CAPSTONE

TITLE

Edward Clarkson

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NEWCASTLE

FILM SOCIETY

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WHITE BLACK EST

2021

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ES & K I B

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AJ’S

B R E W E R Y

SALES, REPAIRS & ACCESSORIE

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There are many reasons for the use of the lion for my logo. It mainly stems from the many symbolic meanings it holds. The lion has prevailed throughout history, inspiring ideas of strength, protection and spirituality, professionalism and is also the national animal of my country of birth: England.

This graphic serves as my own seal if you like, a recognisable mark of my brand.

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BLANK

BOUT WELCOME ME

My name is Edward Marsan Clarkson, and I am a graphic designer specialising in illustration, animation, branding, and product design.

Born in London UK, I spent most of my life growing up in Newcastle Australia. From a young age, through drawing, painting and ceramics, I have always loved creating both real and imagined worlds. Through university, I have been able to apply my skills to the design field, accumulating a large variety of works in my portfolio which you will see throughout this book.

CAPSTONE is the collection of my best works from University and beyond, demonstrating my wide skill-set and adaptability in the design field.

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SHOWCASE

1 2 SHOWCASE

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Hastings

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Domesday

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White & Black

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Macbeth

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Catalyst

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Blink

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Food Chain

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SH

OW CA

SE

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UON Car Decal

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AJ’s Bikes & Bits

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Newcastle Film Society

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Cyborg Fitness

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Bronte’s Babysitting

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Craft Country Outfitters

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Brutalist Architecture

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Dragon’s Tail Tattoos

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HOP’s Brewery

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Douglas

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VOO

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Spilt Milk Coffee

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Worldscape Collective

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Skate

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Urban Spaces Calendar

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SHOWCASE 1

ILLUSTR TION From an early age, I have always illustrated the world around me and the world in my head.

Throughout University, I have been able to further develop my skill-set through digital media, gaining an expertise in Photoshop paint while also continuing to create traditional works on paper.

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HASTINGS One of my largest and most content heavy illustrations; this painting features a vast array of colours and tones in order to convey strong emotion.

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PROJECT:

Domesday ILLUSTRATED BOOK

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nspired by the events of 1066 in England, Domesday is an illustrated book that conveys deep emotion through colour and tonal use. It follows the journey of Wilfred and Oelric as they try to survive William’s conquest and the fall of England to the Norman invasion. With high impact scenes and detail, I tried to convey the horrors of the war and the perspectives of

the characters through its composition. Although at times it is dark and gritty, the story also has elements of hope and courage with the two characters journeying from the battle of Hastings, through the south of England as it falls to the invading Normans.

As seen in ‘RAPTURE’ (bottom right), the scenes made use of compositional qualities such as the grid of thirds and the golden ratio.

As any designer will tell you, there is few better feelings than seeing your digital art take physical form. It was a special moment for me to see the works I had spent so much time on take physical form on paper. The book print went very successfully and I hope to be able to utilise the works and story one day in the future.

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‘THE TOWN’ - a scene from the later half of the book is in stark contrast to the earlier scenes, conveying a sense of hope and safety.

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W H & IT B L E A K

A Eu fte ti r r r co on ope etu rn a n in , ye nd tin th I w in a m ar hi en e c s g f os s c sto t. it fa ro t a ol ri Wi y-s sci m m lid es th ca na a az in sp cu pe te ga in g t an lt s d p g o n ur I s by ye ci cr in es aw th ar tie ea g , l e i s te th an ac va n on s ou g ro r ea om sa uag ss t iar t e nd e he h. of s s th of e

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isp d in e ng is id ti c th de rea d e c e it I om n in ail h g Fr tio eg et w sin . ra b -d and s u ink to gh k g d hi lac in an b aw cil dr en p

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MACBETH Continuing with the focus on medieval works, this poster for Macbeth demonstrates a further push into dramatising my works. Adding more enticing angles and compositions throughout my works is also joined by studies of anatomy, both of the human and animal nature.

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SHOWCASE 2

NIM TION With the design world becoming more and more digitized, it would be impossible for a designer to not implement some sort of technological aspect to their portfolio.

