was AUD$280.

Why did I attend?

Semi-Permanent is an excellent source of inspiration. The speakers are at the top of their respective fields and they share with us, their experience and expertise that they have gained getting to that position - something that is invaluable as a young designer and student. By seeing these presentations it gives me an invaluable insight into the industry… showing me new styles and techniques that can push myself and my work in new directions.

Day 1

Who spoke on day 1 of the conference?

For short bios, links to their website and some of their work you can check out the Semi Permanent site or I have provided links to their websites below.

  • LifeLounge; Jamie Driver and Luke Lucas (Graphic Design)
  • Ben Frost (Graffiti / Painter / Graphic Artist)
  • Debaser; David Homer & Aaron Hayward (Graphic Design)
  • The Directors Bureau; Lana Kim (Video + Advertising)
  • Sixty40; Matt Taylor and Mark Simpson (Animation + Advertsing)
  • Spencer Platt (Photo Journalist) You can see his 3 most famous pictures below.

Spencer Platt

What did they speak about?

Mostly how they went about doing their work, the thought processes behind their work and showcases of their work and then some. But to sum up an 7 hour conference into a paragraph or two is not quite sufficient nor fair but I will mention this one philosophy that Life Lounge mentioned…

When trying to price a job use the Cheap/Good/Fast pricing structure. Choose only two of the three things mentioned and that is how you should price your job based on those things.

eg. If a client wants a good product fast, obviously you will charge a lot more. If a client wants a good product for cheap, chances are it’s not going to be fast. If a client wants a fast product for cheap then chances are it is not going to be good. You should base your prices around this.

Try to get your head around that, it’ll probably take a few reads.

Day 2

Who spoke on day 2 of the conference?

For short bios, links to their website and some of their work you can check out the Semi Permanent site or I have provided links to their websites below.

Alex Trouchet

What did they speak about?

In general what I mentioned above… how they went about doing their work, the thought processes behind their work and showcases of their work and then some. I will outline one of speakers that really stood out…

Anthony Lister (a talented American painter/artist who paints superheroes) was hilarious and down right original (yet scary). First he came out on stage with another guy dressed as spider man and then Anthony with a pop gun, shot him down - a very strange intro. Spiderman stayed dead on stage for the full hour.

Then Lister just said “I am not really good at presentations”, sat down and put up a photo slideshow of him and his friends smoking bongs and partying. People thought it was a joke however it went on for about 45mins of the full hour, with him pretty much just blubbering on about nothing, mumbling and saying random hilarious things (pretty sure he was high)…

About a quarter of 2500 people in the audience actually stood up and left with disgust after 15 minutes of his ‘presentation’ but for the ones who stayed it was hilarious. It was, by far, the least serious talk of the 2 days but the most entertaining - that is for sure. For example, someone in the audience asked Lister the question “Why do you paint?” and he replied in a slow, slurred and thoughtful tone of voice “Why do you brush your teeth? …long pause… to keep your teeth from rotting and falling out… long pause… that is why I paint. Yeah that is why I paint.” Maybe not so funny in writing but the crowd found it pretty hilarious.

He is one hell of a character that is for sure. You can check out some videos of him and his crazy personality and his awesome work on You Tube.

Conclusion

About 10 of the 12 speakers really struck a chord with me as they were truly inspirational. Their work was extremely inspiring and it was very hard to choose my favourite speaker so I have narrowed it down to LifeLounge, Sixty40 and Alex Trochut. All three were extremely entertaining and just totally unreal and inspirational.

I would give day the 2 day conference a good 8/10 and without a doubt I will be going again next year. I would highly highly recommend it to all students studying design as well as professionals. There is actually a similar 4 day conference in Melbourne, Australia by the name of AGideas which is being held at the end of April. Don’t miss out, get tickets now.

Oh and I forgot to mention… as an added bonus, everyone who went also received an awesome goody bag with free design magazines and books (300+ pages) along with other random design paraphernalia such as mouse pads, industry news and promo material. Quite a treat. :)

Anyway hope this has encouraged you to get out there and be active in the design community. To find out about future events and graphic design news check out websites such as Dexigner or stay subscribed here on Just Creative Design.


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DON’T MISS: The Best Graphic Design Articles from March 2008

Written by Jacob Cass on Monday, March 31, 2008 – 1:27 pm

February

A list of the best graphic design articles from March 2008. They are sorted by category.

  • Graphic Design
  • Typography
  • Freelancing
  • Web Design
  • Tutorials
  • Photography
  • Blogging
  • Social Media
  • More Best Of Links
  • Other

You can check out January’s Best Graphic Design Articles or February’s Best Graphic Design Articles if you missed them.

Graphic Design

Typography

Freelancing

Web Design

Tutorials

Photography

Blogging

Social Media

More Best Of March Links

( Just incase you needed more links )

Other

A Must See Video

Design Coding Rap by the Poetic Prophet

Have I missed any other great graphic design articles?


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DON’T MISS: The Best Graphic Design Articles from February 2008

Written by Jacob Cass on Friday, February 29, 2008 – 5:53 pm

February

Here is a monthly round up of the best graphic design articles from around the blogosphere this February. The articles are sorted into the categories; freelancing, graphic design, web design and various.

You can check out January’s Best Articles if you missed it last month. You could also check out the best March graphic design articles.

Freelancing

Environmentally Friendly Graphics

Graphic Design

What Is Graphic Design?

Portfolio

Graphic Design Resources

Web Design

Header Graphics

Various

  • How To Set Up A SideBlog
    I have wanted to get onto this, this is a tutorial on how to make a mini blog for your main blog so you can post smaller articles. Not so much a graphic design article but useful to blogging designers.

Viviens Social Media Project project has now been extended for one more month! Learn more about social media and its benefits in this massive project.

Hope you enjoyed the list. Is there any others that you really enjoyed this month?


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99 Sites ALL Designers Must Know About

Written by Jacob Cass on Monday, February 25, 2008 – 3:59 pm

Graphic Design Resources

Below is a list of 99+ graphic design resources, in English and (and a few other languages), that all designers must know about.

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