FSS Website complete

The website took the best part of a month.  I worked with a small team of professionals outside of Rewkachu.  My role was to create all the graphic elements and help design the overall look. Click on the link below.

Field Sales Solutions

If you have a spare moment and are at all interested in who FSS are, I'd suggest going to their "about us" section and clicking on the "view full movie" link.  The video is about 9 minutes long.  I was very impressed at their operation.  You will have to believe me when I say that it's not because they paid me to work on their website - I truly WAS impressed!

New Blog #3 - Rew-torials

The third and final new blog created for the Rewkachu collective is Rew-torials.

Rew-torials is a blog is a place for creative tips for intermediate designers and adventurous beginners.  Many times during my career I've had to google how to do a certain thing in the software that I use.  There are multitudes of sites offering such tips, which is great. However, I always found that their sites had confusing layouts, crazy text sizes everywhere, a billion pop-ups and about sixteen too many adverts.

So here are some self imposed rules I will follow:

1. I strive to NEVER have any pop-ups (if any do creep on to my page unbeknown to me, due to adding a widget or two…. please let me know and I’ll swiftly kill it!)
2. I strive for a clean design, with logical text sizes.  After all, I specialize in promotional design and understand the importance of readable/non-confusing text.
3. I strive to not have any ads.  Ok, well, maybe a couple (we all need extra revenue).  But I will not allow them to detract from the content you have come to see.
4. I strive to create clear and concise tutorials that will rival any out there.

I haven't set myself any goals as to how many, or how regularly I will post on this blog. I've left it open to suggestion, or as and when I think of a problem that I once googled - I'll add it.

New Blog #2 - Rewkachu Film

Rewkachu Film is part of the new Rewkachu concept I've been working on this month.  Film is a medium that we find ourselves becoming more involved in.  I felt it needed it's own space and a blog is an ideal way to do so.

Rewkachu is making a feature length independent movie at the moment and I didn't want to clutter the Rewkachu blog with all the thoughts and progress which relates to it.  I did however think it was important to showcase our love for the medium is a separate blog.

The Rewkachu Film blog has four authors; myself of course, Darren Laken (writer / prop designer), Steve Featherstone (3D animation / cameraman) and Andy Wilmot (Sound Department / cameraman).  Each of us will be adding our thoughts on technology, events, work, ideas, and the development of the first Rewkachu Film - Happy Place.

To get the blog up and running, I have taken all of the film related posts from this blog and added them to the new one.  This means that 80% of the posts on there dated before April 16th 2012 can be found here.  It's not important, but I just wanted to be clear.

This Rewkachu Film angle I am very excited about.

New Blog #1 - A Photographic Narrative

A Photographic Narrative is my first of the three new blogs I'm creating this month.  The site is hosted at "rewmitchell.com" so as you might imagine it's a personal blog rather than specifically a Rewkachu blog.  Although of course it is related.

As the blog itself states, it's "the artistic side projects of a little person". I created the blog because I felt that I am not spending enough time photographing for the love and art of photographing. So I wanted to get back into slinging my camera around my neck and heading off in to the world to see what interesting sites I could capture.  This, I think, is the ideal kick up the butt.

Each month I will set myself a personal project on any given subject that I happen to think will make interesting photographs. I'll then of course polish them and upload them (with a story) to my new photoblog.

I have back dated the blog to November 2011.  So there is five months / five projects worth of content.  I didn't want to start with an empty blog.

All for the love of photography :)

3 New Rewkachu Blogs

This month, in fact the next two months I am working on a new brand image for Rewkachu.  This will include a new logo, new website, an updated Rewkachu Green website, a Vimeo page and three new blogs.  Each of the blogs will be specializing in different areas.  I'm very excited about the new branding and the increase in web presence.  Of course, I'll post as and when each item is complete and up and running.

FSS Website videos

This was the final piece to the jigsaw that is the sleek FSS website. When the website goes live I will post a link for you to take a look at.

