Collection book By Viktoria Hristova
Portfolio Book by Viktoria Hristova
A little bit about me first - I'm a graphic designer based in London, this is my portfolio book which includes the work I've done for my second year in London Metropolitan University. This book contains my work from this year. I love working with colour, geometry and the complete opposite - minimalism, like you will see inside my portfolio. I hope you enjoy looking at my work.
Project 1: B smoothies This is my first studio project. For it we had to choose between 3 different clients which had start up companies and needed a graphic designer to create their designs. The clients which we had to choose from were: Bui Smoothies - 2 girls who started a new smoothie brand, using baobab and they are making the first ever super fruit smoothie in the U.K. I choose them because I saw a lot of potential in the brand. One of the other clients company was a night cream made from recycled coffee, and the last ones had a bakery called Oh Gee Pie!, and they were baking pies but the company had a twist because they also wanted to help troubled young adults and teens and help them by having an advisor and helping them get a job.
The company I choose were originally called Bui. Which is a short of Baobab - the fruit the smoothie is made of. Baobab is an African superfruit, not so popular in the U.K. but the company owners were very enthusiastic about popularising it and making it a thing in England. Like I mentioned they are the first people to ever introduce a baobab superfruit smoothie. The girls were very much about nutrition, and they wanted us to focus on the health benefits of the smoothie and try to present that on the bottle. The target audience is young adults, people who work out (because not a lot of people are aware what Baobab is unless you're into your neutron). So I wanted to make the design quite
modern, catchy and very London with a little hint of the traditional african tribe.So I decided to go for the name B instead of Bui, because it's catchy, fun, it can be used in a lot of concepts and I thought that it will be a lot easier for people to remember it rather then Bui.
Research and illustration experiments This is the smoothie packaging I really looked into. I loved The text on the bottle it really stands out I wanted to do this instead of a label and I liked how verve had a little card attached to the smoothie I used this idea as well. My first idea of design was tribe, so I made those illustrations because I wanted to include a traditional African figure into the design. I still used a little bit of it inside the logo as you will see.
Development This is my mood board. On it I've highlighted a couple of things - The target audience, the modern style I wanted to go for and the promotion of healthy live style. USP: We stand out from other companies because we aim to deliver the first ever superfood smoothie in the UK and we want to make people aware of the health benefits of it. Baobab is a lot more beneficial than other fruits in the market and we just want to make it easier for people to do themselves some good. We are an enthusiastic company which promotes nutrion over mass production. Manifesto: Do yourself some good!
Logo Development That's my first logo experiments. When I made them I wanted to include the tribal in some sort of aspect. So for the first two I used baobab tree in a letter B. I made 2 versions for the 2 different flavours the smoothie comes in but I thought that the logo looks kind of corporate and didn't use it in the end. The 3rd logo was just an experiment with shape, I made a face with tribal shapes but I don't think it really suits the company and I didn't want to use a chiche symbol. So I found a typeface I really like and used it for the logo. I used two colours which are the two colours of the smoothie. In the end I decided to use just the B instead of the whole word because I shortened the name as I mentioned earlier.
My first bottle designs. I made a mock up with a glass bottle and I wanted to include a little card on each bottle which has got either the health benefits and neutrons the bottle contains or a positive message.
But then I moved on to a different idea and I didn't use this logo or packaging but I liked the idea of having the neutrons on the bottle and I used this for my final bottle design. I changed the bottle as well to a plastic one.
This is my final logo design with the font I've chose and the manifesto 'Do yourself some good'! For the logo I used a typeface I like and I added baobab leafs on the side. I wanted to create something very simple but still catchy with a reference of baobab.
The final package mock ups. It's got two versions. For the one on the left I used the B as a part of sentence. It is read as Be my bottle or My Bottle. Either way I thought that it's very personal and it's something that people would take a snap of and post it on social media. For the bottle on the right I decided to focus on the health benefits and put them on the bottle with a big large type. This way it's not something to be ignored and people see the word SUPERFRUIT first which is very eye catching and I believe a good marketing strategy.
Positive thinking cards 'B positive'. I created those little cards to come with each bottle with a different message. It's something that customers can keep in their pockets, take a picture of and promote on social media and just make them feel good in general because this is what we stand for. We want to help people do themselves some good!
