12 Brands of Christmas - 6 Geese-a-Laying

Drinking responsibly - always a good idea. Often it doesn't happen at Christmas though. So many excuses to meet up with friends and family, and sometimes it's the only time of year people arrange to see each other. When meeting up, can't go wrong with a nice tasting vodka. in my opinion, there's a big difference in the tastes of vodkas, and when available, I prefer Grey Goose.

It's a simple logo with quite close kerning. I think it rather masculine, but that is because of the 2 colours. The bird is a good extra, which is becoming recognisable as Grey Goose, even without the name. Much like the nike 'swoosh' logo, or the Apple logo.

http://www.greygoose.com/

12 Brands of Christmas - 7 Swans-a-Swimming

A lot of candles are bought and sold at Christmas. Table decorations, advent candles, and a range of scents including cinnamon, spices, vanilla and berries. The only time we light many candles in my house is at Christmas, which makes the festive season even more special. I often find myself referring a smell as 'Christmas smell'. Most likely, it will be a candle - or turkey!

Swan matches have been around since 1883, and have very original packaging. I think it has the power of being so memorable because it is traditional and recognisable. Simple block colours, plain and not busy or cluttered. 

http://www.houseofswan.com/

12 Brands of Christmas - 8 Maids-a-Milking

Chocolate is a popular Christmas gift. Boxes, bars, selection packs, tubes, bags - they come in many different varieties. Snacking on chocolate is a general Christmas Day activity, making sure I don't spoil my appetite for the big roast!

The Dairy Milk logo is now so familiar that if I see the colour I immediately think of this brand of chocolate. It's smooth, soft and luxurious.

http://www.cadburydairymilk.co.uk/

12 Brands of Christmas - 9 Ladies Dancing

A lot of the time, Christmas is be about children. They get so excited, with all the decorations and presents and or course, Santa dropping off some toys. There are so many presents available, electronic games, consoles, things that talk and walk, but it's still important to get kids more traditional things, like books. At the end of a long day, kinds need to wind down, and at bedtime reading a book is more important than them still playing on some playstation game. 

Ladybird books are known worldwide, with the first book being printed during the First World War. There is an extensive range of books - something for everyone, and even books that adults love. There has been quite a number of variations on the Ladybird logo. All show a ladybird in some way, starting off as a plain illustration, and progressing on to the red ladybird that is seen now.

12 Brands of Christmas - 10 Lords-a-Leaping

The epic trilogy is being shown on Channel 4 over Christmas. All 3 are very long films, so make sure you sit down with plenty of food and drink. The films were originally released in December which makes them even more Christmassy, even without any Christmas theme - apart from a bit of snow!

12 Brands of Christmas - 11 Pipers Piping

Christmas parties, gatherings, catch-ups, are all reasons to have nibbles. I like this logo for Pipers crisps - it's got a rustic feel, which is neat and clean. As well as being a tasty brand, they also source their ingredients locally which is becoming increasingly important for people in the UK trying to keep businesses afloat in a troubling time.

www.piperscrisps.com

12 Brands of Christmas - 12 Drummers Drumming

Christmas is a stressful time of year, and I'm sure a lot of people find they smoke more over the festive period. That is why I have chosen Drum tobacco to be my first of the 12 Brands of Christmas.

Merry Christmas!

12 Brands of Christmas

To celebrate the festive period, I have decided to make '12 Brands of Christmas'. I will be posting a brand for each day relating to the '12 Days of Christmas' song. 

I love Christmas!

Christmas Card 2012

I wanted to make a Christmas card for my friends this year. I've been loving Art Nouveau for a while, and I wanted to design something that resembled that style.

Happy Christmas!

Visconti Rebrand

I have recently been working on a little brief I set myself, to rebrand Visconti, an Italian pen company. The pens are traditionally made, of high quality, and therefor require an company image which maintains their desirability.

Current Logo

                                                               My Design


I do like their current logo, however I feel it is a tad dated, and just not quite put together effectively. I decided to keep to icon of the V because it works very well when applied to the nibs, ink bottles etc, and will be recognisable. To give Visconti a slightly more modern feel I gave the logo a more rounded shape, whilst keeping the top of the V squared to mimic the typeface underneath. The V contains the shape of a typical nib, and also the smoothness and transition from the thick and thin writing of a calligraphy pen. These things bring in different elements to the design.

With the type, I didn't feel the logo needed too much of a change from what was already designed, so I chose a serif typeface which is clear, with a nice rounded C and O. I chose not to include the 'Firenze' that was in the current logo because I wanted to strip it back and not to over clutter or bulk up the logo unnecessarily.

Testing out the logo on Visconti products I think it looks good. Clear and classy.

