melyates

Hello All, Long time no speak, I have no idea who still follows...

Thu, 07 Feb 2013 23:10:55 +0000

Hello All,

Long time no speak, I have no idea who still follows me on this blog, which is one that I used while at uni so has a lot of my design progress and mistakes too!

I have been wanting to start back on my blog for a while now, since leaving uni I have missed seeing updates on the old uni chums work so I thought I’d let you all know what I’ve been up to!

Since leaving uni I started a placement at the wonderful Eskimo and spent two lovely months there, one thing in particular amongst other things I learnt was coming out of uni thinking you know it all does not remain true and that for sure is one hell of a grounding, I found out about things I hadn’t even considered and had huge eye opener into the world of real design, Eskimo looked after me and taught me tons which I thank them for! They do some great work and work hard to say the least!

However I left Manchester and needed some time to get my head together and have a rest, three years of uni and a gruelling few months in the last year had took it’s toll!

To cut a long story short I went across the M6 into Stockton Heath ( near Warrington ) to speak to Diagram Design and I’ve been there since September! Diagram are a great team to work, I love it there! It has made me progress in so many ways, they do work for a few companies and it’s all very fast paced which has made me adjust and get into the rythmn of it all!

I’ve started to push myself further and further into doing more illustrative work, in terms of vectors and hand drawn type, and I’m seeing work that I would never have been able to do, my skills are definately improving!

Anyway here is some of the work I’ve done while at Diagram, and I will try to keep you all posted on what’s going on!

Thanks

Mel :)

Since leaving Uni I’ve found that I need to kick it up a...

Sun, 02 Sep 2012 10:09:35 +0100

Since leaving Uni I’ve found that I need to kick it up a gear now, my portfolio is full of projects from my course but not much of anything self initiated. I have wrote down a few things I really want to work on and really push and one of them if experimental work, I have a bad habit of jumping straight onto the computer and even though I don’t do it enough I really enjoy just testing elements out and finding different outcomes.

For instance my Kid British logo I spent a whole night cutting up type and arranging it till I had a form that I was happy with. It was really refreshing and I enjoyed mixing it up and taking risks with stupid ideas which probably lent themselves to great ideas.

I have been collating mood boards on pinterest of work I admire and take inspiration from, and at the moment ( whether it is on trend or not ) I really like the nordic design style. So yesterday I decided to pick a section from Paul Arden’s, It’s not how good you are but how good you want to be, and printed the type out and had a play with the scanner. I experimented with folding and tearing up, with the hope of getting a jagged mixed up look. I also tested with getting waves in the scan, but the light flooded the scan too much.

I wanted to work on my colour palettes as I feel they’re too safe, and tried to escape from my comfort zone, and the two sets uploaded are my favorite of the lot. These are colours i definitely wouldn’t have picked, however they are really interesting I particularly like the indigo blue on the first one.

Over the coming days I plan on working on lots more experimental work seeing what I come out with alongside layout design, which is a big one. These designs need refining more too

Wake up call

Fri, 31 Aug 2012 08:35:02 +0100

Before I left uni I promised myself that I would keep updating my tumblr, because I knew I would miss seeing everyone’s thoughts and ideas and journeys through their blog.

I started reading two books in the past few weeks, Mark Boultons designing for the web, and Mike Monteniros design is a job. Both are excellent reads by the way. In designing for the web Boulton encourages you to get blogging, and that’s what I’m going to do, it’s not for a mark this time or for anyone else of that matter but it encourages me to keep soaking up all these design blogs, inspiration sites and magazines I find myself going through on a daily basis… The train is such a good time for this.

So a quiet lull in my blogging department has stopped and I’m going to make a concious effort to blog weekly.

oliphillips: Omnomnomnivore by Aled Lewis

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:27:59 +0100

oliphillips:

Omnomnomnivore

by Aled Lewis

businessboomcollective: (via Pantone Universe Daypacks |...

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:27:07 +0100

businessboomcollective:

(via Pantone Universe Daypacks | Complex)

Secret Salford Show Website....

