Recent Freelance Update

ROSS =
A photographer, who is looking at sleek and neutral ways of showing his work. He came to me with an idea of a website which was grayish and had quite a pale look. I think that there is a massive difference between something looking clean, and pale. Sometimes it means that you need to do more work as there is less things speaking about you, so picking typography and composition is important. I designed for Ross website which is here, and now we are going to be looking at a logo which I made as really draft one so it needs more work to be done on it.
MY BENEFITS =
1. I looked at my own website with more criticism, and the whole changing attitude came from that job.
2. I sorted some of Flash problems which were bugging me before.
3. I managed to talk him into doing more serious work on his logo and general branding. Which shows that my communication skills are getting better.
4. It showed me that I work best once in charge of the design and project, not once I make other designs, animations work.
5. It gave me an idea that I prefer to work without the middle man.
6. It put me on a track of working on my animations again.

Except all that I will have January rent paid which I am happy about. :)

Process of ungluing

DESIGN AGENTS>
I am not so sure, now once I gave it a thought that I have a great agents on my side. Expect that I do not owe a magic key to the door of any illustrator agents, I owe a couple of rotten keys to the rotten recruitment agencies, who make my creative life slightly bizarre. Being treated as a generic Mac operator is inhuman and takes most precious designer's features away. I also have a style to my work which is unique, and find that this makes getting me work more difficult. I realized that agents which I dealt with so far are working like a factory and that makes 'having a style' an absolute nightmare. So being me is an obstacle for a design company?
DO YOU DESIGN PLACES, AD AGENCIES, CHARITIES OF ALL SORTS LIKE TO BE TREATED AS MULES? EVERYBODY HAS A STYLE AND CREATIVE WORK SHOULD BE ABOUT USING IT NOT DISMISSING.
Unglue from your schematic thinking that you can request a skill without connection to a human being as that is not even a dream, but a freelance nightmare, with people who don't care!
ERGO: I am ungluing from relying on my agents. Last couple of months have shown me that they are not much use to me and that my way in design, and probably in life takes it's own turns. I decided to move on and accept that I will probably never be a designer who can act as the generic one and fill space in the office. NOW I NEED TO CREATE A NETWORK OF PEOPLE WHO WOULD LIKE TO WORK WITH WHO I AM.

WEBSITE>
OK thinking about my website took me a bit of time. What is extremely helpful is that I met new people this year and was able to confront their reactions to what I wanted to present myself like. As I listed my concerns in another post, I concentrate on sharing my solutions.
HomePage> will carry a statement, emphasizing the strengths coming from being able to combine different medias, which I am quite good at.
HomePage/Illustration>
HomePage/Animation>
HomePage/Branding> will all be sections of my portfolio which will be directly accessible from homepage. All of them will have two additionals. 1. What does it/illustration/animation/branding means for me. 2. What does it/illustration/animation/branding might do for you.
In a section of animation I will also add achievements as I guess that will be a good way of stressing my history in that field.
HomePage/Current Projects> will link to my blogs, but also will hold an information on what is my current project about.
HomePage/Contact> will give my contact information.
HomePage/Clients> will list clients I had already worked for.
General feel from HomePage is going to be more neutral, more focus, and once you open a section of your area of interests that will then be more specific.
I want to put all my design work in branding, including branding animation in that section and chuck away at least half of my current folio. I DON'T WANT TO BE A PRISONER OF MY PAST CLIENTS.

After reading something I decided to:

redesign my website.
It has gone off track and I didn't have enough time to focus on it before.
I like singe bits of it but overall I think:
1. It is too much of everything. 2. It gets repetitive and distracting. 3. Overall my work can be shown in a better way.
what do I want to keep?
1. Handmade quirky feel. 2. Humor.3. Surprise.
what I want this site to do for me.
1. Show strong design skills. 2. Stress my multidisciplinary feature. 3. Strongly define the differences between my illustrations/design/animation. 4. Have links to my blogs, and a short information about me. 5. And above all bring me an interesting work.
i am looking at:
www.arcadefire.com for creativity and fun, bad for being slow.
www.sanna-annukka.com for simplicity and practical approach.

