Studio Oscar

I have also sent an email to Studio Oscar in the hope they might get back to me on their style of work. I used a similar email to others I have sent out to other inspirational illustrators and studios. Hopefully they'll have a minute to get in touch and I might be able to incorporate them into my design context product too. I really love their work and it would be a great help to be able to have a chat with them about their style. I am particularly drawn to their use of colour. Most of their work uses just flat block colour, however in some they use tints of similar colours to create depth and shading. This is something I haven't mastered nor have I really tried to use much within my current work. A technique I feel would give my work more depth and help it to stand out a bit more. Here is a link to their site:

http://www.studiooscar.com/docs/work.php

This is the email which I sent to them:

Hi Studio Oscar,

I've been checking out your website and really love the work that you produce. I am particularly interested in vector based graphic illustration and hand drawn type. I'm really interested to learn a bit more about this style of illustration and about you yourselves! I'm intrigued to learn more about where this style of work can be contextualized and where you find the majority of your work being used. Vector based illustration is the style in which I am personally trying to develop and I wondered if you might possibly be able to have a quick peek at my blog and tell me what you think. This is the link to my blog home page and all the other pages are linked from there: http://o-greaves0710.blogspot.com/
Would you be able to help?

Many thanks,
I look forward to hearing from you soon :)

Olivia Greaves.

Revenge Is Sweet

Design Context Product

Today I've been emailing various illustrators and studios which I find inspirational and admire the work of. All of which I hope will get back to me in the hope they might be able to help me a bit with my design context research. I have been collecting and collating the work of people I like on this blog for a long while now. But what I really want is first hand communication with these people and studios. To be able to interview them, grill them a bit about their wisdom and get feedback from them about my own style of illustration. fingers crossed they'll reply soon!
The following are the illustrators and studios I have contacted so far:
- Allan Deas, Illustrator
- Alec Doherty/Lonely Punks, Illustrator
- Parra, Illustation Studio
- Studio Oscar, Illustration Studio
- Damien Weighill, Illustrator

Vector Pictogram Set - Behance

Ben & Jerry's

After looking at adverts produced by Unilever, I had a look at some of the illustration work produced to advertise Ben & Jerry's. I found it really helpful to be able to navigate around their website to quickly learn a bit about the brand. What interested me most however is their very iconic and easily recognisable vector style of illustration. They use quite blocky areas of colour which I was interested to see too. Their illustrations are very simple but really effective and I feel this is all because of very careful colour considerations and how they use it. Reall great vibrant work.


















I also like the way in which they consider type to combine with the illustration and colour. It works so well and is really in keeping with their style. It almost has a hand drawn feel to it. Really nice.

Unilever Design - Marmite

Unilever Design - Marmite

Flicking through Heat Magazine I came across some adverts by Unilever featuring some really nice illustration for food brands. So I set about to try and find some information on the brand. I also found some info on the logo design. See below.

'Unilever is an Anglo-Dutch company that owns many of the world's consumer product brands in foods, beverages, cleaning agents and personal care products. Unilever employs more than 206,000 people and had a worldwide revenue of just over US$50 billion in 2005. Some of their most famous brands are listed below:

Foods : Lipton, Knorr, Ben & Jerry, Walls, Brooke Bond
Home care : Surf, Sun, Skip
Personal care : Ponds, Rexona, Lux, Dove, Axe

In 2005, Unilever decided to change their logo to represent their new theme of vitality. The new logo was also planned to coincide with the 75th anniversary of the company. The new logo tells the story of Unilever and vitality. It brings together 25 different icons representing Unilever and its brands, the idea of vitality and the benefits Unilever brings to consumers.'

Jack Wills Shop Front

These photo's were taking in town yesterday. I went in to see if I could gather any more research for my Paul Smith shop window display brief. As soon as I arrived I was greeted by this amazing display. It is to advertise he Jack Wills Varsity Polo math on June 12th 2010. But is exactly the style of display work I am working on with my Autum/Winter display. They have illustrated their designs and then produced them on life size cardboard stand ups, held up by wooden supports and stands. It looks fantastic. I wanted to take more pictures but I wasn't allowed and these were the only sly ones I could manage from outside the shop. A great example for me of the type of context I could see my work positioned in.



I thought this was a great example of a shop strap line. It really draws the customer into feeling part of a lifestyle and status. They feel accepted and better off if they are considered to be a Jack Wills customer. This is what I want my Paul Smith customers to feel when they are buying Paul Smith clothing.



Another great example of being 'Fabulously British.' Very fitting to my Paul Smith brief.

Jack Wills

Screen grabs from the latest Jack Wills season on clothing.

A wee giggle!

I found this on a friends blog and just had to post it. Great humour through illustration and hand drawn type. Really made me smile.