Computer Arts Gallery: September 2009

Tom Peet
Location Newcastle
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.tompeet.co.uk
Software Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator

As well as using Illustrator and InDesign, Tom Peet favours traditional methods such as letterpress and silkscreen, often combining the two forms of media. "After two years at college I had a basic knowledge of graphic design," he says, "but it was at university that I learnt the fundamental rule of function before form and the importance of ideas and concepts." This is particularly reflected in his love of Josef Müller-Brockmann's work and his use of typography and grids.

Now in his third year of uni, Peet's actively searching for work placements. "I'm continually learning the importance of strong concepts and the development of ideas, combining the two to create innovative and professional solutions to any design problem."

Form and Function "This is a visual guide to architecture in Barcelona," says Peet. "By using a colour-coded radial map and gradient mapping, the user can determine the time and distance it takes to reach each location. The aim is to promote the idea of walking and exploring the city."

Tom Peet
Location Newcastle
Job Graphic designer
Contact www.tompeet.co.uk
Software Photoshop, InDesign, Illustrator

As well as using Illustrator and InDesign, Tom Peet favours traditional methods such as letterpress and silkscreen, often combining the two forms of media. "After two years at college I had a basic knowledge of graphic design," he says, "but it was at university that I learnt the fundamental rule of function before form and the importance of ideas and concepts." This is particularly reflected in his love of Josef Müller-Brockmann's work and his use of typography and grids.

Now in his third year of uni, Peet's actively searching for work placements. "I'm continually learning the importance of strong concepts and the development of ideas, combining the two to create innovative and professional solutions to any design problem."

Royal Botanic Gardens, Edinburgh A re-branding project for the famous gardens in Scotland's capital. "The main logo was inspired by the shape of a Spirograph - the children's toy from years ago - and represents the scientific nature of the organisation," Peet explains. "The stationery was heavily based around the idea of representing each of the four gardens with their own business card, which, when combined, formed the whole logo."

Ben Thomas
Location Kettering, UK
Job Graphic artist, photographer
Contact www.ben-thomas.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator, Cinema 4D

"Generally speaking, my artwork can be a bit of a multi-layered affair, but I always try to make good use of negative space and strong colour," says Ben Thomas. This young digital artist has been working on print projects for various independent fashion publications and record labels for the past three years, often employing photography and fashion shoots in his work. "My photography probably leans more towards beauty than fashion, in fact, and it's always heavily post-produced," he adds.

As a side project, Thomas also runs Kneedeepinsleep, which he founded two years ago and which produces limited edition T-shirts, clothing, art and other products.

Dreaming in Red, Dreaming in Black "I think I would describe most of my personal work, such as this, as being fairly abstract," says Thomas. "This is just a nice, dreamy piece of work - it's a little bit tripped out and I wanted to stick to a contrasting colour palette. I always try to use my own photography in my compositions."

Ben Thomas
Location Kettering, UK
Job Graphic artist, photographer
Contact www.ben-thomas.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator, Cinema 4D

"Generally speaking, my artwork can be a bit of a multi-layered affair, but I always try to make good use of negative space and strong colour," says Ben Thomas. This young digital artist has been working on print projects for various independent fashion publications and record labels for the past three years, often employing photography and fashion shoots in his work. "My photography probably leans more towards beauty than fashion, in fact, and it's always heavily post-produced," he adds.

As a side project, Thomas also runs Kneedeepinsleep, which he founded two years ago and which produces limited edition T-shirts, clothing, art and other products.

Love Life Death "I had been obsessing about doing a really cool piece of artwork with a skull for a while," Thomas explains. "Each element of love, life and death is represented in the piece, and I think the bright colours help to steer this away from being something too dark."

Young
Location Manchester
Job Design studio
Contact www.weareyoung.co.uk
Software Adobe Creative Suite

Young comprises Gethin Vaughan and Pete Jarvis. "We've found that the hardest part of being a new design studio is writing about ourselves," says Jarvis. "That sentence took literally 15 minutes." But then Young is all about the imagery rather than the words. The studio is a long-held dream for both founders, created after "enthusiastic sketchy planning" in pubs when their old day jobs had finished. Jarvis previously worked for a London studio, designing for the music industry, and then an interactive design house; Vaughan, meanwhile, toyed with illustration while working for an ad company. Now, though, Young is their sole focus, "We've [recently] turned our hands to print, interactive design and illustration - and even some woodwork for clients in the arts and education sector."

Our first mailer For one of Young's first self-promotional pieces, Vaughan and Jarvis decided to pull out all the stops and create these wooden blocks, which were sent to prospective clients.

Young
Location Manchester
Job Design studio
Contact www.weareyoung.co.uk
Software Adobe Creative Suite

Young comprises Gethin Vaughan and Pete Jarvis. "We've found that the hardest part of being a new design studio is writing about ourselves," says Jarvis. "That sentence took literally 15 minutes." But then Young is all about the imagery rather than the words. The studio is a long-held dream for both founders, created after "enthusiastic sketchy planning" in pubs when their old day jobs had finished. Jarvis previously worked for a London studio, designing for the music industry, and then an interactive design house; Vaughan, meanwhile, toyed with illustration while working for an ad company. Now, though, Young is their sole focus, "We've [recently] turned our hands to print, interactive design and illustration - and even some woodwork for clients in the arts and education sector."

