THE PORTFOLIO by Dan Garrard
Dan Garrard 32 Bond Street Stowmarket IP14 1HR 0773629153 dangarrard15@gmail.com
about THIS GUY The less I needed the better I felt - Charles Bukowski The jouney on how I became a graphic designer is a long one, but in breif, picture a young teenager spending far to much time designing and re-designing posters on the classic Microsoft Publisher. That was me, and though I still young at heart and obsessed with all print design, I am now proud to call myself a self taught Graphic Designer. I have spent the last 4 years as the Graphic designer after being asked to join STC Teamwear as a result of one of those ___ posters. Living my small dream of designing sportswear for the brand I grew up wearing and doing summer work for. I have designed sportswear for the British Army, National Teams such as England Deaf Rugby, Ireland Curling and Czech Republic RFC, aswell as over 400 club teams and Universities up and down the country. Away from sports, I have created logos and brand identities for new and exsisting companies, ran successful advertising and social media campaigns and also set up a custom poster company. There are three responses to a piece of design. Yes, no and wow! I aim for WOW! My goal is to evoke passion with everything I have created and will carry on so in everything I create in future.
I imagine I have designed kits for nearly every sport in the world. From Rugby to Log Rolling and even the magical sport of Quidditch
EGE
LL S CO
ST
PH’ JOES
NZ AMBASS ADORS vs C ZECH REPU BLIC
Technically I have designed both kits for an international game! I’ll take that!
LIM
ERIC K 2018 TOUR
As well as managing and updating the artwork of STC’s e-commerce site and social media pages, I have done 2 full website redesigns with the latest launching late 2020.
I often get asked to create a advertising campaign with very little information apart from ‘it has to promote the company’. So I create my own. Objective, theme, target audience, consumer message, tone and medium/placement.
Wear The Dream
Priding ourselves on quality kits the slogan ‘wear the dream’ stuck in my head during the research phase as well as ‘believing is seeing’. Abbreviating the slogan reduced the amount of text allowing the focus to
remain on the subject in the photo.
Non-graphic designers think its magic!! Photographers have a hard enough job getting the amazing shot so it helps to turn a good photo to the perfect one!! I practice image manipulation all the time from simply making a photo pop to altering it completely and making people disappear!
3D GRAPHICS
Advertising boards, company sails, window displays and customer flags. Its not just digital design!
I’ve done some product design at STC as well creating new Rugby Training Equipment, Water Bottles and Luggage.
Bringing my love of print and a little business adventure together! Print32 was started in 2019 and within a year I had sold to over 50 customers, created over 100 prints and gained 1,100 followers on instagram. The business was fully run through instagram and continues to carry that special UK small business, hand crafted feel which is what I was striving for.
The Logo Artisan Homely Warm Simple Crafted/made
I kept the logo very simple. ‘Print32’ simply comes from what it is and my house number as I started this after recently moving In. The coffee ring symbolises the points on the left to me and a simple font that means a lot to me as it was the font used on the majority of my sisters wedding stationery, so it adds that personal touch.
Wedding stationery Working along side the bride, I created all the wedding stationery for the big Burch wedding in 2019. I created everything including: Invitation/save a date design Menu Cards RSVP Cards Seating Plan Wedding Time-line Place-mats Hand Fans & Kids Activity Books
LOGO DESIGN
Logo design and brand identity is a true passion of Mine. This year alone I have worked with four new companies, setting them up with new logos and one existing company that we completely re-branded.
Hayley from Honeysuckles required a logo for her new Child Care Business. I had no guidelines besides the name so I decided on these: Fun · Calming · Soft · Diversity
Gavin was after a logo for he new business. He wanted the design to be bold but broad as they covered alot of projects. Wordmark · Clear · Easy to read
MAKING TIME FOR YOU With direct family links to the oldest clockmakers in the world, when you come to us, you know your clock is in good hands.
about us
Haward Horological came to me with a logo idea which I brought to life. I went a step further and gave them a simple and modern re-brand for their logo, colours, work-wear and website.
MOCK BRIEF
FOOTWEAR · BRAVERY · FRESH · SINGLE MALES MASCOT · RED · VEHICLE SIDES · SMALL COMPANY
Bravery is the word that stood out the most through the brief. As a big Harry Potter fan my mind shot straight to the traits of Gryffindor. Through research I found symbols for bravery are Arrows, lions, Circles, Dragons, Eagles & Anchors. I will incorporate at least one of these in each design. My least favourite part of the design process is the sketch as putting pen/pencil to paper has never been my strong point. However once I have enough of an idea I switch to Illustrator for the first basic ideas in a solid black before adding colour. The first uses an anchor and my idea was to incorporate it as the V as well as the shape of a shoe. The rest are fairly straight forward however after designing only two of them include a ‘Mascot’.
LOGO DEVELOPMENT
After The Initial Ideas We Develop One Or Two Of The Ideas (Usually The Ones The Clients Prefer). I Wanted To Add Some Power To The First Logo. Adding Strength To Bravery. Also, although I Like The Raw Feel Of The Font It Needs To Be Refined. I Used The Blend Mode To Create A Colour Swatch And Added White To Contrast Whilst Remaining Clean And Fresh.
Two major problems from this logo was the layout (Tall and thin) and the missing mascot. Since the Green Arrow and Hawkeye hit our screens the archer has moved on from the heroic outlaw red fox we all knew as a kid. Single is powerful! That is something this logo should represent with its demographic/target audience. I also wanted to have the lion in a stronger pose. After a brainstorm, I wanted to incorporate a crown or something regal with the lion bring the King of the Jungle.
After adding the new mascot I changed the layout though after thinking it read more as VIX I changed it again to incorporate the arrow as the symbol of bravery.
Creative trends come and go, and it’s tempting to switch off from the constant barrage of information out there. However it is important you don’t get left behind and you stay relevant by keeping up to date by following trends. I used yesimadesigner.com/designtrend2020/ as my source and created 8 pieces of artwork that used various predicted trends from this article.
1. Liquids and Gradients
4. Overlay and Overlap Effect
6. Soft Light Effect
7. Variable Fonts 12. Retro Futurism
3. 3D Clay Illustration
14. Earthy Colours 8. Climate Change + Social Awareness
7. Variable Fonts
15. Bold and Monochromatic 11. SOCIAL MEDIA DESIGNS
7. Variable Fonts 10. Lines 15. Monochromatic
Away from current and future trends, I use skills I have learnt in the past to keep my graphics as interesting and eye catching as possible.
TYPEFACE
Here I use Double Exposure and transparency levels as well as a custom font.
10. Lines
12. Retro Futurism
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