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io is the brain-childs behind international campaigns for some of the world's best known brands; Lavazza, Baileys, Guinness, Ducati, Smirnoff, Pimm's and Ferraro chocolates to name a few...The team at io consists of a crazy bunch of designers, photographers and copywriters all of whom understand the importance of a work/play relationship but who also live and breathe design outside of the studio. io gave me immense freedom to work on large brand names whilst receiving world class training along the way. Throughout this period I also I attended Italian night classes at Turin University which taught me to communicate with clients and colleagues in Italian on a daily basis.
Upon my return to the UK I was fortunate enough to complete a short period of work experience at Aardman Animations, the infamous creators of Wallace & Gromit and Creature Comforts, where I had an insight into the world of TV advertising.
Here is a selection of my work created at tp24 limited, an eco lighting firm with an innovative outlook. tp24 designs nearly all of its own fittings and light bulbs, some of which are award winning and the company has been voted into the 'Future 50' several years running now. The following selection of artwork demonstrates my skills in the design of digital and print based media.
tp24 Limited.
This project won first prize in the 'Make it real challenge' on Instructables.com First prize was a 3D printer, see the recreational design section for a demonstration. Scand, designed by Scott Allen, is a piece of functional body art for consumers with single upper-body amputations. Scand aims not only to enhance the user's quality of life through added functionality but also to blow disproportionate, semi-fake prostheses out of the water with dimensionally accurate yet honest styling that allows users to express their personalities and increase social acceptance by completing their body profiles (Marr's computational Theory of perception, 1988) and by reducing the occurrence of the 'Uncanny Valley Phenomena'; the sense of 'repulsion' caused by one discovering that a limb, you thought was real, being in fact a fake (Mori, 1970).
Existing designs of prostheses can be ugly, disproportionate, heavy, expensive and have low levels of social acceptance, particularly prosthetic hooks. Despite this, prosthetic hooks are favoured by many due to their higher levels of functionality. In an effort to retain this vital functionality, Scand incorporates this very mechanism, albeit a modified version.
First, a cast is made of the user's existing hand using an environmentally friendly, seaweed based Alginate formula and Cystacal-D Dental stone. Next a 3D scan of the cast is taken to produce a CAD mesh model. The CAD model is manipulated, solidifed, shelled and mirrored before the second phase of further manipulation, to encompass the internal mechanism, fixing points, rubber sleeve and a cavity in the top for interchangeable push-fit objects such as a clock, compass or electronic device. The CAD data is then sent to a 3D printer where the new prosthesis is printed very slowly, layer by layer using a fine powder. The thumb and finger grip are printed in a different, rubberised material for maximised grip. An Aluminium mechanism with elasticated tension, enables the rubberised thumb to open and close with variable gripping force, permitting the user to grasp objects. The thumb mechanism is actuated by a conventional body worn harness and cable system; moving the opposite shoulder increases/releases the cable's tension. The hope is that retaining operational familiarity will help many users in the transition from older prostheses to the new Scand design.
This prototype was designed specifically for a client, a transradial amputee who lost his left hand to cancer, at age 21. The design of Scand has significantly improved this user's quality of life allowing him to grip fine objects such as food sachets, snooker cues and spice jars, objects that he was unable to pick up with his previous prosthesis. Additionally, Scand is lightweight and more balanced to the user's natural hand weight when compared to his previous, rather heavy prosthesis. This has eased day to day use and general fatigue. The client felt that the individuality and proportional accuracy of Scand, coupled with its ability to reinstate functionality, would benefit many new amputees during rehabilitation. Consumer's will be able to commission the styling of their new prosthesis, including colours, materials, inlays and a choice of insertable push-fit objects enabling them to proudly express their personalities, not mask their disabilities.
For a step by step guide to this project, please Click here.
Scand Prosthetic Hand.
SaladBud addresses a number of issues impacting on the current user-experience with salad spinners. SaladBud's footprint is 20% less than the average salad spinner, eliminating the need to store a bulky product designed to serve a whole family. It is a gadget intended for young couples in the kitchens of 'first-time-buyers' and students/working professionals with shared kitchens, where space is often limited. SaladBud's modern aesthetics (transparent shell and boldly coloured mechanism) aim to reflect the tastes of this youthful target market. Colours were inspired by fresh fruit and vegetables and convey a vibrant and healthy lifestyle. The fun of witnessing the mechanism in operation adds playfulness and heightens the sense of an honest, organic user experience.
