Craig Minchington

The lovely people over at Advanced Photoshop featured some of my recent retouching work for Ballantine’s Whisky and I also gave a few pointers and ‘pro’ tips on how I go about my work. Go grab a copy and take a look. 

There were 5000 creatives sat in the audience and I’ve had a great response on social media off the back of it. You can re-watch the talk here http://max.adobe.com/sessions/online.html?sdid=KEXHG#tv

I haven’t managed to find any photos of my work as of yet but below are some snaps of the event. If anyone sees any images of my work then please email me :)

This piece started as another experiment with modelling techniques in Cinema 4D. The coffee pots were the initial base and built from another awesome Nick Campbell and Chris Schmidt tutorial, which you can find over at the Greyscalegorilla website here.

As with any tutorial I do I wanted to progress the initial work into a final piece, so what better accompaniment to coffee than donuts and some good typography?

This project started out with me wanting to learn some new modelling techniques in Cinema 4D, courtesy of another great Greyscalegorilla tutorial by Chris Schmidt and Nick Campbell. I suggest anyone learning Cinema 4D go and check out this tutorial, you learn some great modelling techniques, how to light your scene correctly and interestingly using daylight and also some cool ways of texturing objects. Nick also discusses the physical renderer whichI now love and use for pretty much every scene I make.

I decided that after modelling, lighting and texturing the bedroom I might as well do something extra to the piece. I added some 3D text influenced by the scene and used song titles from 2 of my favourite bands for the wording. Here are links to the 2 songs ‘Good Morning Beautiful’ by Deftones and ‘Star Above My Bed’ by Glassjaw.

Secret 7’’ were inviting creatives from around the globe to take inspiration from Laura Marling’s track, The Beast and design an original 7 inch vinyl sleeve, in support of Art Against Knives.

This is a collaborative project between myself and Richard Davies (www.turksworks.co.uk). The piece is based around the opening line ‘where did our love go?’ and depicts a couple lost within a heart. The elements around the heart are overgrown and encasing it, symbolising that the ‘love’ has been gone for a while. Yet with all living things there is a chance that circumstances can be rekindled and grow again.

You can also follow us on twitter at @adoraattack & @turksworks

Below I reposted my piece or you can go and visit it on Creative Bloq’s site which is full of loads of other wonderful design goodness. 

All designers make mistakes. Craig Minchington examines the most common howlers, and how to avoid them.

Words: Craig Minchington

Although we don’t like to admit it later on in our careers, when we start making our way as designers, we make a lot of mistakes. Once you’re working in a creative agency you quickly learn that there are a lot of things you should not do. Here I’ve compiled a list of 10 common design mistakes for you to be aware of. Although I’ve committed most of these crimes myself, I have learned from them and hopefully they can help you too…

01. Not understanding the brief

Get as much detail about what the clients wants and needs, as early on as possible

Without a clear idea of what the client wants you can end up making matters complicated for yourself. A lot of time can be wasted procrastinating, or working up design ideas that may not be relevant to the client’s needs. Instead, you need to read and understand the brief carefully from the start, make notes, brainstorm and try to keep in contact with the client to ensure that what you are working up is heading in the right direction.

02. Not saving files correctly

In general, save your designs as CMYK for print, RGB for web

Knowing how to set up your files correctly from the start is vitally important. There are many things to consider depending on the output of the work.

Print work is generally set up as CMYK and at 300dpi, whereas work for the web should be RGB at 72dpi. Remember to consider bleed, trim and safety areas. Before sending to print, think about your file formats, outlining fonts and colour profiles.

This may all seem like a lot to take in but learning these processes will save you time in the long run, ensuring your work is reproduced correctly and keeping the client happy.

03. Font overload

Too many typefaces can look cluttered and confusing. Image from www.creativeherb.com

Having a clear, formatted design is crucial and so it’s important not to use too many different fonts within a piece. You want your type to look consistent so don’t confuse the viewer by layering your page with lots of varied typefaces.

As a general rule, try to stick to two different fonts and use the different font weights to differentiate and highlight areas.

04. Using the wrong fonts

The font choice for the title of the movie Avatar was widely criticised. Image courtesy ofwww.joshuabales.net

Alongside getting the number of fonts right, picking the right ones is equally important.

There are lots of places to download free fonts but be aware of the potential pitfalls in terms of legalities and usage rights, which may leave you having to restart your work with a new font. If you’re doing professional work, don’t shy away from the idea of paying for professional fonts. Try to stretch your budget using font foundries such as hypefortype.com.

