plan-b studio ss10

23
IF YOU’RE NOT PREPARED TO FAIL, YOU’LL NEVER CREATE ANYTHING ORIGINAL. Sir Ken Robinson (5 Feb 2009). The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. London: Allen Lane. Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Post on 18-Oct-2014

957 views

Category:

Design


0 download

DESCRIPTION

A small taster of some recent, and not so recent work including a new web site for The Shop at Bluebbird. A branding, identity and web site for Upping Your Elvis; a site to represent the motivational speaker Chris Baréz-Brown. An interrim web site for RedDot Clothing as well as many other juicy bits of work.

TRANSCRIPT

Page 1: Plan-B Studio SS10

IF YOU’RE NOT PREPARED TO FAIL, YOU’LL NEVER CREATE ANYTHING ORIGINAL.

Sir Ken Robinson (5 Feb 2009). The Element: How Finding Your Passion Changes Everything. London: Allen Lane. Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 2: Plan-B Studio SS10

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

ANImIs OPIbUsqUE PARATI* with a blank page, a sharpened pencil and begins with a discussion.

I have spent the last ten years building not just a design consultancy, but a network of passionate, creative and innovative peers across all media. The industry that we work in has evolved and very rarely do you find one agency that has all the relevant skills that is so often required for most projects. Those that say they do, are either lying, or not lying; mostly lying though.

Steve is a visiting lecturer at the Arts Academy Bergen, Hyper Island, Central Saint Martins, Cardiff University, LCC, Nottingham Trent University, Winchester Art School and KBU in Kuala Lumpur. As well as recently awarded an Associate-Professorship from the Arts Academy in Bergen (KHiB).

Steve also used to be a chef and still relishes cooking an baking: lilchef.posterous.com

* Prepared in spirit and resources

Established in 2000 by Steve Price, Plan-B Studio is a creative agency with global experience, consisting of a core studio team (Steve) and an extended network of talent.

Steve believes his job is not to preach to clients about what his role is but to learn as much as possible about you, your company and your business model. That way the resulting creative work you pay me to do is based on informed attributes rather than desires to make pretty shapes.

There is no need for mystery, barriers or illusions between designer and client. A project starts with a discussion which, in theory, should never end. Ultimately, for Steve, it is about working with people who are equally passionate, driven and brilliant at what they do.

Steve once said that ‘Just as behind every man there is a great woman, so too is a great idea behind every design.’ (he wasn’t drunk). Every project is different and is approached

[email protected]+44 (0)7971 207 276

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 3: Plan-B Studio SS10

ONLINE www.theshopatbluebird.comwww.uppingyourelvis.comwww.reddotclothing.com www.arisingartist.comwww.jobsgopublic.com

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 4: Plan-B Studio SS10

The fashion industry is constantly changing; twice a year to be precise. The Shop at Bluebird is an amazing, high-end fashion labyrinth of all things desirable.

What makes the store unique is not the informal, relaxed, friendly staff and atmosphere, or the amazing array of clothes, accessories or even the fact that everything you see in the store is for sale (chairs, lights, tables, even the till; probably). No, what makes TSAB so different is the layout. Adapted and changed weekly to suit their mood, or the season, or just because!So when I was tasked with the role of creating a new web site all of this fed in to the conceptual approach. Through my discussions with Paul Baptiste, operations manager, we concluded that the site needed to feel fresh, up-to-the-minute, and constantly changing; like the store itself.I brought Nico Nuzzaci on board to help realise the new sites potential and together we have created a content managed site using the free blog engine Wordpress, marking a new era of how customising free platforms can help stretch the possibilities, and budget.

Paul Baptiste, Operations Manager for The Shop at Bluebird, said, “Prior to Steve [Plan-B Studio] working with The Shop at Bluebird (TSAB) we had what we thought was a very static website; clean and simple but not very effective or reflective of the changing moods of the store. The new site is much more flexible and therefore representative of the store as it is today. It is informative, light-hearted and visually more appealing, newspaper-style coverage our happenings daily weekly and monthly.”“What we love is that the new site provides us is a platform with which we can really show our personality both as a store and as the passionate individuals who work here.”

