Update - 20.05.09

It's been over a month since my last post, this is down to quite a hectic schedule of new design work from new and existing clients. Below I have put together a brief run down of some of these projects.

A new client asked me to brand a new South African Boutique Hotel. It had to include a strong nature theme and express a refined atmosphere.



This is my personal favourite, I have built a horizon and ridge into an overall leaf shape reflecting the beauty of the environment the hotel is situated.



This is the design the client finally settled on.



Tyrrell Design asked me to develop a brochure for specific areas within the building industry and create a family of icons to extend the brand. I really didn't want to alter the icon but the client insisted on this route. The first is the original identity, the second is 'Fire Risk Assessment' and the third is 'Energy Performance Certificates'. In each case the logo has had elements added to reflect these areas, I really wasn't happy with burning the logo but the client liked it.



Mixm8 wanted to re brand as they felt the previous logo looked too dance music orientated and wanted a more editorial look. The concept is based around Polaroids and can be used to mask related images, the chunky text also facilitates this. I built a family of logos which adds a flexibility to the brand in a number of applications.



I am a keen DJ and my friend is launching an Internet radio station that we will playing out on. The station will deal mainly with Drum and Bass, I really wanted to avoid the 'Detonate' style associated with this genre.



I got my business cards photographed for the book 'My Own Business Cards'



Bakerino is a new bakery/coffee place in the centre of Nottingham, I was commissioned to develop the brand, work on the shop front and flyer. It is opening in June so I'm really looking forward to seeing my brand in a prominent place in the city centre.

Hope you enjoyed viewing my latest work.

Update - 12.4.9

For some reason this month has got exceptionally busy with the majority of my clients asking for work to be done. These were quite an interesting set of briefs which include branding for a computer game and bakery and a website redesign with an editorial look, something I haven't done before and pushing me to learn new styles. As well as these new briefs I decided to get some photography done of my magazine features/articles for my website. I really love photographs of printed material and really wanted to lift the quality of my website.

Working with the photographer was a new experience for me as they required art direction which I didn't really anticipate. I luckily brought in some images of effects that I wanted to achieve which the photographer managed to capture. I have posted below a few of my favourite images.

Let me now what you think, thanks for reading.

Update - 27.3.9

I have finally picked up a copy of Computer Arts Projects which I featured in as part of the Designer Challenge along with two other designers. This months challenge was to create a set of promotional stickers for a fictional designer. I am really delighted to have this published as its the first piece of work I have had in a design industry magazine. Let me know what you think email me

You can find out more about Computer Arts Projects Here

Update - 16.3.9

Website Update

I have had a chance to tweak my website a bit, adding a latest news element to the home page and links to this blog and my istock portfolio using the font I am developing. I have been working on the font as a hobby and it is still a work in progress. One of these revised elements is a change in the angle of the 'i' to match other letter elements this can be seen in my logo above. I have also changed my blog header to include the new typographic elements and create a consistancy between this page and my website.

Let me know what you think. http://www.richardbaird.co.uk/

Update - 12.03.09

New Illustration

I have been working on a new illustration I like to call micro illustration and involves creating a large piece of work with lots of tiny illustrations. The piece below is called 'Microbes' (click the image to enlarge).



Hope you like.

Update 23.02.09

I was really busy last week as I was contacted by the editor of Computer Arts Projects to take part in the 'Designer Challenge' for March's edition. I put in a fair amount of time completing this work as it is a great opportunity to boost my profile and wanted to come up with a strong concept. I think I might also have a page in the 'Showcase' pages as I wrote a bit about self-promotion the theme of the magazine for that month and they asked for some images that can accompany the article. I am trying not to get excited as I know these things can get dropped at the last moment so I'm keeping my fingers firmly crossed!

I had to do this while continuing with all the work I had booked in so my desk got quite messy. I am currently working on a brochure for Tyrrell Design, I designed their logo (below) and brand guidelines so this is a great opportunity to continue to build a strong brand narrative.

Update - 11.2.9

The microsite mixm8 i designed is now live. The aim of this site is to build the community before the 2.5D social networking and music site is launched. I designed all the pages including banners and the mixm8 logo. The backgrounds have been designed by graphic artist Jon Burgerman.