hellomynameisadam

This blog is no more.

2011-10-05T01:44:00.000-07:00

Hello there, so my blog will no longer be updated here any more. Its been good, but it's time to let go!

My new blog is here:
blog.adam-brandon.com

It will be updated more regularly than this, and it looks better too.

Goodbye blogger, it's been good.

Adam

SXSW animation

2011-03-14T02:43:00.000-07:00

Chack out this sweet Angry Birds building projected animation that my buddies Sam Southward and Ollie Harris made for SXSW.

Nice work guys!

Watching this just blew my mind.

2011-03-03T10:13:00.000-08:00

Nagi Noda

2011-02-24T03:32:00.001-08:00

Just discovered the amazing work of Nagi Noda, who sadly died in 2008.

Well worth a watch. Sheer Genius.

The External World by David OReilly

2011-02-09T02:35:00.000-08:00

David OReilly's New film 'The external world' is out.
Take 17 minutes out of your day to watch something surreal and incredibly fucked up...

Toylife

2011-01-11T07:59:00.000-08:00

Really nice video for a great cause.
Usual 'stranger than fiction' style animated infographics (which, if you havent seen, is HERE, by the ever brilliant MK12). But with some really nice glitches and other nice graphical elements.

I especially like the credits right at the end, a really nice and rather understated use of cinema 4D (extruded type with softbody dynamics if i'm not mistaken). Will have to give that a go...

Projection Mapping onto a projector

2011-01-10T07:06:00.000-08:00

Projection mapping is used everywhere now, and is getting pretty old pretty fast.
However this is a really interesting idea, using mirrors to project onto itself.

The work itself isnt particularly fantastic, but I can think of dozens of interesting creative ways of using this technique.
Could even go so far to create a visual feedback loop endlessly creating visuals and projecting them back onto themselves?

Letterpress and Lego

2011-01-10T06:58:00.000-08:00

This is an amazing idea.

Lego Letterpress Prints

Daito Manabe

2011-01-05T03:23:00.000-08:00

Daito Manabe is a weird kind of genius.

BusyBusy.

2010-12-06T05:20:00.000-08:00

Fonts and Films.

More coming soon(ish).

Musclebeaver.

2010-11-16T05:50:00.000-08:00

Musclebeaver is a german design and animation duo based in munich.
They created this beautifully stylized film called 'how your money works'

Just beautifully art directed and animated.
It went on to win a Bitfilm Award this year, and to thank everyone for their votes, made this film here:

Doesn't it just make you want to be German?

New Mill website online.

2010-11-12T02:55:00.001-08:00

My place of work, The Mill, have just launched their new website.
Go take a look and check out what I do when im not posting crap on here.

www.themill.com

Breathtaking.

2010-11-12T02:46:00.000-08:00

Click Here to see the visual effects reel from Gaspard Noe's new film 'Enter the Void'. I missed this at the cinemas but can't wait til it hits on DVD, a definite must see.
The effects reel is simply breathtaking, making the dark underbelly of tokyo utterly beautiful in a haunting, neon way.
Plus the Sigur ros soundtrack to the reel (avoiding the usual BBC sigur ros cliche bollocks) just adds to its dark beauty.
Watch, and be amazed.

Designers and Code

2010-11-03T05:03:00.000-07:00

Really interesting video with Daniel Shiffman outside OFFF Paris 2010 (which I was lucky enough to have attended - and just realised I still havent blogged about...).
But yeah, interesting video stating the reasons we should all get comfortable with a bit of coding. Give it a look.

Kill your co workers

2010-10-22T03:29:00.001-07:00

Another amazing video from a warp artist.
This is from Flying Lotus, and animated by Beeple.
THe video is really simply animated, but really nicely executed too, with great humour.

The 3d characters are available here and user can create their own videos, and submit them at vimeo.com/groups/flyinglotus

Shobaleader One

2010-10-22T03:24:00.000-07:00

Shobaleader One is the new band from Squarepusher.
Just watch the video, and be blown away.

Procedural Sketching

2010-09-20T10:17:00.000-07:00

Just been Playing around with procedural sketching using this amazing tool here

An Ode to Chillwave.

2010-09-10T06:21:00.000-07:00

Last weekend I visited my friends in manchester and also went to a gig by Chillwave band Neon Indian.
It was a sad affair. Chillwave has been described as the 'sound of summer 2010' and unfortunately, the summer is now over. Neon Indian looked sad, exhausted, and didnt really have the feel of summer about them any more. (not the feel of british summer, but rather the idealised version of summer that you see in 80's teen movies).
I imagine that chillwave bands suffer the same fate as wasps at the end of the summer. Or perhaps not, although i'd would be entertaining to see Alan Palomo go mental and start stinging everyone who eats jam sandwiches.
Anyway, as a homage to the dying genre of Chillwave, and my awesome summer that it seems to have sountracked, here is a video that I made on the train last week whilst coming back to London.
Enjoy the wavey chilledness of it.

