Recently, I designed some graphics for a 10m length of white and blue bunting. I had never designed for any vinyl bunting before, but the process was quite simple. After receiving the brief from the client, I found a supplier here in the UK, followed their instructions and dimensions for a triangle-template shape, got the proofs approved after a couple of iterations, and saved the files as PDF’s before sending them via email.

I can’t show all of the design and logo on this piece, as the logo was for private internal company-use, but I’ve included a couple of photos in the image about that shows what vinyl bunting looks like when delivered. Overall, designing for this type of thing is not too dissimilar to designing for any other print setup.

I also designed some etched-glass vinyl glass stickers and some custom-cut sticky-vinyl cutouts. I love designing for different forms of media and with varied materials─designing for a variety of print work is quite interesting.

Have You designed anything different to ‘the norm’ lately? Have you had your work printed on any special materials? Share your thoughts below…

★ If you liked this post, check out my article: How to Design a Mockup Pallet Racking.

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

In my previous posts about CD’s that I have designed, I’ve gone through the process via explanations under the CD design images. In this case, however, I’ve made a short video about the design, which is available to watch at the end of this post. Here’s a few images of the design, and then onto the Video…

CD Sleeve Art Gallery: The Sunrise

Above: These was a couple of early sketches of the proposed design. I originally draw some mockups in a Moleskine, then scanned them into my iMac before producing a couple of rough illustrative visuals (in the circles) to show the proposed style of the CD. These two images formed part of a PDF for the first set of proofs.

Above: This shows the inside of the CD Jewel Case, with the [mostly] white CD set onto a Black & White Tray Card.

Above: 8 Page Booklet Design, pages 2 and 3.

Above: 8 Page Booklet Design, pages 4 and 5.

Above: 8 Page Booklet Design, pages 6 and 7.

Above: 8 Page Booklet Design, pages 8 and 1.

Above: Front Cover (with severe Sun-reflection in my garden─whoops!).

Above: Back Cover Tray Card (again with severe Sun-reflection).

Above: Front Cover shown with inner CD. I’ve taken these pics on my lawn. Seemed like a good idea at the time. Ha!

Walk-through Video of CD Sleeve Design…

This short movie shows my latest CD Sleeve design, with hints, tips and explanations of process.

If you’re reading this post via Email Subscription or RSS and can’t see this video, click here to watch it.

★ For more information on The Sunrise, please head over to their website. Also you can listen and buy their album over on iTunes. Here’s a screenshot of the tracklisting…

Concluding Thoughts

This was a really interesting project to work on. The design was very-much concept driven, and the band were fantastic at providing a detailed direction on how they wanted the CD design to look. I love designing CD’s, and I’d like to continue doing so as long as the format is available in the mainstream.

If you have any questions or comments regarding this CD sleeve art and the illustrative work I designed, please use the comment form below.

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

Back in college (er, way back), I used to use really expensive made by Karisma, but I don’t think they’re available any more. But, I can attest that using quality pencils can really make the difference when drawing and sketching. They tend to be softer and the colours way more vibrant. The wood is better quality than cheaper ones, too. Do you still use pencils in your work? If so, which ones do you use now? let me know in the comments section…

Credits: Found via Jason Lanzoni.

★ If you liked this post, then take a look at Rainbow MacBook Keyboard Decals.

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

The Box

Above: I wondered why the paper samples box was so think when Fedex delivered it. I normally receive yearly samples from RCS, but this [well-designed] box was 2 inch thick! Why?

The Paper Samples

Above: Firstly, inside the box was a set of custom paper charts. These show how standard Pantone® colours are reproduced on the printing presses over at RCS. I find these particularly useful as they also show the exact CMYK equivalent values, which saves loads of time and effort. Normally, I would have to purchase these guides form RCS, but this year, I got them for free!

The Print Guide

Above: Secondly, after reviewing the useful Pantone® guides they packed, I found the new Print Price Guide. These yearly guides are free, and are the best ones I’ve seen for general purpose. At about 120 pages, this guides not only shows prices from everything including letterheads, large-format displays and posters, but also includes paper samples and other custom products that are actually stuck in the book. Such products include beer mats, playing cards, slapper-bands, data cards and a whole range of products printed on varied thicknesses of stock. But a surprise was still to come…

The Chocolates

Above: Right in the bottom of the box was a fairly-generously-sized box of Thorntons Chocolates! I’m not sure if these are sold outside the UK, but these are delicious top-notch and expensive chocs that most people love here in England.

RCS really know how to look after their clients, and I think we could all learn a thing or two about their customer service. This is not an affiliate post in any way, but if you live in the UK and need printing services, I can definitely recommend RCS.

Do you receive regular paper samples? What do you think of your printers? For any questions on comments, please leave then below…

★ Related Post here on Andrew Kelsall Design:

Colours by GF Smith

I love to collect paper samples. As a designer, you never know when one will come in handy—plus they look cool on your shelf! This is one of my favourite collections, Colours by GF Smith Paper. What’s so stunning about this box set is the vast array samples it actually contains. The box set holds four beautifully made books that are packed with textured and smooth paper samples [Read More].

