I’ve created them in three screen sizes, just click the size you want and let it download. All I ask is you don’t re-distribute, they came from my site so link people back to this site if you’d like to share

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The Full Metal Jacket piece I created was chosen to feature in the digital Stanley Kubrick exhibition which ran alongside the Paris Exhibition. I also had several posters I created picked up by The Picmix Store and sold.

Locally, three29design has gained exposure, seeing as we did things the other way round by concurring overseas before the local area. I also was asked to work with my local Peugeot garage – this happened via twitter, so lets all bow to the mighty twitter and it’s powers.

On top of that, on December 2nd I won South Cheshire Chamber’s Young Business Person of the Year award sponsored by Bentley Motors. To have such a huge company pick my name to win the award was just amazing, thank you to Bentley and SC Chamber! I have 9 more years to enter for this award so let’s see how next year goes

I was involved in the artwork for Australia’s Heatwave Festival which will take place in January. What an awesome way to kick off the year. A bus has been driving around with my design on it, as well as a plug for the website, always good! That bus will also be home to Tech N9ne for a short while… I am a fan so that was pretty cool. There will be a fair few Billboards going up around Melbourne with my artwork on it (and logo) along with large format two color posters. This is pretty awesome, especially those on the line up are Kid Cudi, Tech N9ne, Obie Trice, D12 and more!! And this Festival isn’t happening in just one city, it’s moving all the way around Australia.

I was on local radio quite a few times, speaking about design the first time round, social media the second time then a mix of the two on the other shows. This was quite big for me, because I am shy and I’m not great at speaking, I’m an email and text person! Nerve-racking indeed, but it wasn’t that bad. So, thank you Redshift. In January I will doing my first exhibition stand at one of the Hub’s networking events too

I saw my work featured on various Kano + Mikey J videos – totally didn’t notice this for months but when I finally did it put a smile on my face. My first Halloween giveaway was successful and made the recipients smile which is always a plus. Many more in the future ladies and gents! Now, the iPad… I said I’d never buy one however, it eventually became clear it would be handy to take a portfolio around with me, so I welcome one into the business.

On top of those, I have gained many new clients, along with working with the clients who constantly return to work with me. Thank you guys Keep bringing me awesome, imaginative briefs in 2012!

-Liv

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In Melbourne? Well look out for these large format posters which’ll lace your city very soon! Take a picture of you by one and send it to the Heatwave team, they may have a treat for you. Let us see it too!

I hadn’t created a two color poster before but I think this came out pretty well considering that and the extremely tight deadline. I love Cudi’s orange eyes.

I thought it would be cool to walk you through some of the steps I took to create this album cover for Tuf Luv. This isn’t a tutorial as it only briefly goes through the main steps… all the work done between those steps is left out. Bare in mind, this is an album cover, not a mixtape cover which are too often is filled to the brim with cuts and glows. 

1. First we have the original image. The photographer has taken care of the lighting that they want on the cover along with a few effects. This is the picture I got sent to work on. Photo credit: @ShinesFresh

2. Now to open the canvas for the front cover and work out what placement of the photograph works best. I went for him to be in the middle. This was the maximum the image would shrink to and fit on the canvas otherwise I would have opted to show more of the image. One thing I didn’t like is the lampshade, it ends up looking like a black box at first glance, but more of this later.

3. Time to take things into illustrator for the text. I think things work better that way but it’s all personal preference. At first I was using a chunkier typewriter style font, but I found this one on my list of fonts which worked a lot better. I decided the name should be the most prominent bit of text so I go for the top version.

4. I brought that text over to Photoshop and try various positions. Naturally I prefer the text which covers the lampshade.

5. I like to send over a few versions for the client to look over, so I had the basic text versions down. Now to try something a little more with the text. So I cut down and put together various paper and newspaper to create a backing. Then I messed with different dark grays and blending modes to get a look that made the text look like it belonged on the paper. It felt like it needed a little something else… ah yes! Blood! Great.

6. Next I try out various places for the text with backing and settle for two which will be sent in the previews. I’ll only be showing the development of the one which was chosen.

7. Looks okay… but needs work! So I decide to place it behind him and the horns. Ah… better!

8. Now…. time to get rid of the blue. I saw his latest video, it was dark (like… horror/murder dark), so a red look to the cover will work better. He also asked for his logos on the cover. Let’s have those on the back wall they don’t need to be in your face on the front cover.