Tea'se me “We all should know that
making games in which
On events like speed dating or
diversity makes for a rich tapestry, and we must understand that all the threads of the tapestry are equal in value no matter what their colour.” Concept: My concept is a dating cafe. It will be open 7 days a week, and I will be having different events for different types of people. For example on weekdays I will
everyone can participate to break the ice. I will be organizing events to satisfy every type of personality. I understand that every person is different and not everyone has got the same perspective on what a good date is. That’s why everyone is welcome to my cafe and I want to help them find someone special. I will also have an option for a
mixers clients will be wearing a badge. The badges will come in 8 different colours, each one of them describing a different personality to make it easier for them to get to know people and choose who to talk to. Manifesto: 'Connecting people' Mission: My mission is to bring people together in an innovative,
be doing 1 to 1 dates for a cup of coffee during the day, and
monthly membership, where people can sign up, fill in a
creative and fun way. I’m using a very colourful scheme
speed dating on the afternoon and on weekends I will be doing
personal sheet and they will be getting their own dating expert
because I believe that we are all very different like the
mixers ( a mixer is a night time event, where people can have a drink, meet with whoever they like without being matched by a dating expert) and I will also be
who will help them through the process and find them their perfect match by sending them on dates with suitable for them people in the cafe itself.
colours and by using and mixing contrasting colours in my concept I try to recreate the idea of different personalities mixing together
'USP' Imagine a world where you can leave all of your insecurities and troubles. A place where you can connect to a spiritual level, play, be yourself and be appreciated for it. A world where all colours blend together in one. A place where you can change your life forever, a team who's there to make your dream come true. Tea'se me has now opened doors for you, helping you find you find your other half. A single walk in can change you for all time. Why's Tea'se me needed ? Dating at one point or another is an irreplaceable part of our lives. Unfortunately there's not a lot of places where dating is safe. Young people intend to go to
blind dates arranged on on-line dating websites but this is not very safe. Dating agencies intend to be very expensive and they don't offer events and places to meet to take off the pressure of the first date. This is where Tea'se me is very needed. It's the only place to offer events made especially for singles. I have done research on the most common types of personalities and came up with events and dating ideas suitable for each person. I also have an idea how to make it easier for people to recognize different personalities through the crowd in a colourful and creative way by creating colour badges, each colour defining a different type a person.
Colours I did some research on different type of personalities and I decided to represent the most common types with different colours. I wanted every member to have their own profile and a badge with a specific for them colour, or a mixture of colours if necessary to make it easier for everyone to start a conversation
you make friends easily, with an
and intellectual. They enjoy going to
easy smile and a talent for small talk.
artistic and creative events in terms of dating.
YELLOW – Very energetic enthusiastic and positive people. They like to go out during the day and enjoy a good meal. GREEN – People with a green
PURPLE – This type are artists, mystics and unique people. This type feels there should be gentility, courtesy and affection everywhere, and no war, disease or
batch are sensible and respectable. They have a good balance. Outspoken, with a love of freedom, those who like green are generally social and live in a good
poverty.Some lovers of purple are charming and adoring patrons of the arts and others are true artists themselves. PINK – Younger people whose
and decide who is most suitable for them to speak to. These are neighbourhood, have many friends the colours I've chosen and why: RED – This is the colour of extroversion, of a person with desire, appetite, a will to live life fully. They are impulsive, perhaps athletic, surely quick to release your feelings and emotions. Outgoing, love to party ORANGE – Generally they are good-natured, likeable and social,
world is constantly romantic and
and belong to social organizations. BLUE-GREEN – A fastidious person, you have good taste, dress well and probably are a connoisseur of good food and wine. Looks for
generous. Pink is a gentle form of red , and somewhat vain – commonly preferred among women in the upper or middle class. I believe that people are very
them are very important and a
different like the colours
leading factor for a relationship. BLUE – People having a calm life and they want their affairs to be orderly and neat. They are desirable
Each colour I have used describes a different personality. By using this vibrant concept I am representing people and their diversity.
Research Influenced by all the colours I wanted to somehow bring the brand to life. I was first thinking about including characters but then I decided to photograph real people, and use their pictures as a part of the branding. I then did some research on Lakwena Mcliver, Luke Choice and Dschwen LLC. They're creating geometrical patterns, illustrations and and using very contrasting colours I really like together and they influenced my future work.
I recreated some similar patterns for my branding. I photographed figures, photoshopped them in to a single colour silhouette and used the patterns for a background. I got inspiration from Luke Choice and his really contrasting colours and did similar thing with my images. Next page for my first outcomes ->
Logo Development
My logo consists a hearth, split in two with two faces. As my coffee shop is all about connection this is what the logo represents. Two people connecting together.
Font Experiment and First Outcome
Further Logo Development
I did some further experiments with the logo, because it felt to me like it's too minimalistic for my concept.
So I created some patterns and made different versions of it to make it liver and more extravagant.
