Computer Arts Gallery: Summer 2011

Marc Hagan-Guirey
Location: London
Job: Designer

Since graduating in 2004 with a first class degree in design and art direction from Manchester Metropolitan University, Marc Hagan-Guirey has worked for a range of clients, including Sony, EA Games, Smash Hits and the Guardian Media Group. He’s currently lead designer for The Minimart design agency, where he oversees all its design output over a range of platforms. He’s passionate about cosmology and architecture, and writes a blog called Fly & Dandy.

Marc has art-directed the creative for two Derren Brown sell-out UK tours, Enigma and current show Svengali. “Derren’s a busy man so I literally had 10 minutes to get this shot,” he says

Marc Hagan-Guirey
Location: London
Job: Designer

Since graduating in 2004 with a first class degree in design and art direction from Manchester Metropolitan University, Marc Hagan-Guirey has worked for a range of clients, including Sony, EA Games, Smash Hits and the Guardian Media Group. He’s currently lead designer for The Minimart design agency, where he oversees all its design output over a range of platforms. He’s passionate about cosmology and architecture, and writes a blog called Fly & Dandy.

Hagan-Guirey’s Add Your Own Scenery website for Merrell encourages users to upload photos taken with mobiles devices. It then places them using GPS and stitches them into a global panorama

Marc Hagan-Guirey
Location: London
Job: Designer

Since graduating in 2004 with a first class degree in design and art direction from Manchester Metropolitan University, Marc Hagan-Guirey has worked for a range of clients, including Sony, EA Games, Smash Hits and the Guardian Media Group. He’s currently lead designer for The Minimart design agency, where he oversees all its design output over a range of platforms. He’s passionate about cosmology and architecture, and writes a blog called Fly & Dandy.

Experience Mars is a personal project to design an immersive, educational and interactive Flash site aimed at igniting space adventure for a new generation of astronomical explorers. The project merges Hagan-Guirey’s two passions: cosmology and design. “I love the glass-like menus,” he says. “I want to reach in and grab them.”

Martin Grohs
Location: Leipzig, Germany
Job: Graphic designer

When Leipzig-based Martin Grohs discovered Photoshop four years ago at the age of 19, he discovered a way to combine his childhood passions of drawing and photography. “It’s given me a chance to present important topics in a whole new way,” he says.

Not one to be complacent, Grohs has since started trying out other software, with his current favourite piece ‘Awakening’ showing his tentative steps into the world of Cinema 4D. “I’m also proud of it because it’s the first image that I’ve submitted to the online art collective, The Heartsurge.”

Behind all of his experiments lies the aim to make more then just pretty pictures. “Shallow aesthetics really don’t appeal to me,” he insists, adding that he prefers imagery that contains some deeper meaning. “I always try to convey something that is important to me, or in some way has relevance to current events.”

Awakening
Grohs created this for the Heartsurge art collective. “It’s named after the chosen theme,” he explains. “It’s the first full piece that I’ve created in Cinema 4D. It’s opened up a whole new world to me.”

Martin Grohs
Location: Leipzig, Germany
Job: Graphic designer

When Leipzig-based Martin Grohs discovered Photoshop four years ago at the age of 19, he discovered a way to combine his childhood passions of drawing and photography. “It’s given me a chance to present important topics in a whole new way,” he says.

Not one to be complacent, Grohs has since started trying out other software, with his current favourite piece ‘Awakening’ showing his tentative steps into the world of Cinema 4D. “I’m also proud of it because it’s the first image that I’ve submitted to the online art collective, The Heartsurge.”

Behind all of his experiments lies the aim to make more then just pretty pictures. “Shallow aesthetics really don’t appeal to me,” he insists, adding that he prefers imagery that contains some deeper meaning. “I always try to convey something that is important to me, or in some way has relevance to current events.”

Little Black Ridinghood
“My inspiration for this was the Red Riding Hood movie. I’ve combined nature and technology in a modern version of an ancient folktale. It’s also available as wallpaper through my site,” he says.

Kamil Solminski
Location: Olsztyn, Poland
Job: Student

Self-taught, Kamil Solminski is often driven to create by nervous energy. “I’m regularly bored or nervous, and try to latch onto anything to get myself occupied,” he says. “If I didn’t have a pencil or PC it would be a nightmare.” In fact, it was four years ago that the restless Solminski first started experimenting in Photoshop.

“I discovered it by accident and started reading any tutorials I could find,” he recalls. “After experimenting with different effects, and spending some more time making signature banners, here I am.”

Right now he’s putting all his energy towards his portfolio, continuing to learn by exploring new styles and devouring online tutorials. “I’m still working on my skills,” he says, “but I’m planning on getting some clients soon.”

Pick Up A Dubstep
Solminski was inspired by “hard dubstep vibes” for this piece. “I wanted it to look organic and raw so I used some hard shapes mixed with black and white. It’s a visualisation of the music.”

Kamil Solminski
Location: Olsztyn, Poland
Job: Student

Self-taught, Kamil Solminski is often driven to create by nervous energy. “I’m regularly bored or nervous, and try to latch onto anything to get myself occupied,” he says. “If I didn’t have a pencil or PC it would be a nightmare.” In fact, it was four years ago that the restless Solminski first started experimenting in Photoshop.