MY COLLECTION=MY PICTURE

What are we looking for, describes who we are. Things which we intuitively know are important for us. Why do we collect things, and why are we driven to certain objects? I don't know. But collections become very important part of our lives and are a bit, like an extract of who we are. My collection is a unique set of things which are important for me, I come back to them once in trouble, making choices, or simply when I need inspiration. The collection is a crossover of my inner self and the outside world.

I collect quotes, and strongly believe that two people wouldn't underline the same worlds in the same book. I never collect a quote given by somebody else. That is because my collection is my voice and my journey, throughout my unique life. I treat it very personally.

There is a lot of books which you can buy out there, full of sentences drawn out of books, interviews and so on. They are empty to me. Unless a quote is an extract of something bigger, it is only a sentence without a history and unique meaning. That doesn't mean that those sentences are less rich, but I guess that a very important part of them has been taken away. That is a process of collecting them, which is never finished...

Funny thing is that back home my Mom took over and continues writing my book of quotes in the same pad I used. So it has another life and a chapter to it. In London, I have a smaller version of it, which constantly grows and feeds my imagination.

Above all the quotes are also a collection of people, the authors which I appreciate and respect. Gathering their point of view, is stimulating and gives me the background I want to grow on. So I write mine history in quotes and that becomes my creative root.

PhewReview

1. Research Process> THIS PART OF A PROJECT WAS A WAY OF DEFYING WHICH RESEARCH METHODS ARE BEST FOR ME. I WAS SURPRISED HOW HELPFUL MINE CONTACTS WERE. I ALSO REALIZED THAT THE RESEARCH PROCESS FOR ME WAS HAPPENING FROM OUTSIDE TO INSIDE. IT WAS A BIT LIKE LOOKING FOR MYSELF IN A PROJECT, WHICH AT FIRST SEEMED TO ME QUITE FAR AWAY.
I have learned to> TRUST MY RESEARCH PROCESS AS IT WILL LEAD ME TO UNIQUE SOLUTIONS.
2. Idea> WAS PROMPTED BY ONE OF MY BLOG COMMENTS. I FELT RELIEVED ONCE I FOUND THE NEW INVENTION ROOT ALSO BECAUSE IT GAVE ME AN INFORMAL TOOL FOR COMMUNICATION WITH MY AUDIENCE.
3. Execution> ONCE MORE IT ENHANCED THE IMPORTANCE OF HAND MADE DRAWINGS, AND THEIR IMPACT ON THE AUDIENCE.
4. Feedback and testing> FEEDBACK WAS AN IMPORTANT LESSON FROM ME. BY SHARING MY DRAWINGS ONCE WORK IN PROGRESS, I REALIZED THAT: 4.1> IT MAKE ME MORE SYSTEMATIC, AS I WAS POSTING STUFF ON MY BLOG PRETTY MUCH EVERYDAY. 4.2> LOOKING AT THE CONSTRUCTIVE FEEDBACK WAS EXTREMELY USEFUL.
5. Improvements>
5.1> SHARING WORK IN PROGRESS IS A GOOD THING, GOOD FEEDBACK MEANS YOU ARE ON THE RIGHT TRACK, BAD FEEDBACK MEANS YOU ARE NOT. MAKE SHARING A HABIT.
5.2> DO NOT SETTLE ONCE THE FEEDBACK IS GOOD, TRY TO SEE IF YOU CAN IMPROVE ON A GOOD SOLUTION MAKING IT BETTER, TILL YOU HEAR A CLICK IN YOUR HEAD.
5.3> TRUST YOUR RESEARCH SKILLS, AS THEY ARE NOT AS BAD AS I THOUGHT.
5.4> IT'S EASIER TO COME BY SOLUTIONS ONCE THE DRAWING IS IN PROGRESS SO DO NOT PUT IT OFF TILL THE RESEARCH PROCESS IS ENDING. TILL THEN DRAW WHATEVER.
5.5> ENJOY YOUR LIFE AS FOCUSING ONLY ON THE PROJECT MAKES YOUR APPROACH NOT RICH ENOUGH.

