How Self-Inspired Artwork Wins Clients & Boosts Creativity
Written by Jacob Cass on Monday, July 28, 2008 – 9:00 am
Showcasing your vast creativity, boundless ideas and unique style is the key to winning new clients. Self initiated work is a critical element of any effective portfolio and it’ll help you win the jobs you want and boost your creativity at the same time.
This was the opening paragraph of the article “Build A Better Portfolio” in the latest addition (Issue 151) of Computer Arts magazine and I couldn’t agree more. I have realised that many of my self initiated projects I have enjoyed the most. You are not tied down by deadlines or a brief and because of this you really do get a chance to experiment with creative freedom.
Use of personal projects will not only show your own range of technical skills, it may even inspire your clients. If the stuff you really love doing is in there, then you have more chance of getting paid for that type of work. For example, when I added my vodka bottle design to my portfolio, I had 3 proposals within a month in regards to designing packaging for vodka.
Below you can see some of my self initiated designs (starting with type experiments) that I have done for fun over the past year however I really wish that I had done more (and with more time put into each one) and it is my goal to do more from now on.
Have you got any time put aside to work on your own personal projects?
Experimentation with vectors and rasters. It is me on the left and a friend.
This is Excelsiorbot, inspired by Helbotica.
Just a bit of fun photo manipulation.
An illustration I did for the Save The Earth campaign.
Experimentation with layers and blending styles.
A bit more on the crazy side. Rubber bands and glue.
Anyway, hope this inspires you to do a bit more self-inspired artwork! I know that I am going to be doing more of it and with more effort put into each one.
Once Upon A Time, I Designed A Drink Coaster
Written by Jacob Cass on Tuesday, July 22, 2008 – 11:45 am
Have you ever won something? Well once upon a time, late back last year I entered a state wide design competition here in Australia and I won 2nd place (you can see the coaster design below) and it made me feel so good winning, not because of the prize money ($500) but because of the recognition (there was a ceremony and everything) that I just had to enter it again this year but this time I am going for gold!
But before you get onto me about designing for spec (something I am strongly against) I entered this design competition for a good cause… it was to promote the dangers of alcohol in our state and our designs were to be distributed right across NSW (our state).
The Brief
Anyway, the brief was to create a drink coaster that explored the issues related with the usage of alcohol. We had no other guidelines except the dimensions of the coaster (95mm diameter) and that it was to be directed towards 18 to 25 year olds - the rest was up to us.
The Design That Won in 2007
Below you can see the design that got me 2nd place last year… my typography skills have improved since then, so please, no judging… I believe I got the prize due to the concept not the execution, after all the purpose of design is to communicate and I believe this coaster gets the message across loud and clear. What are your thoughts?
The Process
For this years competition, I had a total of about 7 hours to get my design completed as I had to express post the design to their office before the deadline. I only had this amount of time because I have just returned from my holiday and couldn’t do it before then.
Anyway, after some brainstorming and rough sketching I finally came to an idea I liked. I then did a sketch of the proposed design (see left below) which I then scanned into the computer and then hand traced in Illustrator (see right below). I probably would have drawn and traced the letters a bit better if I had more time, but time was not on my side, however, in saying this I was still happy with the outcome.
After this I coloured the words in eye catching red colours (they are slightly different tones of red) and placed the bottle onto a black background.
I then had to choose a slogan to go alongside the coaster of which I finally came down to the slogan “Take A Closer Look”. One must remember that the simpler the message, the easier it is to communicate. I then played around with locations of where to put the tag which you can see below.
I ended up using the one that you can see on the bottom right as I believed it was the strongest - what is your opinion?
After a few test prints and tweaking I was ready to create the back of the coaster however I will not cover the process of the back cover here.
The font I used on the final design was Helvetica Neau 87 Heavy Condensed.
Below you can see the final designs, both front and back.
As always, constructive criticism and questions are welcome.
