I always start with a sketch – ALWAYS!

Even if its a few lines on the back of a napkin

It is very much a planning stage – It allows me to think beyond the scope of the tools in front of me – if I need to source an image, If I need to find an object, if I need to build something in a 3d application. I can have it all planned in advance just because I have it sketched somewhere.

If I know that I will have to commit time and resources to a illustrative project then I need everyone to be “on the same page”. The only way to do that is to produce a drawing that we can all look at and approve to get to the next stage. I’ve found through trial and error that (for me anyway) the best way to do this is to do it on tracing paper – this means I get “physical photoshop layers” that I can shift around.

We often go to meetings and rearrange stuff and draw stuff in on the boardroom table. Once everyone is happy we can move on.

And this explains why I have so many bits of paper everywhere!

**Update**

Hello, my name is Ricardo Pirroni and I own and run MyConcept Limited.
- And yes this is a very strange title for my first post, but everything will become clear.

I used to have a very ordinary static website with some nice pictures on, which could only be changed by yours truly. Obviously this meant that because I was so busy doing other things I never, ever changed it.

Now this is the kind of thing that I go on and on to clients that they just shouldn’t do.

“Have a blog“, I say. “Write a post a day“, I say. “Your site should be alive“, I say.

Of course, as is usually the case, I am guilty of not practicing what I preach.

There is a phrase that is used in software development circles, it is, “eating one’s own dog food” sometimes shortened down to “dogfooding“. It is when a company uses the products that it makes. It demonstrates confidence in its own products, and hence a kind of testimonial advertising.

So if I am not posting to my blog and keeping my site alive then how I can expect anybody else to do the same…?

Therefore, here it is. The new MyConcept site
– Yes it is a little bare right now and there are lots of things I need to fix up. But if I don’t do it, it wont get done!

It will slowly fill up show the range of work that gets done. Eventually there will be lots to see and lots to read.
And if I don’t do it, if I don’t update, If I don’t make it live. Then you have my permission to send me pictures of dogs to remind me or tins of dog food.
Just remember that by the time I receive them I may have already eaten!

Ricardo Pirroni

This is a brief overview of projects worked on over the last five years.

Cisco wanted to brand their “Metropolis” conference and asked us to come up with an overall design and logo for the whole 3 day event.

After some thought and internal discussion we decided not to concentrate on the traditional images of the famous film for the theme. Rather, we would design a brand that reflected some of the 1920′s-1930′s stylings but theme the whole event as more forward looking and people-centric.

We came up with the line, “reach for your future” created large stage backdrops, note pads, pull-up displays and signage.

The conference was a success and the theme wend down very well. All we have to do now is come up with the next one…!

Cisco Metropolis panels design layouts

Cisco Metropolis Backdrop on-stage

]]> http://myconcept.co.uk/cisco-professional-conference-display-panel-graphic-design-logo/feed/ 0 http://myconcept.co.uk/cisco-pdf-email-newsletter-by-rick-professional-graphic-designer/ http://myconcept.co.uk/cisco-pdf-email-newsletter-by-rick-professional-graphic-designer/#comments Fri, 21 Aug 2009 15:46:57 +0000 Rick http://myconcept.co.uk/wordpress/?p=36

Cisco Emerging Markets called to ask if we could design a pdf email newslettter to replace their current internal comms – How could I refuse…

They had been sending out html emails to communicate with their global emerging markets offices. Unfortunately they ran into the common problems that everyone seems to have at one time or another with html emails. The difficulty in printing them, the problems with forwarding them onto another staff member or client, plus the worse one of all; The fact that they don’t seem to display properly on all mail browsers – let alone mobile devices.

After some discussions with the Cisco team we came to the conclusion that the tech that did the right job for everybody was an interactive pdf. This gave us all the benefits of connected media plus all the benefits of traditional media in one ubiquitous package. We could put links to external sites and the Cisco intranet, we could password protect it when needed and it could be printed out if needed.

So we went live, hitting the deadline and mailing out the pdf to all the people on the existing list. A strange thing happened – they got a pile of requests from people at Cisco that were not on the mailing list to be subscribed and people started submitting stories!

So we added a “subscribe me” section and a “submissions” section. We have a constant stream of submissions and great images from all around the world every month.

Slowly the whole project has evolved from a small circulation email to a globally circulated newsletter/magazine! Happy to be of help!

A graphic identity and logo for a new restaurant in the centre of Bastia, Corsica.

I have to admit that I know the owner of this new business very well, which obviously made the job much easier.

We decided very early on that we didn’t want to have any pictures or graphics of tomatoes anywhere near this job. What we wanted was an unusual look that stood out from everything else and reflected the rather eclectic menu choice.

Did we achieve the result? Did we stand out from the crowd?

Well one year on, and the restaurant is almost at capacity most lunchtimes and full every night.

(although I think the great food and welcoming staff has a lot to do with it )

One of the underlying themes that the client kept coming back to was “lifting the lid on what goes on at the various large companies” or seeing inside so we were attempting to show that visually. It soon became apparent that the concept was getting too complex and unwieldy for it’s own good, and we moved onto something else that is in production right now.

But the 3d visuals were quite striking and unusual