Killian Walsh_ Design
Hench Fitness, Belfast
Rory, a personal trainer and nutritionist from Belfast approached me about creating a brand identity for his startup business. The nature of this brand and its ethos is a very modern approach to personal health, fitness, nutrition and well being. After a lot of consultation and research, I developed a brand identity that was robust and reflected all the elements and integrity of the business. This was a very interesting project that developed from an initial identity, through digital platforms, print collateral, signage and way-finding. I was also involved in the designing of the interior of the studio and commissioned bespoke signage, counter tops and flooring. This is an ongoing project and relationship with the brand and its development. Rory is looking to expand into the restaurant business and develop the Hench brand across a wider range of markets and areas both in Northern Ireland and Ireland. This is a very progressive business and I am glad to be part of its development from the start and I’m looking forward to seeing it grow and my involvement to continue.
For the identity, I wanted to try and steer clear of literal representation of physical exercise and weight lifting. I wanted the typography to reflect the weight / rawness / industrial nature of the equipment used and the actual physicality of the training. The logotype itself is set in Alte Haas Grotesque Bold. This typeface has some nice, raw, unperfect lines and slightly rougher edges. This perfectly reflected the barbells, weights, metal and wrought iron. I also wanted to try and distort the lettering slightly as to reflect the strain and physics behind lifting and straining – part of the physical training process. This idea of strain also was reflected in the letter spacing and the morphing of the H and E is to represent weights being placed onto the machines in the gym. The last element was to include a slab / abstract underscore to again reinforce the idea of strain and weight. The placement of it under the N is to reflect the central point in lifting and works well in unison with the type, weight of letters and the concept behind the brand.
Hench Fitness, Belfast
For the printed collateral, we wanted to try and reflect all the elements from the brand identity, signage and also the building itself. For that reason I wanted the card to have a certain ‘clout’ or weight to reflect the rawness, power, physicality of the brand and its functionality. For that reason I chose a 600gsm Keaycolour card with a clear foil deboss. I chose two tones to reflect the interior of the premises and also as we wanted to keep the brand and brand color palette to a 4 colour, monochrome colorway.
To continue with the identity development and application, I was tasked with creating the outdoor signage and way finding for the premises. The building itself is an old, industrial paper mill in the centre of Belfast City. Its interior is red brick and peppered with layers of old and new graffiti. The inside of the building is all exposed brick, joists, metal and iron. I wanted to create signage to reflect the brand and logotype, and also suit its surroundings. For that reason I commissioned these steel etchings to be made, mounted and left untreated. I am still in contact with my old lecturers in DIT Dublin – Peter Jones and Anto of the print department in Portland Row. After numerous consultations and test etchings, we got the result we were looking for. I left the steel untreated and unsanded, with the various porous ‘puck’ marks etc. These will adapt and change as the building does, whether it be the elements that oxidise and rust it, graffiti gets done on top, the puck marks expand and grow, etc, it will all add to the raw and honest nature of the signage and the logotype.
Three.ie Mobile App
I re-designed the Three.ie mobile app for iOS and Android formats. This was a nice project to work on, as I got to focus on the UX and customer journey throughout the app and its functionality. I also had to create all the iconography and buttons for the app. It is going live in the next month across all the Three mobile phones in Ireland.
Three - My Business Direct Mail
We were tasked to create a unique Direct Mail piece for the business team. The concept was to customise and hand deliver this to 100 specific CEO’s and business owners in order to create attention and intrigue, resulting in the lines of communication being opened and a new account created. This piece was created using a bespoke finisher/printer and came with a customised letter for each recipient. These were also hand delivered. Response rate on this has been very high and the results have been very impressive.
WOW – Walk Out Working
Instore campaign to highlight the ease in switching your phone and its contents to the Three network via a member of staff. We commissioned and art directed a UK based illustrator, Steve Wilson, to create this piece based on direction from us to create an interactive and more interesting way to ask customers questions relating to a potential purchase of handset. The idea was to create something playful and engaging. When you are briefed with giving an anagram some life - its not an easy task so I went to town on it. As there are strict brand guidelines for Three, I wanted to try and use a grotesque, hand drawn version of Helvetica Neue 75 Bold. This is the brand typeface but I wanted to have some fun with it. The colours are very vibrant and the imagery is ambiguous but also in keeping with communication and dialogue etc.
WOW – Identity Instore campaign to highlight the ease in switching your phone and its contents to the Three network via a member of staff.
WOW – Retail sales aid I commissioned and art directed Steve Wilson from Scriberia UK to create a retail sales aid piece for the stores. The idea behind this was to create a piece that had a life or story to it, illustrated visually and with iconography as a posed to a flat, 1 dimensional sheet with tixs and boxes. This was used instore by one of the sales team as a guide through the verbal sales process.