The music is by Neon Indian, although feel free to replace it with your favorite track by Washed Out, Toro y Moi, Memory Tapes, etc. Its also better if you enjoy doing chillwavey things like jumping into lakes, and surfing.

The Creators Project: Lumpens.

2010-09-02T07:30:00.000-07:00

Lumpens are based in Seoul, South Korea.
They use amazing digital technologies to create great moving image pieces. I especially like their projection mapping projects.

"For us, working is like playing, and by playing, we make money. We want to keep living that way."

Playtime.

2010-09-02T06:41:00.001-07:00

THIS keeps me entertained for hours.

Boolean Taxidermy

2010-09-02T06:29:00.000-07:00

Some really interesting work HERE by the guys over at Zeitguised

Arcade Fire's interactive music video

2010-09-01T04:19:00.000-07:00

Click HERE

A pretty stunning technical piece of work.
Give it a go.

You need to watch this.

2010-08-27T06:18:00.000-07:00

If you want to watch something inspirational today, watch this, it's insane!

Amazing!

2010-08-24T07:05:00.001-07:00

Turning a hotel into a pixel based piece of light art... Pretty cool.

A quick update.

2010-08-23T08:33:00.000-07:00

I successfully moved to London, however current lack of internet in my flat in greenwich means that my blog posts are still as infrequent as ever.
So i'm writing this from work. My job at the Mill is pretty amazing, I am sat by a shelf literally overflowing with D&AD awards, I get to work with some of the best creatives in the world, and within my first 2 weeks and a half i've worked on projects for Playstation, One, and the Mill themselves.

Anyway, more updates soon.

Also, here is a quick screenshot of something secret that I'm working on (if I ever finish it...).

CMYK

2010-07-30T04:13:00.000-07:00

My entry to greyscalegorilla's 5 second project, 'CMYK'.

Hello there, long time no see.

2010-07-30T03:25:00.000-07:00

Hi. So yeah, this is my first blog post since MARCH.
Everyone seems to be blogging again now and this makes me feel pretty lazy, so here we go...

THINGS THAT HAVE HAPPENED SINCE IVE BEEN LAZY:
I art directed/designed the degree show for my course BA(hons) Design and Art Direction.
I have had work in Grafik Magazine and Flux Magazine.
My font 'A_B_Stochome' is to be released on a disk and featured in a book in Tokyo all about independent fonts.
I graduated with a first class honours degree from MMU. (and managed to not fall over at graduation)
I launched my website www.adam-brandon.com
I got offered 2 jobs in London! I am moving on saturday the 7th to the capital, and start work at The Mill on the 9th!

Soooo yeah. I'm going to update this more often now. I think.

A_B_ Panic

2010-03-23T15:25:00.000-07:00

A new font.
Coming soon.

TVTV.

2010-03-15T04:25:00.000-07:00

My submission for the don't panic TV brief.
I decided to base my idea on the Evolution of TV hardware, how the design has evolved over time to become what it is today.

I'm quite happy with the overall design. If you like it too, please vote for it here:

http://www.dontpaniconline.com/designtheposter/TV/entry/356

(I will love you forever if you do vote...)

RedBlueGreen.

2010-03-05T04:02:00.000-08:00

Understated and Perfect.

Thom Yorke - Videotape from brian prevost on Vimeo.

Live Visuals

2010-03-01T08:00:00.000-08:00

I have recently been asked to do some live visual work for my friend - and techno producer - Audibilis.
He is going to start doing live techno sets and I will be creating the accompanying visuals live.

It has always been an area of visual communication I have been interested in, and so I have been doing a lot of research over the past week.
The first thing that really opened my eyes up to this medium was seeing 'The Great Destroyer' by Nine Inch Nails back in 2006: (1:59 onwards for the amazing visuals)

So, inspired by this, I have been researching visuals all week.
I have been playing with the software Modul8 for a few days, and it proves to be a nice VJ-ing tool (i have also been asked to VJ at the 'Bring on the Dancing horses' degree show fundraiser, so I may use this software here...).
However, I have been craving a fuller, more creative visual experience.