1-2-3-4-5 Once I caught a fish alive...

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5.

Final Layout

OWN COMMENT> So I have decided on final layout now. Is it slightly revolting?
Well, I have seen stamps like that in the past so, probably not much revolution there, but I like this approach as both my copy and my illustration can fit better. I finally drove away from the idea of hand made font, because of it's readability, and outdated look. Have an English trouble though and need some help from Natural English Speaker, as I need to make it shorter... so I will bug you all tomorrow...
For font size I need to buy some decent paper and print them 100% to know which will be best.

Samples

The typography is messed up, so these are just for a view and sharing issues.

Website Info

Basics: The LINK will be (Oh, God !) on a stamp as well. On the website there will be a GALLERY OF THE INVENTORS of the inventors which appear on the stamps, but also you are going to be able to draw your own portrait and make up your own energy invention. Once the portrait is either drawn or uploaded to the website, and the user described their invention, the user answers a question about their project from a scroll down menu (f.e. what area does your invention improves? 1-transport, 2-industry, 3-home), and then before adding everything to an existing gallery they receive a factual information about the area they chose. Once OK is clicked the user becomes a part of the online inventors gallery.
Options to grow on: social sites connection (Facebook, MySpace ect), real invention world cross over it might be by sending a newsletter about current energy inventions or finding progress or going more fun direction newsletter might be featuring the invention of the month (a winner may get a ticket for a fun exhibition/cinema ect).
Possibilities are endless...and I want to draw an outline of that website. As it is not the core of my project I want to leave some things optional and try to enhance the imagination of jurors as well.
Images to come soon.

STAMP3/Mug W-O-OMan

And the winner is... Stamp No. 3 Final illustration



And a little drawing digression. I know that it is slightly off the brief, as it might be slightly too abstract, but I really like this drawing, and I AM SHARING...

STAMP 4/MovingAboutMan

INVENTION OF > one person mean of transport. It is powered by wind.
OWN COMMENT > The ones which I like the best are in the top line, I am thinking that I prefer the very first one. The one with the long hat. It has more character to it.

Format

I decided on square. As I will be filling the space around the inventors, with typography, and need space for that.

STAMPS 1-2-3-4 Best so far

OWN COMMENT> So these are best so far. MugMan/Woman actually, PlaneMan I have drawn today morning, and chosen them over another lot. The BulbMan looks kind of pale and the other two are appearing stronger. At least this is what I can see now. I also tried bringing in hallo to the BulbMan but so far I decided to paint it rather than draw. Still to be done.

UPDATE 25/11/08> I took out the MugWoman off the set. I guess now they look much better together, and that is a good thing. I think that now the BulbMan looks more interesting as well. It is all about contrast, and overview.

UPDATE 25/11/08 evening> I have put the other illustrations in the OneUnitTransportGuy, and I am torn between the two. Can't decide which works better. Need to sleep with it. So I am leaving them for now on.

FUTURE IS NOW against the brief.

The brief is to explore and design stamps that will bring attention to alternative energy issue and promote awareness about alternatives.

My answer:

Outline and objectives
Energy waste holds responsibility for the environmental damage.
Energy systems that we use are designed without energy efficiency in mind.
Energy efficient society hasn't been formed yet.
Royal Mail celebrates technical growth.

What your project will do and promote
Point out the problem areas.
Create a playful platform for innovative thinking.

The target audience
People who are inquisitive, like new design solutions and enjoy life.

How do you want the target audience to react
Join the online gallery, sign in for a newsletter informing and connecting the users.