Throughout my second year of university, I became prof icient in animation, story telling, and learning how to show movement in my designs.

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PROJECT:

CATALYST SHORT FILM

Inspired by movies such as ‘The Secret Life of Walter Mitty’ and songs such as ‘Wake Up’ by Dead Arcade, this short film sought to express emotion, adventure, love and change through its vibrant colours, locations and transitions.

The transitions are the centrepiece of the film, accompanied by dense landscape illustrations that create a cohesive journey in which the character grows.

The mini-film focuses on the journey of an urban dweller and his worldly adventures in the rich, exotic landscapes of the world, paralleled to that of his mundane city life.

In the end it becomes apparent that the character is spurred on not only by the catalytic journal, but his own self.

The restrictions of Covid, and my own travels abroad, were influential in creating this story. After two years of lockdowns and restrictions, it is almost suffocating to be unable to travel abroad and explore the wonders of the world beyond this country.

When I went abroad in 2018 I learnt a great deal about myself and the world around me. Finding inner strength and courage to break out of the safety of home and work is one of the things that I found so inspiring about travel. This is something I really wanted to convey in this film, showing the simple office worker and his mundane, boring, grey life, transformed through the colourful, vibrant world of travel and adventure.

“The mini-film focuses on the journey of a city man and his worldly adventures in the rich, exotic landscapes of the world, paralleled to that of his mundane city life.

In the end it becomes apparent that the character is spurred on not only by the catalytic journal, but his own self.”

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Each location contains an assortment of icons, colours and tones to create a recognisable and distinct scene.

For example, the Cambodian scene on the previous pages has Angkor Wat Temple as well as the Bamboo Railway.

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PROJECT:

BLINK SHORT FILM A short film focusing on transitions between scenes, this animation was the first digitally drawn animation I ever attempted. Through this, I learnt a great deal about the time and effort required to create even the most simple of animations. It was great to see my creations, which, until then, had always been inanimate, living and moving through film and other new media.

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PROJECT:

FOOD CHAIN SHORT FILM A cut out animation, Food Chain was a very challenging yet rewarding work created in my second year of University, during the first weeks of the Covid lockdowns. Learning to shoot and adapt my animations from home was very difficult, requiring me to modify my new ideas about animation.

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My most prominent work, the University of Newcastle’s Carbon Neutral Car Decals was a project that took place over 3 months, battling the likes of Covid lock-downs and bureaucracy.

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SHOWCASE 3 Throughout the recent years I have had the opportunity to work with clients of all sizes, including large businesses such as the University of Newcastle, The Newcastle Film Society and Cattleyard Promotions as well as smaller clients such as personal trainers, babysitters and bike stores. This has greatly increased my capabilities in branding and logo creation.

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Created for the University of Newcastle,

these car decals were designed to advertise the new sustainable approaches undertaken by the university to reach their carbon neutral goals by 2025.

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The hexagons

themselves are inspired by leaf cells and solar panelling which, when combined, creates a futuristic effect that relates the product to multiple different components of the client brief.

Covering UON’s new electric car fleet, these works required teamwork with fellow designer Connor Getley, as well as with printers and the highest echelons of the university.

The project itself was created as a way to give the students of UON a chance to contribute to the university’s image, with all design students in my visual communication degree submitting their designs in a bid to have their works used on the new fleet.

This project taught me many skills, not least of all communication, with my designs altered and adapted continuously over the many weeks of the project to suit the client’s wishes.

Overall nearly 50 different design iterations were created for this project by myself alone, with the final design being a hybrid of both my own hexagon design and Connor Getley’s gradient idea.

Professionalism, an eye for detail, punctuality, a keen understanding of the Adobe Suite and printing was necessary to complete this project. The final result led to a photoshoot, recognition from the staff of UON and the Vice Chancellor, Alex Zelinsky, himself.

Overall the project went very successfully, continuing to be an eye catching design for the university and featuring in the Newcastle Herald.

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AJ’S

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ES & K I B

SALES, REPAIRS & ACCESSORIES AJ’s Bikes and Bits in Mayfield was one of my first projects for a real client. Although the final design was not selected, I learnt a great deal about how to professionally present and pitch my ideas.

