Hello. this is me, Ben Linford.
graphic design student. internet marketer. benlinford (me)
// Protected: Bogey Art
July 12th, 2010// No longer the Wimble Don.
June 17th, 2010As far as I can remember, the Wimbledon Tennis Championship‘s website had always been a spectacle in its own right. I used to love scaling through its purple and green exterior. This year, the Wimbledon website looks like an empty shopfront, neglecting stock buying due to unstable economic conditions.
Maybe it does have something to do with the economic climate.
Maybe it’s a cost-cutting measure that’s been implemented to ensure the bank can provide the prize winners with their share of this year’s; £13,725,000 overall kitty. I have no idea whether general ticket sales have increased much over the years but a 9.4% overall increase in prize money (compared to last year), has got to be accumulated from somewhere.
I’ll be making my first trip Wimbledon this year, having been a consistent follower of the tournament on TV. It’s always been something I’ve wanted to do in my lifetime and it’ll be the first live tennis event I’ve seen, outside of the box – ohhh, so close.
// Got it?
May 24th, 2010Basically, there’s a Get Fed™ and a Got Fed™ range of nutritional energy enhanced foods. One of them is consumed by humans (yep), and one of them is consumed by, (the then) perfectly sane farmyard animals who now love to rave at the discotheque.
I can see why it had a few people baffled (pigs), but the backbone of the concept is strong.
Briefed by WMH (Williams Murray Hamm) a number of weeks ago to promote a range of three natural energy drinks.
In business terminology (well, in layman’s terms), we effectively cut out the middle-man.
We went right to the energy ‘sauce’, (which is where the idea generally came from).
We ditched the idea of the energy being in the form of condiments due to their perceived artificial nature. Whilst maintaining the link with foodstuff, we came to the idea that if we fed our natural food sources with our energy concoction, not only would the lower end of the food chain benefit during the span of their lives, but we would also reap the natural infusion of energy, embedded within their make-up.
The agricultural industry faces tough times. The onset of accelerating Global Warming is going to test farmers like they’ve never been tested. Supermarkets, looking to reward shareholders with unnecessarily huge dividends are constantly eating away at their livelihoods.
With our framework in place, willing farmers could invest in the Get Fed™ feed and take their livestock to market as niche goods labeled as (new tense), Got Fed™ produce, to be sold at a much more rewarding price to the farmer.
Not limited to just the consumption of (dead?) livestock. The whole concept could ring true (rather like a cow bell) with dairy products and fruit and vegetables.
If its roots are in the ground, it can Get Fed™
// Multi-million pound heel insert.
May 23rd, 2010For one of my University projects in the Autumn of last year, I was tasked to increase the monetary and perceived value of an item typically retailed at one pound or ninety-nine pence.
Although the actual value was unknown to me, I settled for a cushioning and supporting heel insert, for the inside of ones shoes.
With a cotton-based layer at heel contact, and a solid gel base. The object was unusually shaped.
My solution was to put the majority of focus on the gel layer at the bottom of one of the inserts, and rebranding it as a one-off conceptual model for a multimillion pound boating lake and leisure complex.
The product’s value has been increased by no longer being retailed, and being perceived as being bespoke, with an astronomic monetary value (indirectly), due to the overall build-cost of the complex.
The logo was designed to appeal to a wide range of consumers, whilst reflecting the energy and watery nature of the complex.
// From Print Screen to Screen Print.
May 5th, 2010Midway through the first, of my last four weeks as a first year student at Bucks New University, it is becoming ever-more apparent that time shifts through tenses like a zoetrope. It’s been a mystifying two years since I last used the ‘Print Screen’ key on a Windows based computer. After taking my first bite of the Apple, with the purchase of a glossy white Macbook, back in early 2008. Apple products have become a core ingredient in my creative crumble.
After flirting with some design ideas for a personal logo last week in the studio (in the hope of leading to a design for the 16 by 16 pixel, favicon .ico format), I came up with an initial mark. Once mocked up in Illustrator and printed in monochrome onto acetate, the design formed the basis of my screen, to be used in gaining a founding in the silkscreen printing method.
I had sketchy knowledge of the screen printing process from my two GCSE years at school. Having been tormented with diagrams of seemingly cuddly squeegees and precariously floating pots of coloured gloop, it was nice to finally penetrate that mesh.
Whilst on the topic of screen printing, the whole process has given me an idea for the design of this blog.
Stay tuned.
// More snaps than Steve Irwin.
May 1st, 2010I purchased my first ever Digital SLR camera today from Jessops with the standard Canon 18-55mm lense. Went for the Canon D550 (550D). I’ll get up close with nature myself with it tomorrow, if I have the time. Hopefully the wildest thing I’ll come across though, is a couple of old naturists… Hmmm. Maybe not – bring on the crocodiles.
Coincidentally, I had the privilege of spectating at one of Steve Irwin‘s croc demonstrations at Australia Zoo, in Brisbane a good number of years ago now. I’ll be heading off to Australia again (I know – I’m very lucky) for four weeks at the end of the year and there are so many things I’m looking forward to capturing while I’m out there.
No doubt, I’ll be needing my poncho tomorrow though, if I’m going to be waving that camera around. 
Happy Snapping!