I then found out about Derivatives Touch Designer. This appears to be more the kind of thing I have been looking for. However, it is currently windows only, meaning i'm going to have to install boot camp on my mac tonight :(

But, the visuals it creates are amazing. It has a procedural, visual programming environment, where pretty much anything can be synced up to music, and filtered using oscillators, midi signals, and frequency ranges (exactly the kind of geeky stuff I love.)
Some of the best examples of it being used live are by Alva Noto (electronic project of acclaimed visual artist Carsten Nicolai) He uses Touchdesigner with his live music to create amazing walls of light.

I think I could recreate something like this myself. (although, not exactly the same, I want to innovate.)
Plus, as a graphic designer, surely a sense of visual balance is a good transferable skill into live visuals?
Watch this space for more info on this project.

Some more featured work :)

2010-02-19T00:17:00.000-08:00

My VBS.TV idents have just been featured over at http://www.motionserved.com/.
This makes me happy :D

New t-shirt?

2010-02-18T05:56:00.000-08:00

Possible idea for TeeTwelve.
Maybe a little too sarcastic though.

Would fit in nicely with SixPack's t-shirts though...

Some Work for the degree show.

2010-02-16T11:04:00.000-08:00

Right, i've banged this out in a day as a concept ident for the degree show. (obv the text will be different etc, but I made it to give a general 'look' and see how it went.) I like the melancholic music.

Degree Showreel test clip from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

Also.

2010-02-15T12:14:00.001-08:00

Just. Amazing.
This video blows me away every time.

Amazing Type.

2010-02-15T12:04:00.000-08:00

Just saw this today. It is by Bank, a german graphic design agency.
It may look like some cliched neon type at first, however it is all just ONE neon light, bent in a way that it can be seen as every letter of the alphabet from different positions.
Pure genius.

An update on my life.

2010-02-09T10:08:00.000-08:00

Right, i've been away from this blogging thing for a while, mostly, and so i'm going try and get back into it!

Ok, so an update on my life.
Its been quite a hectic couple of weeks.
I turned 22 a couple of weeks ago, and since then, its been go go go.

First, I have been offered a full time position at a marketing agency as a creative (an agency whom I currently freelance for.) I haven't accepted yet, i'm going to consider all my options, however its nice to know that I can get some full time work upon graduation.

Secondly, we got our marks back for the first term and I (somehow) managed to get 80% (which also happens to be the highest mark in the year group! (although I think it was undeserved, there are people who do a lot more work than I do on the course!)

Thirdly, I got an email yesterday of Vice Magazine in New York, they have somehow seen my VBS.TV idents and really love them, and so I am currently awaiting some feedback off the Vice Magazine design department in brooklyn. Exciting stuff.

Also, my work has been featured today on typography website typographyserved.com. I'm really pleased about this, especially seen as I had no idea, they just came across my work and decided to feature it.

Oh, and theres also a possible (albeit top secret) project in the pipeline with a certain Mr. Si Scott.

I think thats it for the time being.

I will post more updates soon.

My VBS Idents.

2010-02-07T19:22:00.000-08:00

Below are the Idents that I created as part of a project to rebrand VBS.TV for my personal project, term 1 D&AD3.
Music by Battles.

VBS.TV Ident 1 from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

VBS.TV Ident 2 from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

VBS.TV Ident 3 from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

VBS.TV Ident 4 from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

Download it Now! For Free! Please!

2010-01-27T07:38:00.000-08:00

My new (updated) font is available

~~HERE.~~
It is now available for immediate download by clicking this link HERE.
It has 2 weights, vector and hand drawn.
Please feel free to use it.

A Present in the Post (pt.3)

2010-01-08T05:30:00.000-08:00

Today I received a package in the post from none other than The Designers Republic.
Enclosed was a copy of the new gatecrasher album that I helped design whilst on placement (I sourced and edited all the photos and designed the inlay booklet.)
As a thankyou for my hard work, I also got sent a limited edition tDR Sissy Figurine, which were exclusively hand made in japan with only 300 ever made! Needless to say I am very pleased :)

Time to exit the safety pod.

2010-01-06T10:48:00.000-08:00

I have decided to leave my usual working methods behind for the moment.
Below are some shots of the hand drawn version of my 'A_B_ Stochome' font. I have completed the lower case and imported it to fontlab, and have now only to complete the upper case.
This (designing with a pen) is something very strange to me...

.

2010-01-06T10:16:00.000-08:00

Please, don't thank me all at once.

