Goodbye blogger!

Hey everyone!

Thank you ALL for taking the time to read my blog!

I'm not going anywhere though, don't worry!

I'm simply moving homes. My blog is now accessible on my own personal website which you can find here.

Thanks for reading and I'll see you over at the other side!

http://www.samuelmarshall.com

I've Won an Award!

During my time on the NTU Pride committee as publicity officer, I've been given the opportunity to rebrand the society and create their new website.

Incredibly, my efforts have been recognised and I have been awarded with "Best Website" from the Societies awards.

This has been an incredible acheivement for me and I couldn't be happier!

PRIDE: Tweeks and alterations

The NTU Pride website has been playing on my mind a bit recently due to some little flaws in design and it not being graphically professional enough for my perfective nature!

So, I decided to do a bit of editing!

I've changed, on every page, the navigation menu from individual pictures to a simple text navigation, which has cut back on LOADS and LOADS of code but looks identical. The sub-menus still need converting, but it's starting to come together.

To make the NTU Pride brand more accessible, I decided to create the "badges" branding concept. This is where there are individual "badges" or "tiles" which indicate each sexuality or each different minority. These are refelected through the NTU Pride logo and pick up on each individual colour. This has also enabled me to create continuity throughout the website and printed media, especially as next year's fresher's fayre flyers encorporate this design.

In the realm of cleaning up code, I've also made the background image MUCH smaller and just repeated it on the Y axis, so that it loads much more quickly and can be repeated, meaning that text no longer over runs the end of the website, an issue I've been meaning to change for quite some time.

The auto-image changer has also been on my mind due it the images being quite old and dated, I've decided to remove those images and replace them with the "badges" idea to maintain continuity and it also gives the space to promote that NTU Pride is now officially sponsored by Propaganda.

To come: redesign of the committee section and ideas to cut down text.

PRIDE: Finally online and active

After working on the new NTU Pride website for several months, the new website, logo and brand image was launched on 15th February 2010 and it went off to a roaring success.

To celebrate the new branding, we had a massive house party where guests could watch a firework display, let off Chinese lanterns and enjoy cake and music.

I really wanted to bring a brand new image to NTU Pride, making it much more professional looking and making it stand out from the crowd, not blending in at all.

Through using the bright colours against the dark background, this has really worked well and will continue to look fresh and bright for years to come.

To see the website online now, check out http://www.ntupride.org.uk

In addition to the website, 2 large new banners were printed and various t-shirts were made too. As I'm on the committee for NTU Pride, I've been working closely with the bar, Propaganda to create a strong sponsorship and NTU Pride is now pleased to be officially sponsored by them.

NG1 Logo Design

Here are some logo's I've designed for the gay club in Nottingham, NG1. I've chosen quite a few variations depending on the client's requirements.

DESIGNS: Portfolio

Portfolio designs:

DESIGNS: NTU Pride

Banner design:
Web design:

DESIGNS: Kid In A Candy Store .co.uk

Web design:

Brand Spanking New CV Design

This 4-page design is my brand new CV.

I think it speaks for itself. Bright, vibrant and informative. What else could you need?

PRIDE: Sketch Book Design

The same concept as the designs I made for Lucy, this design is to get an idea of what the new NTU Pride website could look like.

It's very similar to the final one I made as I liked the design quite a lot and it works.

LUCY: Sketch Book Design

All designers should have a "working space" where they can experiment with ideas and designs to truely get their best potential for the project their about to embark on.

These are 3 of my 6 sketches I drew while designing for Lucy's website.

They show a variety of different designs. They're done for my reference so if they don't make 100% sense, then that's why, they're working documents.

GFSN Winter Tournament Logo Design

I was approached by an friend to create a logo for his football club who are having a gay winter football tournament.

I created a very basic outline for a website and this is one of the logos I made to go along side it. He wanted something that incorporated football, winter and the gay scene.

Burger Van Man Design

Through one of my business cards, I was called by a man who wanted me to make a website for his burger van on the A60.

I got to work straight away and came up with a design that I thought was Unisex, fresh, inviting and simplistic all rolled into one.

The man, dubbed Steve, said he would email me regarding his requirements but never got back in touch and considering the pending work load at Uni, I thought it would be best to let him to the chaseing as I have 3 other non-uni projects to work. It's all about time management. :-)

WEBSITE: Completed

Finally my website is complete!

It has taken several months to design, redesign, edit, adjust and complete this site what with my other projects and being busy enjoying my time off, but it's finally here!

Check it out now at kidinacandystore.co.uk

PRIDE: Design Progression

I have continued working on the NTU Pride website and here is my latest design idea.

I've removed the reflection effect in the menu as it distracts a lot from the links, making it all look a bit cluttered.

The boxes down the left hand side will house images in a more fun way, at the moment this is just representational.

It has taken me a bit longer to get this website design underway due to permission and codeing issues, but hopefully the new site will be up and online before the end of the year.

DAN: Website Design Temp Site

Having retrieved the information for Dan's new website off his old website, I was able to adapt it to my new design for him.

This new website is a lot more bright and vibrant and creates an instant impression.

The colours connotate possitivity and success which are great when designing a website for a young artist.

To check out the website's progress, visit:
http://www.kidinacandystore.co.uk/dansmith

LUCY: Website Design Refine

Taking the first and second design for Lucy's website, I worked with Lucy to bring together the ideas and here is the first design I've compiled from the first meeting.

We really wanted to keep the earthy and industrial feel but twist it to keep it still inkeeping with her style.

The bright raspberry purples and reds reflect her hair and her personality which is a great way to combine the two.

In the Menu section, I've left a gap to include some sort of music player to stream some of Lucy's music so the viewer can hear instantly her style.

DAN: Website Design

Here's the first website design I've made for Dan.

Dan asked me if I could produce him a website for him to front all his work.
I feel it represents his personality and the yellow colour is perfect for him and his work.
The dark black lines that border the white box and underline the text represent the designs of an architect and the structures of buildings.

LUCY: Website Design 2

Here's the second design for Lucy's website.
It is a lot more modern and cleaner. I wanted to create two that are quite opposite to show her the variety of sites available to her.
This design offers a more sleek and professional feel, however it may not fully represent her as a musician.

Hopefully we'll be able to discuss her requirements further once we've met up.