FSS had a company in to shoot and edit a few corporate videos.  Unfortunately that company wasn't Rewkachu, they were unaware at that point that we also shoot corporate videos. Unbeknown to the company that created them, the area on the website we had allocated for videos was a different size to what they had shot. This meant that when the web developer (non Rewkachu) placed them, a large portion of the edges were missing and thus cutting off some onscreen text. Apparently the company in question told my client they were too busy to amend them and the website needed to be up in a few days time. They then asked me if I could help, and help without having the original files.  I would have to use a bit of video magic!  I was delighted because it meant they had become aware of the collective Rewkachu skill-set.

The job itself was really simple. There were four two minute videos, and one ten minute video.  I went in to Adobe After Effects and created a composition the exact pixel dimensions that the website required. I then, in turn, took each video and sliced it into camera shots.  This allowed me to physically move each shot left or right depending on what was in the frame. The end result was five new videos which look like they were originally shot in the dimensions I created.  I also decided to replace the FSS logo with a much crisper, cleaner version to the one the original video company had used.  I don't know which company created the original videos, but I certainly wouldn't have passed them to the client in that state!

My client was impressed that I managed to edit and render all of these videos in one day.  To be fair, I thought it would take two days also. 

The most satisfying part came at the end.  When I supplied the newly rendered files to the web developer, despite working on my machine and my clients machine they would not work on the website.  After a little bit of liaising with the web developer we decided on a file format and off I went to re-render them.  He told my client that it would take me a day to get back to them. For your information, the web developer works in a company that also does video. So of course my client thought it was gospel.  Now, I'm not sure if it's something that's common in the industry where people give clients false time to rack up costs, or perhaps the web developer's video editing knowledge is not great.  It took me twenty minutes.  My client thought I was joking when I told him "I'm done, I'll send those over now".

To be fair, video editing is notoriously time consuming, more so that most people realise.  But re-saving five short videos as a different file format is nothing. We at Rewkachu pride ourselves on honesty and efficiency, and being very good looking of course.  I was pleased to make my clients day, and prove the above point. I guess some companies would indeed take a whole day to re-save five files, I personally wouldn't feel right about cheating the people that are giving us work.

FSS Trade Press Adverts

I was asked to create a trade press advert, or I should say three variants. The advert would be placed in three different publications and each one would be a completely different size.  This depended on how much magazine space FSS had bought.  One advert was a full page, one was a half page advert and the last one was a quarter page horizontal. I first created the full page advert and then once the client had seen it and approved, I adapted it to fit the other sizes.

If you are not familiar with the term "trade press" I'll explain. Trade press refers to publications (magazines or directories) that are read by executives at companies.  For instance, a Coke Cola executive would peruse the trade press for ways to save/make money for their brand. Whereas an everyday person would read the kind of magazine you'd buy in the news agent.

This difference is very important, and also for design.  A trade press advert must be clear, concise and free from nonsense.  Nonsense isn't the best word I admit, but you will see what I'm trying to say when you see the below advert. This advert is not the kind you would see in the pages of a news agent magazine.

FSS Fusion logo

FSS (Field Sales Solutions) have been beavering away with myself, my client and a web developer to get their new website completed.  It's on the horizon and should be up and running at the end of the month.  They wanted their logo updated also.  Their old logo was starting to look a little out of date, which is unfortunately the nature of logos.  So why not update your logo along with your website, this makes sense.  They wanted their new logo to reflect the swanky new software they have developed.  The software is called Fusion and it's one of the things that puts them in a better league than their rivals.

Below you can see their new logo, created by my client and I.

FSS Photograph retouching

With the FSS website construction well under way it was time to tweak some of the finer points.  One of these tweak jobs was to retouch the photographs of the staff.  Retouching photographs for the web is a much quicker process than for print.  With print retouching you have to really take your time and be precise, this is mainly because prints are ultimately viewed at a higher resolution.

Sadly, these staff photographs were taken by any of the Rewkachu photographers.  Much like the earlier FSS post where I mentioned about website building, the agency were not aware that Rewkachu has some very experienced photographers.  Again, this is my fault but something I am working on making common knowledge.