Through my logo and branding concepts, I wanted to meet the client’s desire for a friendly, yet professional brand that would advertise trustworthiness and the areas their shop focused on such as repair work.

I mainly used symbols of bikes as a central element in my build up. However, I tried not to create a logo that was clichéd. This is something I have strived to do whenever I create designs, trying to think outside the box, in a more original way.

Using real imagery of the client’s store was something I began to utilise with my designs and products, with the wonders of Photoshop allowing me to show how designs would look on the client’s product.

This has since allowed me to better sell my designs.

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NEWCASTL E

FILM SOCIETY This project was by far my largest, in terms of the amount of physical components needed to be designed as well as teamwork required. A great deal of communication between the team and the client was necessary with the project requiring the redesign of the logo and brand, its brochures, membership cards, email and social media content and website.

Multiple logos were pitched to the client, with the final selection being a team member’s minimal logo of a film projector.

The level of expertise required for such a project was high, with a need for a multifaceted team with experience in marketing, web design, graphic design and branding.

This project was of particular importance in terms of my learning experience with larger businesses and bureaucracy. The team and I did not only have to communicate with the general manager of the society, but also its marketers, treasurer and its board.

There were many complications with the project which greatly increased not only my understanding of the design field, but also my confidence in creating and presenting my designs.

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My first client through my Instagram page, Cyborg Fitness is a personal trainer and fitness business based in the Hunter. The project involved a re-brand of the client’s logo, business card, brochures and merch. It was a good project to work on not only for exposure, but for the confidence it gave me to create and implement works on my own.

As I have learnt, each client is different, with this client needing help not only with rebranding, but overall advice on his branding strategy and direction online.

I also created an animated logo for the client, viewable through my online portfolio, illustrating my ability to use my animation skills in new ways for clients.

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A quick branding job, this client had only a handful of requirements for her branding identity including sunflowers and the colour yellow. I find it important to ensure that each client is completely satisfied with my work, with constant communication and revisions in order to ensure everything is perfect.

I recently received extremely positive feedback from this client, stating she was very happy with my work and the large amount of clientele she had obtained due to the professional re-brand.

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CLIENT BRIEF: create a stylish, modern, outdoor clothing brand with a clear connection to its country origins.

While clients are scarce, especially in the latest lock-downs, I began creating my own fictional clients in order to continue to expand and grow more confident in my design ideas. This allows me to also grow more content to advertise on my social accounts to gain new clients and keep extending my abilities.

This fictional client, inspired by such brands as Ralph Lauren and R.M. Williams, is a sleek and professional, higher-end outfitter brand.

Using mockups and photography, it has been fun and challenging to create works that look good despite a lack of context to go off.

As you will see on the next page, these fictional clients allow me to explore and push skill-sets such as marketing and photography.

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CLIENT BRIEF: Create a unique logo representative of the architectural style of the brand’s name-sake.

Inspired by a recent commission to create four designs for a previous BALFRON TOWER resident, I decided to create an architectural brand based on the style in which the building was created. Balfron Tower is a large 1960’s residential tower block in East London that was designed in the Brutalist fashion. Using stark, sharp compositions and concrete in the designs, the controversial architectural style has gained a cult following throughout the late 20th century.

Based on this style, the Brutalist Architectural firm utilises a sharp, harsh, concrete graphic look with a metal/copper outline. The components created to support the brand follow suit, with the brochures, advertisements and imagery creating a cohesive brand identity.

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CLIENT BRIEF: Design a logo and brand for a tattoo parlour and its products. Avoid the cliché retro type and imagery. Must be transferable to many different components.

Dark and somewhat demonic, the Dragon’s Tail Tattoos parlour logo incorporated multiple symbols including the medicine icon, a tattoo gun and the wings of a dragon.

This creates a parlour aesthetic that is unique, which also can serve as a logo for products and other components.

For this fictional client, I decided to incorporate my illustration skills to create more components to convey a varied skillset in terms of branding work.

