HairFix Kit

This project was a conceptual follow up to the Grand Prix Clippers. Inspired by Airfix model kits the clipper set comes with decals, an alternate cover, cutter guides, comb, blade oil and a possible lawsuit from the good people at Airfix. One for the drawing board I suspect.

Corioliss Brochure | Issuu

Thanks to a friend of mine I was introduced to the online publication resource Issuu. It's a great way of showing magazines and books online and it comes with my highest recommendations. The interface is really tidy and the page turn animation is great. We never seem to send a brochure to print at work because the product line keeps changing, so as soon as we print something its out of date. This is where Issuu comes in  - no print costs, flexibility to update files as needed and easy online distribution. Here is a link to the Corioliss brochure on Issuu.
Images © Copyright Corioliss 2010

Forever Like Red

Although working for free is perhaps a little exploitative it can also be a very useful enterprise particularly when one is trying to get a foot in the door of the mysterious design industry. In January 2007 I was fortunate enough to secure a two week work placement at Red Design.

The first project we worked on was a logo and cover design for a band called 'Forever Like Red'. After 2 days work the pitch was organised and the designs sent off, sadly no one looked at my proposals.  I went in early the next morning and luckily Ed noticed my work, he asked "Is this in the pitch" to which I replied "...er, no". To my surprise he wanted my proposal to be included and so we printed them out and off they went to London by courier.

A few months later I bumped into Steven, one of the designers at Red and he told me my logo design had been selected by the client and used on the album. As you can imagine I was shocked and amazed.

Images Copyright Red Design Ltd. Photography: Ladislav Kamarad 

Dusting off my sketch books

In an effort to share something a bit more personal, something analogue, in colour and without commercial requirements, briefs and computers I thought to upload a few pictures of my sketchbooks from days of old.                                                                                                                                           

  

Corioliss C1

During my first year working for Corioliss Ltd (2008) I was asked to submit design concepts for a new hair-straightener.

My main aim was to design a recognizable silhouette that was different from other products on the market as It seemed to me most hair irons looked pretty similar. In an effort to accommodate different materials and colours on the iron, and to continue the fashion inspired product language of Corioliss, I suggested the arms be constructed of two components. The colour/print of the inner and outer arms could then be contrasted and changed according to marketing requirements. I also I introduced curved,  extremities to guide the hair towards the plates and offer a place to grip the ends of the iron for extra control.

basic schematic drawings (below) were submited to the Korean manufacturer who thankfully developed the concept into a working product. After the final sample was signed of by the company directors I was worked on the design registration drawings.

Design © Copyright Corioliss Ltd 2010

MicBrush

I like it when ideas seem to come out of nowhere. There I was, tucked up in bed and almost in the land of nod when all of a sudden an image of a hairbrush with a microphone graphic appeared in my mind. I sat bolt up , grabbed the nearest scrap of paper and made a little sketch.

I presented the idea to my directors and happily they were willing to go ahead with the project. We never seem to have enough in stock which, I think, is a good sign. You can buy one here

Salon International

Salon International is a great big trade show held at London's Excel. Each year Corioliss has a stand and my job is to provide the graphics and theme. Vintage cinema was the idea this time round. The aim was to suggest the stage area was an entrance to a cult cinema.

I had lots of varied photos from our office in Miami to play with and the film poster format allowed me to tie the different images together and add a sense of romance and intrigue. Plus the awards we have won can be illustrated in a similar format to the movie style, and finally all staff can be credited at the foot of the posters. Corioliss is not a large company with an enormous budget like GHD but we do have a cult consumer following so the cinema concept seemed to me to be both logical and affordable.

Images Copyright Corioliss Ltd 2010

Apollo Hair Dryer

In October 2009 I started work on the identity and packaging for a new hairdryer by Corioiss. As the dryer looked quite space age and had some quite hi-tech features we decided upon the name Apollo. I then set to work on designing a sleeve and booklet for this product. At the time I did not have a final sample to hand so the idea of putting a lovely clean photo on the sleeve was not possible. Instead I chose to go down a more illustrative route with Sci-Fi/Space race influences.

After the packaging was produced a photo shoot took place which involved hiring an original space suit and mimicking the illustration on the sleeve, the photo was perfect for a double page advert for Tribute magazine.