I am currently working with TSAB on their off/online marketing and strategy, including HTML emails, printed literature and a new bi-annual ‘trendbook’

TsAb GOEs ON THE bLOG!Client: Shop at Bluebird (since 2009)www.theshopatbluebird.com

Project: Web site/CMS/marketingDesign & Art direction: Steve PriceDeveloped & Build: Nico Nuzzaci

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 5: Plan-B Studio SS10

“Steve is the dogs bollocks!! I have used numerous designers and no one has come close to him in his ability to nail the brief and make the creative birthing process enjoyable.He is pragmatic and yet creative, he knows what works and is not shy in telling me, professional yet bloody funny. I am looking forward to my next idea that needs his help!”Chris Baréz-Brown

When Chris came to me he had already begun the of having his identity and web site for Upping Your Elvis (UYE) designed. He asked for my opinion. I told him what I thought and based on that advise, he binned what he had, tripled his spend and hired me.

Chris is in the business of motivated people, and sometimes large numbers of people for sustained periods of time. He’s a character and brilliantly open to ideas and input.

His identity, for me, needed to echo this personality, whilst also playing more on the phonetic emphasis of each word. So ‘Upping’ became the tallest and loudest. ‘Your’ the same but slightly smaller, and ‘Elvis’ bold, and punchy. I introduced an endless banner than seemingly and steadily moves upwards to the right. Growth, and hope. Or just a great orange banner that, with the black (or white) background, creates a great big slice across the screen, page, powerpoint, business card.

The web site needed no complex functionality. I recommended that since this new venture is all about Chris, so rather than use lots of words, we should use him, literally. Recorded on his own HD Flip camera in various places around his house we posted a video for each section. This helps Chris deliver his message personally, whilst cross-fertilising other platforms with his content.

This fed in to his email communications, his business cards and soon his blog and twitter page.

Client: Chris Baréz-Brown (since 2004)www.uppingyourelvis.com

Project: Logo/Stationery/Web siteDesign & Art direction: Steve PriceBuilt by: Steve Price

UP YOUR ELVIs, I DARE YOU!

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 6: Plan-B Studio SS10

Client: RedDot Clothing (since 2005)www.reddotclothing.com

Project: ‘Interim’ Web siteDesign & Art direction: Steve PriceFront/backend build by: Matt Booth

“We have found it very difficult to find people to work with on Red Dot. As a general rule they either don’t get it at all, get it but can’t take it forward, or get it, could maybe take it forward but can’t get it together. Our experiences with Steve have been that he got it, moved it forward and all without any drama ... I’m not sure what this says about him but it’s been very good for us.”

This ‘interim’ web site is the third web site I have designed and produced for RedDot Clothing (RD). Sounds like a lot in five years? Well, the first was a ‘holding site’, the second the ‘actual’ site (still live, and this one represents an ‘interim’ site.

As the name suggests this is a temporary web site that will be going live soon. RD are in the process of working with me on the scope for a new web site that will include a full e-commerce solution. In the meantime rather that update the current website, which we all feel needs to be replaced, I’ve come up with a better solution and thankfully RD agree.

Matt Booth is a flash guru and knowing he has a ready-built engine which calls images from a Flickr account I enlisted him to tweak it for RD; who wanted a solution that (if possible) they could update.

So all RD will have to do is upload new images to their Flickr account, adding a title, description and tag each image with a link to their shopify page and this will update their web site. Providing the user with a catalogue of images to look through and/or buy.

REDDOT CLOTHING

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 7: Plan-B Studio SS10

A project to re-design the web site for Arising Artist. Their old site was a mish-mash of heavy colours, too much text an tired repetitive layout and design.

I stepped in a stripped the whole site back. I minimised the use of colour, but made the colours much flatter and brighter.

I encourage more space and less text. Simple and easy navigation. Concise and clear copy that was easier on the eye.

Creating a clear, but strict grid enables a much easier level of consistency and usability, along with a restricted colour palette and easier to read copy.

