Making and drawing inspiration from moodboards forms a vital part of my design process. As a visual thinker – working in a visual medium, I generally like to move my client communication into an image-based format as soon as possible.
Moodboards are a fantastic way to create a shared visual understanding between yourself and the client. They can draw from a variety of sources including film, art, illustration and street photography – reminding you both that ideas come from all kinds of sources.Read More
If you can’t explain it simply, you don’t understand it well enough.
A wiser man than me (ok, it was Albert Einstein apparently) once said this about film pitches. Alright, it wasn’t about pitches exactly, but it seems to apply anyhow. You should be able to distil a pitch down to very few words, but also expand upon it when necessary – like one of those magic facecloths that expand when you put them into water (that quote is all mine).Read More
As a graphic designer in the film industry, a lot of my work tends to focus on the most visible side of filmmaking – with pitch decks, posters and social media campaigns taking up much of my time.
Your graphic designer can make or break your film project.
Yes, really. Without influencing the narrative or even the look of the actual film, their highly visible work in the form of promotional materials like posters, social media campaigns and pitch decks, can have a massive impact on funding, audiences and profits.Read More
As a poster designer, I’ve really enjoyed the resurgence that we’ve seen in recent years of the illustrated/hand-painted film poster. Far from just appearing in alternative movie posters, this style has taken centre stage in a lot of work, often reflecting our enthusiasm for stories with a nostalgic quality.
Which all got me thinking: What other old-time design methods might be ripe for a comeback? Here’s my top picks:Read More
When it comes to earning a living as a freelancer of any kind, relationships are key. This doesn’t mean having to become friends with clients, but it does mean understanding how you can make the process of working together simple and stress-free.
Over my career in design so far, I’ve discovered some tips and wisdom that have saved me time and hassle, and helped me present myself at my best. Each client is different of course, but hopefully most of it will be helpful to you at some point.Read More
In a previous article, I discussed the powerful role that colour can play in creating emotionally impactful design. This is something that is particularly important for work in the film industry – where our endeavours are part of a wider emotional experience for the audience.
Due to the popularity of that article, I wanted to revisit the subject of colour – diving in a little deeper and offering up some useful concepts for applying colour to your film poster projects.
Have you ever seen a design where a picture seemed to emerge from, well, nothing? Most likely you were observing a masterful use of negative space.
But what exactly is negative space? The easiest way to describe it is as the empty space between the objects that form a design. But this isn’t quite accurate. In design, no part of the image is ever truly empty. In fact, all good design needs negative space in order for us to make sense of the positive space (the objects or text). Think about the space around this text – if there were no gaps, you wouldn’t be able to read it.Read More
When I tell people about my work as a graphic designer working in film, most people tend to think of movie posters or maybe titles and credits. But whilst these are a pretty cool part of the work I do, there’s also a whole other world of graphic design in film out there that a lot of people never even think about.
Graphic designers are also a key part of the Art Department on a film, creating everything from newspapers read by characters to fictional or historical product packaging and merchandise to background signage.Read More
This quote jumped out at me recently as the best way to describe the creative work process between a poster designer and a client. The client approaches me with their project and then using our shared knowledge, experience and creativity, we go back and forth until both sides (but most importantly, the client) are happy with the final design.Read More
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