REMOVED

24th August 2012

This post has been removed at the request of Ipswich Internation Church.

Secure thinking

30th June 2012

Recently I completed the main page graphic for Ravenwood Solutions as part of a site design by Reprise UK.

Being a security company, the grid theme was designed to give the impression of bars, and being secure. The squares flip over to reveal a different image, to show their digital security skills; as well as the fact that they look beyond what you can normally see.

Knit 1, purl 2

28th March 2012

I have a preference for coding my HTML by hand, if possible. I like to see what is going on, and I quite often find, it makes for more efficient code too.

It does however have its downsides too. Sometimes, you can make your tags a bit too descriptive. Now, this can be fine sometimes, and often will appear in sites the coder has a personal attachment to. This is exactly what I did when I originally wrote the coding for here.

However, as my body of work has grown and I feel the need to shuffle projects about, I've remembered why I really shouldn't make tags too descriptive when major changes could happen! Thankfully, a few hours of furious recoding and renaming, means all is good. New projects will hopefully be up much more often now.

Barking at the Moon

7th March 2012

There was a lovely clear sky and a full Moon last night. It gave me a chance to get some great shots of the Moon.

It's just a shame I can do nothing about the thickness of the atmosphere reducing the sharpness.

Wilks rebranding

6th February 2012

Last summer, while working at Fellowship Productions in Bury St Edmunds, we were contacted by Wilks, who were looking to update their image. Their branding pretty much hadn't changed since they started in 1973. The logo below, is the same one they had always used.

Wilks manufacture PVC, aluminium and rubber extrusions for marine, shopfitting and other uses. They were looking to have a more modern image to help keep them relevant in the current market.

After researching their industry, and their strong belief in protection, I was tasked with producing several concepts for their new logo, which were passed on to Wilks for review. The rebranding process went on for months after I left but, has now been put into use.

The new logo they have chosen, is one of the concepts I produced. It is a customised version of Bauhaus Demi Bold, with the curves implying protection and the blue dot on the i, as a gentle nod to their marine roots. The logo is shown below and can also be found on their site at www.wilks.co.uk, along with the rest of the rebranding done by Fellowship Productions.

Happy New Year!

1st January 2012

Here's to 2012 and a better year than 2011!

White Space Design

23rd December 2011

I just want to thank Peter and Will at White Space Design in Ipswich, for taking the time to see me today, especially just before the Christmas holidays!

The feedback on my work was amazing and I hope I get the opportunity to work with you in future.

Where did the blog entries go?

12th December 2011

I've been redoing parts of the layout and the old blog posts need a few adjustments to fit. Not all the old posts will make it but, the ones that do, will appear back shortly!

In the meantime, enjoy my graduation picture again! Posts are back!

Foggy

20th November 2011

The fog came rolling in last night. I love when that happens and I have my SLR to hand.

Two hours outside at 3am at this time of the year is VERY cold, but worth it! I got lots of lovely shots.

Touchy feely portfolio site is go!

1st October 2011

Everything is running much smoother, as well as being far easier to navigate, whether on a PC/Mac or touchscreen. The complex navigation and JavaScript have all been thrown out and I feel my site is better for it.

The new layout has plenty of scope for expansion and has allowed me to add more examples of my work to browse through.

The power of touch

1st September 2011

My last portfolio site revision has been live for seven months now. In that time, I've had the opportunity to play with many touchscreen devices, such as the iPhone and iPad; and see how my site works on them.

These devices tend to be much less powerful than their PC/Mac equivalents and struggle with complex JavaScript, such as the scripting I am currently using, causing the scripting to lag or fail totally when the allowed runtime expires. They also lack the ability to use rollovers, as well as being difficult to hit small buttons with large fingers.

My logs show I am receiving an increasing amount of traffic from touchscreen devices, as they become more common in daily use. I personally own four touchscreen devices of various types.

I have also found that as my body of work grows, my current site is unable to handle it efficiently. To this end, I shall have a revised portfolio site up soon, which will show more of my work, while being optimised for speed and use on touchscreen devices.

Fellowship Productions

10th August 2011

I will be spending the next fortnight doing a work placement at Fellowship Productions in Bury St Edmunds from today. I'm looking forward to it! Hopefully I'll pick up a few new pointers while I'm there.

I will still be available for freelance work but, I might be a little slower in replying to emails during this time.

Twittering

28th July 2011

I've finally joined Twitter today. If you prefer contacting me on there, I am @MikeSloanCreate.

Precedent open day

26th July 2011

Today I attended Precedent in London, for their graduate open day.

Having been in London at Heathrow Airport and only learning of the open day on the day, and with my printed portfolio being 100 miles away, it made me very glad I have an online portfolio!

I was able to discuss my work as well as get shown around Precedent, learning what they do and the ethos behind their work. I really appreciated the time they took and the feedback they gave on my work and career.

Gisler Reitmann

10th March 2011

I was recently asked by Azexis in Ipswich, to produce a mock up for a fictional luxury watch brand, including name, logo and homepage.

This gave me a wonderful opportunity to delve into the background of the luxury watch industry and their history including their Swiss prominence and mechanical precision. I certainly learned a lot about watches! The level of craftmanship is crazy!

I thought I'd share my results with you.

New portfolio site

1st February 2011

My new portfolio website is up and running! Feel free to look around the work and let me know what you think. Making little clay men was a lot of fun and allowed me to do some physical work for a change, instead of purely digital.

Sneak peek

24th January 2011

My new portfolio site is nearing completion. Here is a sneak peek!

Graduation!

4th November 2010

Finally released into the wild after four long years at UCS in Ipswich, Suffolk, with a 2:1 BA Honours in Graphic Design.

End of year show

1st June 2010

Our end of year show is underway. Tom Oliver shot a time-lapse of the three days of preparation.

The music is Bulletproof by La Roux. Get it on iTunes here.