'Rich has super sturdy foundations to his design and art directing house, as well as a deep rooted understanding of brand design systems...a great guy to work alongside, bringing his boundless energy, eye for colour and excellent illustration skills with him to all he touches' Amy Johnson, TWIN-Associates
Previous clients: BBC, Google, Lloyds Banking Group, Unilever, Marraum, Viasat, Sky, Across the pond, Hemingway Design, A+E Network, RED BEE MEDIA, TWIN Associates.
NEWS UPDATE
ART DIRECTION
ELVTR Art Direction in Advertising Course with Fred Corazza, McCann World Group UK & Europe
I took this course in Art Direction in Advertising with Fred Corazza to recap on art direction skills and and to fill in any gaps with background reading.
The course covers the foundations of art direction, concept ideation and development, production, pitching and presenting, portfolio development and career tips.
Assignments during the course have helped develop the processes Fred goes through in his role as Art Director. I've really enjoyed learning in this format, challenging myself to demonstrate skills in a graded format. I feel as if my design practice has been deepened and inspired and affirmed, and my idea generation skills have improved.
It has been fantastic to find out if the ideas I think I have can cut it. To learn how to craft ideas into unique, executable ideas for advertising, and to learn more about the advertising industry from Fred.
MENTORING
Being freelance can limit contact with people who I can pass my skills onto and who I can also learn from.
Mentoring outside a company management structure has been empowering.
It has made me test my knowledge and question my methods, research why I do things the way I do and formulate it into something I can communicate effectively.
The feedback I have had has been positive. Its a great feeling when someone tells you you've helped them meet a challenge.
MORE ABOUT ME & MY WORK
BRANDS & LOGOS
I love logos, the philosophy behind a brand, the big ideas of a service or product in a visual form, crafted until the only remaining parts of it are the essentials.
Creating a logo has to be a process of stripping back until what remains says only one thing with all its heart, all that it is, its shape, colour, motion, size, environment. In every way this thing, this logo IS that brand, it contains everything that brand is. Somehow, magically logos can do that.
Show me a logo and I can tell you what it means, how it feels and what it says in today’s culture.
MOTION
People connect more easily with brands that move. Motion is something we feel naturally. We experience it all the time, it has meaning, giving weight, personality, mood. I’ve always animated from the viewpoint of a break dancer, surfer, cyclist. I'm informed by the understanding of how things move I built as a boy playing with toy cars and plastic soldiers, skimming stones and making waves with toy boats.
These observations are confirmed by what I've learned about motion on screen and practiced for 20 years.
ILLUSTRATION
Drawing is something we always did in my family. Mum would say 'Make a card for (insert family or friend's name)'. Partly to keep me busy, partly to save money and also to share our developing skills with our family. Its something I do with my girls now.
Drawing, sketching and drafting visuals is a constant in my work. Creating images comes naturally.
CONCEPTUAL DESIGN & TYPOGRAPHY
I studied Fine Art. Design knowledge, until recently, has come on the job, from amazing colleagues. Conceptual thinking has always been present.
Recently I've learned more about typography, further deepening my ability to imbue meaning and cultural relevance to my work.