More applications are to follow.







This is my logo design, set as a personal project for myself, and is not commissioned or associated with the company.

Design Your Own Christmas Bauble

I remember when I was in primary school, I loved designing, colouring in, or doing anything to do with arts and crafts. I thought a template would be useful for Early Learning HQ so that teachers and parents could download it and keep the kids occupied for a while! I created a black and white version which would be more suitable for teachers to photocopy.

Christmas Board Game

I created a simple Christmas board game for ELHQ. It's the first work I've created in a couple of months because I've been very busy with my job. I wanted the game to be visual and bright, but not too complicated because the target age is quite young.

Tetley Team Tea Poster

The lovely people at Tetley Tea Folk found my motivational team tea poster on my website, and they liked it so much they shared it on their Facebook page! The poster has also been tweeted by Strudel, a design company based in London. I had fun making the poster and I'm glad other people are enjoying it also. 

It can be viewed by clicking here.

New Website Design

I have just finished updating my website I've made it a bit more user friendly with links to each project on the left side, instead of having all the projects on one page. I wanted the viewer to be able to focus on each project rather than being drawn to some and missing others. I've added a 'Freelance' section to showcase some of the work that I have been doing for ELHQ.




The website can be found at www.sophieegler.com

Any feedback on the new design is greatly appreciated!

Children's Kite Maze

I've been very busy recently so not had time to update my blog.

For ELHQ I've designed another maze. This time it is a kite maze, suitable for the subjects of spring, summer, holidays etc.

Diamond Jubilee and Olympics Mini Flags

For the London Olympics and Diamond Jubilee I thought some cupcake/muffin/food mini flags would look good in school, at parties and at home too. Due to the use of scissors and glue, adult supervision is required, but the end result is enjoyed by everyone!

Diamond Jubilee and Olympics Bunting

As it's very current, I've been working on some Diamond Jubilee pdfs. The first is 5 bunting designs where each A4 sheet has a different design. It is quite simple and will work well on a wall display in a school. The information on each flag is different but still connected to the jubilee.

Childrens Spring Easter Maze

A simple maze for children. It can be used under different themes including Easter, spring and animals.

Floral Flower Display Letters and Numbers

I've had a busy few weeks but managed to create a set of floral letters suitable for summer, spring, classroom or bedroom displays, labels etc.

How to Fish - Childrens Handout PDF

Just been creating a simple handout to show children the stages of fishing. I used illustrations created previously for a uni project and put them together with a short caption.

Freelance - Early Learning HQ

The first few freelance designs for Early Learning HQ have been uploaded to the website and are now available to download and use. It's nice to know that my work is of use to parents and teachers.

Below is a screen shot of some display lettering availbale on the website.

Musical Instrument Flash Cards

A series of musical instrument flash cards created for Early Learning HQ.

Early Learning HQ - Work Experience

Last week I started to create work for Early Learning HQ. It is a website where parents and teachers can download resources for children, for free. There is a range of material on the site, with games, letters, literacy, numeracy, songs and stories.

I have started off creating different themed letters and numbers using  Sassoon Primary Infant, the specified typeface, and am going to progress on to mazes, stickers and labels.

Below is a few examples of the pdf's I've created so far.

Slightly Changed Website

I've recently changed my website and updated it a bit. Check it out!

www.sophieegler.com

Owl Earrings

Snake Earrings

Jigsaw earrings

Some more earrings.

Flower Earrings

I've had a try at putting together some of my own earrings. Here's the final product!

Acoustic Gig Poster

Just a quick evening project I set myself to make a gig poster. This is just the first stage, making a mock ticket with the info on. I'm going to print it then photograph to make a portrait poster, which will look a bit more interesting than the flat ticket below.

CMYK Colour By Numbers

I've been looking at colour by number sheets (check my research blog here) and decided to have a try at making my own. This is only my first attempt and has taken a lot of tweaking to get it right.

I created the colour by numbers to be completed using CMYK values. It's not a very complicated design but it is more challenging than the common easy ones for children. When trying to come up with a style for the whole sheet, I debated between the typical title and number code and something a bit more suitable, like the printers marks I decided upon. I wanted to fit the numbers, colours, image and title together rather than just being separate parts of the page.

Motivational Team Tea Posters

I've been really busy recently, but managed to create a couple of quick motivational posters. The general idea is that a team is made up of many individuals, and in workplaces, these individuals have a certain cup that they drink from. A cup can say a lot about you, whether it's a present from a special person, or a free cup received with promotional material from a company you haven't even heard of, each has a story. A team doesn't work without variety, different views, opinions, and ideas.

I like tea with 1 sugar, or if I'm thirsty, green tea with mint.