As well as deciding where to get your fonts from, your font choice is equally important. It’s not just amateurs who fall foul of this - for example, the movie Avatar was criticised for its title font, which looked very similar to the terribly overused system font Papyrus. Obviously Avatar had a few other things going for it that helped it rise above criticism of its typography, but your project may not be so blessed!

05. Using too many stock images

Stock imagery can be very helpful to a designer, especially when you can’t afford to hire a professional photographer. However, certain stock photographs seems to do the design circuit, especially within digital art, and can become overly familiar.

Try to avoid using stock model images as a central focus for your work because if you think it’s a good photograph then it’s more than likely others will too. It would be a shame if you produced a beautiful design only to find someone is using the same image in another design, taking the shine and originality off yours.

06. Working destructively

Work in a way that means you can edit individual elements later if necessary

‘Working destructively’ means making permanent adjustments to the pixels within your projects without being able to go back and re-edit things later.

To avoid this situation, try using layer masks instead of the eraser tool. Become comfortable using smart objects rather than rasterized layers and make use of adjustments layers. And try to ignore the standard adjustments from the image drop down menu in the toolbar.

07. Failing to proof read

However professional your design, spelling errors will make it look like the work of an amateur

Using the spellchecker is great for finding misspelled words within your work but it won’t catch correctly spelt words in the wrong context. For example, one of the most common mistakes is to confuse “your” and “you’re”, but spellcheck won’t be able to help you with that. This is just one reason why you must always proof read every piece of your work (and ideally, get others to check it too).

For a real-life example, take a look at the above building-site hoarding. It uses the word ‘exiting’ instead of the word ‘exciting’, which changes the sentence altogether. As ‘exiting’ is a valid word it wasn’t picked up on the spellcheck but some proper proof reading would have brought the error to light.

08. Failing to checklist

The new Weightwatchers logo might have benefited from an extra pair of eyes

Once you’ve finished your design, it’s good practice to run through a checklist and get someone else to look over your work. A second pair of eyes will often spot something you may have missed, especially if you’ve been working on a project for a while.

For instance, take the latest WeightWatchers redesign by Pentagram. The new logo has attracted ridicule and derision from some quarters because of the four letters that glaringly jump out in the middle of the word. I’ll leave you to take a look and work out what I’m talking about.

09. Copying other people’s designs

Twitter users accused Claire’s of copying a design by independent designer Tatty Devine

Originality is key as a designer, and plagiarism will not go unnoticed. Gathering influences and inspiration is fine but straight copying other people’s work is not. And with the recent growth of social media, you risk your design crime being made embarrassingly public.

For example, accessory brand Claire’s faced a huge backlash on Twitter over a necklace design that was uncannily similar to one created by independent designer Tatty Devine. Keep your credibility and keep your work authentic.

10. Poor use of QR codes

Think about how practical it will be for people to scan your QR code. Image courtesy ofhttp://www.creativeguerrillamarketing.com

QR codes are popular and can be effective when used properly. But that’s often not the case.

Think about where the QR code is going to appear; for example, will it they be easy to scan? (If it’s on the side of a moving vehicle, the answer is no!) Will your target audience need internet reception to decode it? (They won’t have any, for example, on the London Underground.) As with all design, with QR codes it’s all about context.

Craig Minchington is a Welsh digital artist, living in Bristol, creating under the alias Adora. He’s worked on projects for leading brands including Coca-Cola, Nestle, Unilever, and Krispy Kreme as part of Epoch Design. Learn more about Craig here.

I have recently been featured and interviewed on a few blogs and websites. A huge “THANK YOU” goes out to the guys and gals over at @dailyslandered @creativebloq & @business_boom

If you fancy a read, you can view the features at the links below. You can also bag a free wallpaper from myself at the Creative Bloq site.

http://www.creativebloq.com/illustration/grab-your-free-monday-wallpaper-craig-minchington-12121558

http://www.dailyslandered.com/2013/01/craig-minchington-50-things-they-never-taught-you-at-design-school/

http://businessboomcollective.com/1203/craig-minchington-adora/

Last week I handed in my @GromitUnleashed application, so here’s a sneak peak of my patchwork entry. Fingers crossed that I get picked and get to paint up one of the sculputres. In a similar vain to last years Gorillas, Gromit sculptures are being unleashed upon the City of Bristol to raise funds for Bristol Childrens Hospital.