The 80s Kid
In the summer of 2011 I graduated from college and instead of drinking cans and practicing slighshot-ing, I got an internship with the fine gentleman of Red and Grey Design, Dublin. I worked exclusively on this book - The 80s Kid. It was a really interesting project, taking a nostalgic narrative and illustrating it without copyright infringement or legal malarkey. Good fun making it and even better fun seeing it in all good book stores nationwide! “The 80s Kid is a retro take on growing up in ’80s Ireland by Andrew Murray. The book is a rose tinted look back on the decade taste forgot. It has been described as a ‘“coffee table / toilet book.” From Jessica Fletcher to Johnny Logan to leg warmers to Chilly Willies, it’s a memory lane trip of sweets, games, toys, school, technology, mags, clobber and much more. It’s available to buy from the80skid.com.
Welcome to my World
This is a project I did on a master sign writer – Marty Garland from Dundalk. I made several studio visits, recording each session photographically and with an audio recorder. I art directed the piece which culminated in Marty making some custom signs. This was my take on giving someone a voice or visualization of their opinion after years of being paid to voice what other people wanted him to say.
Unknown Knowns An Dríocht / Fingal Arts
After finishing college I was lucky enough to get an internship with New Graphic. This was a project that I saw through from concept to finished print piece. Each year Fingal Arts do a exhibition in Draíocht for recent graduates. The theme and title Unknown Knowns is a quote from Slavoj Žižek. It’s defined as “that which we intentionally refuse to acknowledge that we know” to that end the title is printed on the inside first page and the cover is printed on very thin paper so you can just read the title, but if you want you can refuse to acknowledge that you have. The way I interpreted this brief and the theme for the exhibition was to work with a literal example such as the line itself. I made the cover on a thinner stock than the body of the book so as to use the show through the thinner stock would create. The lines from the cover, reflecting “the line between what we know and what we don’t” was a strong visual that when overlapped onto cover, created the name of the exhibition. I carried this ‘line’ throughout the piece and worked with the photographers images supplied from the show.
Three Mobile, Stationary Rebrand
I initiated and created a rebrand off all the internal stationary for Three Mobile Ireland. There was no consistency or coherence to anyones stationary in the business. People going into meetings and pitches with different pens, folders, note pads, scraps of paper etc, so I took it upon myself to address this. We did a set of branded elements, in the brand color palette, all finished to a high standard with a white foil block and dot grided inner pages. The covers are full colour duplexed to 600 Gsm, spiral bound and with a white foil block logo.
Three Mobile Retail Magazine + Instore
I design all the retail elements for Three Mobile. This would consist of: Monthyl retail magazine – which is then created digitially for online. I also create all the bespoke display visuals for each of the 28 stores nationwide. I would work closely with our printer to see what is possible to achieve for each campaign to push the various processes and create something as unique as possible, whether it is a diecut, diecut with mechanical animation, lighting effects, lenticular or 3D printing effects etc.
DIT Graduation Show 2011 DIT College, Graduation exhibition, website + catalogue I was chosen to make this years graduate catalogue for DIT College, Dublin. This was a great project which took 5 months for completion with my friend Ciarán Murphy. We were in charge of the catalogue content, design, identity, website and branding for the exhibitions. The theme we chose we ‘exposure’ as this exhibition, website and catalogue we meant to be a tool to ‘expose’ these students to the wider world and respective design, fashion, art, product communities and studios etc. We wanted to pare back all the design and typography and allow the imagery of the various students to speak. We chose to an open bind for the exhibition catalogue as a literal reflection of the theme that we carried through the project. The exhibition itself was held in an industrial style, disused warehouse space in Smithfield. All the work was show on untreated wooden units, in keeping with interior style and the concept of ‘exposure’.
DIT Graduation Show 2011
As part of the project we ran a blog documenting all the various processes involved in creating all the various elements. As we were dealing with over 100 students, across 5 departments and their various lecturers and student bodies, it was a challenging project to manage and keep everyone happy. The blog was a good way to communicate to the audience as a whole and keep them in the loop visually and also create a dialogue between us, the designers, and them, the client or students in this case.
iPhone 4 Launch, Three Ireland
Here are some examples of how I used illustration in various formats for the iPhone 4 launch. The ad below for the Irish Times custom made to suit the back page of the publication and got a huge response rate.
Disruptive press format for The Irish Times. This was an innovative use of column space within the paper. I created a bespoke piece using dummy editorial from the paper to create a standout, disruptive piece. This had a huge success rate in terms of public interest and also from various media agencies.
Decade Darlings
This was a nice identity project for a startup company. Cant really describe it better than they do on their site: “Our exclusive, once in a life time, fully styled, vintage photos shoots are peachy perfect for all kinds of girlie celebrations and parties…”
For the cards, I wanted the polka dots to have a different dimension, so we foil blocked them onto a duplexed card. In order to get a ‘bonus’ colour way, I foil blocked the logo onto the cards in both standard and then reverse formats. This gave us two different cards with two different textures on the back. I also wanted the pink logo on back to represent a makeup compact / powder. This foil blocking gave an effect that was visually very similar which was great. Cards – 240 GSM Splendorgel duplexed to 400GSM CandyPink Colorplan. Finished with white foil.
Christmas Campaign 2012 Three Mobile
Various elements for Three Mobiles integrated Christmas campaign.
