Sandugo Trade Expo Once Again

It seems that I have become a regular designer for the Department of Trade and Industry's (DTI) annual Sandugo Trade Expo. Here are the approved studies I made for this event. If you have time, you can visit the event starting on July 25th to the 29th.

Poster for the Sandugo Trade Expo

Trade Expo Flyers

Buyer's ID

Trade Expo Directionals

Baptisms, Birthdays

I am quite amazed at how people's creativity could drive me to some creative ride. For example, this invitation for a baptismal of a relative's first son. The mother informed me that she wanted black, red and white on the invitation because those colors attract children under one year old. So I made them an invitation with bold colors of red and black with the footprint of their son superimposed on his name. Informative!

Another one is a goddaughter of mine who will be celebrating her first birthday this weekend. Her mother is fan of the camera so her daughter's behavior towards the camera is quite interesting, if not amusing. Whenever someone would bring out a cam, this little princess would stop and try to make a pose. Here, mom chooses her fave shots.

Oh, kids.

My Idol!

I became insane, with long intervals of horrible sanity. ~Edgar Allan Poe

Poster design for the Sandugo Trade Expo

After several conceptualizations, we finally agree on the one with a symbol of the world with several protrusions and different products at the top of them. Since the theme is about greening business, we see this as a good start by the different micro-entrepreneurs to make their business ecologically-sound and therefore win the international markets.

The Sandugo Trade Expo 2011 will open on July 20, 2011 at the Island City Mall in Tagbilaran. The expo will feature products from Region 7 (Bohol, Cebu, Negros Oriental and Siquijor) including wovens and food. The show will end on July 24th.

Some products that will be on display there:

Client from Hell Series: Freeloader

mangorunner.wordpress.com

Just because I am a FREELANCE graphic designer does not mean my services are free!

Client: I want you to design my logo. I want it simple but elegant just like (insert company here).


Me: No problem sir. Here are my rates for logos.


Client: *Silent mode* since three years ago.

Client from Hell Series: Undecided

rechargelounge.com.au

I have this American client I dropped from my list as a possible big-time king because of mere American stupidity.

His wife asked me to give their brochure a new look. They were suppliers of big machines for sugar in Asia and Africa with some clients in Latin America. They were recommended by a printer who lacked designers at that time.

After several meetings, I decided to make 3 studies and presented them to the wife. The wife suggested I conjoined 2 studies. We revised them several times, like five times!

In the end, they wanted me to copy their original brochure up to the stretched and pixelized photos.

When I gave them my billing statement, the wife won't have it because I was merely copying their original design.

I fumed. The intervention from the printer and a friend finally produced the payments.

Designers and other enthusiasts: here is your color guide

I found this one at www.9gag.com and I think this is very helpful for those people whose job includes color matching.

The Psychology of Color by Tech King

I just had one!

I am extremely jealous!

Seeing these typographic portraits made me salivate in jealousy. I am posting my favorites here- Bob Marley's and a very apt poster about pressure on designers.

 If I have the time I shall make my own. You want? There is a tutorial at this site: Designm.ag's 35 Awesome Typographic Portraits.

Enjoy.

Sharing is fun: If someone owns it, acknowledge them

If you got it from other sources other than yours- acknowledge. This is a very basic etiquette for bloggers and artists alike. It will save you from shame and perhaps legal problems later on.

This graphics is very helpful-

Of course this was grabbed from Rosscott, Inc .

“This is my wish for you: peace of mind, prosperity through the year, happiness that multiplies, health for you and yours, fun around every corner, energy to chase your dreams, joy to fill your holidays!” ~D.M. Dellinger



Photo grabbed from Lisa Bettany thru Flickr

Merry Christmas Everyone!

I could not help but appreciate this artwork from affinity.com sent through my email from Site Pro News. The design is clean and crisp and pleasant to the eyes. So in this gist that I wish everyone a peaceful and pleasant holiday celebrations all over the world.

Like a Miss Universe candidate I also wish for world peace.

Pantone announces the 2011 color of the year

Honeysuckle.

That's what they call it. Pantone added that the 2011 color is "Courageous. Confident. Vital. A brave new color, for a brave new world. Let the bold spirit of Honeysuckle infuse you, lift you and carry you through the year. It’s a color for every day – with nothing “everyday” about it."

Honeysuckle is kind of interesting. Makes me long for candy. Makes me suck on honey. Hmmm kind of kinky, though. But more magenta and yellow makes it somewhat orangey pink, which by the way, is my favorite color. No, orange is my favorite color, not pink.

Now you know why the Orange Sun.

Cheap is cheap: packaging and your color choice

I had a client who insisted that I chose my own color for their product packaging. I made several trips to the market to test which one is the right color for them. After several studies and one final offset printing, I was shocked that they secretly made their own version after the printed materials have been depleted by printing them on plain paper using their inkjet printers. What a shame.

I wonder how could entrepreneurs not see the importance of good packaging for a return of investments. The green you want might not become the green when you print them on your inkjet printer. It tells you how cheap you are. Imagine how would consumers react to your expensive product when the packaging labels suddenly run on sweaty hands. Eww.

Still it is worth to note that colors affect our buying skills.

Anyways, as to colors and consumers, the following illustration from KISSmetrics says it all. This is worth the read. So entrepreneurs out there, take note of this-

For a bigger and more readable version, please click on this link .

Portfolio cover

I have been told to make my own portfolio for my clients to see my rather extensive works. For so long I did not mind at all because majority of my clients are only referrals, mostly word of mouth. Honestly, I am a bit the shy type and I rarely ask people to do designs for them.

But friends and some clients wanted me to go public. After about a year or so, I finally got to work on that portfolio.

First, the cover...

Shooting Christine

No artificial lights. No make up. No props. No Photoshop. Just a Nikon camera, a natural meadow and lots of fun. Shooting location is at the Carmelites House in the mountains of Ormoc.

I want this diary

I was browsing through my subscription of Yanko Designs and then I spotted this cool diary they called Watch Diary. For us who are always chasing time, this diary is a must. The designer is Wonjune Song. My only regret is the Paypal link to this diary is broken. I could not have them.

For those who are into designs and should be in the know on cool products, I suggest you subscribe to Yanko Designs. You will be awed no end with their stuff.

The Watch Diary is one of them.

All pics from Yanko Designs.

Photo shoot in Siquijor

While most photographers spent time retouching their photos to give the best results, mine are in raw form to let you view the subject in its virgin state. No Photoshop. No other alterations. What I see thru the lens is what you have here.

This is Siquijor.

Designing DTI Info Boards

These are the approved info boards I designed for DTI during their Regional Trade Fair & Exhibit last July 2010.

Logo Design: Batuan Light Bringers

Batuan Light Bringers is an advocacy group aimed at educating and raising awareness among the people of Batuan on the field of politics, economics and culture. For a small town like Batuan in Bohol, this group's intentions could spell disaster. To shun this scenario, the group's promise of a better world is graphically rendered in the version of a light in floral patterns but still pushing change as pictured in a hand groping the torch.

They asked for two versions of this study and hopefully will approve one. This is gratis.