Client: Arising Artist (since 2008)www.arisingartist.com

Project: Web site re-designDesign & Art direction: Steve PriceBuild by: In-house

ARIsING ARTIsT

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 8: Plan-B Studio SS10

“Our web site was in dire need of a refreshment to bring us in to 2008 and beyond.As part of a long-term strategy we brought Steve [Plan-B Studio] in to art direct and design the look and feel for our new site; with an attention to the UI experience.This resulted in Steve presenting not one, but two directions that we loved. The designs were fresh, and gave a much more human feel; which being a public sector recruitment company, was brilliant.In September (one month after launch) our unique visitors soared to over 400,000, our biggest leap ever. “Eben HalfordTechnical Director, JGP

jobsgopublic (JGP) is a public sector recruitment web site who were in dire need of a refreshed user-interface design for their site.

They wanted an emphasis on getting more people to register, but also to enhance the whole user experience.

From their current site (scroll right to see the site before I worked on it) I worked with JGP to restructure the general layout, moving all advertising to the same place (right) and below the branding/navigation. I introduced a more impactful use of photography with ‘feature’ panels. Making the whole site much more attractive, whilst not being ‘too heavy’.Using a mixture of serif fonts for headings and navigation (set in lowercase) also helps to create a much less informal environment.

jObs GO PUbLICClient: Arising Artist (since 2008)www.jobsgopublic.com

Project: Web site re-designDesign & Art direction: Steve PriceBuild by: In-house

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 9: Plan-B Studio SS10

IDENT/LOGOs Entity Partnerships MorMorViking Ninja CowboyPokerTrillionHvitbryggen NyksundLD CommunicationsVarious

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 10: Plan-B Studio SS10

The project was introduced to me by Concept Guardian, an architectural consultant with a difference - he’s actually very good at his job!

The brief was quite simple – to develop a new identity, and brand for Entity Partnerships, a regeneration development company with strong beliefs in sustainable regeneration through partnerships in the industry.

The result was an identity that doesn’t SHOUT, or scream off the page. It doesn’t need to do this because the company has very strong foundations from the people who run it. It was designed to have a warmer, softer more human feel to it.But a brand is more than just this, and you can read more about how this design was developed by clicking here.

“We were delighted with how Steve was able to successfully interpret ourInitial brief and work patiently with us to refine it. The final logo design and brand is modern, timeless and sophisticated. It is consciously understated and achieves impact through innovative print technologies which create a tactile and memorable stationary set. More than a year later and I’m still delighted by the positive reaction I get when I hand out a business card. Recently someone commented on how expensive it felt – in reality it isn’t, just very cleverly designed and well produced.”

Karl-Heinz Richter, Entity Partnerships

Client: Entity PartnershipsProject: LogoDesign & Art direction: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 11: Plan-B Studio SS10

I’m a man that likes a challenge. I am also a former chef and I do like to cook and bake.

MorMor, meaning Grandmother in Norwegian, is the start of a new venture I am planning in Norway. I cannot say too much but needless to say that I hope the logo suggests what the beginnings of this venture might entail.

Client: -Project: LogoDesign & Art direction: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 12: Plan-B Studio SS10

I’m not a comic fan. I don’t buy them. Haven’t done since I was a child, but no man worth his masculine DNA make-up could have gone through his life without knowing of, hearing about and buying at least one of the comics, books, merchandise produced by DC Comics. Probably one of, if not the biggest name in comic superheroes.

I got a call from a guy who was pitching an idea for a new character called, you guessed it, Viking Ninja Cowboy.

A lot of fun, and excitement making a logo ident for a new comic. Unfortunately I don’t know that DC Comic’s felt the same about the story, but I loved the identity I created.

Client: Andy Lieberman/DC ComicsProject: Logo identDesign & Art direction: Steve Price

v

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 13: Plan-B Studio SS10

Poker Trillion had already had a website designed for them, but not to their liking. When I was invited to come in and ‘help’ I agreed with one request - that I redesign their brand as well as the entire site.

