James Smith Design
Florida Tech Rocketry
Exploring the excitement of the new season with illustrative characters
I’m James Smith, a graphic designer with a belief in pure, meticulous, exploration.
James Smith
+44 74432 27293 @jamessmithdesign jamesdsmithdesign@gmail.com
Education
University for the Creative Arts, Farnham, Surrey Graphic Design BA (Hons) First Class Sep 2019 - June 2022
Foundation Diploma in Art and Design - Pass Sep 2018 - June 2019
Bishop Wand Sixth Form, Sunbury-on-Thames, Surrey A-Levels in Product Design (B), Geography (B), and Maths (C) Sep 2016 - June 2018
Experience
Graphic Designer at MAVERRIK
Branding and social media design for a range of clients October 2022 -
Freelance Graphic Designer
Farnham Craft Month Programme, Editorial Design Created a 40 page programme to advertise the upcoming Craft Month July 2022 - August 2022
Florida Tech Rocketry Club Branding, Logo Design Designed the logo for the university’s rocketry club June 2022 - July 2022
‘Blue Hitmen’ Book Cover, Cover Design, Illustration Illustrated and designed the cover of a book on CFC goals June 2021 - September 2021
Technical Skills
Highly proficient with the core Adobe Suite (Illustrator, InDesign, Photoshop)
Understanding of Adobe XD and After Effects
Highly proficient with the Microsoft Office Suite (Excel, PowerPoint, Word)
Applied Skills
Branding and visual identity design
Vector illustration
Editorial design (including typesetting) for both digital and printed outcomes Audience and market research
Strategic problem-solving
For the final project of my degree, the rebrand of Staines Town FC gave me an opportunity to experiment and push the boundaries of what branding means in football.
As the sport becomes more commercialised, clubs are starting to be seen primarily as brands. I wanted to explore this idea within non-league football, far away from the big money of the Premier League.
As such, I was drawn to Staines Town FC. Struggling and on a downwards spiral, they represented a club in dire need of change.
Playing in bright yellow, with a barely altered version of the town’s crest as their badge,
the club were firmly rooted in tradition. Through my rebrand, I transformed ‘The Swans’ into a modern and exciting team.
Creating a shield shape using a carefully designed swan icon alongside the club name, ensured that Staines Town FC could be seen as a forward thinking club, ready for the future of the sport.
Every design decision was taken with the future of the fan base in mind, while respecting the history and tradition of the club. Attracting a new wave of young supporters is crucial for Staines’ survival, and so this rebrand puts them at the forefront of their new era.
Modernising Staines Town FC through a brave and exciting rebrand.
The original sketches for this project experimented with creating a swan icon in the shape of a shield, an idea that would put the club back on the map. Through digital development, I came to a concept that did this well, but that definitely had room for improvement.
Changing the angle of the lines allowed me to reduce the negative space and close everything up. By pushing the idea further I created a stronger logo, and a far more recognisable swan.
Traditionally, Staines Town FC would primarily play in a yellow home kit, a choice I felt was at odds with their history and location.
Through radically changing their colour palette, the club is now far more representative of
Staines, a town largely known for its proximity to a famous English river, the Thames.
The royal blue and navy are testament to this, while the bright turquoise brings a bold and exciting change to a club slipping further into obscurity.
Shirt numbers are split into sections visualising the river that flows through Staines, while the new swan logo sits proudly at its base.
Their historic motto ‘ad pontes prospicimus’ is stitched onto the back of each shirt.
Maximising the club’s potential was key, and so I designed a clean programme and ticket, in order to improve the matchday experience.
Creating a set of social media templates was important to expand and improve the club’s online presence, while striking connections with a younger demographic. The colours of the templates can be altered depending on which kit is worn.
As part of the Final Major Project, I designed and printed a 100+ page research book, containing all the inspiration that informed my designs.
Known for their engaging and energetic shows, AJR are a three-piece band who look to innovate and push the boundaries with their music.
On their latest album, ‘OK Orchestra’, Adam, Jack and Ryan explore various themes from their childhood, such as divorce and abandonment, while weighing in on serious political issues.
They’ve become a huge favourite for many due to their combination of hard-hitting topics and upbeat melodies.
I challenged myself to bring some clarity to their album, developing a set of icons that best represented the ideas behind each song.
Some were very simple, such as a clock for ‘Three O’Clock Things’ and a cracked egg for ‘Humpty Dumpty’.
Other icons required more thought, with links to music videos or key themes within a song used as inspiration.