2009-12-29T15:25:00.000-08:00

In the spirit of good old Christmas ~~procrastination~~ hard work, I have spent the last 2 days developing a new font. For some reason I have felt inspired to make a font since my visit to Stockholm, and so have appropriately named it after the city (albeit with a different spelling) - A_B_ Stochome.
The font is still in the beta stages (the kerning isn't perfect, and I haven't yet included numbers or punctuation) however I hope to polish it off soon enough. I created using a modular method, using a square, half a semicircle and a line. (hence the shapes at the bottom of the poster)
Anyway, below is a sample of it. It is available to download HERE, but only 10 times. (if there is an overwhelming rush for it - i.e. 11 people want it, which I highly doubt, then I will re-upload it.)

When I grow up I would like to live in the mountians.

2009-12-24T12:12:00.001-08:00

Mountains from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

Happy 23rd December.

2009-12-23T14:27:00.000-08:00

I don't particularly enjoy Christmas (not in a 'bah humbug lets be grumpy for the sake of it' way, I just don't really 'get' it).
So here's a video that has nothing to do with Christmas, but is certainly way better.

If anybody wants to buy me a Christmas present, maybe get me a flight back to Iceland?
Don't bother with the return.

Is there anything new?

2009-12-17T04:07:00.000-08:00

I am going to strive to make something different.

A few photos from sweden.

2009-12-11T14:17:00.000-08:00

Whilst in Sweden in November, I took up the opportunity to further develop my photography skills, particularly in the area of long-exposure.
Below are a few images that I took at night, venturing out into the bitter cold of the swedish outdoors.
These photos are merely works in progress, I have many photos yet to edit, and the ones below are not yet finished. I hope to create a book of my final images for my silence project.

OneDotZero Progress.

2009-12-11T14:04:00.000-08:00

Below is a visual style test for Me, Ste and Arrons onedotzero 'disappearing city' brief, in which we are basing upon the idea of singularity.
We have been looking at influences such as 60's modernism and architecture, and will use these influences for lots of the animation. The animation below is a visualisation of within 'singularity' and so will use different influences than the rest of the animation.
The test is below:

Singularity visual style test. from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

I'm quite pleased with the animation, however I think it looks a little bit to like 'tron' and as this is a look that is quite cliched, I need to further develop my own visual style.

Back into 3D

2009-11-28T09:46:00.000-08:00

The other day, I got hold of a copy of the latest version of Cinema 4D. As I needed to get back into the program for the OneDotZero project, I took it as a good opportunity to have a play!
I tried to create an animation in the style of Universal Everything - to see if I could to it technically.
I'm fairly happy with the result, and may add some sound design to the animation soon. It has also helped me get back into Cinema 4D in time for the OneDotZero project and the Jonny Hardstaff brief!

Colour in motion from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

However the video has gone a little glitchy when uploading (which wasn't intentional) so I may try uploading it again with different settings.

Singularity.

2009-11-25T06:55:00.000-08:00

I've packed a change of clothes and it's time to move on.

2009-11-24T15:58:00.000-08:00

I am sorting through my sweden photos at the moment and will post more very soon.

12in12: a lecture by Craig Oldham.

2009-11-24T15:51:00.000-08:00

Today we had a great lecture by designer Craig Oldham, formerly of the Chase and now of Manchester based design agency Music.
Craig presented his lecture '12in12' which was a lecture based on his thoughts after leaving university, most notably the 12 things you learn in your first 12 months after leaving.
This was a great lecture, and I learned a lot about the industry, and how to communicate to people and maintain working and social relationships with people who you have been on placement with (which I, admittedly, am terrible at.)

The 12 things are:

Understand what Graphic Design means to you.
Be honest with yourself about your strengths and weaknesses.
A portfolio is for life, not just for an interview.
Placements matter. Do them.
The Design industry is small, everyone knows everybugger else.
Participate with other people and share your ideas.
Graphic Design is just a job, but being a designer is different.
Fall off your bike. If you don't fail then you are not trying.
Life and work exist outside of London.
Designing is only, about, 20% of your job.
Have a life outside of Design.
Work hard and be nice to people.

We also got a lovely designed pamphlet/loose leaf booklet illustrating all 12 points.

A Present in the Post (pt.2)

2009-11-24T15:33:00.000-08:00

A couple of weeks back I woke up to find an odd letter shaped package addressed to me, posted all the way from Singapore!
To my delight, I opened it to find it to be a limited edition 15th anniversary poster from the guys over at IDN Magazine!

Now just to decide where to put it...

Cheers IDN!

D&AD Brief Time. - OneDotZero

2009-11-18T13:42:00.000-08:00

Yesterday we had to choose which brief to undertake for our competition brief section of the course. The projects were very diverse, ranging from advertising to craft, and motion to print.
Eventually, after much thinking, I came to a decision, which was to have a go at the OneDotZero brief, which is below...