FSS Website design

For the last month I have been working on the new FSS Wesbite.  The creative director of the agency I've been working with has a very clear view of what he wants, this of course makes my job easy.  I have to create the imagery based on his ideas.  The look and feel we're going for is clean, simple and stylish.  Unfortunately Rewkachu is not building the website, another company has been booked to do this.  When they were booked the agency in question were not aware that Rewkachu also builds websites.  This is my fault, so I have to suck it up - they are now aware though and I will aim to get the next one the need built.

Below are a couple of visuals. I had fun creating the stylized map graphic.

Extreme Badminton

I was asked to create some first stage concept mood boards for an event idea. The event itself is extreme badminton, which is to be a Summer event. The idea is that the shuttle cock will be huge and heavier, so that the game plays a bit like volleyball.  I worked as Mac Operator on this job only, as the agency's Creative Director created the concept and layout.  The designs are fairly basic due to the tight time constraints, but they are only mood boards in this instance.

FSS website design

FSS, the field sales solutions and field marketing giant are in the process of creating a simpler and sleeker new website.  I am working as part of a small team to create some concept ideas.  They are very happy with what we have come up with, but it will go through a process of tucks and tweaks before the actual site is built. It's a fun project to be a part of.

V Energy stand visuals

I worked as part of a team to create 3D visuals of an experiential stand for this years V Energy campaign. The campaign for this year is called "Green Energy".  My role was to create the graphics for the visuals, these graphics were then sent to a 3D visual specialist to create a fly through animation.

The object of this visual was to allow the V Energy executives to understand our concept.  The concept itself was very similar to last years successful campaign.  There would be a portable beach volleyball court, where the brand ambassadors would play matches with and against the general public. There would be a bar handing out refreshments in the form of free V Energy drink samples, all accompanied by a live DJ.  The overall goal was a fun and exciting outdoor event. Last year was a real success, appearing at Summer festivals throughout the UK. This year we have stuck with the same formula but refreshed the graphic style.

Adobe Master Suite CS5.5

I'm super excited to announce that I've finally upgraded my software from CS4 to CS5.5. Not only have I upgraded to the latest version, but I have gone from Design Standard Suite, to the much coveted Master Suite Collection. If you're unaware what this means then I'll try to explain and you will see what a huge step up this is.

Adobe Design Standard Suite comes with the following software:

• Photoshop
• Illustrator  
• InDesign 
• crobat Pro 
• Bridge 
• Device Central 
• CS Live online services

...and the Adobe Master Suite Collection comes packed with the following software:

• Photoshop Extended
• Illustrator
• InDesign
• Acrobat Pro
• Flash Catalyst
• Flash Professional
• Flash Builder Premium Edition
• Dreamweaver
• Fireworks
• Contribute
• Adobe Premiere Pro
• After Effects
• Adobe Audition
• Adobe OnLocation
• Encore
• Bridge
• Device Central
• Media Encoder
• CS Live online services

As you can see, this will allow me to rule the world.

Andrex Washlets set floor plans

Please see previous posts for more details on the Andrex Washlets campaign.  With this job so massive I feel I have been repeating myself a little on the blog lately.

So I had completed the set artwork a couple of weeks prior, sent them to the printers and they had now all been printed and were ready to tour the country. Many shopping centres would be graced by the visit of this experiential campaign.  The set itself would need to be constructed at each location and then dismantled at the end of the event.  This is very typical of this type of event, but due to our technical design of the flooring and the varying sizes of the floor spaces - each shopping centre has differing specifications - I needed to painstakingly create floor plans for all of the various sizes.

The floor graphics were too large to print as one single piece, they had to be cut into circles and arranged much like an over-sized jigsaw.

Andrex Washlets animation

This was one of the most enjoyable jobs I've ever had.  I was asked to create a looping one minute animation which would appear on two large plasma screens. The screens were built into the walls of the Andrex Washlets set I had previously created the artwork for.  The job took around three days to complete.

