Hello! My name is Aaron Joseph Carline, but you can call me Aaron. I am a 24 year old Graphic Designer who graduated from the University of West London in 2013 with a BA in Graphic Design (Visual Communication and Interaction Design).
Outside of design, my main interests are in other arts, I am passionate about music and film in particular. My music taste is quite eclectic, I love artists ranging from: Björk to Outkast to The Beatles to Little Dragon to Joy Division and so on. I also play a little music in my spare time as a hobby, although I am pretty awful… Film wise, some of my favourite Directors are: Stanley Kubrick, David Lynch, Peter Greenaway, Wes Anderson & Spike Jonze. The last book I read was ‘Naked Lunch’ by William S Burroughs. I was born in America, but have grown up here my whole life; I am half British, half Brazilian and by default, I love football. I got my adult black-belt in Shotokan Karate aged 11.
I truly love learning and experiencing new perspectives and ideas. The work I have created in this portfolio has all been created out of a genuine passion for communicating visual ideas and reflecting the surrounding world; I am motivated to keep expanding my horizons as a designer and feel I can offer a fresh and intelligently considered perspective to a company’s design team. I have an affable, approachable and focused personality, which makes me equally suited to working in a team environment or independently. My key strengths lay in conceptual and theme driven design. I find this approach helps me find an ideal balance between design which is aesthetically accessible and effective on the surface; yet, also meaningful and rewarding to viewers willing to look a little deeper. The concept behind this portfolio was to try and break down my ‘Designer DNA’ - below is a breakdown of the iconography that represent my designer qualities.
I am proficient in the applications shown above. My primary focus is screen based RGB design, although I also have a good understanding of CMYK printing. As well as designing, I am also a competent photographer and writer; I am always looking to expand my skillset, next I intend to teach myself CSS3 & HTML5 to improve my web based skills. If you would like to know anymore about me, feel free to contact me with the information on the back page. Thank-you for viewing my design portfolio, enjoy!
2014 (Conceptual Design, Digital design, Editorial design, Illustration, Installation, Photography, Typography, Written content) A magazine rooted in my voyeurism and surveillance themed final major project at university; where I built an installation consisting of: TVs, trick mirrors and hidden cameras. Scene & Unseen explores: identity, drone-warfare, narcissism, surveillance, technology, voyeurism, plus the night out I spent dressed as a woman and much, much more.
2014 (Art direction, Digital design, Colour theory) Part of an ongoing series of reductive news and current affairs based posters, designed to make the news a litlle less depressing and more accessible to a younger demographic and busy professionals. The concept was to reduce the news of it’s hyperbole and rhetoric and provide an unbiased portrayal of events; the design style is similarly reduced to be minimal and succinct.
2014 (Collaboration, Digital Design, Typography) The EP by Black Tie Experiment is an eclectic mix of HipHop, Neo-Soul & Jazz. The band were quite specific about what they wanted from the artwork, my role was largely to implement their own vision, giving feedback and finding a creative solution. I created the band’s identity to be a bold sans-serif type, ideal for stickers, promotional material and versatile enough to be used with photography slipped behind it. The cover’s photography was by Vice’s Jamie Clifton.
2013 (Digital design, Photography, Typography) This urban triptych was inspired by the difficult transition Britain has suffered from industrial manufacturing, to that of a service based economy. The triptych juxtaposes photos of derelict infrastructure; with enticing, neon typography.
2013/2014 (Digital design, Found objects, Printing, Scanning) Created from a collection of barcodes to represent a ‘slow death’ of Western capitalist economy. This particular image was the fourth in a series created by printing the original design, scanning in the print out, printing out that scan and then repeating the process until the final image was scarcely recognisable. The scanned Barcode Skulls were then combined to create a continually contracting and expanding gif.
2013 (Digital design, Illustration) Several years ago (2011) I became critically ill and was hospitalised, thankfully I recovered and when I returned home, I created this. At the time my body felt as though it had been patched together like Frankenstein’s monster. As I recuperated and walked through the rolling landcape of the sunny, spring Hertfordshire countryside, I sketched a rudimental version of the hand above. A couple of years later after I felt fully healthy and recovered, I completed it.
2013 (Art direction, Poster Design, Typography) Club 55 are a live jazz collective who required a unique promotional poster design for their 2013 performance in Shoreditch. Inspired by Reid Miles’ work for Blue Note, the typography and poster design are a contemporary ode to promotional Jazz artwork of yester-year.
CON TACT aaroncarline @gmail.com