Brief:
The City is constantly in transition and mutation, disappearing
behind changing environments and shifting identities. Create your
own ‘adventure in motion’ that explores this.

Creative Challenge:
Mankind’s fascination with city living continues at a startling pace, accelerating towards nations of supercities. From personal stories to community collectives, it’s time to investigate how cities are changing and in turn how we are changing our cities, our hopes and fears of urban dwelling both now and in the future.
We want you to explore the concept of ‘The Disappearing City’ via a progressive, multi-disciplinary, cross-media approach to storytelling, with a work of moving image at the heart of your final piece. Do not limit yourself to making a finished film if you don’t want to. onedotzero is about experimentation with moving image in any context, so as well as film and animation, experimental work in motion graphics, installations and even live action are relevant.
We are looking for work that can be extended into different mediums, please demonstrate this by extending your core piece into at least one other medium. Think broadly, it can be anything from online to print, from mobile to interactive, from public intervention to papercraft or gaming, and so on.

I will be doing this project with fellow designers Ste Beed and Arron Tierney, check out their blogs:

Ste Beed
Arron Tierney

Bar_Code_s

2009-11-15T16:26:00.000-08:00

Just found these amazing barcode designs from Japan! I think its a really cool idea to make the barcodes interesting and I love some of the crazy japanese designs!
The company that makes them is called D Barcode and their website is HERE

Let the right one in.

2009-11-15T15:40:00.000-08:00

We watched the swedish film 'Let the right one in' a few weeks ago in Kino 4, our Uni/D&AD film club. I cannot express how much I enjoyed this film.
It is about a Swedish boy named Oskar, and a young female vampire he meets called Eli. I won't go heavily into the plot, but its a very interesting film.
Its also possibly one of the most well shot films in terms of Cinematography that I have ever seen. Every shot is beautiful, like a well taken photograph.
It has rekindled my long running love with all things Scandinavian, and I loved the film so much that I booked a flight to Sweden the next day, I depart on the 20th.
The only thing wrong with the film is the DVD packaging, which I feel totally misrepresents the film. It presents it as a horror vampire movie, where the film is really an intriguing drama about different cultures and young love. I may take it up on myself to redesign the DVD packaging as a self initiated project, to represent the film better.

Poster4Tomorrow

2009-11-15T11:10:00.000-08:00

Today I submitted my design for the Poster4Tomorrow poster competition. The poster had to relate to freedom of expression, and I created the design below.

I also had to submit an explanation of the work:

"The poster is a reaction to the censorship (the un-free press) in American Society, the way in which American news reports give a highly based and censored view of what happens in the world around us. People now have to look online at blogs created by independent reporters and people who are actually living through these events to hear the real truth, to find out what is really happening.
The pen is used as an image to represent the written word, although not necessarily printed. As I said above, blogs are now a main source for free speech, and I believe that these blog writers are our new literary heros, using the written word to speak to million of people.
The ink flowing from the pen shows how these messages trickle down through society and eventually uncover the real story, with the ink washing over and thus removing the censorship. The text is a definition of the work censorship and the colours are influenced by the USA flag, which, although a little cliched, I feel is relevant to the message of the piece."

The explanation was a little shoddy, as I looked at website to see when the deadline was, and it happened to be in 15 minutes! Therefore I submitted the poster as-is (i was going to work on it some more) and quickly wrote my thoughts on the work!

The 100 chosen designs will be submitted in Paris, with the top 5 put on permanent exhibit at the International Poster Museum in Finland.

www.poster4tomorrow

The American Scene: Prints from Hopper to Pollock

2009-11-15T10:36:00.000-08:00

Today I visited the Whitworth Art Gallery, and looked mostly at the 'American Scene' exhibition.
It focused on North American printmaking from around 1908 to the 1950's, and featured artists such as Jackson Pollock, John Sloan, George Bellows and Edward Hopper.
This was a great exhibition, and featured some great work. It introduced me to 2 amazing artists that I had never before encountered, Louis Lozowick and Leonard Baskin.
Louis Lozowick was an American Precisionist, and created some fantastic images of New York city using print and illustration techniqies. Something about his works really speaks to me, and keeps me enthralled. Maybe its the precision of his work, or maybe its just that I love dark images of urban landscapes.

Leonard Baskin was a celebrated american printmaker and illustrator. His work is quite diverse, and he created quite a of of work during the second world war.
He had 2 amazing pieces at this exhibition, 2 prints entitled 'Man of Peace' and 'Hydrogen Man.'
I found these 2 pieces fascinating. Both are anti war illustrations and both I feel are very powerful. His 'Hydrogen Man' piece was my favorite in the whole gallery.

