Frēsh 18 Award Winner – Packaging Design

Frēsh 18 Carbon Award Winner





It was a great achievement to receive a Carbon Award in the Frēsh 18 Design Awards for the packaging design work of Polski Polish Bread. I really enjoyed working on it, so to receive great recognition for the standard of work, gives an added sense of accomplishment that it has been received well by creative judges and peers in the design industry.

The POLSKI Bread range was created by authentic Polish bakery Inter Europol, exclusively for Tesco consumers across the UK. Known for their taste, purity, and authenticity, they’re the largest clean-label bakery in Poland, producing real slow-rise sourdough bread and other bakery products using traditional stone-baking methods for over 30 countries worldwide.

“The brief was to design a new packaging brand for a range of Polish bread to be launched in Tesco stores across the UK. The main target audience is consumers who love Polish food, therefore it was important to ensure that the branding made a clear, instant connection to Poland, for strong shelf stand-out.

The result is engaging design, carefully tailored to their target audience.

Find out more about the work here or see the winning entry on the Frēsh 18 Design Awards website.

August 8, 2018 /  

IDA Design Awards Winner – Brand Identity

International Design Awards 2017 Winner

 











I was delighted to recently receive an Honorable Mention in the results of the 2017 International Design Awards for the brand identity, brand book and promotional collateral for my client Brid Kehoe Coaching.

Brid Kehoe Coaching are a holistic coaching practise who support clients in taking steps forward to change for the better and help them to uncover new routes to get there. They guide clients to improve wellbeing and focus, change career and much more through support, encouragement and introducing new creative strategies.

Find out more about the work here or see the winning entry on the IDA award winners website.

 

July 29, 2018 /  

MARA Cultural Centre










Conceptual artwork for a cultural centre in Connemara with the guidance. The architect designed the building focusing on it’s viewpoints and perspectives of facing mountains and the sea with large windows revealing views of each. I used this to guide the design for this project, focussing on the shapes and patterns of the local environment as graphic elements and the idea of revealing using the cutout shapes of the centre’s name ‘MARA’ and the folded layers of the poster, which folds down to a flyer.

The word MARA is a play on the word Connemara and stands for the attractions offered in the cultural centre, such as Music, Arts, Reading and Action. The wood version of the poster was created using the laser cutting process, where the design is etched / burnt in to the wood and the shapes are cut out as separate elements, which can be used around the centre.

 

July 9, 2018 /  

Incognito Art Exhibition

 

Incognito – Jack & Jill’s 2018 Public Art Project

It was great to be part of the Incognito art exhibition this year in aid of Jack & Jill children’s charity. Irish and International artists submit works to the Incognito exhibition. The artist’s names (some very well-known) will remain incognito until the art is purchased and the artist’s signature is revealed on the back.

This year, it included work by Tracey Emin, John Kelly, Peter Curling, Martin Gale, Olivia Golden, P.J. Crook, Ed Miliano, Abigail O’Brien, and Richard Gorman. All pieces were exhibited anonymously, and sold for €50 each at the Solomon Gallery on 6th, 7th and 8th of April 2018.

This year, they made a profit of over €93,000 which will provide nearly 6000 nursing hours to our very sick babies.

May 14, 2018 /  

Halftone Exhibition

Halftone Exhibition



I was delighted to have my work selected to be in the Halftone 2017 exhibition, featured in the Library Project in Temple Bar, Dublin.

HALFTONE is an initiative by PhotoIreland Foundation, hosted every year at The Library Project. Running for 18 days, the fair brings together a large selection of works by established and emerging artists, showcasing Ireland’s exciting Art scene.
This humorous and playful collection, depicts the famous seagulls which heavily populate Dublin city centre’s boardwalk, along the River Liffey. These seagulls are known to circulate people eating their lunches, hoping to get a bite.

One print features these birds characteristics of being feisty, friendly and fearless. It also plays on the Dublin slang word for women or girls which is ‘birds’. On another print in the set, the birds have been given popular Dublin girls names. On two of the prints, there is a play on the famous Irish / Dublin song, ‘Molly Malone’, changing the lyrics to feature the birds. This again could refer to the seagulls or Dublin girls.

Images of Dublin’s boardwalk and Liffey in the city centre can be seen through the silhouettes of the seagulls.
See more on the Halftone website here or if you would like to purchase one of these prints, please see them on Etsy.

November 9, 2017 /  

St Stephens Green Art Exhibition

It was great to take part in the monthly St Stephens Green Art Exhibition, where artists feature their paintings all around St Stephens Green Park, where passers-by can enjoy the art and purchase paintings.

I chose to display a collection I had created based around the concept of communication and the wonder of the story of ‘The Tower of Babel’; the story of how we all ended up speaking different languages. The paintings represent the bricks that make up the tower of Babel, with each brick depicting a different language / hieroglyphic or form of communication; various symbols from different languages falling in confusion when the tower collapsed; being tongue-tied with the confusion of so many different languages in the world;tow modern communication such as emojis and the universal understanding in communication such as thumbs up / fingers crossed / the ok hand gesture. They are painted in gouache acrylic in a bright and modern graphic way, with colours that really pop. With art being subjective, the viewer can take their own interpretation of what each painting is and what it may represent for them.

Being part of the exhibition is a great experience – some highlights include meeting and being inspired by other artists and talking to the public about art and what it means to them. I also had some greeting cards available to purchase, which many people enjoyed. They can be purchased here and also ordered at a number of sizes and formats here.

September 29, 2017 /  

7 Books that every Graphic Designer should read

7 Books that every Graphic Designer should read

Entering in to the world of graphic design can be exciting! There is so much to discover to improve your knowledge and skills.

Here are some books I can recommend that I found helped me most along the way – hopefully they can help you to grow too and be as successful in your design career as you would like to be…

 

1. Graphic Design: A New History

by Stephen J. Eskilson

This book is great for teaching the complete background and history to graphic design. It’s a really thick, content-heavy book full of useful information and stories – it’s great to educate yourself on where the beginning of graphic design stems from. It’s important to understand this as it can help connect the past, present and future of design and form the decisions you make, adding more substance and context to your design work.



 

2. Graphic Design: A Concise History

by Richard Hollis


Again, this book teaches about the background and history in graphic design – the more you understand this, the better designer you can be, by playing on or remodernising styles in a new way or understanding the reasons as to why good design works.

 


read more

September 15, 2017 /  

Entrepreneur Collaboration Programme

Entrepreneur Exchange Overseas Programme

In 2017, I participated in a programme which facilitates the exchange of skills and ideas of entrepreneurs working in different countries around Europe. The idea is where you work alongside people in other similar creative fields and gain inspiration and grow from eachother’s experiences and skillset.

The project I chose to participate in was with Argo Navis, spending a month in Galicia read more

August 16, 2017 /  

Designing for the future: trends we need to consider now

Designing for the Future: Trends we Need to Consider Now

Design is something that has been around since the beginning of time. From the ten commandments of Moses or the Egyptian and stone age petroglyphs – using design to communicate a message is something that remains consistent.

July 28, 2017 /