9. Done. Now… it’s too damn soft! Let’s grunge it up a little… it’s a gritty release. Few layers of grunge later it’s looking more like the part.

10. Next step… adding the final effects which will end up changing the final look quite a bit. Let’s make it look less flat.

11. Ah there ya go! Now… what else? Oh! The PA sticker! …and a couple more adjustments and it’s done. Sent for approval and a few hours later: ACCEPTED. Now the same thing needs to happen for the back cover.

- Liv

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The South Cheshire Chamber Business Awards were held at Crewe Hall, a truly amazing venue. I had never been to a black tie before, so to be honest, I didn’t know what to expect. The night started with me feeling quite socially awkward as the room filled up with faces I didn’t know, and dressed up looking glitzy.

After finishing the 3 course meal the awards started. I was slightly nervous… After seeing who I was up against I honestly thought I had no chance, after seeing a name on that list I thought they had it in the bag. As I started to hear Jo from Bentley speak about the winner, that oddly enough sounded like me, I was in a bit of shock… did, not, expect, that. After that everything is a blur lol. I went up on stage, collected my award and did a speech from the top of my head in front of 200+ business owners, had a few pictures and sat back down, still in shock. The nerves had gone but I was still shaking like crazy! After the awards were over, it was all go, pictures, interviews, networking, buying mum glasses of wine, the lot!

Well done to all those who won this year, including CTC Physiotherapy who I shared a table with, such a great bunch of people (we had the lucky table!). And to all those who were nominated, as Dr. Gav said to me before, you have already won by being in the book that so many business owners read through. There’s always next year

It’s a great feeling to have this type of recognition for my business. I did things the odd way round and started my business by working with clients overseas, mostly in America. However, I’m now trying to work locally, to make local businesses and individuals look awesome, in person and in pixel. This award will definitely kick start that!

I have a lot of people to thank, for giving me support and believing in me to get the job done. Firstly to all the clients who chose to work with me and trusted me with their hard earned cash – especially those who have worked with me from the start, throughout the price rises! Thank you to my parents and friends for backing me up and supporting me throughout. Redshift radio and the hub for getting me into the local offline networking that I hadn’t been involved with before. And finally to Jo and all the Judges from Bentley Motors, I’ll see you in five years to collect my Bentley GT

Liv

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So… you may have heard me going on about these random combinations and how I want YOU to send some ideas in. Well, it all started when Callum Chapman suggested I create a ‘killer monkey with a machete’. It was good practice and totally random. Makes me step outside the box and do something different, learn new techniques and get faster at using the program. So I went to my Facebook fans and asked them to suggest more ideas. Wes came up with ‘angry cat’s ice cream disaster’ which I chose to run with.

So now it’s your turn. If it’s awesome enough I’ll create it, and send you out an A3 print for free. What have you got to lose? You have two ways of suggesting. Either tweet 329 or drop a comment on the Facebook. Easy. Now go and get your thinking cap on! The more fun and random the better

Good luck!

I like to get followers and likers involved with these random combination pieces. It started with ‘a killer monkey with a machete’ and this time ‘an angry cats ice cream disaster’ was suggested. The person who suggested the idea has an A3 print on the way to them right now. Get involved here.

Spur of the moment personal piece. Felt like doing a vector portrait as I haven’t done one for a while and I really liked this picture. What dya think?

It’s been a few weeks since I did an interview with a client, sorry the past few weeks have been hectic but this week I’m back with Swift Beats. I’ve known Swift for a while now due to us both networking with DJ Grind and thanks to him I realized the capabilities of Soundclick design wise. He’s constantly putting tracks out whether they’re complete or instrumentals… but I’ll let him tell you about that.

329: Please give the readers of my blog an introduction, who are you and what do you get up to?

Swift: Hey, wassup people! I go by the name of Swift, aka Swift Beats I’m a UK based hip hop artist and producer. What I get up to? I practically live in my studio it’s the first place I go in the mornings and last place before I go to bed.

329: How did you originally get into music as an artist and as a producer? Who and/or what inspired you?

Swift: I like this question! I honestly feel like music’s in my blood! lol, I remember as a kid I used to record raps on tapes when i was bored and i just kept at it really. I started producing late 2008 out of necessity! I needed original beats and figured what better way than creating your own. So I went to university and studied pop music & record production I stayed for 2 semesters before I left but I didn’t quit! I kept learning and set up www.swiftbeats.co.uk and just grew from there really.