My first design outcome. I like the contrast but it felt that there's something missing from it and it's too simple so I kept experimenting with the figure photographs.
Each character I made is based on the real person of the photograph. As all of them are my friends I choose a suitable for them colour which represents them and a background which also has an aspect of their personality based on my colour/ personality research.
These are my final outcomes. I decided to use the patterns inside the logo instead of a background and make the figures on halftone on photoshop instead of just using a silhouette. I love the contrast between the simple single colour background and the image. I refer the simple background to Dschwen LLC, which I based part of my research on.
App Design
This is the design of my app and this is how it’s going to look on an iphone and smartphone. The home page has 5 hyper links for the different pages.1) About us where I give some information about what the cafe is about, our mission vision and what we offer. 2) Contact – Where there can be found hyper links which can automatically transfer you to our contact number, email, map of the address, Skype and website. 3) Appointment – Because we offer match maker and professional dating advice, clients will be able to make an appointment through our app, and they can choose from our available dates. 4) Website – There’s a hyper link for the website, in future I will make the hyper link on the homepage transfer you straight to the homepage of the website but because there’s not an excising website yet I left it blank 5) Photos – I haven’t done this yet but I will be filling this page with images of the cafe, staff and our customers.
Cups
Badges I designed in the 8 colours I worked with. I mentioned earlier in my concept that each customer will get their own badge with a colour matching their personality. The badges will sometimes come in more than 1 colour depending if the person fits in more than 1 category of type of personality.
Membership Cards
Just like the badges each member will also get a membership card. On it there will be a picture, their name, age, occupation and their significant matching colour.
Business cards
Interior Design
I started thinking about a way to make the inside of the coffee shop look unique and make a use of the styles and designs I’ve already made. So I used the logo and came up with an idea for a glass table. It’s very simple and easy and this is how it would be made and how it looks.
I also designed chairs to go with the tables. I would have them on bigger than the glass tables. I also made those illustrations in different colours and in a collage I could use them as posters.
Brand Identity. I choose to use two colours instead of all 8 I used for this image to show that the brand can be presented in various different ways and I wanted to create one final simpler image.
Explainer video presented on youtube and link: https://www.youtube.com/ watch?v=CCSZ91ZbxKE
Drama Rama My last studio project. For this project we had to create a 3D element relevant to our our second studio project's concept. My concept was all about connection. So I started researching different artists making sculptures and installations relevant to my concept. I did research on Jason Tsang, he creates very realistic white sculptures and what I really liked is one of his seesaw sculptures. I found this very inspirational because I was already thinking about creating an object like this that can be only used by two people - like a seesaw or a tandem bike. Then I started to think about balance and how can I present this project but I decided to create something different because I didn't want to create a playground for adults. Then I started looking and reflecting on wire installations. I find them truly extraordinary and they remind me of people's energy - the way they mix is how I imagine our energies mix together with thoughts etc.. But I decided to do my research a little bit further and I found Wire Cultures. I looked at Alexander Calder's work, Gavin Worth and Elizabeth Brennan. I found their work truly amazing. Gavin Worth creates very minimalistic continuous line sculptures and I fell in love with his work. He really reminded me of early Picasso's line drawing War and Love which is my favourite peace of all time and I decided to dedicate my final project to this style. Of course I had to make it mine and change it a little.
Jason Tsang
Golden Connection
Gavin Worth
Final outcome. I made a line drawing influenced by Boris Schmitz who's a continuous line artist. I drew two faces connecting in more than a kiss, they connect as one. That is the concept of my cafe of the future project and I thought hat is the perfect way to visualise it. Because my branding was really colourful and bright I had to mix minimalistic and simple drawing into something very vibrant and colourful. So I decided to present my wire sculpture in a shop window like in Selfridges.
We had to think of a way to present the project to get publicity and I think that shop window is the perfect way, because I can be very experimental and creative. For this image except for the wire figure I also created the clouds and arranged everything together to create a fairy tale, colourful concept. I found a fabric having the same colours like the one on the wire figure and a rose matching them as well. The rose is also a reference of romance and the cloud are reference of heaven (happiness).
Pastiche 1560 I based my Pastiche 1560 on Jimmy Q - Who's a fashion model and photographer and Emma Jane, who's a London based fashion photographer. I've been following both of their work but what caught my attention is there collaboration for Crime London. The style of the video is not the ordinary fashion video we're used to see, it's very dark, bold and Jimmy Q is heavily tattooed. I really just wanted to compliment their work and did a similar video. I did a location shot and I used a similar style model for it. I did the location in the afternoon to get a good lighting, and I used glithy fast pleased video editing. I used a dubstep soundtrack because it fits perfectly with the glithy effects and editing. I uploaded the video to instagram and vimeo. https://www.youtube.com/watch? v=6606UhKKqbw
Market Ready
This is my first group project for CCS. We were separated in groups and we had to create our own brand and have it ready for a Christmas market, where we would sell if we won a competition. My group came up with the idea of creating a hand made tea. Because we were all different we wanted to embrace that and create different flavours, with different packages and we called ourselves 'Creative Infusion'.