An innovative squeeze mechanism permits one-handed operation and frees the second hand for simultaneous tasks such as pouring dressings into the funnel mid-cycle, ensuring an even coverage. The shell is made of toughened glass which provides visual feedback, adds luxurious weight and is cool to touch, somewhat comparable to an ornament. Glass also allows the shell to be pre-chilled in a fridge for hot summer BBQs. The glass shell could be used as a fruit bowl when not in use, saving cupboard space. The inner basket, made of heat resistant silicon-coated plastic, doubles as a colander, perfect for pasta or rice salads. Additionally, the inner basket can be used on top of a saucepan as a steamer. This multi-functionality preserves storage, reduces washing-up and encourages in-home creativity to produce salads previously unique to fashionable salad bars and restaurants.
Commercially, SaladBud can enhance the production of individual salads, prepared in front of customers. One-handed operation enables the chef to 'act out' the preparation of the salad, similar to the act of cocktail making. SaladBud would be expected to retail around £55 and peak sales could be expected at the break of summer and around both Christmas and New Year.
Saladbud Salad Spinner.
Breda Lorett requested the design of a new trade stand, I was asked to create a 1:1 scale CAD model of the proposed design and mount the new graphics.
Lorett Trade Stand.
Electro Power Systems are a power company situated in the Italian mountains of Aosta, they specialise in providing cleanly sourced electricity through the use of Hydrogen and Oxygen powered mobile machines.
The company required promotional photographs of their product and business to add to their website and to show to potential clients. I visited the factory along with a photographer and was responsible for directing the photoshoot and taking some of the photos. The photographer responded well to my directions and provided technical solutions to my desired outcomes. The following photos are the shots that I took myself.electro power systems.
X-VU are a company specialising in the production of shampoo for both men and women, but then there is the other side of the company; X-VU Pet that focuses on production for the animal market. The names are dangerously similar and the pet side was in need of desperate rebranding. I began brainstorming new logos and names including 'The Fur Salon' and 'Pet-vu'. I designed labels for both these names and met with the client. From here the client chose to continue developing under the Pet-Vu brand. I designed the labels for a range of bottles, paying attention to the necessary text, safety instructions and legal iconography.
Pet-VU.
The Classic Malts Selection is a group of individual single malt whisky distilleries in Scotland. Each one embodies its own distinct flavours and characteristics. Just a few of the Whiskies include, Royal Lochnagar, Oban, Talisker, Lagavulin, the Singleton of Dufftown.
Classic Malts requested the design and manufacture of a one-off drinks podium to display their 'dream bottles' series to clients attending extremely exclusive VIP dinners across major Italian cities. I designed the podium on CAD and the designs were sent off to be manufactured by hand.
Classic Malts Dream Bottles.
The Classic Malts Selection are a group of individual single malt whisky distilleries in Scotland. Each one embodies its own distinct flavours and characteristics. Just a few of the Whiskies include, Royal Lochnagar, Oban, Talisker, Lagavulin, the Singleton of Dufftown.
Classic Malts wanted us to design and manufacture educational stands within their distilleries to teach visitors the fundamentals of Whiskey tasting through a sensory experience. The idea was to display scent bottles referring to common tastes such as malt, mint, oaky, smokey and honey for example. I was responsible for designing the labels for these miniature scent bottles in a professional, legible and corporate manner.
Classic Malts Selection.
G-Service is an Italian mechanics group with garages all over Italy. We designed an advert for their new G-Service App, which would allow users to locate their nearest garage. For this project I designed 3D lettering, a CAD model of the intended counter-top advertising board and an advert which I mounted onto the CAD model all of which I made into an informative presentation piece to show the clients just one method of marketing their future App.
G-service.
Gancia is a delicious sparkling white wine from the Piemonte region, northern Italy. Gancia is now a worldwide brand and for their next campaign they wanted to convey a sense of springtime freedom, relaxation and ultimate freshness. These adverts were designed to feature throughout Hello! magazine.
Gancia.
