beORANGE - Design & Illustration by Richard Barnes

Turning over a new leaf

Richard — Thu, 17 May 2012 16:20:38 +0000

In my line of work simulated paper and page turns are an everyday occurrence. I’m often faced with the task of converting flat magazine features into 3D style mockups to help promote Ourzone. If you’re an Ourzone subscriber you will see my new solution to this problem hitting your inbox very soon, as I have incorporated it into the design of our new html newsletter.

I have created a neat little PSD file which I can update rapidly thanks to the use of Smart Objects. I’ve decided to make this available to you all so you too can enjoy transforming flat features into simulated 3D magazines.

Download PSD | 5.4 MB

Instructions for use

1 – Open up the PSD and take a look at the Layers window. The only ones you will need to edit are the top two hidden layers called ‘COVER’ & ‘FEATURE’. These layers are ‘Smart Objects’ and there are duplicates of them inside the ‘MAG FILES’ folder which you won’t need to edit (unless you’re feeling adventurous)

2 – Simply double click on the layer thumbnail to open up the contents of each Smart Object and then drag in your replacement files and hit save!

3 – Make sure that what ever you put into the smart object covers the whole canvas area to avoid gaps in the magazine & keep the smart object layers hidden as they are duplicated inside the ‘MAG FILES’ folder.

Enjoy!

SRMcHugh Website

Richard — Tue, 15 May 2012 08:50:48 +0000

Category
Web Design

Client
SRMcHugh Limited

Tools
HTML
CSS
WordPress

Description of work…

SRMcHugh needed to branch out with a website that was stylish and modern. The main aims for this build were to create something clean and stimulating & to keep things simple enough for the client to continue to maintain a feed for the companies ongoing construction projects.

I created a striking visual header which spans the width of the browser and randomly fades between several construction themed images. The images are all taken by the client who had a very keen interest in being involved with the project from beginning to end.

Launch Website

Click on the images to enlarge them →

April 2012 Ourzone Issue

Richard — Tue, 17 Apr 2012 10:17:25 +0000

Category
Design

Client
Ourzone Magazine

Photography
Ian Collins (Motion City Soundtrack)

Tools
Photoshop
Illustrator

Description of work…

The April 2012 issue of Ourzone is a Slam Dunk Festival special. The cover needed to bring forward elements of the official festival graphics and also maintain our own unique style. The buildings are an imitation of those found at the bottom of the Slam Dunk Festival poster. I was forced into using multiple photographs for this cover due to the nature and location of the three bands who are on it. I exploited this by creating a collage feel and converting Keith Buckley’s image to monochrome to allow for more depth.

Check out the whole issue over at www.ourzonemag.com

Click on the images to enlarge them →

Hello Lovely – Postcard Design

Richard — Tue, 20 Mar 2012 16:07:23 +0000

Hello Lovely is a non-profit organisation which was set up this month and its aim is to:

“promote the little things that make a big difference. Members of the public are primarily asked to make a gift for a specific group of people and attach a handwritten postcard to it, in order that the recipient can see that others out there do care about them and have taken the time to make something just for them.”

I wanted to help out by offering my services of design to create a postcard which would be sent out to Ghana along with the handmade gifts. My postcard design is pictured right. Please click on the thumbnail to view it in all it’s animal print glory!

More about Hello Lovely

Official Facebook page → Click here
Official Twitter page → Click here

Behind the spots & stripes

I thought I’d share the making process of this postcard with you all to hopefully inspire people to do what I did and create more postcards for the cause. as you can see for the the screen grabs below it was an Illustrator and Photoshop affair for me.

March 2012 Ourzone Issue

Richard — Sat, 10 Mar 2012 18:25:07 +0000

Category
Design

Client
Ourzone Magazine

Photography
Jack Ford

Tools
Photoshop
Illustrator

Description of work…

March 2012 issue of Ourzone featuring All Time Low. The feature focuses on the US four piece and their individual personalities. The ‘Blankety Blank’ style windows on the cover were great fun to implement. Elements of this grid style run through the whole feature.

Check out the whole issue over at www.ourzonemag.com

Click on the images to enlarge them →

Subscriber Zone Makeover

Richard — Tue, 28 Feb 2012 18:00:57 +0000

Category
Web Design

Client
Ourzone Magazine

Tools
HTML
CSS
PHP

Description of work…

The Ourzone website has a subscriber login area which has been the same since day one. It was tired and outdated and more that anything else, it needed to be branded to fit in with the styling of the main website. Now it has a neat header which provides coherency between the two pages and styling to directly match that of the Ourzone home page.

Other features include more attractive archived issue links and exclusive subscriber competitions to encourage more users to join.

Launch Website

Click on the images to enlarge them →

February 2012 Ourzone Issue

Richard — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 17:22:48 +0000

Category
Design

Client
Ourzone Magazine

Photography
Jack Ford

Tools
Photoshop
Illustrator

Description of work…

February 2012 issue of Ourzone featuring Four Year Strong. Four Year Strong are set to Tear Up The UK this year and that was the theme that Jack and myself stuck to with this cover and supporting feature.

Check out the whole issue over at www.ourzonemag.com

Click on the images to enlarge them →

Thanks Shallot

Richard — Sat, 11 Feb 2012 09:19:35 +0000

Category
Illustration

Tools
Illustrator

Description of work…

This was created as a submission to Threadless.com. There’s a joke in here somewhere about onions and crying, apologies for the awful name. This design is based on a real life vegetable trauma and vegetables WERE harmed in the making of this piece.

It was created in Adobe Illustrator

Click on the images to enlarge them →

January 2012 Ourzone Issue

Richard — Tue, 10 Jan 2012 15:20:57 +0000

Category
Design

Client
Ourzone Magazine

Photography
Jack Ford

Tools
Photoshop
Illustrator

Description of work…

Front cover of Ourzone’s January 2012 issue featuring Enter Shikari. This was a really fun one to work on due to the great concept and play on words with the title of the band’s forthcoming album.

Check out the whole issue over at www.ourzonemag.com

Click on the images to enlarge them →

December 2011 Ourzone Issue

Richard — Fri, 23 Dec 2011 11:48:08 +0000

Category
Design

Client
Ourzone Magazine

Photography
Black Veil Brides – Paul Harries
Enter Shikari – Jack Ford

Tools
Photoshop
Illustrator

Description of work…

The front cover of the final Ourzone issue of 2011 needed to be a bold one. This is one of my favourite covers to date and it was great fun to work on.

Photoshop was used extensively to re-tone the three individual photos (each taken by a different photographer in a completely different environment). Like always, Illustrator was used to create the overlaying text and graphics.

Other than the readers poll results, the biggest feature in the issue was for Black Veil Brides. The second image here shows the first page of the feature.

Check out the whole issue over at www.ourzonemag.com

Click on the images to enlarge them →