How I Designed 3 CD Jackets Just by Listening To Music
Written by Jacob Cass on Saturday, May 10, 2008 – 7:18 pm
Music shares many common ideas and themes with the visual arts. For example, repetition, rhythm, harmony, tone, shape, space, scale, line, texture and colour are terms common to both the musical and visual language and this project was focused around these points.
In this University Project we had to listen to music, draw an abstract response then create 2 CD covers from what we heard and below is how I went about doing it… This is how to design a CD cover just by listening to music. I would advise to scroll down and look at the final designs before reading the article.
Oh and before you correct me, I actually did 3 CD covers because I enjoyed it so much instead of the 2 requested. You may have even noticed me putting them up in my portfolio last week.
Part One
The project was divided into two parts and in the first part we had to listen to 4 contrasting pieces of music. We had to take an A4 page and draw a simple visual language of what we heard. We could do this only by using the basic elements of line, shape and colour and it had to be a non representational, abstract design and we could only use the 6 spectrum colours (red orange yellow green blue purple).
We had to aim for a contrast between the drawings and let your subconscious tell you what shapes and colours represent each type of music. Kinda cool in a creepy kind of way.
Below you can see my 4 visual responses after listening to the music.
- The first was a slow, smooth, soft, calm watery type song.
- The second was a upbeat funky song.
- The third was a hard rough death metal rock song and the
- Fourth was an electronic digital sounding song.
Part Two
We then had to discuss our results with our peers… All 120 responses from 30 students were pinned to a board and compared. We then had to choose which of our own drawings provided the most contrast and you can see number 1 and number 3 had the most contrast so I used these two (I later chose to do number 4 as well). We then had to use these drawings above to develop them into CD covers and the final designs had to strongly reflect the initial graphic responses.
After brainstorming many different ideas, I decided that whatever I was going to do, it was going to be in 3D probably due to the fact that I enjoyed my Vodka Bottle project in Cinema 4D so much - that is the beauty of University, you get so much creative freedom!
I then came across this post called 50 Essential Photoshop Text Tutorials and I saw in there a tutorial link to design in 3D (Nik Ainley style). I knew that I wanted to do something like that and I got inspiration from his two pieces that are shown below.
After a bit more brainstorming I came to the concept of using one word to describe the type of music that the band played. I would then use that word as the main piece on the front cover. I chose the word Smooth for the calm music and the word Rough for the heavy metal music and the word Digital for the electronic music.
I then went out and got myself a copy of Xara3D (USD$45) which I tell you is VERY easy to use for a 3D program. It took a total of 10 minutes to figure out without any tutorials, just playing with the buttons.
I then pumped out the 3D letters into Photoshop and then did about 80% of the designing in Photoshop and 20% in illustrator for the vectorised pieces. Below you can see the design process I used to create the first CD cover.
You will notice the visual consistency between the three CD covers as we were required to have this between both designs, there were meant to be all from the same publisher. We also had to have all legal requirements on the CD jackets.
The album title was given to us and for the smooth song it was called Mad World, the rock one was called Attitude and the electronic one was called Equinoxe. The first Smooth cover took a day to complete and the attitude one took about half as long as I was more familiar with what to do and the digital one took about 3 hours.
Below are the final designs, try to compare them to my visual responses up above.
You will notice in the Smooth design, I have used the colours blue and green with an ocean type feel (check out the Jellyfish).
In the Rough design you will notice I have used angry red colours in a grungy chaotic mess that reflects my original musical response. The text was purposely made hard to read to reflect the chaotic nature of the music.
In the Digital one I have used an in-your-face, high energy, bright coloured design which reflects my original music response. You will notice the circles on the back cover, kind of popping as like in my original drawing.
Front Cover
CD
Back Cover
Inside Cover
CD Mock Up
Front Cover
CD
Back Cover
Inside Cover
Mock Up
Front Cover
CD Cover
Back Cover
Inside Cover
MockUp
Constructive criticism is welcome as always, please be as harsh as possible. I won’t hate you, I am here to learn! What is your favourite? You can read more of about my University work by visiting the university category page.