Craft and Design

2009-11-15T10:05:00.000-08:00

Yesterday I ventured out into the rain to the Craft and Design centre in the Northern Quarter. I hadn't been there in a while and it was a very refreshing change to the hustle and bustle of most of the city centre. They have some great stalls selling art, jewellery, textiles and more. I got some great ideas for Christmas presents and also for some self directed projects.
The most interesting part of my trip was the current 'Yarn Forward' project, whereby people send in small knitted sections to add to the craft centre 2nd floor banister, to create a huge, flowing tapestry like piece of art!
I forgot to take my camera, however below is a link to the Yarn Forward blog, plus a link to the Craft and Design Centre site.

Yarn Forward

Craft and Design Centre

Microbiology and Art.

2009-11-15T09:46:00.000-08:00

On thursday I attended a lecture by the special collections library entitled 'Microbiology and Art.'
The Lecture was about how microorganisms are infact very beautiful creatures, and how they have been used for art, as well as the correlations between the development of the science and the developments of art.

The lecture involved all sorts of interesting facts, such as how stress affects the growth of microorganisms, creating different looking colonies, and how architects use the same structures as viruses for some architectural projects (such as the eden project.)
We were also shown various art projects inspired by microbiology, such as some beautifully intricate glass models of funghi, and a collaboration between the muscular dystrophy foundation and somerfield where a double helix based upon the structure of DNA (or Deoxyribonucleic acid, if we're getting scientific) was created out of shopping trolleys!

I found this lecture hugely inspirational, as I have studied quite a lot of science (I almost decided upon going to medical school before I opted to go to uni to study design instead) and still find it fascinating. I could see so many correlations between this subject and the process of generative design, another subject very close to my heart. It reminded me most of Universal Everything's 'Seconde Nature' reactive identity system:

Seconde Nature / Reactive Identity from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

This has really got me into looking at generative design again. If anyone reading this is interested, there is a great site full of generative stuff right HERE

Placement with The Designers Republic.

2009-11-11T15:35:00.000-08:00

In October, I undertook a 2 week placement at The Designers Republic in Sheffield.
This was a huge thing for me, as not only are the Designers Republic one of the most famous design studios around, they are also my favorite.
I was initially asked to come for a placement way back in may, however due to miscommunication and sheer lack of organization, it didn't happen until October.

Being so notorious, I was rather nervous upon my first day. The 55 minute train Journey seemed to take forever, and I didn't no whether to be giddy or terrified. After all, my work would be scrutinised by Ian Anderson, who I know from previous experience is certainly not afraid to speak his mind!

Once I got there I realised I had nothing to be afriad of. The studio has a very friendly, creative atmosphere, all to the backdrop of Ians eclectic music taste.

I set about working on some ideas for the new Gatecrasher album that tDR are working on. They wanted the album art to reflect Pink Floyds 'Wish You Were Here' (as the last gatecrasher album was based on Dark Side of the Moon.) I was responsible for coming up with design for the CD's themselves, a harder task than I originally thought it would be! The Designer Republic tagline is 'Brain Aided Design' and I can now completely see what that means, as everything tDR to needs to have a lot of thought behind it. So, I spent the first few hours thinking and making quick sketches, determined to have some good ideas before I got onto Adobe Illustrator.

Note that although I used Illustrator, Macromedia FreeHand is the preferred method of computer aided design at tDR, Ian says that the way it works makes you 'think about what you are doing a lot more.' However, as I was only there for 2 weeks, I used Illustrator as I wouldn't be able to work on a program I didn't know!

This way of working (thinking a lot more and making sure you have plenty of good ideas) is actually quite new to me, as I usually jump onto the mac way too quickly. However I have discovered that I can design much better when I bother to think beforehand...

The CD design actually took days, as I created about 70 different ideas all made in illustrator to present to Ian.

I also worked on the imagery for the inlay booklet. I was given the task of finding images of people at Gatecrasher clubs losing themselves in the music. I found about 50 images in the end, which Ian wanted cropping right into their faces, so that all you would be able to see in the inlay was faces. After cropping them all, I was given the talk of editing them in photoshop to give them a 'warm, saturated feeling' (as fire is used on the Wish You Were Here album cover, and this idea was to be continued in the inlay.) I eventually had about 120 images of faces that were cropped and adjusted in Photoshop, and presented them to Ian. Much to my relief, he loved them, and picked out some for the final artwork.

I also created the templates for the Flyers to promote the gatecrasher club anthems tour, which is below.