Italian furniture store Mobili Nota were seeking a new corporate identity as well as a new magazine advert. I started fresh, assigning a new company logo, CMYK brand colours and then worked upwards from here designing business cards, letterheads, envelopes, company forms, note blocks, stickers and a promotional CD-ROM gallery package with an envelope and a map. The end result was a set of consistent corporate media, recognisable branding and a professional basis for client interaction.
MOBILI NOTA.
This project entailed redesigning the packaging for Tre Cavalli cigarettes. Using CAD software, Pro Engineer, I created 3D models consisting of both the packaging and the cigarettes themselves, whilst another of our designers, Matteo Ciccarone, created the 2D graphics. The 3D models were then used to mount the 2D graphics and these were then used as visual proposals to show to the client.
3 CAVALLI.
Diageo is the world's leading drinks company with some of the most widely recognised brands, such as Smirnoff, Gui ness, Baileys and Tanqueray to name a few. Diageo requested the production of an POS order booklet for use by bartenders in Italy. The following images show both my designs and the merchandise intended for order.
DIAGEO.
World renowned Italian coffee company Lavazza wished to launch a new flavoured product line called 'Blendissimo', an espresso based frappe with Italian vanilla ice-cream, crushed ice and topped-off with a choice of spiralling whipped cream or a layer of chilled milky froth. Below are a series of promotional product lines I designed for the new product launch. The swatch style menu is a fun and interactive method for choice selection and the acetate swatch menu, in particular, really plays on this concept, enabling the user to physically build and visualise their desired drink using the different layers. The swatch menu with a pivot point at the top allows two customers to share and discuss the menu, this idea integrates perfectly with the sociable nature of the Italian café lifestyle.
Lavazza Blendissimo.
Sometimes consumers have to work too hard to find the right products in supermarkets, yes there are shop assistants but many would rather not have to hunt one down first. A clear layout is not only beneficial for the consumer, it makes perfect sense for the supermarket and their suppliers too. We studied an Italian supermarket and found little effort had been made to maximise consumer communication, even though the produce had been organised into product types. Making use of the third dimension using section dividers or 'flags' is a great idea but in this instance we thought it could be executed more effectively. These CAD models demonstrate just how clear the consumer process can be made by using simple colour coding and 3-dimensional communication.
Six months later I entered this project into the POPAI Student Awards 2011 and received the bronze prize. The competition is run on an annual basis by the retail trade association POPAI (which stands for Point-of-Purchase Advertising International). Students from around the UK & Ireland submit designs and case studies for P-O-P which are then judged by a panel of top brands and retailers.Supermarket Point of Sale.
We sent one of our studio members to do some research on the current shelving situation and to take measurements, photographs and to evaluate the task in hand. It was clear that there were several items of the shelving that could be customised; the shelf strips, the headers, flags and of course anything else we wanted to add.
The shelving graphics are customisable to suit the brand identity of the store. This includes the choice of colours for the header, shelf strips, floor stickers and flags. It is also possible to select your own images for the header and corresponding flag to suit your style.
The floor stickers and flags simply segregate the product sections so consumers can easily identify product sections both on approach and facing the section. This CAD model makes it possible to visualise the benefits of combining two and three-dimensional POS communication.
Zacapa Rum is produced in a small town in Guatemala called Zacapaneca, where the inhabitants tend to make a living from artisan products made from "Royal Palm", including the woven band worn by Zacapa's bottles. Zacapa Rum is considered by many as the best rum in the world, which may be a result of the distilling process. The distilled Rum rests in Oak barrels in cool temperatures 8000ft above sea level, in the upper mountains and volcanoes of Guatemala. The cool temperature slows the ageing process, while the thinner air and lower atmospheric pressure helps intensify the infusion of flavours from the barrels. Maturing Rum at this altitude also reduces evaporation during the distilling process, so rather cleverly there's less lost to the 'angel's share.'
Zacapa wanted widespread advertising coverage, so we took them to the people and launched a Facebook competition offering users the opportunity to win an all inclusive weekend trip for two to Paris and to dine at the top of the Eiffel tower. The Facebook users needed to become friends with Rum Zacapa Facebook page and simply 'like' the page to be entered into the competition. My layout strictly followed Brand guidelines such as font type, font colour, font size, logo size and even which bottles may feature next to one another, in conjunction with creating a premium and ambient mood.Ron Zacapa
Ducati approached us asking for some new online media and general promotion, we chose to revamp their website and create something fun that Ducati fans would find useful; an iPhone app. We split the workload across the studio, I designed the Ducati Experience page for the app. This page provides fans with important previous/upcoming event information, including previous event summaries. Users can save Ducati events on their iPhone calendar or 'share' the event with friends via social networks, e-mail and SMS. The Experience page also enables users to access a gallery with video footage and professional photography from each race.
