CREATIVE Graphic Design | Logo & Branding | Industrial Design | Illustration | Fashion | Photography
CHARLIE
BRESLIN The works of the young creative
Welcome to CREATIVE A portfolio including the works of the creative Charlie Breslin.
_ CONTACT Telephone: +32 (0)47 825 02 04 E-mail: charliebreslin@msn.com
_ Front Cover Self Portrait [Illustrator]
design is a lense, through which one views the world. not an occupation
CONT ENTS p.6
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Who is He?
Logo & Branding
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Posters Ads & Flyers
Indusrial Design
ction!
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Cover Art
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Photos
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Fashion: Magic Touch
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Illustration & Artwork
Who is he? C
harlie was born and raised in Brussels,
Belgium, the so-called “heart of Europe”. From an early age he showed signs of creativity while being exposed to a variety of influences from his international surroundings. He has always expressed an interest in fashion, skateboard culture and an eclectic taste in music.
After being schooled bilingually in the European school he moved back to his “roots”, Manchester, from whence his parents emigrated from before his birth. Here Charlie undertook a foundation in art, which led him to find his passion. Design. During his three-year bachelor’s in Product design (Industrial design), Charlie immersed himself in every aspect of design. From research to sketching, graphics and layouts, logos and branding, to building full sized working prototypes in the workshop. However, all this practical knowledge was not enough. Despite learning a wide array of skills from the course, Charlie yearned for something that would challenge him academically as well as creatively. It was then he decided to learn more about the world of design. The business of design. What goes on past the sketchpad or computer screen. This led to another move. This time to France. Charlie enrolled himself on a fairly new kind of course that would bring together everything he had learned so far and much more. This Masters course was International Business and Management for Design, a program devised to mould the design managers of the future. A job that in it’s self is step a head of
it’s time. Charlie worked hard, mixing with fellow students from Asia, Africa, Eastern and Western Europe as well as the locals. Finally he graduated with a Merit. From there Charlie embarked on yet another ambitious plan. He and four of his classmates would go on to work on setting up a start up company, Intra+. The concept was simple. To recycle shipping containers into rentable commercial spaces that could be moved from one place to another. Whether it be a promotional point of sale, to a underground pop-up store, a bar, a cinema, or art gallery the options were limitless. The five were even asked to return to the university as guest lecturers for the Design Project Management module and work with the Masters students. The work was hard, the hours were long but it was fulfilling. Charlie’s primary rolls were research and development, industrial design as well as communicating and outsourcing to suppliers. Unfortunately, Intra+ had to be abandoned after just a year due to lack of finance. The team were devastated but they knew that they had learned more in that year than any university lecture could teach them. Disappointed but undeterred Charlie moved back to Brussels to focus on his freelance design work. Focusing mainly on graphics Charlie has built himself a solid reputation for bringing fresh designs on time. When he’s not working on projects for his clients he is keeping himself busy designing apparel for Magic Touch.
Opposite: Pen & paper + Illustrator
LOGO & BRANDING Logo and branding design is always a challenge. It’s important to take the time to fully get to grips with what the client wants, needs and best represents their company or product. Finding the correct aesthetic, identity, emotive connotations and tone is paramount‌ This is a challenge that Charlie Breslin relishes.
The sound of success
01 The abbreviated logo for Chant of Victory. The laurel leaves are a reference to victory. “I wanted to mix the lettering with negative, so that the eye fills in the letters”
Chant of Victory
Location: Brussels, Belgium Chant of Victory (or COV) are a pair of producers of electronic music based in Brussels. Charlie was approached, by their manager, to create a logo that reflects their modern and edgy style of music. “I spent time listening to both the music as well as talking to the producers themselves to get a clear idea of what they were all about. The idea was to create a text based logo that is contemporary while still having a slight retro edge. I looked into ‘70s and ‘80s typography, band logos and posters for inspiration.” The final design had to work across all media platforms, both on screen, printed, on t-shirts in both greyscale and colour.
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The sketching process. Pen on paper.
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The logo being created in Illustrator
04 All designs go through a similar process. Firstly there is an in-depth inductive research phase. This usually consists of initial communication with the client to find out what they are looking for. From there research will concentrate on the areas highlighted, for example in this project music typography, vintage posters and benchmarking against what else is out there.