Creative infusion is a tea brand that focuses on the individuality and unique flavours of our artists. Our products display the individuality of each artistic style on the team and the flavours of their personality, for we believe our best infusion in undoubtedly the blend of talented people on our team and in the end that's what we really like to share with you. Each of our members designed their own packaging, and we each of us had a different part of the project. My part was to create content for social media, and make a facebook, twitter, instagram etc.,. and create interesting content for it, get followers and get more people to talk about our brand. Manifesto: Inspiration to keep you warm USP: We don't stand out from everyone just because we are young and enthusiastic start up. We stand up because we believe in unique designs and exciting variety of flavours inspiring young creatives. We aim to deliver visual and taste satisfaction. We enthusiastically encourage the sale of hand made, over mass production.
Packaging
Campaign
This are the things we made for our campaign in order to promote our brand. I made a Facebook event, Facebook promotion posts, Instagram promotion via catchy posts, hashtags, follows etc., and we also made stickers which we put on mugs and were going to sell at the Christmas market, uniforms in different colours with the logo which we were going to wear at the Christmas Market and lastly an illustration of what our stall would look like.
Kickstarter Kickstarter is another project, continuation of market ready. In the same group from market ready we had to continue to develop our previous project, or change it to make another start up company idea and make a video for kickstarter. Me and my group were happy with our previous project but decided to
different but we are brought up together for the love of art. Again each artist had to make their own packaging design. This time we decided to use brighter colours, because they are eye catching and we decided one person to make the patterns instead of everyone so we can make them in the same style but
make some little changes. We changed the logo to something a lot simpler, so each one of us
still individual. I was in charge of creating patterns for mine and other's packaging. I decided all
can add something to it. We also changed the name from creative
of them but two. I found that a really good exercise because
infusion to just infusion. Once again we had the same idea behind the project, our USP is that we are different from other companies because we are young creatives, each of us very
patterns and digital design is definitely my strongest side. I made very different designs because I understand that everyone's got a different view on aesthetics.
Inspiration
We decided to do something similar to this, very vivid and have different patterns for each flavour. We are going to do an oval shape and if someone invests money in our kickstarter we will be sending them a gift, which is a big box containing all the flavours. The patterns I made are on the next page.
Outcomes
My patterns; logo design by a group member
Packaging
CCS Case study The invention of the computer and how it shaped our world In 1937 a Bulgarian engineer living in America, John Vincent Atanasoff build the AtanasoffBerry computer (also called ABC) with the help of his graduated students Clifford Berry. In the past century, one of the highest peaks in history and inventions is thanks to John Atanasoff, the inventor of the first electronic computer. The significance of each and every action is determined by its consequences. John Atanasoff’s significant invention started the information revolution, which has completely changed the modern world we know live in. But what did he do in fact? There was an idea of a computer with an operation program known a hundred years before the creation of his computer. It was English mathematician Charles Baggade’s idea but he couldn't build the computer because of technical difficulties and imperfect mathematical calculations. The big breakthrough was made by John Vincent who didn’t use mechanics like Charles Baggade but designed electronic circuits to calculate by the use of binary system of numbers. Nowadays using the Binary system is is very simple and natural to us but there was a genius to create this tradition. The principles of the first computer might seem very outdated nowadays but they are the basis of millions of computers, without which our modern society wouldn’t exist. John Atanasoff opened the road to the world information society. The invention of the computer is one of the most remarkable innovations for over the last ten decades. The way it has changed our lives so much is that the modern world is deemed digital and most people fail to appreciate however that the source of life being digital is the
computer. The days where we do things manually are long gone. Today everything happens with one click of a button, press enter and rocket machines are launched, instant communication is established, calls from thousand miles away are being made and that’s only a few examples. A lot has changed in the computing technology since then. The most revolutionary moment is January 3rd, 1983 when TIME magazine issued a publication that has forever changed everything. In 21 pages, they have covered the first personal computer, a machine they have chosen to be the man of the year. The subtitle was called ‘The Computer Moves In’. They were absolutely right because even though computers existed since 1937, the magazine covered shed a new light into an otherwise mysterious world. The computer is the only nonhuman to take the man of the year title and it will probably remain the only one for many years to come. There might be other gadgets to come in the future to change our world but nothing has done as much as the computer in the last 30 years. In 1982 computers changed more than ever. Back in the days’ computers were a homemade product by hobbyist people. There were computers from Apple, Commodore, IBM and others but none of them has had a mouse or graphics just yet and each computer had their own operating system. Time mentions some of the changes the computer had, such as the IBM computer, the one that the magazine believed have set the standards for the industry ahead. The revolution was still young but there was a gold potential. TIME saw a great potential in this computer and it looked ahead, they thought that by the end of the 20th century there would be over 80 million PCs. But they underestimated the computer. By 2002 there were a billion