Thu, 14 Jun 2012 21:20:11 +0100

juliasmithprocon3:

….is now live!

www.secretsalfordshow.co.uk

Well done to Mel Yates and Nigel Tang for putting it together!

tashatime: Sssh…… salfordshows: Our Graphic Design students...

Fri, 08 Jun 2012 09:24:19 +0100

tashatime:

Sssh……

salfordshows:

Our Graphic Design students are putting on the Not So Secret Salford Show in Manchester’s Northern Quarter at hip new creative venue, 2022NQ very soon…keep your eyes on http://www.secretsalfordshow.co.uk/ for more updates and in the meantime join in on the Facebook page by telling us your biggest secret…

#secretsalfordshow #ssshow #sssh 18th June till 21st June ...

Wed, 30 May 2012 07:57:29 +0100

#secretsalfordshow #ssshow #sssh 18th June till 21st June (Taken with instagram)

Some of my boards from the hand in on Friday. Overall I am quite...

Mon, 14 May 2012 10:06:21 +0100

Some of my boards from the hand in on Friday. Overall I am quite pleased with how it turned out. I really enjoyed spending two days last week photographing my work & I think it paid off. It was nice to explore photography in terms of putting my designs into context. I wanted to add a slight design to the boards which would run with the overall branding too.

I have struggled with this final project, mainly due to the fact that I wanted it to be my killer piece in my portfolio. I didn’t want to rely too much on my Giant brief, which is what seems to happen when I’m going in for portfolio surgeries. I went through about four or five different routes when actually choosing a brief to do which hindered me because I didn’t want to waste the time I had, orginally I wanted to do two briefs in this space. When finally settling on a brief the name of the bar was keeping me from moving further. In hindsight I should have asked someone to make me a brief but hey ho.

I am really quite happy with my outcomes ( apart from my invitations) because I feel like I showed how to apply a brand across a wide medium. Having a good concept makes it very easy to spread the brand across. I explored web, & print in this process & got to work highly with typography which I enjoy.

"Some amazing work coming out of Tumblr this week can’t wait to see it all at the shows!"

Fri, 11 May 2012 01:15:03 +0100

“Some amazing work coming out of Tumblr this week can’t wait to see it all at the shows!”

Some of the new pictures from today making it look more like a...

Wed, 09 May 2012 19:01:34 +0100

Some of the new pictures from today making it look more like a bar than just on white card. Hopefully it works more in context.

I have been trying to document whats been going on these past...

Wed, 09 May 2012 18:54:45 +0100

I have been trying to document whats been going on these past few days these are some of the background going ons from my photoshoots. I decided to buy some placemats which were made of granite to give more of a bar impression I would like to think they did the job I had some fun in making some fake cocktails, however I think my skills lie in design not food colouring water!

The website looks a lot more in keeping with the rest of the...

Wed, 09 May 2012 00:01:28 +0100

The website looks a lot more in keeping with the rest of the branding now just a few tweaks which were recommended by Andy on Thursday and it should be good, I’m glad I went with a one page site even though I was a bit sketchy with it as my own is a one page site too and it felt a bit of a cop out but it looks good.

Playing around with the editing of the photos here, I have an...

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:51:22 +0100

Playing around with the editing of the photos here, I have an app which is a lazy way out really but to get a quick idea of what I want is handy too. It’s called Analogue by the way if anyone is wondering. So I had a look at different effects to add to brighten the images up.

It really makes a big difference.

Practise photoshoot. Today I wanted to have a practise in...

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:39:52 +0100

Practise photoshoot.

Today I wanted to have a practise in getting the layout and the look and feel for my bar branding. I have and have not at the same time. They look ok but they aren’t quite there yet. I have been looking at madebyanalogue for the representation of their portfolio photography and it is amazing.

I wanted to make my images appear as if they were in a bar, which is tricky when you don’t have a bar. But they aren’t too bad I am going to keep photographing tomorrow to get the look at feel right.