Improving my abilities in all areas of branding and logo design, I found these briefs allowed me to explore and, more importantly, make the mistakes I would prefer to avoid in the real industry. Through these explorations of different case studies, I developed and expanded my overall understanding and confidence in my abilities.

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Expanding my illustrations into digital form has been a focus in recent years as seen with the work on this page. Vectorising imagery for use on larger scale is something I hope to be able to utilise further in the future.

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EST

2021

B R E W E R Y

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HOP’S BREWERY IS THE BEER FOR YOU! This beer brand brings together your favourite Aussie animals in a unique, authentic, Australian brand.

Rough as guts, just like the hard working Aussies who drink them, HOP’s Brewery has something for everyone, with six different flavours, distinguished by their own mascot and brand identity.

Created to expand my skillset in branding, product, mascot, and beverage design, the HOP’s Brewery project was a very successful fictional brand. The project also focused on the idea of creating a parent brand and sub-brands that maintain the same aesthetic.

However, I ensured each had their own distinct qualities.

I hope to be able to create content like this for real clients, and combine my abilities in branding with my expertise in illustration creation.

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EXTRA STRONG ALE 8 % A L C / VO L

E XT R A H O P S

Are you sick of piss poor beers that take a full six pack to get you smacked off your tits?

WELL THIS IS THE BEER FOR YOU! One drink of HOP’S Brewery’s Extra Strong Ale and you’ll be fuck eyed for the rest of the night and tomorrow when your dusty ass goes back to work.

B R E W E R Y

TAZZY ALE 6 . 5 % A L C / VO L

HOPS

Are you sick of the boring, regular, everyday beers you just get because there’s nothing else to get? WELL THIS IS THE BEER FOR YOU! HOP’S Brewery’s Tazzy Ale has the sting you’ve been looking for, with real Tasmanian ingredients and flavours born and bred in the harsh island down under the land down under.

PALE ALE

4 . 5 % A L C / VO L

E XT R A H O P S

Are you sick of beers that are too harsh for you to be able to smash down a full six pack at 8:00am and then go straight to work in the morning?

WELL THIS IS THE BEER FOR YOU! HOP’S Brewery’s Pale Ale is as smooth as the M1 at midnight with extra hops and a pale eucalyptus tree colour.

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DARK ALE 7 % A L C / VO L

HOPS

Do you like Guinness but are sick of giving money to the damn pommies each time you want to get on the piss?

WELL THIS IS THE BEER FOR YOU! Black as coal, this beautiful ale will have you singing the national anthem in no time with its dark, foamy, thick tar on your lips.

ALE

7 % A L C / VO L

After a hard day working the paddocks, you want to come home to crack a cold one with the boys.

WELL THIS IS THE BEER FOR YOU! Plain and simple, good old Aussie ale, this beer will have you tattooing the southern cross on your arm in no time.

OUTBACK EXTRA DRY 7 % A L C / VO L

E XT R A C A R B S

Sick of drinking beers that can’t quench that thirst for a good dry ale?

WELL THIS IS THE BEER FOR YOU! As dry as this great land’s beating heart, Hop’s Outback Extra Dry is the perfect beer for everyone. Bitter as a Frill Neck’s bite, this beer will quench your thirst on those 1000km trips across our great red deserts.

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CLIENT BRIEF: Create a minimalist, corporate brand for a financial firm that has many companies and components under the parent brand.

DOUGLAS is inspired by such companies as JPMorgan Chase & Co and BlackRock, with large financial portfolios over many countries. This requires a simple, effective and recognisable logo that looks professional and corporate. Removing any fancy details or decorative elements, logos for larger firms and brands usually are created to display professionalism, security and refinement.

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DOUGLAS’s logo and brand identity follows this idea, with a clean cut and minimal logo, clearly stating the company name.

The monochrome colour palette and photography convey modernist ideals and a professional onset.

Creating brands and logos that are mouldable to multiple different aesthetics, components and ‘subbrands’ is something I have studied and refined throughout my university years.

Through this, the brands have a strong yet inter-changeable identity to adapt to various situations while maintaining recognisability.