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

I recently completed this Digi Pack CD Design for a Dominic Finley, a singer/songwriter client who I’ve worked with before. His new CD is named ‘The Songs of Neil Diamond‘ and as can be seen, has been designed in a ‘Las Vegas’ style! The design was based on a 4-panel Digipak® template and was printed in Australia (where Dominic now lives and works).

The design itself was primarily blue and white, with the glamourised image of Dominic taking prominence. As can be seen in the image above, the white CD design looks quite good in the clear plastic holder, and set against the patterned blue background.

This photo doesn’t do the back of the CD case any justice,but the pattern continues into the black area on the left. The whole design was a rather simple yet effective design that also made use of a professional barcode.

It was a great project to work on and it once again reminds me how much I love designing CD sleeves. If you have any questions or comments, kindly leave them in the comment section below…

☰ If you would like me to provide you with a Free Quotation for a CD album or Single/EP, please use my CD Quote Request Form.

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

Okay okay, this is a really quick post for an irritating problem on my iMac. Every single toolbar has a question mark where I presume some sort of program shortcut should be.

I can’t seem to delete it and can’t find the solution to this “problem”. Yes, it’s really just an annoyance, but it’s 1am and I thought I’d just ask the following question to all Mac users before I hit the sack:

How do I get rid of the question mark? (Answers and suggestions appreciated!)

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

Happy Easter 2012 everyone! Here’s a quirky unofficial Pantone® experiment I just discovered via Daniel Acacio. These Pantone Easter Eggs were created by Jessica Jones of art and design blog How About Orange.

Jessica explains: The graphic designer in me couldn’t resist attempting faux Pantone Easter eggs. I dyed these boiled eggs, then typed up the labels and printed them on ink jet temporary tattoo paper. Remember to print the words backwards! [Read more].

I’m please Pantone 156U was included─it’s one of my favourite Pantones─what’s yours?

★ For more information about the true meaning of Easter and why we celebrate it, check out Questions about Easter.

Credits: Image Copyright © How About Orange.

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

Even though I’m sure you’ve already read that Twitter are again updating their logo, I couldn’t help pointing out how disappointing it is. The old logo (shown above) was simple and did it’s job well—but the new one?

I can’t understand why a rather complicated photograph of a blue bird has replaced a somewhat iconic Twitter-bird icon. Whoever designed this needs to be ashamed of themselves quite frankly.

Apparently, the new design goes into live beta tomorrow. What do you think about the logo?

★★ UPDATE ★★ Obviously, this was this year’s April Fools Joke! Comments were closed as to not spoil the fun, but read some of the Twitter reactions from @DesignSoak and @AndrewKelsall below…

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

I just returned home from a weekend in London, where my friends, family and myself visited LegoLand in Windsor (which was fantastic). Shortly after checking my RSS feeds upon return, I noticed this fantastic set of Ads by designer Jung von Matt.

They are for a Lego campaign named ‘Imagine’ which use extreme minimalism to represent well-know cartoon and kids characters. My favourite is the Simpsons one above. Can you spot the rest?

Credits: All images shown in this set are Copyright © Jung von Matt. Please check out his site for the rest of his portfolio work. Discovered by inspiration site, Fubiz.

★ Related Post here on Andrew Kelsall Creative Design…

Plastic Fantastic: Lego Ads

These crossword-styled Lego ads are great, aren’t they? I’ve always loved Lego…er sorry “my kids do”—and I think this simple set of ads sums up perfectly what the fantastic plastic blocks are all about [SEE MORE].

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall

Above: Here. there’s a really good close-up example of how the four colour printing process works. Also, the left page uses just Pantone orange, whilst the right page shows the corresponding CMYK equivalent.

Above: These are my favourite pages. They show the same ink printed onto both coated and uncoated paper stocks. It also shows six different blacks made up of varied CMYK values.

Above: These pages show a selection of different folds and booklet binding options, as well as the cost comparison of each.

Above: The best part of this spread is the comparison of colour profiles on the bottom-right. There’s also a brief explanation of rendering intents, too.

Above: The cover shows a great example of foil-blocking on 300gsm uncoated stock. Lovely!

Want one?

Overall, this is a great little book to refer to and have in your office. By the way, the photos I used here don’t do this booklet justice, as they were taken with a camera phone. The actual book is 24 pages long and is a joy to read!

You can purchase one for £5.00 (roughly $8/€6) from the Print Handbook for Designers Site (this is Not an affiliate link).

★ In case you missed the original post on the first book…

A Print Handbook for Designers

I was recently issued with a complementary copy of the Print Handbook for designers by Andy Brown at Media Collective (who are based here in the UK). The book itself is rather small, but is printed on quality card and embossed with foil block [READ MORE].

This post is Copyright Andrew Kelsall, author of the Andrew Kelsall Graphic Design Blog.Andrew Kelsall | Creative Designer - Graphic Design Blog of Andrew Kelsall