Tons of canvases by QMTK

The time has come to release a load of QMTK canvases for sale. Here you can find a selection of canvases from 2008 to 2009. For your information, all canvases are originals as some of them are also available through Eirikuva web store (shipping to Finland and Sweden at the moment). Prices range from 90-440 € (128-628 USD, 79-384 GBP). Supported payment method is through PayPal for buyers outside Finland. Finnish buyers can make the transaction via bank transfer. Contact through e-mail at qmtk@qmtk.net

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Partymonster 2008, 50x50cm 90 € (128 USD, 79 GBP)

Shard storm 2009, 50x70cm 165 € (235 USD, 144 GBP)

Splatterpussy, the fascist cat 2008, ORIGINAL, 70x50cm 220 € (314 USD, 192 GBP)

Hi-tech Horror 2008, ORIGINAL, 50x70cm 180 € (257 USD, 157 GBP)

Nuclearized 2008, ORIGINAL, 60x80cm 230 € (328 USD,  200 GBP)

Waving 2009, 89x116cm 174 € (248 USD, 152 GBP)

Lavatorial art 2008, ORIGINAL, 60x80cm 240 € (342 USD, 209 GBP)

Unseen 2008, ORIGINAL, 50x70cm 440 € (628 USD, 384 GBP)

I’ve been spiked 2008, ORIGINAL, 70x50cm 220 € (314 USD, 192 GBP)

Stirrin’ it up 2008, ORIGINAL, 50x70cm 235 € (335 USD, 205 GBP)

Vandal 2008, ORIGINAL, 50x70cm 140 € (199 USD, 122 GBP)

Faster Harder 2008, ORIGINAL, 70x50cm 215 € (307 USD, 187 GBP)

Silent Subtitles 2008, ORIGINAL, 80x60cm 240 € (342 USD, 209 GBP)

Chemical Contamination 2009, 70x50cm 120 € (171 USD, 105 GBP)

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Rumble In The Jungle club

Just finished off a venue poster and a magazine ad for Rumble In The Jungle. Everybody is more than welcome to party with us in Lahti. The pre X-mas mashup guest MC Stapleton is a must-see!

To get in the mood Laiska Jaakko provided us with his latest mix Saigon Ratsastus! Big up Laiska!

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Guest Article: Tips on Successful Branding

This is the first guest article at the QMTK blog. It is written by Fergus O’Donoghue, a british graphic designer and the owner of a web and graphic design studio Creative Hat. He began his artistic life in the UK as a mural artist and illustrtator before the dawn of digital media. He was there for the birth of Macromedia (long before Adobe even existed) and has been a graphic designer and a digital illustrator since then. Creative Hat specializes in branding and logo design and Fergus shares his thoughts about the design process of a logo.

The cornerstone of a brand: logo

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You don’t need to be a digital artist to be a designer. There are many good designers out there who contract the final artwork out once the design has been achieved. This article is written for the designer who wants to get into branding, or learn new methods within the field that may help them.

I am not going to get into the ethos or psychology of branding here, but rather focus on logo design, which is the cornerstone of any brand. Essentially, the logo works as a symbol which carries the brand, and before a logo is designed, a great deal of preparation is needed. This includes research into the relevant sector, image identity, and core value conveyance, but that is for another post.

For the purpose of this post, I have invented a brand, which includes a brand name, the colours, a logo, a typeface, and a strap line. These are the five basic visual elements of a brand, and the sector I have chosen to target is the perfume industry.

The first step

The first stage of the logo design, presumes that I have already completed the preparation mentioned above, and that the client and I are agreed on the vision of the brand and the identity we are trying to achieve. Now it is time to start to work on a symbol that will represent the brand. If you haven’t done the leg-work, this will be like a writer trying to think of the title for his book before he’s even written the story. Assuming that you have some sort of direction, it is time to start visual conceptualising. This is fancy talk for ‘sketching’, which brings me to my first hot tip;

Hot tip 1: Turn off the computer, and get a pencil and paper. There is no better way to come up with a good design, than to draw it by hand. This gets the creative juices flowing, and gives the designer time alone with the design. The image below is one of the sketches I came up whilst trying out several interesting ideas. Producing hand drawn ideas for the client before going digital is important, but for the sake of this tutorial, let’s say that the client and I have decided on this one.

