Hello. this is me, Ben Linford.

graphic design student. benlinford ^(me)

// Multi-million pound heel insert.

May 23rd, 2010

For 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.

Tags: Architecture, boating, Bucks Colleagues, concept, design, drawing, lake, logo, model, money, tulip, uni, university, value, water
Posted in Architecture, Concepts, Digital, Methods |

// From Print Screen to Screen Print.

May 5th, 2010

Midway 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.