PS. Sorry about the delay between my last post, I have just moved house and everything is a bit chaotic.
Client Testimonials
Written by Jacob Cass on Sunday, April 27, 2008 – 8:10 pmAt Just Creative Design we take pride in the designs we produce for our clients. By providing expert knowledge, great designs and professional ongoing support we give the satisfaction the client deserves. Don’t just take our word for it though… here is a sample of testimonials from some of our recent clients.
My experience dealing with Just Creative Design was an absolute pleasure. They are professional, results orientated and keep you informed. Absolutely impeccable service - they delivered when they said they would; within budget and with a fantastic result. It was by far the best return on advertising we have had this year and, has exceeded all of our expectations as we have seen a dramatic increase in traffic to our website and services. Testament to Just Creative Design we are continually congratulated on our professional looking brand and we will continue to recommend this innovative service to others.
I employed the services of Jacob Cass of ‘Just Creative Design’ to design a business logo for my new translating and interpreting agency early this year. I have found him most professional in the delivery of his services, being prompt and reliable, as well as helpful in suggesting a variety of possible designs to produce the image desired.
Valérie Pritchard
Translating Services Coordinator
Jacob did outstanding work with the logo for our RSS Day initiative. Not only was it beautiful, but it was also meaningful for the project.
Daniel Scocco
Founder of RSS Awareness Day
The email signature that Just Creative Design recently designed for me is already proving itself to be a great investment to my business. Not only does it liven up the emails to my clients, it also adds that touch of class and professionalism. I have also noticed a remarkable increase of traffic to my website as a direct result from using their email branding services. Jacob Cass has a wonderful ability to listen patiently to what you’re wanting and then use his creative abilities to produce a top class result. His professionalism, dedication and eye for detail will no doubt impress anyone who is fortunate enough to come across him. Thanks for your enthusiasm and a job well done!
Australia’s #1 Comedy Magician
Working with Jacob Cass has been an extremely positive experience. While working in-house for us creating our promotional flyers and posters he exceeded all our expectations on every level. We have already received very positive comments on the new look of our promotional material and we could not be happier.
Daniel McDonagh
The result of all the hard work and preparation has resulted in our best web site ever. The graphics are very pleasing and it fulfils the needs of present and future students, parents and staff. The number of hits to the website has tripled since the re design and great feedback about the new website has been flooding in.
Jacob has done an excellent job in revitalising our website, improving it in every way.
John Blackmore
IT Coordinator at Turramurra High School
Recommendations from LinkedIn
Jacob’s work on Just Creative Design has been inspirational for me, as well as countless other designers. He has become a thought-leader for the design community, which is impressive in and of itself — but when you consider he gained his first freelance job at 16 and has built JCD to such a success since only launching in Nov. 2007… while in college — it’s a tribute to both his talent and entrepreneurial abilities. Look for Jacob to continue to do great things in the design field for many years to come.
Owner / Art Director, Brown Advertising + Design
Jacob is more than a contact. He’s a guru, well thought of in the design industry. Hundreds (maybe more) of us aspiring designers flock to his website and his blogs to get the latest on design ideas and concepts. When we’re stuck with “designers block” we come to Jacob’s website and his blogs, and come away with quite a bit of answers as well as inspiration. Whether Jacob can do the job isn’t doing him justice-he’ll write the book on how to do it!
Freelance Web Designer
Jacob runs one of the best design related blogs in the industry. I look forward as much to the informative posts he publish as I do his friendly engagement in the comments thread that follows. I’ve enjoyed reading & learning on the blog, and highly recommend Jacob for your next design project.
Senior Optimization Strategist, iCrossing
Jacob has one of the most incredible design blogs. It is one of the most informing reads I’ve found on the internet for designers and I look forward to each new topic!
