The Big Send Off

I was approached by the University of Chester’s Christian Union to create the invitations for the end of year formal. Seeing as it was a Summer event, I wanted to capture the spirit of this well loved season, going for a vintage floral theme, and something I felt to be in keeping with the Queen’s Diamond Jubilee happening on the same weekend.

© Callum Peters 2012

The Hub #2 - App

This is an App designed for my most recent research methods brief - engaging young people with reading. I identified libraries as a key issue amongst young people that needs addressing - they just aren’t into going to their local libraries - and they could close down if people don’t visit.

With this in mind, I used my local library as a model to undertake a full rebrand, with a new initiative to engage people with reading again. A new name (The Hub) was devised to really place this at the centre of the community, offering an open plan social space adjoining the main library, where people can catch up over a coffee or a smoothie, talk about anything, browse the collections and chill out.

Regular events such as Scrabble Championships (based around the highly popular iPad game) and Angry Birds Showdown bring in young people, as well as late opening hours and other events such as book signings and gigs for unsigned bands.

The app is designed to reflect The Hub’s dynamic interior, available freely through the app store so that everyone can download and easily see what’s happening at The Hub. They can check the leader boards, share special offers with their friends (like 2 for 1 on drinks/lunch), and browse videos of recent events.

I had immense fun working on this brief - there’s more to it, but I’m afraid I can’t reveal everything just yet. I’ve been really passionate to rework the library, and I’m hopeful that in the future, things like this will engage everyone with reading once again.

© Callum Peters 2012

The Hub #1

My latest university brief saw my first ‘proper’ venture into web design, designing a brand new website to sit alongside my library rebrand, which you’ll hear about next month. The theme is decidedly ‘vintage’ to fit alongside The Hub itself, a new project which is designed to encourage young people to read.

More on this brief to come!

Swing Into Spring

I was approached by On the Beat Music to design the programme for their ‘Swing Into Spring’ concert with St Andrew’s Primary School. A simple black & white design was needed, so I applied a slightly 1940s vibe to capture the spirit of this musical evening.

The programmes were produced to A5 size.

Mission Week #2

Here are another two designs I created for the CU’s mission week. The car wash flyer was given a slightly vintage, friendly theme to encourage people to the event, whilst the ‘International Dessert Evening’ flyer is a vintage/contemporary hybrid, highlighting the colours in the dessert pictured.

© Callum Peters 2012

Menu | Vintage-style menu poster I designed for the youth club I volunteer at. 

© Callum Peters 2012

Midsummer | I was approached by a local church to design the publicity for one of their upcoming events. The primary aspect of this publicity was the poster, currently displayed in local shops, schools and libraries in the area. Being informed of the day’s activities and the name of the event, I was immediately reminded of a village fete, so decided upon a very vintage aesthetic from the outset. To make the event appear ‘jolly’ and inviting, I went with the idea of bunting across the top (itself an accessory that is very trendy at the moment) along with a mixture of typefaces and pale colours. The blue represents St Andrew (the name of the church). I wanted to go with a bold, colourful typeface in the centre, drawing attention to the name of the event.

The posters were fantastically received (much to my relief!) and have been distributed around the area. There is also a smaller A5 version of the flyer and two condensed versions, appearing in the two local newspapers next week. I’ll display more of that later in the week.

An exciting brief - first time I’ve been responsible for the whole ‘look’ of a big community event. My friends have been Facebooking and Tweeting me with photos they’ve taken of the posters in the local area - even before I’ve seen them myself!

© Callum Peters 2011

Shoe | New shoes. 50mm camera, with antique finishing applied for a vintage feel. Still loving this lens!

© Callum Peters 2011

Unearthed Classic | Today I found this photograph amongst some pictures I took with a disposable film camera, circa 2001. Looking at this photograph now, I can see where my enthusiasm for photographing old cars came from. I did a bit of editing in Photoshop, but finding this has really put a smile on my face today! There were still a lot of old 2CVs on France’s roads back then (this was in the Alsace, I think). Ten years on, thanks to Europe’s scrappage scheme over the past few years, there are considerably less. Perhaps I’ll buy one in the future and keep it forever and ever! Anyway, this image will be available as one of my greetings cards! Click on it to see it bigger.

© Callum Peters 2011 

How Very Vintage! Printing with tiny metal printing blocks at uni. It can be frustrating but it’s good to experiment, and the results are much less clinical and robotic! Results of my latest brief coming soon.

CU Chillout Flyer | Here is a flyer I was recently commissioned to produce for the university’s Christian Union. The aim of the flyer is to encourage people to go along and explore the CU, to see what they’re about and what’s on offer. It was to be handed out in colour around the campus, to engage with people who might not otherwise go to such an event. I decided something with an interesting and detailed design would work best here, to keep attention levels high. After all, people are often handed a flyer, they take one look at one bit of information and then they drop it at the next available opportunity. Therefore I used a multitude of different typefaces, so that people would engage with the information. I kept to a fairly vintage theme to appeal to students (after all, student-friendly fashion chains such as Jack Wills and Urban Outfitters are using such themes to hook their customers) - vintage is very on-trend in the design world at the moment, so it’s key that any organisation in the university looks current and trendy, in order to banish any pre-conceived ideas (let’s face it, every uni society has them!). Overall I’m really happy with the design and it’s been received well. Roll on my next job!… :)

© Callum Peters 2011