In the 2 week Placement I also designed a logo and some concept Ideas for a leeds clubnight called Masters of Funk. I based the logo on old 70's funk logo's (which turn out to be very similar to 80's thrash metal logo's in terms of visual style.) I only spent a day or so on these, and so the results (below) are not amazing, although i'm quite happy with the logo.

For the Designs, I tried to keep some kind of designers republic look (hence the angular, vectorised logo) but also a look that fit with the sensibilities of the clubnight.

As well as doing work, I also documented everything I did, as my dissertation project is based upon the placement. I kept a time sheet of each day and recorded all my tasks. I also took hundreds of pictures of past tDR work, not only as a reference point for the look of my project, but also as an archive of their past work.

I've uploaded all these photo's to flickr HERE

(more will appear next month, flickr only lets me upload 200 photos per month. How shit.)

Hello There.

2009-11-11T05:09:00.000-08:00

Contrary to popular belief, I have not died or disappeared, nor have I become completely uncreative. I have had complete lack of internet at my new house for 2 months, making the act of blogging rather hard.

I now have internet. I can blog once again.

I will start updating much more regularly, and try and catch up on all that I have not talked about in this time.

Unbelievably Awesome

2009-10-19T03:53:00.000-07:00

This is the worlds first site with Audio Visual Navigation.

I don't think I need to stress how awesome this is!

The site is live HERE

Go look and Play :)

PS I will update this blogg very soon with all that I have been up to for the past couple of months, including all my uni work and my current placement at the Designers Republic.

Synesthesiatic Animation - a work in progress

2009-08-23T15:09:00.000-07:00

Over the past couple of days I have been creating an animation for a song called "'We Once Were (Two)" by The Album Leaf.
I was inspired by the condition 'Colour Synesthesia' which is sometimes characterised by a person 'seeing' colours when they hear sounds.
Although I do not have Synesthesia, I find it hard to seperate music and visuals in my head, as my mind forms images to whatever music I listen to involuntarily.
These video's below show what I imagine in my head as I listen to the song. This is just the beginning of a larger animation, as I hope to animate the entire song in time. There are 2 versions, I'm not sure which I prefer, so opinons are welcomed!

Album Leaf Animation Test from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

Album Leaf Animation Test 2 from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

NightPlaying.

2009-08-21T13:36:00.000-07:00

This week I have been by the coast, so decided to take my camera and play with some long exposure shots at night, using my newly purchased remote shutter switch.
Pretty self explanatory really, a few pictures below:

(If anyone wants to know what I used)...
Canon EOS 400D
Canon RS60-E3 Remote
Mini Tripod
Photoshop CS4 for a few tweaks ;)

Why Lazy Advertisers Deserve to be Shot. Yes, Shot.

2009-08-18T15:38:00.000-07:00

I'm typing this in rage.
5 minutes ago I saw a new Land Rover advert on TV, completely ripping off the highly original 'Wolf and Pig' animation.
Words cannot describe how angry it makes me when i see great ideas ripped off by greedy advertisers. If they don't have any ideas of their own, they shouldn't be in the job in the first place.

The sad thing is, the Wolf and Pig animation will probably remain relatively unknown, whilst the Land Rover advert will be heralded as a masterpiece by Idiots who listen to Lady Gaga and think the Noisettes are a new band.

The absoloutly genius 'Wolf and Pig' animation:

The shameless rip off by Land Rover:

This has been a rather angry rant, but I hate the fact that big companies feel they have the right to plagiarize the work of true creatives.

SomeSummerBrief.

2009-08-11T16:31:00.000-07:00

Below are a few images of development work for the posters I have been designing for the current summer brief for the classic film club.
I am not currently happy with any of these, as they are just development work and by no means final pieces, they still need a lot of work!

Playing with Gravity.

2009-08-11T14:35:00.000-07:00

Today I've been working with Cinema 4D and getting to grips with the gravity feature.
I have created a small test animation using what I have learned. I was influenced by Universal Everythings animations and tried to follow a similar visual style. I also used advanced HDRI lighting Techniques to give more realistic detail to the textures and reflections.
It can be viewed below, or in high definition by clicking this link and selecting full screen mode.

Bouncing Balls from Adam Brandon on Vimeo.

I have also slightly modified this blog, with all posts now in categories which can be accessed via the section in the top left. I have also added a new header :)

While you make pretty speeches, I'm being cut to shreds.

2009-08-11T14:31:00.001-07:00

I don't think words can describe how perfect this is, so I won't use any.

Imitation is the sincerest form of flattery...

2009-08-10T14:03:00.000-07:00

I recently came across this excellent video by London based Studio Field.
The video was made using a custom generative animation tool, and is created to represent various arctic landscapes.

Interim Camp from FIELD on Vimeo.

