Work in Progress*

Minimalism in Website Design
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Here are some really beautiful clean and functional websites.
These are just some of the websites I often visit for graphic inspiration. Studying sites like this influenced my online portfolio so I hope they will inspire many others:

Vignelli Associates
Non-Format
Nick Bell
Saville Wakefield
We Are Build
Studio Makgill
Cartlidge Levene
B&W Studio
BB/Saunders
NavyBlue
Browns Design

[via Thinking For A Living]

Mathematics creates amazing graphic precision…

Grid Calculator is a powerful software that helps you create a perfect grid for any design project. It’s ideal for projects such as book and magazine design, logo, retail, webdesign and much much more. The software uses a complex algorithm to do the calculations for the grid.

With amazing step-by-step video tutorials, you can easily become familiar with the software and what it has to offer. You can even try before you buy!

For more information on the software please visit Designers Bookshop and follow the links for Grid Calculator and while you’re there why not read the interviews of Joe Duffy and Stefan Sagmeister.

[Sale BUY for around £47] current conversion rate

Antonio Carusone for featuring my online portfolio on TheGridSystem.org last week.

Since October I have been trying to think of a way to create a conceptual approach to a simple desktop design. Here is a little feedback I received when I asked my Flickr contacts:

Here are just some of the many responses:

Ben Kimball: not a graphic designer, but as photographer/cartographer:

NatureyPrettyStuff
Self-Deprecating Humor
Maps
Forks
Failures I Learned From
Failures I Learned Nothing From
Intentionally Streaking Things
The Delightfully Odd

Mark Blyth: Neat idea!

Stuff that really needs doing
Stuff that I can procrastinate about
Stuff that’ll never need doing

Christine: Mine would be:

Black and white
To Repair
Sunsets
No work needed.

So as you can see it was very varied.

With the combination of TheGridSystem’s inspiring website and the urgent need of being more organised when it comes to my desktop; I decided what better way than to incorporate my websites Six Grid System into something I could use to get my files more organised and something I could share with other creatives.

Here is the end result using titles which are changeable for each individual user:

So now instead of having one file on my desktop saying the proverbial ‘Sort!’ I will now be able to place my files on my desktop in accordance to type and subject.

To download your own editable version:

[1200x1000]
[1200x1000 Inverted]

Please mail me for other screen resolutions.

My updated Resumé with additional Testimonials - Preview:

Now all the information is present, I’m currently working on the typographical hierarchy of my PDF portfolio. The fields within the grid have helped tremendously.

Many graphic design vacancies, as well as requesting a resume, ask for a PDF Porfolio, creating this was going to be inevitable. Now i have the main structure, it’s time to tweak and modify (and take out those nasty hyphens).

The reel is an interesting concept, but i’m still unsure as to whether or not it is successful. On the other hand working with InDesign enables a selection of interactive components when exported as a PDF. With this in mind, to be user friendly, clear navigation would give ease of use. I don’t want to go too far with the PDF as this is a work sampler.

With much experimentation, i’ve concluded that the 2nd grid system is far more successful. Although i’m now considering whether or not the portfolio will work as a vertical reel - here is an example of the design below. The ‘about’ section does not seem to flow with the first reel entry, (covering the about section) the top section works rather well on it’s own.

[The gray block will hopefully be a photograph, professional portrait]

With the Grid & without:

This week i’ve created many grid’s for my new PDF portfolio, which will be available to download or emailed if requested. To begin with I’ve designed grids to trial which will be more successful for showcasing selected works. The wider columns will hold information about the briefs and the images themselves will be displayed along the wider columns. The narrow columns will display names. captions of images, titles and dates: a restricted field.

There will be no restrictions on how many fields are taken up by one image. Also there will be no restrictions on quotes, these can cover the wider columns. The next stage after setting up the grid is choosing a type family, in the meantime - here i have used Adobe Carlson Pro, Regular for body text, Bold Italic for sub title and Italic for the captions. These are the two finals, exploring not only the grid - but fields.

The PDF portfolio will be may be formated as a continuum, scrolling down through the selected works.

The best reference to learn about the Grid and it’s mathematical framework problem-solving:
Grid Systems in Graphic Design by Josef Muller-Brockmann

Grid 01/02
Revealing the grid (partial):

The Outcome (partial):

Inspired by “Geschichte Der Schweizer Kunsttopographie.”

Grid 02/02
This Grid would have more impact as a single screen rather than scrolling down.
Revealing the grid (partial):

The Outcome (partial):

Inspired by “Grid Systems in Graphic Design”
by Josef Muller-Brockmann.