Doktor Power & JML

Doktor Power, yes that IS the correct spelling. Its a range of green cleaning products from JML. We recently won a pitch for this work and have been creating the artwork. When most people have several days off over the Christmas period, us creatives are working hard and long hours to meet the deadline for the Spring sales and new releases of products. It's the same every year, believe me I'm not moaning, I'd rather be designing in a vibrant studio than be sat at home eating turkey sandwiches and watching Mary Poppins (with bloody commercials).

I digress. JML, the owners of the Doktor Power brand, have been so pleased with our designs and concepts that they have also asked us to redesign their company image, brand and logo and bring it bang up to date.

Shooting the movie

Over the last couple of months we've been shooting the movie. Now I have time to breath I thought I'd post an update here.

We've done many hundreds of miles to Wales and back for the shooting of a couple of the main locations. This has been done roughly once a month for a long weekend. I can't stress enough how bloody tiring making a film is. None of us would have guessed. I think it's because it involves a lot of walking with heavy equipment and of course there's the concentrating for 18 hours straight, trying to make sure you get the footage you came for.

There have been production problems, mainly the British weather. I guess that can't be helped. But the project is turning out to be incredibly fun and educational. We've all learned so much. We've shot around 60% of the scenes so far, so we've done a lot but there's still several months to do.

JML go green

JML is a company that produce cleaning products for all kinds of things, cars, furniture, kitchen surfaces, gardens etc etc. The list is long. There is a wave of people around the globe now wanting to become more environmentally friendly. They are all jumping on the band waggon that I've been firmly on for 20 years. I was mocked by many friends and colleagues 15 years ago for these views and now it seems like it's fashionable. Every news story is about green this, green that... I have to say, I couldn't be happier that governments and populations have/are waking up. Anyway, I digress.

JML are releasing a new, much greener selection of cleaning products and we have been creating a pretty large pitch to try and get the work. The word on the street is that they have seen our progress and they are going to use us, they however want to see us develop the ideas before committing. It's always the way, but we're confident.

118 118 return

I posted a little while back about a pitch we've done for a new 118 118 product. Well, we won the pitch. So the last few days we've been working on developing the design concept. Again for a company this size I am part of a team. I have to say it's a fun job to do, the whole time I speak to myself like a crazy man, quoting lines from their tv adverts... "I've got your number!!!" and wishing I had a moustache just like them, if only for one day.

Debenhams Megaday

It's been a long couple of weeks or tight deadlines and many little jobs. Debenhams Megaday always brings a lot of work for all involved. Many posters, leaflets, mail outs all promoting the November sale. Once these are all done they have to be re-jigged for the Irish audience. On a job like this I'm simply a small cog in a big wheel full of many other cogs working extremely hard. It's interesting work for sure, but now, I need to sleep!

118 118

Concept Board time again. 118 118, the telephone company with the amusing adverts. They are releasing a new product which we were pitching for. The product will be that you can call 118 118 with ANY question and they will have a team of people at the end of the phone to find the answer. Questions ranging from: What time does my train leave? What's cinemas are showing Pan's Labyrinth? Who scored in the 1982 World Cup final? How do you spell monkdewalydehonk?

We've created the concept boards and our ideas and work are being pitched to them, finger crossed!

Big Hair Productions

Big Hair Productions are newly formed company which put on small theatre type shows for weddings and corporate parties. The show consists of three incredible singers performing songs from the 60's, 70's and 80's. When performing they are dressed in the respective decade fashions.

My job was to design a double sided A5 flyer, A2 posters (one for each decade) and also create a banner to hang behind them on stage.

This was a new style of design for me, this was my first theatre production design. I went to several theatres and picked up a bunch of leaflets for the upcoming shows, I noticed that they were all terribly designed. Seriously, how can any of these productions live with themselves. It just seemed that they had all been designed (and i use that word loosely) in a 5 minutes, probably using something like Microsoft Word!!

Having seen the tripe which production companies get done, I think I have every opportunity of getting new clients in this field and doing the actual productions justice. Theatre production design seems very similar to Promotional design, of which I'm very experienced.

Work continues on the independant film

For the last five or six weeks, the crew (of which I am part of as the Art Director) have been meeting for endless pre-production work. This includes discussing the Directors excellent new script, storyboarding & location hunting. We're a very tight team and everyone has been pulling their weight and doing a bit of everything. Obviously being an independent film means there is very little budget, and the budget we do have is coming straight out of the Directors pocket. This being the case, we're all working pretty hard to make it happen for him.

As for me, I have mainly been working on the cover art & seeking extra locations. I would love to post some of the art here but we all have to keep the ideas we have under wraps until its finalised. Sorry, you'll have to wait!!

Priors Field School

This was a very interesting job indeed. I was hired by Kinetic Event Technical Production as a camera man, a friends company that I've done quite alot of work for. Using my photography background knowledge and my newly acquired skills from working on the independent movie (which I mentioned in a previous post) my job was to document an event at the school.

Priors Field is a public school for girls aged 11-18. The event was the end of year leaving show. It was a 2 day show in which the students would entertain their parents with facts and showcasing what they had achieved over the last school year. This included a band, a choir, a fashion show and of course an award ceremony. I have to say, as well as being a fascinating job for me to get, the school itself is pretty incredible.

Debenhams Autumn Campaign

It's that time of year when retail stores start thinking about their Autumn sales. This month I've been working on the Debenhams Autumn Campaign. Debenhams never do things by halves! With the campaign comes the overall Autumn concept, in-store POS items including many posters, a few different leaflets and a catalogue. Once they are done, they all need to be re-jigged for the Irish stores.

It has to be said that of course I didn't do these alone, I was simply a cog within a large team of designers, artworkers & copy writers.

Work begins on Independant Film

Back in January I was asked to art direct an independent film, a very exciting project for me. Since then I have been storyboarding with the director, working on designs for the cover and branding of the film and evolving an overall stylised look among other things. This month we had a spanner thrown in the works due to one of the big Hollywood studios beating us too it with a movie of the same name as ours. It’s not the end of the world but it has meant that the director has had to rethink the script a little, and in turn means it’s back to the drawing board for me in regards the branding art.

Mars use forsight

Due to global warming Mars have been concerned about their summer sales declining. Working with one of my clients on a brief to come up with concept boards - a 3 year campaign in which their chocolate products will be stocked in chillers rather than on the shelves. My client informed me this morning that they were very pleased with the campaign ideas. Fingers crossed.

Gillette Fusion vs the Maserati

Last year I helped one of my clients with some concept boards for Gillette’s new razor campaign (Gillette Fusion). They came back to us last month and we have just completed the artwork. The promotion campaign should be able to be seen in stores around the country from next month. “Gillette Fusion Stealth”, the promotion is for customers to win a Maserati. They originally wanted to have seven Maseratis up for grabs but their accounts team decided that one was expensive enough!!

Take a look at the original Concept Board.