Once a direction has been established the sketching phase begins. This is a great way to get out lots of ideas, tweak and vary them before committing anything to the computer. Finally when everyone is happy with the sketches, they will be reworked in to a final cleaner edition and then put into the computer to be vectorised.
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The outlined version of the logo was created to allow som varion on the theme. It also looks good on a T-shirt
The reflective effects were added in Photoshop to give the logo a more modern and slick look, mostly for online usage.
Feel the rhythm
Simplicity and clarity
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Pure Vodka
Location: London, UK Pure is a start up company looking to set a new standard in quality in vodka. The brief was to create a logo and a bottle that would reflect the brand’s high standards and commitment to quality. “First and foremost I wanted to keep the logo simple. The “KISS” rule applies to a lot of my work, but executing simplicity correctly is easier said than done. The logo needed to look modern yet retain a classic feel, I didn’t want something too trend driven that would look dated in a few years. The key to successful drinks logos/labels is that they remain timeless, like Absolute for example.”
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The Pure logo had to fit the name. It had to be clear, simple, and timeless.
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The bottle was also designed with this in mind. “The bottle had to look chic, elegant and unencumbered. The idea was to make it tall and lengthy to make it stand out from it’s competitors.
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Logo 2.0 Mag-Mag
Location: Brussels, Belgium URL: Work in progress Mag-Mag is an online publication service that allows the uploading and viewing of magazines, brochures and literature via page turning interactive interface. The client wanted something that would fit into the realm of well-known Internet logos, to give the impression of being somewhat familiar and trustworthy. 08
09 “Several designs were conceived before getting exactly what the client wanted. There were several aspects to the design that only came through once the initial ideas were sent through. Sometimes the best way to give the client what they want is to know what they don’t want. After some communication it became apparent that the dash in-between the words was important as well as a notion of ‘network’. Once a final design had been agreed on I developed it in a range of colours that could be used to keep the site feeling fresh and new when updated.”
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The final logo chosen by the client was supplied in a variety of colours.
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Some of the initial concepts that were worked through before come to an agreement.
Feel the rhythm
What’s your bag? BAG Records
Location: Brussels, Belgium URL: www.bagrecords.com Brussels-based record label, BAG Records, specializing in progressive dance music needed rebranding for the launch of their new website to promote up-coming projects. The previous logo lacked punch and looked slightly amateur. Charlie was called upon to revise the logo and visual language of the brand. The designs would be used across numerous platforms: letterheads, business cards, web, print and merchandise such as t-shirts that would be sold via the website. “The idea was in the name, BAG Records. I started by sketching up some record bags with various text layouts to see how it would look. After presenting these to the client I went ahead and started vectorising the chosen image ready for use.”
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The final BAG Records logo. Designed to be used with and without the circle, across all platforms: print, online etc.
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The design in used on some merchandising that is avaiable via the online shop.
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The web site was designed to be userfriendly as well as graphically appealing. Many of the buttons have roll-over fx.
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One step ahead One For The Heads Location: London, UK URL: www.icradio.com
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The logo being worked on in Illustrator.
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Using a cracked concrete texture gives the logo even more of a street feel.
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A banner was also created to be used on the host’s website.
One For The Heads, an internet radio show that broadcast the best in golden-age and contemporary Hip Hop needed a logo and a banner for their host website. The logo had to convey the rugged street feel of a Hip Hop show while retaining a light-hearted side that the hosts brought to the experience. “Certain elements were brought into the design, such as mixing images and lettering, using a vinyl for the ‘O’. This immediately conveys notions of music, especially Hip Hop where DJing is ubiquitous. The overall look was to be bold and youthful to reflect the dynamic, rebellious and youthful nature of urban music.”
POST ADVE FLYE
TERS ERTS ERS
Charlie Breslin learned a gamut of skills having been trained in Product Design at the University of Salford. Everything from: sketching and rendering, to 3D modelling and the building of full-scale prototypes.
