Beer label

In the last PPP session, John said I should try and play up the fact that I like beer and see how it can influence what goes in my pack. A good idea would be to make a beer label that I apply to a real beer bottle and leave behind as a little reminder of who I am in a more creative way.

I looked at several typical beer labels, particularly old-fashioned ones or ones for really old brands since I like the elegance their label design tends to have. The main  I was also really keen on having a round element to the design in order to make the shape more interesting:

I've been trying to keep a sense of consistency between all my products in terms of design and colour. I've designed this label mostly using the same shade of grey as on my other products, but I feel that perhaps for this a splash of colour may be necessary, as if it was a real beer label it would obviously have to stand out on the shelf.

I decided to use it as a mini creative CV by including my areas of creative interest and a list of software that I'm confident in using.

Creative CV initial idea

Really like the idea of a multi page CV, or rather just double sided. I made these as potential front covers. I think they're pretty punchy

Creative CV

I have been looking at Creative CVs and found this site in general to have the best compilation of them that I've found: http://designrfix.com/inspiration/50-great-examples-creative-resumes

In the above presentation I've picked out the ones which have resonated with me the most. I want to try and avoid textual clutter as much as possible. While researching Creative CVs, I've been incredibly put off by the ones which are just stacks of text (and there are a lot of them). I'm intrigued by the one that folds into a box and the one disguised as a medical kit (though that's more of a whole promo pack, which makes for good research in that area anyway).

Sticker designs

I'm really into all this circular design that I'm starting to incorporate in my promotional material. Of these stickers, I think perhaps the 3 less colourful ones are more striking than the coloured one, but on the whole I'd be happy to print these stickers and distribute them as I see fit.

Stickers

I think stickers would be a nice thing to include in the promo pack as they are some of the most effective kinds of ephemera that you can distribute. I want to unify the designs I've been making so I'm using the same grey colour and portrait as the business card, except simplifying it to a b/w image.

I did the general design on Illustrator and now have this template to make variations with:

Coaster idea

When I went to Drew Millward's exhibition "Dust" at Colours May Vary, I picked up one of his business card-like coasters and thought it was absolute genius. This has inspired me to make my own coasters.

My idea is to make a series containing facts about beer since I like to drink beer.

 

Final business card/visual identity logo?

Here's a proposed final idea for a two-sided business card. I've been struggling with this a lot since I realized that the vector portrait I did of myself wouldn't be appropriate to use as a brand image since I hardly do vector artwork. 

I understand that any imagery on the business card should sum up my practice, so this led to me re-designing the portrait as above and also going with a pattern I've been using recently for the backside of the card. I'm having great difficulty summing up my practice recently as I feel that I'm failing to develop a tone of voice, but my work is very line-based so I think this is an acceptable route to go for now. 

I'm still unsure about whether to have a border on the info side of the card as well. Also I'm getting a haircut tomorrow so that portrait will be outdated but oh well. I like this self-portrait as a sort of visual logo. It can accompany my written name on various products.

Bill Bragg

I e-mailed Bill Bragg asking a couple questions that would help with my 505 module work. He hasn't replied yet but hopefully he will at some point.