computers shipped.In 1983 the three strong potential sides of the computer were the video games and their selling potential for children and teen appeal, the ability to manipulate thousands of numbers in seconds and the ability to store large information and data.But no one knew that only a year later the computing world would experience the biggest revolution so far. In 1984 Steve Jobs introduced the first Macintosh, the personal computer with a mouse and a graphical user interface.The price of the product was $2,500 so that was a problem and the Macintosh (now still called Mac) could never become a mass product. But because the first mac has set standards for many popular computers that came in the following years such as Intel, Compaq etc. the made a lot more cheap and accessible clones of the Macintosh.Today when we thinking about a personal PC we automatically think of Windows operating system. Through of the computer evolution Windows have been the pioneers of software. Windows 95 have changed operating systems for computers forever but before that they realised Windows 3.0, which also offered an excellent performance because for the first time there was a system which can support a large graphical application and allowed users to run more than one program at the same time, which before windows would cause a computer to crash. The next major change Window 95 offered was the plug, play hardware, USB, keyboard, mouse, external disks and much more.In 1990 Microsoft announced windows 3.0 and the World Wide Web was created. Nowadays this has a massive impact in our lives. We are as depended on the internet as much as we need oxygen and food. There’s two major dates that shaped the internet: 1994 – when yahoo launched on the market and 1998 when google became public. The rise of google was so fast, by 2005 the website indexed more than 9 billion pages.Computers keep evolving over the years. From static mainframe computers to the portable modern laptops we use today. From big
computers taking up to a whole room to small digital touch screens that we can put in our pockets. New digital era has come to life and we have a small universe of information in our hands. But the question is how far is this evolution going to go? Are we becoming slaves of our technology and are we going to forget the sense of real touch thanks to our technology? Computer technology has affected our lives in many ways. We spend too much time with our devises such as laptops, computers, mobile phones and the internet and because of the fact we have become absolutely depended on our computing devises. We rely on our devises now for almost anything like inquiring about friends and family, we send them a text instead of seeing them face to face, purchasing food, clothes and anything you can buy, we depend on social media and we let it shape our personalities.Of course, there’s a positive side and a big impact of technology as well. Computers allow us to store a lot of information we won’t be able to remember otherwise, like photos, videos, sounds, books etc., it allows us to easily manipulate it and it gives us an endless access to information which has had a great impact for education. It also helps us overcome barriers such as distance and work activities. However, The Telegraph argues that we are not as likely to remember what we’ve seen, heard or read on computers because technology can be distracting and it creates a distance between friends and family. Because we have access to so much information people scan or skim through it instead of reflectively reading it and having a thought about it. The Telegraph also argues that computers have a very negative impact on children because media images that they view, such as violence has a negative effect on their social and psychological progress.
Looking at Designer: Kate Morros
Moross’ work is wonderfully varied in style though invariably colourful and eye-catching, as she utilises hand-drawn elements, isometric and interlocking shapes and patterns, hand-drawn illustration and also vector graphic work. It is this combination of bright hues, painstaking design, hand-drawn letter forms and bold illustration that announces both her skill and confidence as an image maker. And also that she’s happy to do things the hard way, by hand, for the love of it which, in turn, gives her work appeal and plenty of charm.
Jessica Walsh
Jessica Walsh! My #1 designer right now. Her work is very bold, usually colourful, she's not scare to experiment and she creates her own rules! Learning how to code at only age of 11 it's no surprise how creative and smart her designs are. She has definitely influenced me with her colourful pop art set ups and geometrical illustrations. She's the face of expressiveness and boldness.
Massimo Vignelli
The Legend Massimo Vignelli was best known for being the “Grandfather of Graphic Design� for redesigning the iconic New York City subway map back in the 1970s, responsible for designing brands like American Airlines, IBM, Bloomingdales’s and more. Being the most influential designer of our past. His designs are simple, intelligent and elegant.
He sure did.