hoploid:

HOPLOID likes the branding by KISSMIKLOS.

So finally, here is the project I admitted to this years D&AD’s Student Awards competition together with James Smith and Tinna Hallsdottir. We were awarded with Best Of Year which we are really proud of! Here are pictures of the spreads I had the most input into, but you can see more pictures and read more about it here.

I have finally finished my project and this is the final outcome! 

I have decided to go for rounded corners on my cards. I have always liked round things, it brings back memories of my childhood, it feels soft and it represents infinity which are all good qualities for my ‘kids quotes’ greeting cards I think. After deciding on what paper to use as well, an off white natural paper called Accent Antique Silk, I think it’s finally coming together. I also made little booklets for my research, trials & mock-ups, evaluation etc. and bound it by hand using the Japanese binding technique.

To present my project nicely I’ve made covers for leftover quotes and research etc. I now need to bind it and I want a Japanese bind as I think the style suits. Found this useful tutorial on line from the blog seekatesew.blogspot.co.uk

I’ve been thinking about how I can expand my final project and as mentioned before the idea is that the designs and quotes would become wall decorations. Here are some beautiful examples of how it could look by Fine Little Day and Deco Wall 

Very cute! For more info check out POMS

Love this Peanuts  Moleskine. There is something so brilliant about these illustrations and white on black looks great I think. I remember sitting at home with my dad on saturday mornings drawing and one of the first things I remember him draw for me was Lucy from Peanuts. Seeing this makes me think that I have made the right choice in going for white type and illustrations on a block background when it comes to my own designs. It also has rounded corners!

Number 83 Art & Things is a lovely little gift shop in the heart of Westbourne in Bournemouth. This is exactly the sort of shop where I would love to have my cards for sale and I think that they would actually fit in here as the target audience I am aiming for is the same as the one for this shop. They also support local artists so when I have everything ready I might just go and see if they would be interested in selling my cards.

When it comes to printing I have planned to get my greeting cards printed on an inkjet printer but I’m still not sure what paper to use. Today I’m doing some test prints on a natural paper called Accent Antique 250 gms to see how the paper takes the ink. I like the idea of printing on a natural paper because I think it might give the cards a retro feel but if the ink bleeds I obviously have to rethink. alocalprinter.com was suggested to me. They specialise in eco greeting cards printing and you get the envelopes for free apparently so I will have a better look at what they do later today incase things don’t work out and it would be good to find a printing company that I can use for future projects too. 

After another tutorial it was suggested to me to try and make the different voices clearer on my greeting cards so I have tried a few different typefaces again and changed the layout slightly. It’s so hard to look at your own work objectively, especially when you have worked on something for such a long time. I think I have solved it now though and I am actually happier with how it looks now. I knew something wasn’t a 100% but just couldn’t see what needed changing. I’m really glad I had this tutorial today since I still have a week until hand-in. 

Final Project Update

Since I also need clear bags to put my greeting cards in I’ve had to settle for a standard A6 size for my greeting cards which also means that I don’t need the stickers anymore since I can just buy ready made envelopes. A bit of a shame after all that work but I think it will look better in the end, fingers crossed. Will try and print tomorrow on the beautiful paper I got from GF Smiths! I got a few different types of paper so not sure yet which one I will go for but should be able to decide after some test prints. One week till hand-in…

Been trying to make my own envelopes for my greeting cards since I chose a non standard size for the cards. I couldn’t find a good enough template so had to try to make them a few times to get it right but I got there in the end. Since the envelopes won’t have any glue I also made some stickers to close the envelopes with. I think the bigger round ones will work best so will probably go for these.  Have settled for these colours now by the way. Decided to just go for 6 shades in the end.

Been helping the kids with their tudor project this morning : )

I just discovered a new magazine. It’s called Frankie and looks like it’s right up my street. The colour scheme is soft and the layout a bit quirky which I like and it seams to have article that I would really enjoy reading! The only thing is that it’s Australian and the closest stockist is in Southampton. Guess I have to take a trip there : )

This is how they describe them selfs:

‘frankie Magazine is an Australian bi-monthly with a difference. A niche-style title with mainstream appeal – filled with fashion, art, craft, music, cuteness and real-life inspiration – frankie is dedicated to uncovering the newest trends, celebrating the latest creative talents and delivering sharp, honest, laugh-out-loud stories their readers can relate to.’