Blogatorii

Returning Clients and Customers

2010-03-15T16:19:00.005Z

It's always good to find that one's work is recalled with fondness by past clients and customers. I've had enquiries from a past client recently and am hoping (NDAs permitting) to be able to show what I've been doing for them over the coming months.
I take their reappearance as encouraging signs for the future of not only Creatorii, but of the economy in general.

You disagree?... Bite me!

Incidentally, I found a good definition for the difference between a customer and a client:

A client looks for advice and professional knowledge, while a customer might only purchase goods and services.

Styles of illustration

2010-03-04T20:53:00.002Z

My existing clients tend to know about my skills as an illustrator. Hardly surprising, since drawing and painting at school is what drove me on to art school, art teaching and ultimately into the graphic design field.

However, I never quite get enough of this type of work, so I'm trying to up the profile on this side. I work in all sort of styles... often coming up with a style precific to each client. I often think that one would be hard pressed to look at any of my work and say... "That is SOOOO Paul Toner!".

Anyway, I digress.

In an effort to showcase all this I've been working on something with the help of Grace Medford. We've spent a few hours putting together the copy that's to be read with a flash animation. I'm to do the voice-over, but I'll be 'playing around' with the sound file to make it less obviously me. I've been thinking of the late great Ian Dury's "You'll See Glimpses" and "Reasons To Be Cheerful" while I've been doing this.

Watch this space.

The Organic Delivery Company

2010-03-04T19:24:00.004Z

Logo design, illustration, web design for their static and on-line-shopping site. This one has to date, gone through simply. It's now with web developers that The Organic Delivery Company had already contracted before coming to me about the branding and design.

Diverzion Event

2010-02-18T11:16:00.003Z

It's a bit of fun for me when I get to do flyers and posters for events. This one is for Diverzion, the not for-profit organisation set-up to work with and refocus 11-17yr olds with responsible citizen skills.
I'll post some pics from the event after the event.

DampZone Limited

2010-02-09T13:46:00.005Z

Latest branding and design has been done for starty-up company, DampZone Ltd.
We kept print costs down with a 2 colour (cyan and black) logo incorporating a logo device showing the care and protection that DampZone offers their clients.
The website was developed with flash content, CSS and standard HTML.
We also advised and developed the DampZone 'Peace of Mind Guarantee'.

New Illustration Style

2010-02-03T16:48:00.006Z

Working on branding for a client dealing in organic produce. They wanted a style that looked rustic. I came up with this new illustration style to add to my offering. It starts off freehand and is done from my mind's eye and some reference photography.

I could tell you the rest of the treatment, but then I'd have to kill you ... LOL

Piãno Kensington bar and restaurant

2010-02-01T12:37:00.004Z

Great night at Piãno Kensington bar and restaurant...

Sacred Soul

2009-02-16T13:56:00.009Z

Rebranding Sacred Soul

Incorporating new logo, website, company stationary and promotional collateral.

Branding and brochure in a day!

2008-07-20T00:11:00.017+01:00

I enjoy it when I get to turn around a job in the space of a day. This was for a start-up company again. Branding and brochure... I'll show the rest once it's been approved, but here's the illustration that I did for the brochure.

Brief:

Brand values: Accessible • Accommodating • Personal • Friendly • Modern • Feminine • Established • Organised. • Using fresh local produce
Logo using pink to work against black or white background.
Striking and memorable.
Brochure to double as menu/flyer.
Easily usable for cut vinyl application.

Using industry standard applications

Adobe InDesign,
Adobe Illustrator
Adobe Photoshop

Deliverables:

Logo (Supplied as outlined vector EPS file)
Brochure/Flyer (attached is low resolution PDF of original)
Van graphics (Visuals with separate elements supplied as outlined vector EPS files).
T-Shirt graphics

Diverzion... refocusing 11-17yr olds in Reading with responsible citizen skills

2008-06-20T01:28:00.008+01:00

I'm helping Gary Small on his Diverzion Initiative by designing and developing their website. The picture above gives some idea of the look and feel the site will have.

Driven by Gary's unceasing energy and dedication, Diverzion is a Reading based not for-profit organisation set-up to work with and refocus 11-17yr olds with responsible citizen skills. Through them, key organisations such as local police and drug and alcohol awareness and anti-bullying initiatives are able to deliver their message at secondary schools and entertainment events.

Diversion depends on the support and sponsorship of other local businesses and industries including Oracle, Haslams and Sainsbury's along with performers and celebrities such as N-Dubz and Simon Webbe to appear and perform; drawing in youngsters to messaging events where they are proven to be more receptive.

Expect to hear more about Diversion soon, but in the meantime, your help would be appreciated. Contact them at info@diverzion.org or 0118 902 8928.

Caricature used by Pilot Pen UK on homepage

2008-06-19T00:36:00.004+01:00

Alex Sinclair, a client at Pilot Pen UK, was part of a team of 19 co-workers including the MD Don Skelton, who successfully completed this year’s London to Brighton Bike Ride 2008, in support of the British Heart Foundation.

The 54-mile challenge from the capital to the coast is the largest charity cycle event of its kind in Europe, raising over £42 million, since 1980, for the British Heart Foundation.

To show support, I'd done a caricature of him and emailed it in advance of the cycle run and was flattered to find that it had been featured on Pilot Pen UK's homepage.

If you feel inspired by their efforts it’s not too late to make a donation – simply click on the following link: www.justgiving.com/alexsinclair.

Beautiful pens from Namiki

2008-06-17T01:40:00.002+01:00

Pilot Pen's premium line of writing instruments is sold under the Namiki brand. The barrels of fountain pens, rolling ball pens, ball point pens and mechanical pencils are embellished with intricate lacquered designs adorned with gold, silver and jewel tones.

Maki-e (pronounced mah-KEE-ay) is the centuries-old Japanese art of adorning lacquer ware by applying multiple layers of lacquer decorated with powders and flakes of gold, silver and colored pigments as well as thin slivers of abalone shell. The maki-e craftsman starts his work with a drawing of the intended composition. The design is transferred onto the prepared lacquer surface. The task of transforming an outline drawing into a complex decoration of sprinkled powders is complex, lengthy and requires years of study and practice.

For the Namiki Collections, skilled Japanese artisans use the finest materials to create a line of writing instruments that look beautiful and perform flawlessly. They introduce Maki-e lacquering, a centuries-old technique in which multi-layered patterns are drawn on the barrel and cap with urushi - sap from Japanese lacquer trees. The hand-painted designs richly interpret scenes of nature in precious metals and lavishly colored pigments.

Countdown to launch

2008-06-16T13:14:00.002+01:00

The countdown to the launching of creatorii on 1st July 2008 continues. I’ve not shown it to many people as I am still fine tuning the layout, content, formatting the blog and coding it to send subscribers emails when new postings are made.

I will next have the interesting task of letting clients, old, new and prospects about creatorii and how and why it differs from what I had been doing previously.

The iimage brand served well for a few years, however it was conceived at at time when integrating online and offline marketing was a relatively new thing. Marketing has moved on and the iimage brand has become obsolete. I explored the possibility of salvaging or re-energising its name, but a new start was the best solution.

In addition, my core strengths have always been creativity and production. I am a one-man one stop-shop and creatorii has been set up to reflect this.