The want to target their brand/product at the more discerning, more sophisticated poker player.

Without being too obvious I wanted something very bold, but not too masculine. Something that had a touch of detail, without screaming ‘CARDS!’, ‘POKER’ or ‘GAMBLING’. Almost every online poker games branding and livery is green - how very ‘new’ that idea is.

This ident and the branding that is rolling out across the on/offline launch campaign is about being strong, bold but with taste and subtly.

Client: PokerTrillionProject: Logo/Web siteDesign & Art direction: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 14: Plan-B Studio SS10

This is a project that has been on-going for us for a while now, but I have decided to make it one of my Project10’s because it deserves to be. It is a 3,000sq ft fishing wharf building located on a beautiful, small, remote island in North of Norway; the Norwegian Arctic Circle no less.

Our plan is simple. Convert it in to two beautiful apartments to rent creative space to creative minds, with a gallery/space on the ground floor plus a recording studio.

We are currently working on organising this years Nyksund/Ti ‘Near and Far’ festival – a music, arts, and culture festival.

Client: (self)Project: Logo/Web site/ArchitecturalDesign & Art direction: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 15: Plan-B Studio SS10

Colour was a major part of the re-design with LD Comms. From their previous red and grey I wanted to inject a bit more life in to the treatment.

The final shape itself came about from a design developed during the scoping phase. A more bulbous, rounded shape, which I’d originally designed to look like a guitar plectrum.

The Business card have a clear foil applied to the logo to give it a bit more richness.

The bottom-right-hand corner of the business cards, stickers and compliment slips all echoed the curve of the new LD logo.

Client: LD CommunicationsProject: Logo/CMS Web site/PrintDesign & Art direction: Steve PriceSite Built by: Unwrong

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 16: Plan-B Studio SS10

Wall of SoundViconMercury Records Rockport PublishingFriends of the EarthPlan-B Studio

Friends of the Earth Property owlWall of SoundFriends of the EarthTZPPARotovision

DC ComicsUniversal Music British Phonographic IndustryBunch23rd Union RecordsBreast FriendsWhatIf InnovationCritical Sales

LOGO IDENTs / VARIOUs

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 17: Plan-B Studio SS10

PRINT Festival AnnualFriendThe Cooperative BankDiesel-U-MusicThe Big AskProject10

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 18: Plan-B Studio SS10

Independents United (IU) wanted to celebrate the summer voyage, en-masse that attracts millions to venture off to wet, boggy fields to get wet and/or sunburnt whilst listening to music outdoors or in a big sweaty tent. In funny outfits.

They set about finding a publisher to produce and distribute their Festivals Annual. But, as with other industries, the Publishing sector has it’s own way of doing things and deterred by their overly-lengthy development timings UI decided to take matters in to their own hands and design, publish and distribute the book themselves; which in itself is highly commendable.

You only had to see the first few photographs to know that this was going to be a vibrant, exciting book; full of character - literally! This was a great project to work on. There were non of the typical publishing-company-chains-of-command, editors, or (more invitingly) months of corrections. We started the design in June and completed the whole book by mid-September. The key was being able to work closely with UI in setting up a rigid grid and typographical style that would make it easy for us to produce as we got nearer to the deadline - seven days after the final festival!

“The brief to Steve [Plan-B Studio] was to create something which wasn’t “over-designed” as we wanted the photos to be the real stars of each page. But at the same time it was really important for the book to have an identity of its own. Steve came up with a design that managed to take these two directions and find a happy place for them to meet. The concept for the whole project was bold, distinctive and fun, and the published book really has that feel - which, I guess, is the definition of good design.”Frank LampenIndependents United

FEsTIVAL ANNUAL09

Client: Independents United (since 2008)www.festivalannual.com

Published by: Independents UnitedArt direction: Steve PriceDesign: Nicolo Dante

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 19: Plan-B Studio SS10

Friends of the Earth invited me to pitch to help them develop their self-described ‘conservative’ image.