Some progress in my NMP I have been trying to capture my...

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:29:17 +0100

Some progress in my NMP

I have been trying to capture my workings as I go which is why my tumblr has suffered recently with weird images and not much explanation. As you can see that the changes haven’t been massive but they make a difference. One thing I learnt from my time at absolute was to print out the designs so far it’s much easier to see what’s going wrong when it’s there plain as day infront of you. I also found it’s easier to show people what’s going on too.

I went to a meeting for the Home brief with Tash before the...

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:16:37 +0100

I went to a meeting for the Home brief with Tash before the Easter holidays too, the home brief is a lovely little brief really. Which is in two parts, make a mood board to send over to Abu Dhabi for the students over there to understand what home means for me. The other part is to create a poster which signifies home to me.

The trouble with the brief for me is to not get too cliche, and soppy but at the same time I think home is different for everyone. Without trying to be all philisophical I feel that Home is wherever you feel happiest, usually with people you love to be around. You take your home with you. I also think home is past experiences which you build on, the foundations of your life, so to speak. I think thats what I may work off.

Above are some images I made for my mood board which is here.

Pro con 3

Tue, 08 May 2012 23:05:24 +0100

Although I haven’t been blogging about it much I have been attending the pro con 3 stuff going on and around. I went to the photo touch up session with Andy, who is ace when it comes to sharing his knowledge! He is very talented when it comes to his photography and I learnt a few things on mass editing ( in adobe bridge ) he gave us some images to edit and taught us how to touch them up.

I enjoyed it and really could see a difference compared to the originals, however I don’t really have much patience with it something I should really learn to get better at.

I also attended the setting up your own design company and freelance chat from Shape. Andy talked through how to set up your own freelancing and advice was really useful. Ways in making yourself look bigger than you are was particularly handy as you sometimes can come across as a bit of a student and if you aim big you are more likely to get bigger clients. It also taught me that every opportunity is a networking opportunity and particularly the ones which aren’t design related, at the end of the day who needs a designer when you’re around designers?

I know it seems like I’m talking about shape a lot but they are very useful and did a lot of talks on how to cope after uni. In particular was one which talked us through the process of a job. This was the most useful as it gave me an insight into how to handle clients, it’s all about feedback. You let them know what is going on, and it’s good research to get the best of their ideas and not just your own. They are paying after all. They went through a job Shape are working on at the moment and how they had many changes and tweaks and are still working on the site. Another thing they spoke about was the contract side of a job it is crucial to get the rules laid down before anything goes, otherwise you can get ripped off.

Playing a little catch up

Tue, 08 May 2012 22:51:58 +0100

It’s hard to remember when I last properly blogged really, I have been in uni quite a lot really, just the nmp really gets you swept up in a whirlwind. The last blog post I really wrote about was the one about my placement at Detail, my nip into absolute and my brief for the Madhouse job. So lots to catch up on…

Over the easter holidays I really caught up with my final major project ( Thankfully!!) because it was really taking the micky how long it was for me to get into it at all. I went into absolute for a few days a week over the holidays and it was so good to get some feedback from them all. They were extremely friendly and very helpful, they have been doing the Amir Khan website ( which should be around soon) and weren’t able to offer me a placement but wanted me to come in and do my nmp. I really have just had such an amazing time there, it love the chapel and absolute, and hopefully may get the chance to have a placement there. During my time I did a few bits too some back end e-commerce for the Khan site and some t-shirt designs for the shop too. Which was pretty cool!! I also got some really good tips from them too they’re just ace!!

While I was there my NMP has started up through my website and it went from there. Before I went back to uni I had a chat with the absolute lot and they critiqued my work so far, which was very helpful as your own work can get very precious and they let me see some flaws which could be improved on! I can’t wait to get back to the chapel again!

jaymug: The Avengers USB Sticks These are amazing!

Sun, 06 May 2012 12:11:03 +0100

jaymug:

The Avengers USB Sticks

These are amazing!