329: When you’re writing and/or composing a new track, what often inspires you?

Swift: For me I’ve just got to be completely relaxed, and let the music itself inspire me. That’s when I make the best music. I haven’t ‘written’ a track for over 6 months I listen to the music and as the words come I record them there and then, that gives me more creative freedom.

329: Out of all of the tracks you’ve recorded/produced, which is your favorite and why?

Swift: Hmmmm….. My favourite track… As a producer I would say a beat I called ‘zero gravity’ (available on swiftbeats.co.uk) its so simple yet so musical especially the hook, it just takes me away. As an artist that’s tougher I like all my tracks lol! but if I had to pick one I’m gonna go for my most recent. Its a track called ‘Round We Go’ you can watch the video at www.youtube.com/swiftmusicent

329: Some people don’t notice or appreciate design, others will decide on a product or service based on the way it looks. What is design to you and how important is it in everyday life?

Swift: I like things to look good, generally if something doesn’t look good I don’t really notice it, that sounds bad but hey I’m just being honest lol.

329: When you’re planning your next project to release in the near future, how important is the look of it to you?

Swift: For me design is equally as important as the content because that’s the first thing people see before they even decide to listen to your music, so if that’s not on point you’re kind of shooting yourself in the leg.

329: Okay, now I want to know what’s your favorite album musically and which is your favorite visually?

Swift: I listen to too much music to pick an all time favourite but the most recent album that blew my mind musically was Kanye West’s My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy. Visually… I’m gonna go for Wiz Khalifa’s Rolling Papers that cover for me was on point, simple but straight away you know what Wiz is about, and still creatively done.

329: Yeah that’s an interesting cover, but can’t decide whether I like it or not though. As for My Beautiful Dark Twisted Fantasy… Love it! Are you into downloading pretty much everything or do you still like to pick up a CD at your local music store so you can flick through the booklet whilst you listen?

Swift: There was a time when I used to still go buy physical CDs but now that doesn’t happen… Its just too easy to click the buy button on itunes, so why would you want to walk all the way to a store?

329: haha lazy! Some artists have a distinct look that they’re known for, e.g. Fred Durst’s red baseball cap, Amy Lee’s gothic dresses and hair, Slick Rick’s eye patch and gold chains, Eminem’s once bleached blond hair and wife beaters and so on. Would you say you have a distinct look when you’re in recording artist mode? What about producer mode?

Swift: I don’t really know if I have a distinct look, I just do me really, I don’t know if that comes across as distinctive.

329: I just do me too Artists like Kanye West and Lady Gaga are always expanding their musical styles or crossing boundaries. Being versatile and controversial gets your name spread but do you think this is a good thing? Do you or will you make moves like this?

Swift: Um… this is a tricky one, me personally I wouldn’t go out of my way to cause controversy, but if something I strongly believed in was controversial I’d stand by it all the way! I think you definitely need to be versatile in this industry though because it’s constantly changing, you’ve got to change with it…. Unless you want to retire! lol

329: How big of a role does the internet, primarily social media, play with you and your music when it comes to networking, distributing and promoting?

Swift: I’m 100% independent so for me the internet is EVERYTHING I wouldn’t be making music without it.

329: Werd. What do you hope to achieve with your music and who would be your dream collaboration?

Swift: The master plan is to make enough money to invest in property… I’ve got plenty of other ideas too! A clever musician always has outside ventures! My dream collaboration…. I can’t pick one, I want to work with everyone who inspire me musically, but at this moment in time, I don’t think there are a lot of artists in the UK who would pass on an opportunity to work with Tinie Tempah.

329: Everything Tinie touches seams to turn to gold… for now anyway. How do readers of this interview find you? Leave your website(s) and any contact details you want to share.

Swift: The fastest way to get in touch with me about anything whether its about making music, getting a beat or just to say hey is on twitter! follow @swiftbeatsuk I’m also on youtube with GOOD quality music videos and if you’re an artist looking for quality affordable beats head over to www.swiftbeats.co.uk I also do customs.

Click the image to view live page. Bit of a grunge feel to this soundclick for cash flow. A mix of notes and speakers represent the name. This is a regular soundclick package.