Design Practice III//UK Greetings & YCN Professional Print.

Researching options for professional print outcomes, I've found it increasingly difficult to find square-format cards in the specified 159mm x 159mm I hope to work to (as specified in the UK Greetings/YCN brief) as well as within a reasonable budget for the project/at a very short print run.

The best option sourced, in terms of price and flexibility would be to print 100 cards from Awesome Merchandise (at square format, but not the exact size as specified) with the four different styles, as specified, for a total of £85.00 (£65.00 + 20 for the 4 styles). However, as alluded to earlier, at this point in the student loan year, the budget for printing isn't as flourishing as I would hope it to be, therefore, I will have to rely on digital print or screen printing for my outcomes- not ideal, as I hoped to achieved a really professional, high standard, which realistically I don't think will be the same from Uni, however, I will do my best to ensure I achieve the best results possible for photographing and module/competition brief submission.

Design Practice III//Paperchase Gift Wraps.

Last weekend I took a trip to my local Paperchase store, and picked up some essential gift wrap items to help with the technicalities of my YCN/UK Greetings brief, in regards to both assessing the dimensions of both gift wraps and bags, but also being able to get my hands on some of the tubes (yay!) which will be useful when documenting and photographing my work.

This weekend I hope to make a real significant progress with the brief and to be able to print my cards (at very least) in my designated print slot next Monday afternoon, as well as, hopefully, printing a few of my wrap designs, as developed from the typographic/calligraphic greetings cards, to go on to develop the bags later on in the week.

Design Practice III//Avenir & Serif Typefaces.

Researching the theory behind balancing both serif and sans serif typefaces to hopefully achieve a varied, yet still visually consistent use of fonts throughout the proposed magazine/publication for the A/W 2012 Jessie Leong Photography Portfolio.

Using Avenir as Jessie's "house" font choice, I wanted to look (although not very common) for a typeface that would sit well with the geometric sans serif design, and found through matching 'a' 'g' and the 'e', as well as seeking advice through some existing sourced online forums, that Bodoni and Didiot-like serif fonts would sit well with the design, and I look forward to exploring potential compositions and the application of design. More developments can be found on my Design Practice blog.

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Design Practice III//Jessie Leong Letterhead Search.

Doing some more research into letterhead printing to hopefully get letterheads printed and sent off for for Jessie's branded stationary within the next couple of days- looking for a combination of cost- effectiveness and quality, looking, particularly, at websites of which I have received samples from in the past, to ensure that the quality meets the standard required.

At £45 for 200 letterheads, Genie, again, is very affordable, and £52 from newstyleprint (inc. VAT) for 250 letterheads also is very cost effective at 4.8p per unit. Part of the conversations I've had with Jessie is to try to explain, despite the fact it may appear expensive on the surface (see email below), it is in fact a very cost effective and reliable source of print, giving the example that if she were to send out one letter per week, the stock would last over four years.

Hopefully more updates soon as the designs are sent off to print.

Design Practice III//Jessie Leong Photography & Trademark Laws.

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This evening, I started an, admittedly, very brief, yet concise research to develop insight into Trade Mark laws, and, most importantly, whether or not Jessie Leong, and her Photography practice, would need one at this stage of her personal and professional career, and how to go about applying for registration, should this be necessary. 

To summarise what is in fact quite a lengthy process, and understanding, at this current point in her practice, I don't feel as though it would be necessary for her to apply for Trade Mark registration. For any real legal action to be held, in the rare case of trade mark infringement, Jessie Leong Photography would have to be a registered Companies House business with the practice, name and logo all infringed for any financial compensation to be profited from infringement.

At this point, I feel as though it's something that Jessie doesn't have to worry too much about, but certainly will be something to consider as she goes on to refine her freelance practice throughout next year and upon her graduation in 2014.

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Design Practice III//Preparing Jessie Leong Business Cards for Print.

After having a meeting with Jessie today, after the peer group crits (notes and feedback to be posted onto my blog asap), we managed to discuss finer details of the business cards and letterheads and finally feel ready to go to print, which is a great relief, and, of course, a good sign for the development of work throughout the next few weeks.

I'm also particularly happy that, supported by the group feedback, Jessie and I have decided to print only the B&W business photo cards (in a batch of 200 for the A/W 2012 portfolio range, to be updated bi-annually, S/S, A/W) which I think will work really effectively in terms of brand consistency, and can be applied throughout both print and web based design- particularly utilising a monochrome/colour hover over effect on her web site design, and using a monochromatic cover for her magazine portfolio to reveal colour inside, which will, I believe, prove to be really bold and high impact- perfectly complimenting Jessie's empowering and striking fashion portraiture photography practice.

Design Practice III//Riso samples from Catalogue.

Today I got some riso print samples through from Catalogue Press in Leeds, after contacting them just a few short days ago. Initially, I was interested in the method of print production for potential consideration for my Orange Juice 'Rip it Up' 2013 tour printed promotional media work. Despite really being a fan of the texture and duotone style of the print outcomes, however, after learning more about the selective colour options and inks available in riso, and my key colour, orange, would be very difficult to achieve, and not in the specific PANTONE colour(s) I have been working on.

As a result, I'm definitely going to look more into screenprinting and the potential design outcomes for this process and producing my range of digital and printed collateral.

Design Practice III//Researching Riso Printers.

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Researching riso printers within the UK in regards to the suggested feedback for printing my Orange Juice 'Rip it Up' tour merchandise, unfortunately, hasn't proved too succesful. Despite being an economic and reliable source of printing in regards to turn around time, and what would ordinarily be used for outdoor advertising such as posters within the music promotion industry, unfortunately the limitations in regards to colour printing are just too great. Although I could potentially work around this, time, of course, is not on my side, and have decided to attempt to source other methods of production, such as screenprinting, to gain the desired grain effect in print, with with slightly fewer limitations and restrictions throughout the design process, which has already been drawn out a little too long.

Time to start researching screen printing in more depth!

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Design Practice III//Ballet Society Hoodie Labels.

nilorn.co.uk

Following up a link directed to by a friend working in the t-shirt design industry, I found the site 'Nilorn UK', a Leeds and London- based company which produce a variety of clothing labels, which would be perfect to add a professional and considered finish to both the Ballet Society hoodies, and to my t-shirt merchandise from the hypothetical Orange Juice 'Rip it Up' 2013 tour, should I have the time to produce t-shirts within my design range (time permitting).
Currently I'm awaiting registration from the site to find out more about costings and the limitations in regards to design, but looking forward to hopefully making contact asap to move forward with producing my design outcomes.

Design Practice III//Orange Juice Gig Stamp.

englishstamp.com

Today I sent off for a logo brand stamp for the proposed gig and hypothetical 2013 'Rip it Up' Orange Juice reunion tour. 

I decided to custom design and purchase the stamp from The English Stamp Company, which I had researched in the past, and seen several of last year's graduates use successfully within their own personal branding.

At £14.95 for a 50mm x 50mm stamp (perfect for the surface area of a hand, where stamps would usually be marked), I felt the price was very reasonable, and I look forward to potentially exploring the application of the stamp to other printed collateral for the project outcome range.