My interpretation of the cover of AJR’s ‘OK Orchestra’ simplifies the complexity, offering an alternative outlook that any avid fan would instinctively understand.
Bringing simplicity to the crazy and chaotic world of AJR.
James Smith Design was created in my foundation year at UCA, and from 2018-2021 I had used two basic logos.
When the personal branding project was briefed, I decided to use it as an opportunity to reset and really establish myself professionally within the industry. It’s always difficult to brand yourself, and despite being incredibly pleased with the outcome, it was what I learned about myself in the process that I valued most.
The importance of self evaluation became much clearer to me in this project. I thought about the way I work as a designer, what I offer, and how I would describe myself. It was a journey of discovery.
As one of my early branding projects, it also taught me a lot about the design process. I formulated a clear plan, that I used successfully in future projects. This project made me fall in love with branding.
Using three identical curves to create the JS monogram, embodied the clean and considered approach that I take in my work. The decision to use blue was an obvious one. It’s always been a colour I’ve gravitated towards, while it represents Chelsea, the club I’ve supported all my life. Blue was the perfect way to ensure the brand was inextricably linked to me.
Creating a personal brand to better represent myself and my work.
It became clear that a monogram would be the most effective style for my brand, and so I began exploring ways of joining a J and S.
The project involved thinking about myself as a designer, and I felt that pure, meticulous exploration summed up my way of working well.
In keeping with the idea of exploration, I used an extension of the S in my logo as a tool for navigating through a prospective website.
With the logo very effective at a large scale, four different abstracted sections were used for business cards, while a similar approach was used for an envelope.
Designing a bespoke modular typeface using geometric shapes.
To be a good designer, you need to have a strong understanding of typography and its importance. This project helped to enforce that idea even further.
Tasked with designing a modular typeface from scratch, I was excited at the opportunity to experiment. As one of the early projects on my degree, creating the ‘Ridge’ typeface was invaluable in my development as a designer.
Since this project, the importance I’ve placed on typography has risen drastically. As I fully understood the intricate details of letterforms, I began to understand how slight differences can be crucial.
Through experimentation of styles and ideas, I decided on the use of quarter circles and squares to form my typeface.
Inspired by Bauhaus design, I was intrigued by the curves in type and so ‘Ridge’ allowed me to express these ideas.
Setting out a clear rule of using those two shapes restricted what I could do, but in doing so the work benefitted. This was one of my early introductions to how rules within design can improve a final outcome.
Drawing out versions of the letters allowed for quick improvements and changes, before then creating them in Adobe Illustrator.
By overlapping two bold colours throughout the type specimen, it allowed the typeface to become even more impactful.
Florida Tech Rocketry Club came to me with a very simple brief, design our logo.
I believe it’s a designer’s responsibility to fully understand the client and their brand. Sending across my workbook to complete allowed them to better describe themselves and what they wanted me to produce.
The most successful projects are born out of meticulous research and exploration.
Through this process it became clear that Florida Tech Rocketry were operating within a very complex field. Logos tended to be extremely busy and follow NASA’s lead of a mission patch design.
Simplicity is at the heart of strong communication, and so the aim for the project was to allow Florida Tech to be seen as leaders in their field, through a refined identity.
This project served as an invaluable insight into how building a strong relationship with a client helps a designer to learn key information which benefits the final outcome.
The final logo for Florida Tech was extremely well recieved with the client expressing that it “surpassed all expectations I had going into it.”
Bringing people together through clean and bold communication.
Creating a logo for a rocketry club was an exciting challenge, but one that can very easily result in an obvious outcome. I began sketching out a huge volume of ideas, in order to find the concept that stood out in a crowded industry.
Both sides of the abstract rocket come together, symbolising teamwork and moving forward as one. These were key points made during talks with the client.
Mocking up the logos on t-shirts allowed the client to visualise their brand and how it could be used.
As a supporter of Chelsea FC, no time has been as turbulent and unstable as March through May of 2022.
A rapid change in ownership caused an extremely chaotic spring, but has resulted in an exciting summer.
New owners, new signings, new season. I wanted to explore how I could react to that through design, settling on illustration, a skill I’ve been improving in the pandemic.
Building upon my existing concept idea from early 2022, I further developed these illustrative characters, using circles to create a unique and interesting design.
Wanting to push the project further, I decided on creating a series of cards, where each player would be shown above relevant information; name, position, nationality and age.
What started as a fun experiment turned into a sizeable project, involving the design of 25 individual player cards and packaging, along with adaptable lineup templates for social media.
Exploring the excitement of the new season with illustrative characters.