INDUSTRIAL DESIGN
BusNav
The Bus Nav concept was developed to aid those of partial sightedness and blindness gain greater independence for the RSA design competition. The Bus Nav syncs with bus stops and their real-time tracking system. It then warns the user of the imminent arrival of a bus reading out it’s number and destination. Once onboard the device will give the user reminders of the stops and transfer possibilities. It also houses bus passes or “oyster cards”.
EGG
The EGG is a concept communication and education device for pre-teens. Designed incorporate the basic functions of a mobile phone with some parental controls as well as games and educational applications. Parents can also keep track of their children via GPS geo-location services when they are out and about. The device can also link with other children’s for multiplayer gaming and learning.
The Roto-Q
A concept for a portable multi-usage BBQ with tripod or fire-pit without, that was undertaken in a live project with a leading UK barbeque company. The BBQ folds down for easy packing and transportation, ideal for backpackers, camping and festival goers. From sketch to 3D model, the development of the concept can be seen Opposite 01 - 02
Conceptual 3D models of a heightadjustable contemporary ceiling light. Top image being in situ, bottom image shows and exploded view.
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An exploded view sketch detailing the inner workings of a digital alarm clock.
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This designer Nixon watch was made up in Rhino 3D modelling suite. The concept was to fit inline with their upper tier of extreme sports lifestyle timepieces.
When working at the INTRA+ start-up Charlie was relied on to find innovative ways to use shipping containers. The DJ Box was developed to be a temporary, mobile performance platform that can be folded and closed up ready for the next gig.
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SessioMensa
A prototype of a concept born out of the lack of space and furnishings in small apartments and student housing. “When at social get-togethers there was rarely enough places to sit once things wound down. Something multi-functional seemed to be the answer.” A small coffee table for everyday use and an extra chair when guests visit. “The pivoting seat/back-rest locks into position to avoid any embarrassing accidents”
This page
Lacoste L!VE
Approached by Lee Smith from Lacoste’s footwear design division in London, the brief was to build a research dossier, find a potential collaborator and come up with colour-ways for a Spring/Summer 2012 pack. “Lacoste L!VE is Lacoste’s more youthful and colourful division which would pair nicely with French artistic streetwear brand Sixpack. They share a French fashion aesthetic with a youthful and artistic twist. They both work closely with emerging artists too.”
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RorKid - The Martingale Theory
As well as designing the cover for the Martingale Theory, business card sized flyers were also printed. “The decision to make the flyers the size of business cards was based on several observations. Firstly they are easy to carry around but more importantly they easily fit in one’s pocket or wallet. Based on personal experience it is clear that if a flyer is too large to quickly tuck in your pocket more often than not it will get discarded.” The card contained information about Rorkid’s website as well as where his music could be found.
Magic Touch E
stablished in 2002, Magic Touch, was born of a collective of street artists, musicians, skateboarders and “cool kids” from Brussels.
Starting with just t-shirts and slowly spreading the collection to include: caps, sweatshirts, jackets and even jeans. “Designing graphics for MT is always enjoyable because it’s something I do for myself and my friends, at times collaborating with them too. The less fun part is liaising with producers to make sure everything comes out as planned, especially when they are based far away.” Caps have been produced in China, jackets and sweatshirts in USA. “Keeping the quality levels high and consistent is very important. No one wants to disappoint their customers, especially when it’s something you feel you belong too. It’s not called the Magic Touch Family for nothing...”
The varsity jacket was produced in the USA to the highest standards using top quality materials. Heavy-duty wholegrain leather on the sleeves, thick Melton, wool on the body, felt appliquĂŠs and satin quilting throughout. As well as clothing MT has also collaborated with wooden accessories company Good Wood NYC to produce necklaces with the Magic Touch logo pendant. As well as taking care of the designs Charlie also handles every aspect of the brand, from handling production to photographing the finished pieces.
& ART
Drawing is where it all began.
Before ever touching a computer, it was all about pencil on paper. This is where Charlie’s taste for creativity first started. “I still very much enjoy drawing. I sometimes feel I don’t do it enough, it can feel quite cathartic. Sometimes it’s good to get away from the screen for a while.” Whether it be pen or pencil on paper, paint mixed media or digitally, expressing your creativity with no brief to constrain you is important.
TWORK
Contact e-mail: CharlieBreslin@msn.com Tel: +32 (0) 478 25 02 04