Owner, The Merry Bird…pen, ink and design
I know Jacob through his work at justcreativedesign.com. I come from an engineering and programming background, so I’ve had a great deal of learning to do when it came to understanding good design. Jacob’s blog has been an instrumental part of my learning process. Jacob is a rare individual that is not only great at what he does, but can communicate and teach it as well. Therefore, I recommend Jacob for any of your graphic design needs. He would be a great addition to any team.
Web Designer and Developer, Hannisdal Express | Moseley Web Solutions
I know Jacob from his Just Creative Design Blog where he writes about creative graphic design, having discovered his site in early 2008. Jacob’s writing is clear, concise and well structured offering tips and advice in many areas of graphical design - his type classification ebook is well worth a download. There is a fascinating mix of content on Jacob’s site including awe inspiring creative photographs, design inspiration and recommendations of essential designer related sites.
IT Manager, Single Source Limited
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Design Process for my Vodka Premix Bottle
Written by Jacob Cass on Sunday, April 13, 2008 – 2:38 pm
Another university project completed and this time two weeks early. We had to create a Vodka premix bottle and label design for ‘Wedgetail Distillery’ using Cinema 4D and the Creative Suite. Here is how I went about doing it.
The scenario we were given (in short)
Wedgetail Distillery, makers of premium vodka produtcts have asked you to design the new bottle and labels for their pre-mixed vodka and citrus drink. It is a mid priced product (about $65 for a case of 24) and they are aiming for the 18 to 35 years market. It must have all the Australian legal requirements (which we had to research). It can have up to 4 colours including special or spots or CMYK if you wish. It must feature an eagle somewhere.
You must complete a 3D render of your bottle in Cinema 4D and the final presentation must be A4 in size and it must be targeted towards the client to sell your design concept.
Design Process
Research
I first redefined the problem then I researched bottle designs by going into my local bottle store and I also borrowed packaging books from the university library. I also researched the legal requirements for Australian packaging and alcohol. Who ever thought I was going to be researching Vodka?
Bottle Design Sketches
This was where we had to design the outline of the bottle. We could have any shape or texture or material we wanted, there were no restrictions.
I kept to the typical glass bottle design as I wanted to make it look realistic as possible however I did add some cool bevelled effects to the bottom of the glass bottle.
You can see to the left the shape of the bottle I designed.
Label Design Sketches & Vectorisation
After I had the bottle design done I could now start on the design of the label. I did a lot of sketches here and then once I had the general idea of how I wanted the design to look I started vectorising my ideas.
You can see the vector outline of my original label to the left and then the final label designs below. The fonts I used were Mesquite Std Medium (for Wedgetail), Adobe Garamond Pro Bold (for Citrus), Edwardian Script ITC Regular (for Premium Vodka).
The colours I used were Pantone 877C (Metallic), Pantone 8404C (Metallic), Pantone 1795 C (Solid Uncoated), Pantone Process Black U.
3D Rendering
After the labels were completed we had to render the 3D bottle in Cinema 4D from our original bottle designs (this was a big learning curve, let me tell you!). After we had rendered the 3D bottle then we had to bring the labels into Cinema 4D and wrap them around the 3D Bottle.
Below you can see a screenshot from Cinema 4D of me doing all of this.
Presentation
After I had completed all the renderings it was time for me to make them presentable. In Photoshop I experimented with different backgrounds and effects to see what was the best. Below you can see just some of the experimentations of different background effects.
I added the lemons into the composition to for scale and to add a bit of contrast to the image and to emphasise the citrus flavour of the vodka premix drink. I created smoke using the clouds filter and then used a light feathering on the clouds and then I added a zoom effect to make it look like a kind of back light coming out of the bottle.
Final Composition
Below is the final A4 composition that I printed out on Semi Gloss photo paper and to be honest it looks so much better in print. What do you guys think?
If you want to check out more of my university work go here.
As an added extra, just because I liked this project so much I did a little mock up of the 6 pack box.
Comments are always appreciated.
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