More recently I discovered Rhino was available for the Mac and, due to the fact it is still in development, is completely free. Its a great bit of software and relatively easy to pick up, after working through a couple of tutorials I decided to try and make the Apollo hairdryer. Below are the results.

Grand Prix Clippers

Back in May 2009 I worked on this range of hair clippers for Corioliss. My director liked the idea of a La Mans/Steve McQueen style hair clipper and I took the project on from there. I created three colorways inspired by classic race tracks - Le Mans, Monza and Silverstone and a packaging solution inspired by matchbox car boxes.

The Le Mans Clippers were featured on Channel 4's Big Brother when Lee Stafford came into the house to cut the housemates hair.

Urban Art Collection

This was a collaborative project between Corioliss and Opus Underground. Opus underground provided us with artwork from Pure Evil and Jeff Aerosol from which we created a limited edition range of styling tools with said artwork.

Having dabbled in street art myself in my formative years this project seemed heaven sent.

We had a launch night at the Truman Brewery, Brick Lane, London. I organised the presentation of the products: as they were to be displayed alongside paintings and artwork I borrowed some plinths and set the products up to look like works of art/sculpture, with little red dot stickers applied to the plinths to suggest they had been sold.

To be honest it was a nerve wracking night as I was delayed by four hours before I could set up the show and had no idea what the gallery had in terms of plinths and people were arriving as I was setting up.

Original artwork © Jeff Aerosol and Pure Evil 

C2 Crystal

There are expensive hair straighteners and then there is the Corioliss C2 Crystal. Encrusted with over 2000 crystal elements this styling iron is for oligarchs, footballers wives and people with Black American Express credit cards.

Each iron comes with a certificate of authenticity and a little booklet. This was my first ever branding/packaging projects at Corioliss and it was definitely one of those 'in at the deep end' experiences.

C2 Packaging

Back in May 2009 I worked on re-positioning the Corioliss C2 professional styling iron. The brief was to create a solution that communicated luxury and exclusivity. The box itself had been sourced from another supplier so my role was to design a sleeve that would work across the range.

The project allowed me to specify some really tasty print finishes, lamination, varnishing, embossing, and develop a new logo for the product. It was great fun at the time - and a real pleasure to work with printers who understood exactly what I was hoping to achieve.

Lee Stafford | Boots

Earlier this year I was charged with the task of repositioning Lee Stafford's electrical products. Though the previous treatment was a nice idea in that it had re-usable elements it just didn't seem to communicate particularly well on the shelves.

I am told the new packaging myself and my colleague Pete designed has been quite a success and seems to tick the right boxes (sorry for the little pun there).

Below are the pics

If your thinking of an xmas pressie to match your little sisters' magenta bedroom you can buy one here

Portfolio on Issuu

For some strange and peculiar reason my Issuu folio will not work on my blog. Crap. Here is a good old fashioned link instead.

Kage Painting

Before the need to attend to exciting things like council tax and stubborn facial hair I was fascinated by street art and skateboarding. Brighton had a great scene for both, and I remember my youth spent here with a rose tinted glow of fun and freedom. I would explore derelict buildings and warehouses which were decorated with amazing designs by the likes of Req, Aroe, Giant, Nylon, Kid Acne, Petro and Jason Brashill.

I was entranced by all this visual activity as it felt like an evolution of my passion for comic books and so I decided to add my name to the walls of my local environment. My first break was thanks to a chance meeting with Req who was doing a youth project at my local park. He had a hundreds of cans of paint and we had a wall to paint in the park. He showed me fades and paint control and taught me to look at the work form a distance.

I spent the following three years drooling over walls and adding my mark where and when I could. I was rubbish at tagging so my preferred method was employing a big pot of emulsion paint, some pound shop black and a wallpaper painting brush to paint in quiet places where I would not be disturbed. I suppose this is where the seeds for my love of typography were planted.

By the time I went to university I had hung up my aerosol paint and focused my energy into learning product design at Ravensbourne and trying to get to grips with grown up things like technical drawing. Three years later as the curtains closed on my course the last thing I wanted to do was design any products. My brain was fried from too much thinking and so I picked up my paints again and worked from home for a while, this time on canvas and boards. Below are the results.