The design elements
STAMPS, POSTERS?, WEBSITE

The visual style - personality and tone of voice
Portraits of people with visual 'hint' to their invention and a general description.
Mix of modern and traditional design approach.
Informal, fun.

STAMP3/MugMan

INVENTION OF> a solar powered mug which heats up the water in it.
OWN COMMENT> I like the best the very top one as it is stronger and the mug is visible.
It works better than others on the smaller scale.
I have found mugs which are traveller's accessories and heat up water once plugged to the plug in the car. Is my inevntion invented already?
What is important is that my mug doesn't have a wire and is for home usage.
Any comments?

STAMP 2/PaperPlaneMan

These two are the next new ones.






INVENTION OF> an environmentally friendly plane
OWN COMMENT> My favorite is still the first one with the next two runners up. The thing to do with all of them is making a plane more visible on the small space of a stamp.

STAMP 1/BulbMan

INVENTION OF> a light bulb which is powered with kinetic energy in a room.
OWN COMMENT> I like the one with the dark space around. I am going to redraw this though as I think it needs it. My favorite first three with the first two being versions of the same picture. They look the strongest and most unusual.
The bottom picture shows the evaluation of the drawings.

Alan Aldrige

Alan Aldrige is a Personality, you can tell from a very first moment of entering the exhibition.I love personalities. I feel empowered by their existence and feel that:
\\\THERE IS A WORLD BEYOND AQUENT!\\\
I remind myself to be persistent and strong. Being different is not easy, and I must say on many occasions my current graphic life was full of compromise. I am so sick of it! But once I looked at Aldgrige's work I know that the my only direction out is
WORK MORE
DRAW MORE
AS IF THE WORLD
WOULD NEVER EXIST.
I loved the combination of a modern drawing style and tradition of Alice in Wonderland.
EXCITING...

V&A

ONEandTHREEchairs was an early piece of conceptual art movement, made in 1965 by Joseph Kosuth. If I would be asked what thing do I associate with art of period of 60-ties and 70-ties of XX century, my answer would be

A CHAIR.

I come from the eastern block of the iron curtain and was only able to see things like the exclusive Pesce's chair in catalogs of unreachable stuff. All of those products looked like candies and were almost like James Bond accessories which you would never have. Of course when I was born the cold war was ending, and the iron curtain falling, but in a way it was still very present in our lives and I felt that it influenced my life as well. So at the museum I would just stare at those with my childish desire...

Djinn Chair by OLIVIER MOURGUEGAETANO PESCE's designs

PETER GHYCZY's

work, which I searched further
and found some other designs
which I really like. His website is HERE.

EERO AARNIO
whose work is as iconographic,
as it can get. I love Scandinavian
approach to design,
so I was really happy to see
those chairs in real life.

PIERRE PAULIN's ribbon chair.

Dondolo rocking chair by
CESARE LEONARDI & FRANCA STAGI

GREG LYNN's
Ravioli chair.

I believe in design like this. It is honest and reliable, celebrating humanity and exciting. I love the fact that it is strong and colorful not like current interiors covered in gray and beige, with a transparent tenant inside.

a city - DIGRESSION

For my RSA project I did resource some websites about cities and communities. In the V&A exhibition I found ideas which competitive countries were inventing. What I found appealing is that the attitude towards the city as an object was extremely positive. Knowing what we know now, I would question the slogan:
Save our planet, save our cities! I think that it contradicts itself. It also have been brought to attention by the organizers of the whole exhibition that the viewed period was contributing in an enormous way to the global warming effect which we'll have to deal in the future.
Interesting issue is also looking at Walking Cities, by a member of ARCHIGRAM Which was an idea about creating portable cities and communities. The attitude towards the city itself was full of admiration and pride. I would question this now.

As if all you can do here is leave
and plunge, never to return, into the depths.

Into unfathomable life.

(from Utopia by Wislawa Szymborska)

THE FUTURE IS NOW - Hudsucker Proxy

Outline and objectives
Energy waste holds responsibility for environmental damage.
Main energy eaters are badly designed and that's the main reason for waste.
Energy efficient society hasn't been formed yet.
Challenges celebrate life and humanity.