Cube "Cube were a staid, dated architecture gallery space in need of redesign inside and out," the pair explain. "We produced a distinctive typographic design proposal spreading across the windows, walls, print and motion graphics. The concept is based on the patterns made by urban building windows at night."

Dan Matutina
Location Quezon City, Philippines
Job Graphic designer
Contact http://twisted4rk.com
Software Various

Dan Matutina is a man with many interests. First and foremost he's the talent behind Twistedfork, his online art presence (the name came from his penchant for bending forks to create bracelets). "My illustration and design work usually combine the retro and the modern," he explains, "simple shapes and forms with a touch of grunge." When not fork-twisting, Matutina also works with Ideals, which he co-founded: "It's a non-profit social design agency that creates design and communications materials for cause-driven organisations." He heads the creative department at Ideals and has worked on numerous materials for causes, as well as being involved in the creation of campaigns to tell organisations' stories to the world.

It doesn't stop there. Matutina also lectures on graphic design at the University of the Philippines' College of Fine Arts, blogs on social advertising and plays far too much World of Warcraft. As if that weren't enough, his newest diversion is Shapes & Statuses, a graphical interpretation of status messages on Facebook.

Taken A poster for a seminar/workshop given by local photographic duo MangoRed. "The date of the workshop was 12 June, which is Independence Day here in the Philippines," Matutina explains. "That's why the theme is abduction, to tie in with the film of the same name. In this case, though, the abductor is a camera."

Thomas Kim
Location Paris
Job Graphic designer/illustrator
Contact www.adequate1.com
Software Photoshop, Illustrator, 3ds Max

Born and raised in the south of France, 22-yearold Thomas Kim now lives in Paris, having studied there for his degree in Applied Arts. It was here that he discovered digital art, before gradually moving into freelance illustration and graphic design under his commercial name Adequate. He's also not averse to the odd collaboration, mostly notably with Benjamin Delacour and Cityabyss.

"I'm always trying to improve myself, developing new things and adapting new inspirations," says Kim. "It's what makes things so enthralling to me. I find I'm mostly influenced by photography, music and especially books - I'm a true addict and collector of those."

Reflection (collaboration with Cityabyss) A collaboration with the aforementioned Cityabyss, aka illustrator Beata Szczecinska. "This was inspired by the photographs of Hedi Slimane," says Kim. "The figures and the building are hand-drawn and processed in Photoshop. The two girls seem to reflect each other, so that was a starting point for the title, while the symmetrical building in the background heightens the 'reflection' theme. The hardest part was to balance the blacks and create the depth of the image."

Notta Caflisch
Location Chur, Switzerland
Job Graphic designer, illustrator
Contact www.notta.ch
Software Adobe Creative Suite

Hailing from the birthplace of HR Giger, Notta Caflisch has followed a rather different artistic route to the influential surrealist. "I like creating images with strong, colourful stencil-like areas, and I'm very fond of patterns of any kind," she says. "In most of my work I try to create a sense of depth - not in a 3D way, but rather with focus and scale."

Inspiration can come from anywhere, she adds: "From the graphics on my cornflakes box in the morning to the woods on an evening walk. At the moment, I'm trying to promote my illustrative work - I have a lot of ideas and notes in my sketchbooks waiting for future clients."

Good Good 50x70 is an organisation that aims to promote social communication. One of its recent briefs was about climate change, and Caflisch designed this poster in response. It was subsequently shortlisted as one of the winning entries. " 'Don't let things go up in smoke!' is the message," she says. "I wanted to combine exhaust fumes with nature, to show that by being inactive, damage is being done. The doodle effect shows this - we shouldn't waste time doodling."

The Tree House Press
Location Chester, UK
Job Graphic designer, illustrator
Contact www.tthp.org
Software Illustrator, Photoshop, InDesign

"The Tree House Press was founded in 2007 from the confines of my bedroom," says Marc Aspinall, TTHP's founder, creative director and, indeed, sole employee.

Aspinall studied graphic design at Wrexham's Yale College and, once he'd moved on to Liverpool John Moores University, he knew this was where his future lay. In fact, he was so eager to start that he left after a year to set up on his own. "It was hard to know where to begin at first, doing small jobs for local bands and small branding projects," he adds. Two years later, Aspinall's clients include the BBC, Atticus Clothing and Visible Noise.

In terms of style, he's equally happy with collage and photography as he is with screenprinting, line drawing and vector work. "Swiss design, American screen-printed posters, fine art, graffiti, typography, Japanese-inspired art, tattoo flash, modern design and illustration: I'm inspired by everything, just about!"

Curious Tales and Fierce Beasts CD artwork and design for the album from band To Catch A Thief. "This piece started with me using the fineliners and my trusty light box to draw the piece, fitting it around the photograph, making sure the line art interlaced convincingly," Aspinall recalls. "Everything was scanned and moved into Illustrator, where I vectored the art ready for adding colour and finishing touches in Photoshop."