The brief was to develop a new magazine targeting a cosmopolitan, urban audience aged 25-35 - slightly younger than Friends of the Earth’s [FoE] general supporter profile – and is specifically targeting new supporters.

I began with an idea that starts with the FoE campaigners on the street. Rather than stand armed with clipboards ready to ask fifty questions to strangers I devised an idea to hand out cards. Each card simple aimed to start a dialogue, challenging the recipient to question whether they are a ‘Friend or foe’ of the earth - by highlighting specific issues that are relative to their everyday life.

This became shortened to simply ‘Friend,’. I left the comma in on purpose because that way it felt like the start of a letter a personal note.

“The reason why Friends of the Earth wanted to work with Steve, especially with our Big Ask campaign and our magazine Friend, is because Steve has an extremely sharp and contemporary design that is helping to communicate better to our targeted audiences. In the last two years Steve, has always been extremely helpful, delivering on sometimes pretty intense deadlines.He always brings his personality to projects, taking a very thoughtful approach to the briefs, with very sharp delivery.”Bastien Hibon(former Creative Director, Friends of the Earth - now Marketing Director, Mercedez GP F1 team)

FRIEND,

Client: Friends of the Earth (since 2005)Project: Friend, (quarterly magazine)Art direction+design: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 20: Plan-B Studio SS10

A 16pp report for both the Cooperative Bank and Friends of the Earth on the Climate on how we can tackle the challenge/change.

The objective was making the whole report feel and look very easy - easy to read, and easy to understand. The primary focus was on the ‘roadmap’ designed to look like just that on the opening spread the roadmap illustrates the path to combating climate change.

THE COOPERATIVE bANkClient: The Cooperative Bank / Friends of the Earth (since 2005)Project: Climate ReportArt direction+design: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 21: Plan-B Studio SS10

For two years running I was the art director and designer for Diesel’s unsigned artist competition; Diesel-U-Music. This included the art direction for the whole nine month campaign, printed literature, adverts, marketing, planning, TV documentary titles, stage-set design, stage screen awards visuals and everything else you can think of. I did it.

DIEsEL/DIEsEL-U-mUsICClient: DieselProject: Diesel-U-MusicArt direction+design: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 22: Plan-B Studio SS10

The Big Ask’ is the most successful campaign for Friends of the Earth (FoE). It is about asking the biggest question that any one of us can ask today; ‘what is my governement doing about climate change?’

The project began as a simple manifesto design, but I was then asked to produce the identity, promotional pieces including a six panelled concertina flyer, a DM insert and a calendar accompanied with stickers!

All this work produced in three weeks.

THE bIG AskClient: Friends of the EarthProject: The Big AskArt direction+design: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010

Page 23: Plan-B Studio SS10

To celebrate my tenth year of running Plan-B Studio I decided that for the first ten months of 2010 I would work with/on ten projects with ten different NGO/NFP (Not For profit) projects, or projects that I deemed as being fun.

To promote these projects and the people I come in to contact with I’ve decided to produce a monthly newspaper. I realised I didn’t and couldn’t fill twelve pages with Project10 work. There just isn’t enough to talk about yet.

So I approached friends, peers, people that inspire me, some of which I am lucky enough to be working on projects with for Project10.

Project10 is not about me, it is about me + others. It is about collaborating with like-minded people. So the newspaper

is themed on the subject of collaboration and the promotion of projects, people and places that are in some way connected to that theme.

March’s issue see’s articles by Matthew Knight, Daljit Singh, Shane RJ Walter, Simon White, and responses to my ‘5 x Questions/4 x Pioneers’ from the likes of Nik Roope, Chantelle Fiddy. Not to mention kind donations of illustrations from Mr Bingo and Alec Strang.

I am going to be publishing this once a month. If you would like a copy, and if there are some left (I am only printing one copy) you can email me, but these are for promotional use only so you will need to blog about it. Not trying to twist your arm, just being honest.

PROjECT10/NEwsPAPERClient: Friends of the EarthProject: The Big AskArt direction+design: Steve Price

Plan-B Studio Limited | Presentation | Friday 19th March 2010