[Ian Jones]

Hi,

I know we don't get many posts like this, and I'd be glad to keep things mostly illustration aswell. But it doesn't hurt to see something different now and then.

So here's some new stuff by me, from my Graphic Design studies this year.



Digital Typography design magazine cover.





Laser CDR package design - front and back only.



Eden Grove - Olive oil label design. (Illustration of olives, done in Photoshop)



Bob Marley - Book cover, sort of thing.

Hope you like them, any crits would be appreciated.

[dead]

nice, i like the cd-r and marley images alot.

[Kaete]

Whoa -- that oil label makes me want to buy that olive oil. Beautiful textures.

[Dr. Bang]

oh Ian baby! Those are just wonderful graphics design. Very original and much coller compare to those stupid abstract 3d crap i see out there. WOW, correct me if i'm wrong but this is the first time i've seen your work!!!!!!

Post more!

[silber]

don't like the first one but the others are amazing especialy the olives-really good job

[Ian Jones]

Hey guys, thx for the comments.

theo: thx! I like red / yellow / orange too. I see you have a website called redandorange.com!

Kaete: Cool, glad to see it does its job. I usually get carried away with other stuff. I don't usually do that style of thing, so it was a great learning project. Photoshop Duotones (tritone in my case) are really cool!

Dr. Bang: Yeah you are right, I don't post my stuff very often. I'm such a newbie at actually doing illustration (don't ask me why I have 5 stars, it makes no sense), but I always pass on knowledge I've gained here from others. That's why I post help, theory, crits etc.. more than I actually do it myself! I should really put my money where my mouth is. hehe.

I mainly do graphic design, but I've learnt so much from Sijun, from illustration, painting, and art... all of it is so applicable to graphic design.

I know what you mean about the whole 3d abstract scene atm. It's all a bit similar, and quite messy. However, there is some really cool stuff, and I think its when they use less shapes, and make things a little more recognisable.. instead of silly random distortions, warp, twist etc...

silber: Thx, glad you like them. I am curious about the first one though. Because I have a few doubts about certain things in it. The typography is kinda cheap, and quick, but I was rushed for time. I sorta got carried away by the background FX.

What are your thoughts about it? what don't you like in particular? It would really help a lot.

[Ian Jones]

Oh, just to clarify about the olive oil label. Imagine the white isn't there. It's a stick on label.

I'm looking for any crits at all... I want to try and track down areas where I could do better. any ideas?

[Beowulfthefallen]

Mmmm..that Olive Oil label makes me want to rob it of its virginity.

[Torstein Nordstrand]

I've already been to this thread once, and I'm sorry to tell you that I think they all work very well. However, since you're practically begging for us to tear it apart, here's my shot.

The Marley... the bottom line seems cramped and it's not... 'talking' as fluently to the rest of the picture.

The topmost, blue one - there's something slightly uneasy going on, and if it is to sell a product, it might be made more inviting... I think it's due to some jitterishness or etwas.

The Cd cover is fantastic, I'd buy it.

If you want to challenge yourself, you might try to add one more colour to the Olive painting to make it pop out when placed on a suitable container? It's deliciously balanced as is, but might perhaps be a bit dull in the store? Especially on a black bottle.

Pardon my (probably subjective) vagueness, it's a difficult language on a difficult theme, and my art vocabulary is a partially filled hole. You've got a lot of skill, and are an asset to this forum. Hope I could help.

[Ian Jones]

Thx, that really helped. I agree about the text on the lower half.. I kind of had trouble with it. I'll look into it some more.

I'm very curious about the topmost one. Its not to sell a product btw. I know you said it seems uneasy... and I really need to find out why? It's the one thats bugging me the most. I'm geussing it has something to do with the colours? or the texture, and slight lack of contrast?

I looked up 'Etwas' in a german-english dictionary, but I still dont get what you mean. I think you mean that there is 'something' missing, or that it could just be 'something' and 'anything', not a design with a purpose in particular.

Glad you like the CDR designs. thx, I had great fun making it.

The olive oil label is monochromatic, my teacher said that too. I'll have to touch it up a bit, its a photoshop duotone so hence a lack of some control over it. I'll fix that up.

I want to use that colour scheme, and special FX from the topmost one, again.. but in a different form. I geuss If I had one question to ask ppl, it would be. Do you think the colour scheme, and glowy light streaks look cool?

[Dr. Bang]

YES!!!!!!!!!!!

[BiTMAP]

top one bugs me becuase it's go nowere for my eyes to rest, something needs to stand out, and since your doing graphical design, your message should stand out, get that message to popout more, perhaps some sort of hue varations bringing the eyes into it.

2 and 3 are wonderful, they are something i would want ot see more of, but the back seems to have to much of a texture and i find that takeing away from the actual Text. the olive oil, i'd suggest a yellow perhaps into those beams, more of a vibrant thing to it, otherwise it is quite dull. but refreshing yet instead of all those ugly coloured add loaded labels i see. (were do they get those designers, that isn't a design, thats slapping alot of useless info) The bob marley Is kind of odd, becuase the hand feels VERY disconnected, and the bottom is very full, I suggest moving the text to the top at least, that should hopefuly fix it for you, but may also ruin the way that the eyes are led from the hand down the arm to the faces (which brings you back from the right hand to the left hand side were the text starts good job on that, i do not know if it was intentional but its' good).... another idea i just had, maybe put a super imposed face of marley in the upper section, bigger then the actual area, expressing to big for this book, A culter and a man that is so much more then this book could show, but we try.

catching me?

[Ian Jones]

Dr. Bang: hehe, thx...

BiTMAP: thx, that cleared up a few things in my mind. focal point, clearer message, Variation in hue, contrast and brightness are somethings I have now realised about the topmost one. Thx for that, I just couldn't put my finger on it.

All those horrible labels you see in supermarkets, are unfortunately mostly due to clients bad taste. It can be of course, bad designers too, and as a designer I hope I can at least educate a client about design sense moreso than usually happens. In that way I may have some more room to move in, and consequently a better product (hopefully).

My mum also said that the Bob Marley hand looked too detached. I can see that now. Also your suggestion of a larger superimposed face was a good idea, something I hadn't considered.

Thx for you help.

[silber]

sorry about not answering your question so long.
agree with some comments above about the first one,additionaly I would like to say that the compostion is very boring because the type is following the direction of the background so there is no focal point and no contrast(except the color) in the pic, it seems like there is missing an element.

[ken]

sorry, no crits. i'd SO buy all this stuff!

-Ken