I think this is an amazing technical achievement and a great visual experience, I love the colours and the ambient sounds.

After looking at the Universal Everything website recently (another studio famed for their generative work,) I saw that they had created a video to enter into a short film festival in china:

Short Film / Onedreamrush / 42 Below Vodka / China from Universal Everything on Vimeo.

These videos are remarkably similar, which begs the question 'who copied who?'
It certainly seems as if Mr. Pyke of Universal Everything has been influenced by this, as the Field video was released 4 months earlier. However, it could of course be a happy coincidence, and even if not, is probably not intentional (designers often copy ideas without realising they are copying at all, the idea is just in their head.)
I love both videos, both the glitchy feel of Field's and the slick, polished fields of Universal Everything, and I hope to be able to make work like this in the near future.

More with C4D

2009-08-03T14:08:00.000-07:00

Today I have been doing more experimenting with Cinema 4D and have created another design that can be seen below. I tried to create the illusion of many glass like blocks floating through the air, and have also taken my designers republic inspired typography and put it into a 3D contet.
My main inspiration for this work has been the amazing work of Ben Miners of Graphic Boutique, his showreel is simply amazing, and can bee seen here

Fun with 3D

2009-08-02T16:16:00.000-07:00

Whilst working to improve my technical skills, I have decided to learn to use the 3D program 'Cinema 4D'
I've been figuring out some of the basic tools today and have created an image where I have used a logo of my initials and used various lights and textures to create a finished piece. This is my first ever Cinema 4D project, and I enjoyed it very much, so watch this space for more cinema 4D work in the near future...

"I dont know where we are" as jonas would say.

2009-07-21T13:58:00.000-07:00

Working in the advertising community in soho is getting confusing.
I don't know which way to go. Its a predicament.
Work in creative advertising and make more money or do the design I really want and possibly not get as far?
Its got me thinking. Its also got me designing, and made me rediscover photoshop, as you can probably tell by what I made below.

Im in a car, I dont know where we are...

2009-07-16T16:25:00.000-07:00

2 nights ago, I saw 2 of my favorite bands live - nine inch nails and the danish band mew.
Nine inch nails were fantastic, however mew were absolutely AMAZING!
They gave one of the best performances I have ever seen, and are not only my favorite band of the moment, but are truly one of my favorite bands of all time. If you haven't heard of them then give them a listen: http://www.myspace.com/mew

Below is a live version of the epic 'Louise Louisa'

SohoSohoSoho

2009-07-16T16:18:00.001-07:00

Im currently working in soho for 2 weeks on a (paid!) work placement with the minimart
http://www.theminimart.com/
So far Ive been designing for both marc jacobs and EA games - some great stuff for my portfolio!
I'm loving working in Soho, its a fantastic area, just a shame london is currently run by a complete prick :/
Ive been away recently - hence no updates but I promise more updates will follow shortly!

Work in Progress

2009-07-08T11:08:00.000-07:00

Today I started work on a new typeface, below is a picture of how it looks so far.
I wanted to create a font that is legible, and can be used for a multitude of purposes.
I also wanted to create something that is inherently 'mine' that I can use for my own work, without fear of others using the same font.
The image below is a work in progress, and much work is still needed. I hope to eventually create it in a range of weights, and import it into fontlab.

A prototype...

2009-06-27T15:33:00.000-07:00

Ive spent part of the day developing my future website that will eventually host my work and contact details etc.
As im not too familiar with flash, its taken me quite a while to get the actionscripting to work...

Ive managed to so far create a basic (albeit glitchy) homepage, and hope to get more done soon.
Ive uploaded it to a free URL (hence the ads!) but will hopefully purchase a .com URL in september with part of my student loan.
On the page, the image in the background changes when the page is refreshed, as does the phrase in the speech bubble. I also plan on putting these phrases and speech bubble on my business cards...
adambrandon.bravehost.com

A Present in the Post

2009-06-27T08:10:00.001-07:00

Last month I received a rather nice object in the post:
The designers republics 3D>2D book, signed by none other than tDR founder Ian Anderson himself!
It was as a thankyou gift for participating in a live brief and workshop he had set earlier in the year, and in terms of design books, its sheer pornography. This also opened doors for me as I began emailing Ian, which eventually led to a portfolio crit in the tDR office, and an offer of a work placement this summer!

A free book, and a placement at my favorite design company. Life is good :D

Back in Black(burn)

2009-06-27T07:35:00.000-07:00

I have recently moved home for the summer (the downfall of buying a new mac and having no money...).
I have set up a small makeshift studio in my room to focus my creative efforts over the next 2 months, until I move back to Manchester.