“I discovered it by accident and started reading any tutorials I could find,” he recalls. “After experimenting with different effects, and spending some more time making signature banners, here I am.”

Right now he’s putting all his energy towards his portfolio, continuing to learn by exploring new styles and devouring online tutorials. “I’m still working on my skills,” he says, “but I’m planning on getting some clients soon.”

AeroStuff 2
“This one is about flying,” he explains. “I was kind of messing about with clouds and lights to get a soft, uplifting effect on the whole image. You can see some free space – it gives a freedom to the composition,” he adds.

Laura Seaby
Location: Cheltenham, UK
Job: Graphic designer and illustrator

These personal screenprints by graphic designer and illustrator Laura Seaby were inspired by ideas that just wouldn’t go away. “I keep my day job and personal work pretty separate as both have different appeal,” she says. “My day job involves product design, publishing, packaging and branding, and for my personal work I love to flip back through my sketchbook and see the first seed of an idea that can grow into something.”

After getting a degree in graphic design, Seaby cut her teeth designing ads for a newspaper. “It was a great way to build up experience with the design programs, learn about print production and get a foot in the door.”

Right now humour is an important part of her personal work. “I think there’s room for some witty thinking in everything, however subtle. It’s one of the great things about design – that it doesn’t always have to be taken too seriously,” she says.

Brew Up
Like many designers, constant cups of tea keep Seaby going through the day, and this is a homage to the simple brew: “I drew and laid out the whole piece in Illustrator. To get a more authentic print feel, I transferred the images to lino blocks and cut them. I then scanned the prints, vectorised them and laid the piece out using the textured images.”

Laura Seaby
Location: Cheltenham, UK
Job: Graphic designer and illustrator

These personal screenprints by graphic designer and illustrator Laura Seaby were inspired by ideas that just wouldn’t go away. “I keep my day job and personal work pretty separate as both have different appeal,” she says. “My day job involves product design, publishing, packaging and branding, and for my personal work I love to flip back through my sketchbook and see the first seed of an idea that can grow into something.”

After getting a degree in graphic design, Seaby cut her teeth designing ads for a newspaper. “It was a great way to build up experience with the design programs, learn about print production and get a foot in the door.”

Right now humour is an important part of her personal work. “I think there’s room for some witty thinking in everything, however subtle. It’s one of the great things about design – that it doesn’t always have to be taken too seriously,” she says.

Forget Me Not
“This piece was born out of wanting to create an interesting piece of typography. I drew the layout of the rope on paper, scanned it, and the rest was some fiddly Illustrator work before then going into Photoshop for the halftone shading. I always appreciate witty thinking and sometimes nothing beats a pun.”

Chris Nixon
Location: Liverpool, UK
Job: Graphic designer

Fascinated as a child with “the rigidity of mathematics and the freedom of art,” Chris Nixon feels he was predestined to gravitate towards graphic design. In fact, after getting his degree in graphic design he didn’t waste any time in getting stuck into the industry: “I couldn’t wait to be a part of this highly competitive and creative field. I’m under no illusions as to how difficult it will be, with placements and jobs highly sought after,” he says, “but that’s half the fun.”

Nixon can be picky about where he draws his inspiration. “I try to avoid the ‘Designers Bibles’ that litter the shelves,” he says. “I want my ideas to be original, so I get my inspiration from things like walking down the street, having a conversation and reading an article in a newspaper.” But regardless of inspiration, his drive remains the same: “Concept is key. To solve a problem you need to do thorough research and have an organic development process.”

The Art Of Craft
A major project from Nixon’s final year of university. “The brief was to reinvigorate a dying object, artefact or item,” he says. “I decided on carpentry. Initially I was going to be the object to reinvigorate the craft, by learning the craft itself. But this evolved into creating a platform to sell, trade and learn. After I learnt about the craft, obtaining the information and tools around it was the difficult part.”

Chris Nixon
Location: Liverpool, UK
Job: Graphic designer

Fascinated as a child with “the rigidity of mathematics and the freedom of art,” Chris Nixon feels he was predestined to gravitate towards graphic design. In fact, after getting his degree in graphic design he didn’t waste any time in getting stuck into the industry: “I couldn’t wait to be a part of this highly competitive and creative field. I’m under no illusions as to how difficult it will be, with placements and jobs highly sought after,” he says, “but that’s half the fun.”

Nixon can be picky about where he draws his inspiration. “I try to avoid the ‘Designers Bibles’ that litter the shelves,” he says. “I want my ideas to be original, so I get my inspiration from things like walking down the street, having a conversation and reading an article in a newspaper.” But regardless of inspiration, his drive remains the same: “Concept is key. To solve a problem you need to do thorough research and have an organic development process.”

The New(er) Testaments
“This was a self-initiated project after finding a Bible in the street,” he explains. “I thought about the role religion has in our society now – the once predominant force keeping our society civil is now reduced to litter. So I decided to react graphically by recreating and re-imaging the whole-hearted message of the Bible for a modern, visual audience.”