Ducati.
Breda Lorett manufacture car parts compatible with 90% of European vehicle production, they serve 50 countries and produce 1,400,000 items per year. The company specialises in bearings, dampeners, belt tensioners and shock absorbers. This month they asked us (io adv) to promote the brand further through a new campaign. Breda Lorett will be hosting an exhibition to promote the company, gain new contacts and increase sales. Following the exhibition there will be a party held in a club/function room consisting of a DJ and catering. As designers our task was to promote this function with a Breda Lorett campaign consisting of invitations, teasers, e-mails and posters. At first the brief only stated that the campaign must contain the Breda Lorett vehicle parts, this was later expanded to a campaign both containing the vehicle parts but also based on the theme of music.
Breda Lorett.
In Piazza Vittorio at the heart of Turin's prestigious centre, you can find a stylish and popular bar, La Drogheria. The bar itself features grand vaulted ceilings, a rustic cobbled floor, various stylised furnishings from worn, ragged lamp shades and cosy, chipped wooden furniture to fully functional gymnast rings suspended above the bar. La Drogheria possesses a sense of creativity, warmth, passion and an understanding of 'cottage charm' in a building built on rather contrasting ostentatious values.
"The Rainforest Alliance, original pioneer of the concept of certified sustainable coffee and Italian espresso magnate Lavazza have gotten together to help farmers in remote villages in Colombia, Honduras and Peru, to improve their quality of life along with the coffee they grow. Believing that good farming practices can produce top quality beans, better prices for farmers, sustain rural communities, and help conserve the rainforest all at the same time, the duo is helping to guide coffee producers with farming, training, and capital too." (www.treehugger.com) Lavazza's sustainable range goes by the name of Tierra!
La Drogheria has been selected by Lavazza Tierra to become a venue for various forthcoming events and interviews. They requested some new furnishings to compliment both their brand and the current kitsch/rustic style of the bar. All designs were required to represent the presence of Lavazza Tierra in a traditional manner. I was assigned the sector of lighting for this project.
Lavazza and Tierra.
This was an advertising bid whereby agencies composed their individual proposals to successfully market the Lavazza Espression brand and launch their new Christmas addition to the èspessone drinks range, 'è̀spessone Cinnamon'. The proposal should increase sales, market the new product as a new, seasonal, delicious and festive drink whilst taking into consideration the Brand ethos, company values and aesthetics. Proposals from each advertising agency were then assessed with the winning agency granted the ability to liaise further with Lavazza to realise certain proposals. We were successful with our Lavazza proposal and are thus working towards publication for the end of November 2010.
Lavazza Espression.
PIMM'S needed a counter top display with the ability to hold 400-500 A5 leaflets. The display had to communicate the PIMM's brand, be stylish, cost effective, durable, wipeable and fit comfortably on a bar counter. It had to also advertise the PIMM's brand in a traditional yet recognisable fashion. The stand was manufactured and will be rolled out to numerous bars all across Italy such as The GranBar, Torino.
Pimm's.
Design a children's placemat for the Lavazza Blue range. It should contain the Lavazza logo, the coffee capsules, ample text space, a new mascot and a simple game.
Lavazza Blue.
This was an elevated and interchangeable chopping board designed for the student market, it is space saving, convenient and provides linear workspace in a shared cooking environment. Place a plate, bowl or frying pan beneath, then simply chop, slice or grate straight into it. Unused cutters can be stored in your matching upright 'buddy'. You can even store the board upright without it sliding down the wall or requiring any form of propping-up. Available in a variety of colour schemes it's not only a stylish product, it's also from one of the worlds favourite quality catering brands.
Kenwood.
Whether its vector, pixel or CAD based, I like to pick up new techniques and I find online tutorials a great way to do that..here are just a few..I've also added a video of me 3D printing a fully functioning trumpet mouthpiece on my Instructables prize (See Scand project for competition entry).
Recreational design.