The reason I enjoyed this so much was because it was my first Adobe After Effects job. Usually the agencies I work for out source this kind of brief to expensive London based specialists. When the brief appeared - and before it could be out sourced - I jumped on the opportunity and announced that I now have sufficient knowledge of creating animations.  This was somewhat of a surprise to one of my long time clients. They have pigeon-holed me as simply an art-worker in the past. This is slowly changing as they are starting to recognise my versatility. I've been working for this particular client for over a decade, so there is a lot of trust and honesty between us.  They have come to understand that if I say I can do something, I can.  Equally, if I am unable to do something, I'll clearly say so but perhaps give them a phone number of who can.

My knowledge of Adobe After Effects is actually very new.  It's something I've always wanted to understand but didn't have the time. I have just embarked on a large side project - an independent movie - in which I could either out source the After Effects expensively, or do it myself.  So with this new incentive I have been taking various courses in the software.  I feel I'm at an intermediate level, but I'll continue to hone these skills with more courses. 

Known as someone who always strives to create polished and professional work, I am a win win solution for future animation work for my clients.  Besides, I'm much less expensive than the London based specialists.

Here is a low resolution of the HD video.

V Energy drink - 2012 campaign concept

In 2011 I worked on the V Energy drink experiential campaign. The idea was "V-Ball", you can read about this is a previous post. The campaign was a success with the general public and all involved behind the scenes. V Energy wanted more of the same for this years campaign.

The concept was simple, don't fix something that isn't broken.  We would keep the event the same (appearing at various festivals throughout the Summer): a portable beach volleyball court where brand ambassadors could play matches with and against the general public, a large set including huge branded banners and flags, a bar serving free samples of the energy drink accompanied by a DJ.  A perfect social experiential event.

The only difference for this year would be updated and refreshed graphic elements. I created the concept board to the agencys' art directors' specifications and we now await the feedback from V Energy. 

Andrex Washlets 8 page gatefold leaflet artwork

With the Andrex Washlets experiential set artwork complete, and in the hands of the printers the next job was to complete the gatefold leaflet.

This 8 page leaflet had been through various design versions, eight in all. The final design had been chosen and it was time to move it forward.  The artwork was simple to create because I had previously done the bulk of the specifics while in the previous design stage.  In fact, all I had to do now was check everything, and then recheck everything before collecting for output and supplying it to the printers.

Andrex Washlets stand artwork

Almost everyday for the last month I have been working diligently on the experiential campaign for Andrex Washlets 2012. Today was the final day for set artwork in a frenzied final push between account handlers, project managers and printers.  I made the final tweaks to the artwork and supplied the various items to the respective print companies.

All of the artwork was for a large set which would tour the country appearing in the largest shopping centres.  The object would be to spread the word of the new Andrex Washlets product. The set would stand in a 10 x 12m floor space, and would be 2m tall.  It included artwork for floor graphics, desk wraps, wall panels, interactive i-pad software and uniforms for the brand ambassadors on set. 

Using Photoshop, Illustrator, InDesign and a lot of mathematics, my role was complete and it was then in the hands of the print companies. Of course I would remain on call in case any problems arose.

Andrex Washlets floor ripple development

With the Andrex Washlets experiential campaign looming, I had to put some time in on New Years Eve and New Years Day. I was working from home and I'm not one of these people to moan about working on public holidays.  Being self employed I tend not to have weekends at the same time as other people.  This makes me happy, as it gives me a sense of freedom and choice.

In various previous posts I have spoken about the large impressive stand Andrex have commissioned us to create.  The stand will tour the country, making stops at many of the largest shopping centres in England. The objective is to spread the word of the new Andrex Washlets product - which I have used by the way, and like a lot. That isn't marketing speak, or an attempt to sell them - I genuinely like them.  You know, if I were to say that on the radio they would no doubt send me free boxes full of them!

This touring set would need to be reconstructed in each location.  The company that does this for us is used to it, it's what they do. However, on this occasion I don't envy them.  The floor to this set is particularly complicated.  It's jigsaw like, made up of circular prints varying in size from 1.8 meters in diameter, to 0.9 meters in diameter.  If you were to look directly down from the ceiling you would see water ripples overlapping. It would be impossible to print something that large, so each ripple had to me cut separately and placed correctly. The artwork for this part of the job took me the best part of three days.  It was mathematics intensive and the files were extremely large. 

Check the other posts for full stand graphics and layout.