As previously stated, I try to make logos that are inter-changeable and adaptive. DOUGLASX is an exclusive members’ club under the DOUGLAS main company, however, with its own logo variant.

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CLIENT BRIEF: Create a band logo and brand while also implementing pattern making.

VOO is a fictional modern pop band with a large following in Australia. Inspired by artists such as Jimi Hendrix and Tame Impala, with their strong visual elements and psychedelic colours, I created a band identity that was strong and passionate. With the melting logo I expanded the brand to implement the use of a brightly coloured pattern which is both eye-catching and recognisable. This pattern is able to be used for merchandise and advertisements alongside the VOO logo or on its own as a graphic piece.

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CLIENT BRIEF: Create a hip, yet professional coffee brand utilising a strong graphic.

SPILT MILK GOURMET COFFEE is a fictional coffee roaster and shop with products distributed across Australia.

Using a strong, unique graphic, inspired by splashing coffee but also old fashioned gilded gold decorations, this brand stands out as modern and professional. In this brand, I wanted to try and push not the logo itself, but rather an accompanying graphic that was symbolic of the brand and recognisable even on its own. Using a colour palette representative of the product helps enforce the brand, while maintaining a clear and uniform identity across a range of products.

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SHOWCASE 4 Product design is something I have recently been expanding into, with products ranging f rom calendars to f ramed works created in recent years.

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PROJECT:

WORLDSCAPE COLLECTIVE PRODUCT DESIGN The WORLDSCAPE COLLECTIVE product range has been in development since January 2021, with over 30 individual designs available in framed prints or even canvases.

I had the idea for the works one day while experimenting with the golden ratio which I use in all the works’ compositions.

Amsterdam was the first one created, with a mixture of interesting icons and cultural references working in unison to create a good looking work. Once I began creating more

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and more works and expanding the designs in detail and content, the project began taking form.

Over the last year, I have worked for hundreds of hours creating works of cities all across the globe especially in Europe and here in Australia.

Overall, the project has gone very well, with orders sent off to places such as the UK and Sydney after only a small amount of marketing. In the future, I hope to expand this into a larger and more profitable range.

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The project has taught me many things, especially how to market, sell and create works.

Communicating with buyers, suppliers and printers has been a major stepping stone, increasing my confidence, industry understanding and know-how.

Independence is another important skill learnt from this project, with the entire range completely created, printed and sold solely by myself.

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The works themselves are snippets of cities around the world. Each one contains icons, symbols and features that represent the architecture, peoples, cultures and history of each individual city. From the works, the similarities shared by some cities can be appreciated as well as the differences.

One thing I admired about Europe, during my travels, was its celebration of its multicultural identities, with a great mixture of histories, ethnicities and geographies that collide to create these wondrous and beautiful cities. Lisbon, for example, is greatly influenced by the disasters it has faced in the past such as earthquakes and tsunamis which have influenced the architecture of the city. Its history as a country occupied by the Islamic caliphate can be seen with its use of Islamic tiles on most buildings.

Rome is a mixture of buildings and ruins of empires and kingdoms over thousands of years, with a wide collection of architectural monoliths for proof.

Newcastle, Australia is vastly different to these ancient cities, being a relatively young city with a mixture of heavy industry, beautiful beaches, buildings and colonial icons.

It should come as no surprise to say I have a great love of cities and cultures, with many of my works inspired by this love I have for the differences we as humans share, moulded by thousands of years of growth, war, cultures, empires and religions.

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PASHA BULKER

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O C E A N

B A T H S

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SKATE:

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This side project shows my aspiration to further expand my product design abilities. Creating designs on various appliances, vehicles and devices is something I have always enjoyed. Many designers, I am sure, would agree that there are few better feelings than seeing your digital work brought to life in a physical way.

PROJECT:

URBAN SPACES CALENDAR PRODUCT DESIGN

Adapted from the WHITE & BLACK range, this calendar has been successful over the last 3 years, teaching me how to present, market and sell works.

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NEWCASTLE

FILM SOCIETY

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WHITE BLACK EST

2021

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ES & K I B

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AJ’S

B R E W E R Y

SALES, REPAIRS & ACCESSORIE

TS BI

ES

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