Final business cards

As Moo allowed the option of printing more than one back, I decided to use this opportunity to test out which seemed the most effective. Using a red backing, I took some photographs of the cards which I then posted on Twitter & Instagram.

Business card designs

Now that I had my logo finalised and a studio visit arranged, I needed to quickly print a set of business cards to distribute if need be. I had already been designing some initial ideas and through recommendations of others in the class, I decided to go with Moo - printing 50 of the classic range.

To keep my 'brand' consistent, I used the same logo, font and colour scheme. I kept the design fairly minimal to ensure primary focus was on my contact details.

Portfolio PDF

I created this portfolio PDF for my visit to B&W as suggested by John - in hindsight I should have spent more time on this and added more projects as I needed to take into account not being able to access the internet to show my website. I included my favourite projects as of yet, including the recent project done for the product / range / distribution brief.

Current website

I designed this website a few months ago and asked a friend to code the site as I only knew the basics of HTML and CSS. I kept the design simple to try and draw more attention to the work with a monochrome colour scheme with a deep red / orange (#c62d2d) as the colour for links etc. Although I am pleased with this site, I am looking forward to coding my own for this module - it would be nice to refresh it.

www.joewarburton.co.uk

The index page features all my portfolio pieces which can be viewed when scrolled down. I included a header and brief description with a link out towards the right with an entire project list on the left below the logo. The navigation is situated at the top to the right of the logo. After feedback from 1910 regarding my website (here), I made the thumbnail images clickable too.

When the user scrolls, the projects are hidden by an invisible header so the logo and main navigation are easily accessible - this is also the same for the main project pages.

The portfolio pages feature a description on the project with a possible link out to further info. All the images use the same width to keep the site consistent and so the images are user-friendly on different computer sizes. 

The 'About' and 'Contact' pages simple feature text and links out to other social media sites - currently Twitter and Tumblr but hopefully this will expand.

These screenshots are the HTML and CSS coding. Currently, I have to manually add each project individually and as each page is separate, I also have to add a new link out to the project in the project list making it a fairly monotonous task to add new work or delete old work.

Logo development

I was getting tired of the placeholder logo I had, something I created during college, therefore this was a perfect opportunity to update it. I wanted to create a simple, stripped-back monogram logo which can be applied to range of print and screen based collateral - it needs to be clear at a small scale but not too simple that it gets lost. I wanted it to both represent my design practice and me as an individual. 

I started initially by focusing on my initials, creating a 'W' out of two rounded rectangles and cutting several points towards the top to create the letterform. I noticed that the letter 'J' can be found in a rounded 'W' so I began to exploit this aspect.

I created a range of design ideas based on the same concept - a continuous line which wrote out my initials, looking at gaps to separate the letterforms and rounded / blunt strokes. My favourite, and one chosen when I asked a few people, was the top left design.

As part of my design a day, I created this simple thumbs up icon using the logo design.

However, I was pointed in the direction of another logo which looked exactly the same as mine bar from a thinner and extended stroke. To avoid any issues regarding this, I took one of the curves out of the logo to try and still retain the 'J' and the 'W' in a simpler form.

Monogram / logo

I thought the best way to 'brand' myself in the most simplest and memorable form was to create a monogram out of my initials and create some sort of distinct combination of the two. I looked at existing logo designs to gather some inspiration.

EH - Eric Hseuh

Using an extension of the slab serifs of the 'H' to form an uppercase 'E' utilising the crossbar. This creates a pattern in itself and you almost forget it is combined of two letterforms. 

Source: miha-ta.com

Duane Dalton

A minimal monogram logo combining two of the same letterforms into a concentric 'D' pattern.

Source: designspiration.net