Three On The Quay, Euro 2012
As part of Three Mobiles sponsorship of the Irish Football Team, a large outdoor event was held in Dublin City centre. This was the largest screen and screening of all the Irish games in the Euro 2012 football competition in the country. We were tasked with running 4 separate press campaigns, instore branding, event branding and experiential design work. This was a huge project working with lots of media, agencies, mediums - above and below the line. This was a very rewarding campaign and had a huge impact. The event itself required branding and way finding on a massive scale. There were lots of elements to design and we worked closely with event management companies and printers to make sure it all worked and ran seamlessly. In addition to this, the promotion for the event and also sales campaigns to promote offers and handsets had to run in unison together. This meant that there was 4 press ads running across all the daily newspaper publications in the country.
Phone cover, box and promotional elements.
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Support works. Bring yours to Three on the Quay. For more information go to 3football.ie
Limited Edition Samsung Galaxy Mini. The fans’ smartphone with Ireland cover, watch, pin and car sticker. Exclusive 3football App and game.
Support works
Call 1800 944 781
Pop into a 3Store or visit 3football.ie
While stocks last.
Three Ireland Armchair Manager This was a promotional / interactive campaign from Three, relating to their involvement as sponsors of the Irish Football team. The concept was to create a platform (Armchair) for general football fans/punters to air their views on tactics & opinions relating to the Irish Team. This was then created as a mobile unit that travelled the country collecting these opinions from various ‘armchair managers’ and the video footage was used online and on social media platforms. At each Irish home match, the Aviva stadium players lounge was kitted out and became a live platform for this concept.
Three PostPay campaign 2013 Various press, digital and channel elements I created for the PostPay campaign 2013 to accompany the TV ad and outdoor ad campaign.
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Monthly recurring charge of €39.75, minimum term , SIM Only connection and Direct debit required. Fair usage applies to calls and texts. Three reserves the right to limit usage where data use exceeds 15GB in billing cycle. See three.ie.
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Three Ireland Telesales Direct Response Press
These were a bank of illustrations promoting Three Broadband, commissioned by Three by Chris Judge. Art direction and art working by me.
Get your Broadband handsâ‚Ź10 on from
.15 per month
an iPhone 4S
Surf on the move with no landline, wires or connection fees. And get a free modem on Broadband Active plans or highter.
With all you can eat data.
Get your Broadband handsâ‚Ź10 on from
.15 per month
an iPhone 4S
Surf on the move with no landline, wires or connection fees. And get a free modem on Broadband Active plans or highter.
With all you can eat data.
Plus loads of calls and texts.
Plus loads of calls and texts.
Call 1800 949 551 or pop in store now
Call 1800 949 551 or pop in store now
All you can eat data applies to your minimum term and direct debit is required. Three reserves the right to limit service of users exceeding 15GB of data in a billing cycle. See three.ie
All you can eat data applies to your minimum term and direct debit is required. Three reserves the right to limit service of users exceeding 15GB of data in a billing cycle. See three.ie
Get your Broadband handsâ‚Ź10 on from
.15 per month
an iPhone 4S
Surf on the move with no landline, wires or connection fees. And get a free modem on Broadband Active plans or highter.
With all you can eat data.
Get your Broadband handsâ‚Ź10 on from
.15 per month
an iPhone 4S
Surf on the move with no landline, wires or connection fees. And get a free modem on Broadband Active plans or highter.
With all you can eat data.
Plus loads of calls and texts.
Plus loads of calls and texts.
Call 1800 949 551 or pop in store now
Call 1800 949 551 or pop in store now
All you can eat data applies to your minimum term and direct debit is required. Three reserves the right to limit service of users exceeding 15GB of data in a billing cycle. See three.ie
All you can eat data applies to your minimum term and direct debit is required. Three reserves the right to limit service of users exceeding 15GB of data in a billing cycle. See three.ie
Three Ireland The Dugout / Players Lounge, Aviva Stadium
This was a branding and event design for Three mobile and their involvement with Irish Football team and the Aviva Stadium. We created an identity and other elements as a branding exercise for any home international football games, creating a VIP area for players, their families, select fans and VIPs. We worked with various suppliers, finishers and printers to create this bespoke outfitting of the venue. This is ongoing as per Three’s involvement with the Irish Football team.
Various Logos / Identities
Click &Collect
Various Illustrations
Various Illustrations
Various work for Music Gigs
Sarsparilla / Diamond Dagger I do some album artwork for a friend of mine Sarsparilla. He is an electronic music producer and his stuff is great. Always a pleasure to work while inspired by the music whilst doing so.
Graffiti Art
I have been involved and painting graffiti art for the past 15 years. I have travelled the globe and painted lots of walls. It started as a hobby, become a career for a while, and now its back to being a more sporadic hobby again. I also run a graffiti art mural / artistic consultancy company with a friend. We have worked for a wide range of international brands/clients, as well as working for various national arts councils, VEC training programmes, and various PR & Marketing companies. We have travelled worldwide & nationwide with this company and have exhibited in some of the countries top galleries.