What your project will do and promote
Stress challenge and possibilities of technical growth
beneficial for the environment and human beings.

The target audience
People who are inquisitive, like new design solutions and enjoy life.

How do you want the target audience to react
Explore innovative thinking solutions considering environmental, social needs.
KEEP THEIR EYES OPEN

The design elements
STAMPS, POSTERS, WEBSITE

The visual style - personality and tone of voice
Feature future inventors - not born yet, inventions to be discovered.
Quirky look, imitating old stamp portraits.

Schedule to meet the deadlines
25/11 portraits drawn
1/12 incorporate into the designs
4/12 last changes
5/12 post

the Richest live below 350!

They are different, each has an energy efficiency feature: one uses roller skates, one only charges his mobile using solar panels, the next likes wearing 'cool jumpers' in winter and never overheats his flat, other invites all of them for a dinner and they eat together and use less energy for cooking... The stamps, promotional posters, virals etc. lead to a website which explains the character's habits and personalities. The website is connected to other sites like charities, information and social sites. If a user registers they would be sent a newsletter about the 6 creatures. As they lead >350 lifestyle they come across modern Eco events and promote energy efficiency on every day basis.

The characters are living together in a community and can be developed for further ideas and sustainable life gadgets. They can be involved in different events and carry the message across an Eco product. They would be facing similar problems what the society and would get involved in finding solutions for those.

LOGO Zoo

some more to come...

UpSideDown (1)

SUCCESS?

"We are creating a vast industrial machine, not for living in, but for dying in. It is a war, to be sure, a war that only a few more generations can surely survive.”
—William McDonough

clean - cleaner - the cleanest

95 % of all buildings in Reykjavik are heated with geothermal water. Regarding CO² emissions, Reykjavik is now one of the cleanest cities in the world. quoted after Sustainable Cities

Magic Number

350

350 is the number that leading scientists say is the safe upper limit for carbon dioxide--measured in "Parts Per Million" in our atmosphere. 350 PPM--it's the number humanity needs to get back to as soon as possible to avoid runaway climate change.Quoted from 350.org

LIVING EFFICIENCY

The talk with Stephen from the Science Museum went well, my outcome is:
1. there is NO RIGHT ANSWERS to the climate change
2. people living in COMMUNITIES WHICH ARE SUSTAINABLE ARE PRAGMATIC
3. SUCCESS means being living ALONE, NOT SHARING

I find very interesting point number 3. I think that this is part of a problem that being Eco friendly seems like failure to us and because it makes us feel further from a success target.
I want to challenge this success measurement, as I think it is crucial in creating not just energy efficiency.

OWN COMMENT: NOT SHARING MEANS POORER LIFE. ERGO MORE MEANS LESS.

Energy Saving Trust Scary Footprint :(

So, as I was suggested, I looked further at the resources on the Energy Saving Trust Website. I have made a test assessing my carbon footprint. It was considerably high. And I am far too unhappy with it. A lot of that score has to do with the fact that the property I live in is quite old, has single glazing, and drafts are quite common. My appliances are considerably new, but they are small and not really suitable for me and my child. I need a freezer. That means that I do own my personal fridge/freezer and still need to run a little fridge.

My heating is gas and I do not intend to pay myself for insulation in my flat, as it it my landlords job.
I travel by plane and am at my family home at least 4 times a year, which means return journeys.

From the good things I do not own other mean of transport rather than a bike and I use public transport on my longer journeys.

It seems that I consume the energy mainly for my house and using far too much air transport.
It feels trapped. I am not going to be renovating my flat as it is not mine and I can't afford it. I want to be able to see my parents and I would prefer to come over there by train, but at the moment such a journey is not as straightforward as it should be, and takes a lot of time which I do not have.

No matter that, I was given a CO2 emission target plan and I am going to use it, when I can.