Step two: color palette

The second stage of the design is working out your palette. In some cases, this will follow an established part of the company identity, in other cases, the design will lead this. Generally, a brand identity will consist of two main colours at the core, known as the primary and secondary colours. In some instances, there is a single colour, or a full range, but this will largely depend on the industry, as there are certain rules that apply in established markets. For the purpose of this tutorial, I have selected two main colours, and an intermediate one, as I want to use a gradient in my design. In the image below, I have introduced my palette to a digital rendering of the symbol, which will also be in my presentation when I next meet with the client. The reason for this, is to show the symbol in it’s purity alongside the palette, which makes it easier to imagine and exchange for other colours if needed.

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Step three: implementation

The third stage is the implementation of colour into the symbol. It is important that the palette is established before commencing this phase, as it is easy to become distracted by the scope of colour as the options which present themselves when playing around can take you off in another direction entirely. Working shades within a colour is fine, but try to remain disciplined at this stage of the design, which brings me to my next hot tip;

Hot tip 2: Keep your creativity and the disciplines distinct from one-another. If you work out what you are doing in advance, you will be able to remain focused and save a great deal of time. Some people spend a lot of time experimenting with concepts, design and colour at the same time, but the idea is to keep the ‘play time’ to the conceptual level. If you set parameters for each element early on in the process, the project will be more productive at each stage, and the design will develop with more clarity.

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Step four: implementing typeface into the design

The fourth stage is implementing the typeface and company name into the design. In some cases, I will need to design a custom typeface in keeping with the design, but many times an existing typeface will suffice.

This part of the process can be as long, or even longer than designing the symbol, as the typeface is in itself a symbol within the brand. There is much that can be said about typography, as it is an art in itself, and many specialise in this field. However, for the purpose of this tutorial, I have chosen a font to go with the symbol. In the image below, I have placed the company name with the logo, which will be included in my presentation for the client.

Finally, I am ready to place the logo onto the product. This is where I get to see the brand in action, and for this, I will mock up an advert, and use the strap line to bring everything together. Packaging is another specialist field, and a crucial part of the branding exercise, but for the purpose of this tutorial we can assume that I have been made aware of the packaging in advance (as this would normally be the case). In the image below, we see the brand in it’s intended environment.

I hope this brief tutorial has been helpful in some way. The truth is, for a good designer, much of the work is done well in advance of drawing or sketching anything. As with most things, the key to designing a successful brand (or logo) is in the preparation and communication with the client.

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Guest authoring

It is very common that bloggers connect with each other to build up their social network. A strong social network is a priceless source for your inspiration and learning. I am on a mission to build my own social network and am more than willing to help others and share as much useful information about graphic design, internet marketing, a bit of SEO and web design.

Building blocks

I value a good source of information. The good source often happens to be a blog or a web magazine which consists of numerous articles about graphic design, typography etc. from various authors. Ok, I’m not here to build another Smashing Magazine or Inspired Magazine, but I want to contribute to the “design community” by giving useful information, blog about new trends and new designs out there.

How can I do this? First of all, I must be very active; read, search and compile information from various sources. Second, a good blog consists of more than one point of view. Enter guest authoring. The project has just begun (approx. 4 hours ago) when i phoned an ex-colleague of mine, who is a partner/Art Director in Avenla and asked him if he was willing to write in the QMTK blog. I will introduce him later this fall, when he launches his own blog which is targeted for the Finnish audience. He will be sharing his insights on online marketing.

But that is not enough in my opinion. We need more guest authors in the QMTK blog. So if you think you are up for the job of contributing to the community, give me a holler at qmtk@qmtk.net or message me in Twitter.

The QMTK blog is now self hosted

I have finally moved the QMTK blog from WordPress.com to my own server. From now on you don’t have to go to the old http://qmtk.wordpress.com blog, but instead find both my online portfolio and this blog here at http://cv.qmtk.net/blog. The main reason for self hosting the QMTK blog is simply this: the QMTK blog and portfolio are now more search engine friendly. Yup, did it for Google, I admit it.

Anyway, you still can find the QMTK “daily picks” from YouTube, all things related to graphic design be it web or printed media, and of course new events, urban arts and clothing (topics that are closest to my heart). I will tune up the blog daily, so keep coming back here on a regular basis!