[LYME REGIS FILM FESTIVAL MEETING - POSTPONED]

Due to the (now annoying) snow this meeting has now been postponed to next week due to Marcus (the organiser) finding it difficult to travel down here.

Just received this email off Jo -

Good Morning Chris and James,

Due to the adverse weather conditions the meeting which we scheduled for today can no longer take place, as Marcus is having trouble getting here from Lyme Regis.
If it is convenient for you both could we meet at the same time next week? (That would be Thurs 12th March at 2pm). Please confirm if  you can make it.

Hope you are getting on well with your FMP!

Kind Regards,

Jo

I have replied confirming my attendance, just hope the weather is better!

[LYME REGIS FILM FESTIVAL LIVE BRIEF]

Have been approached by Jo regarding a new live brief for the Lyme Regis Film Festival. Not totally sure what the live brief entails, but I can see this fitting in nicely with my professional project.

It appears that it is Chris Walter and I being put forward for this, and there has been a meeting arranged for us to meet the organiser and to see what is wanted of us.

Jo emailed me this earlier -

Hi James and Chris,

Further to our conversation regarding the Lyme Regis film festival, I have arranged an informal meeting for you both on Thursday 5th March at 2pm with Jo Gardner and Marcus Dixon.
This will be an opportunity for you both to see what the project involves and whether you would like to be involved with it. Jo is the AIB cultural Co-ordinator and Marcus is the Lyme Regis Film Festival organiser. They would like you to bring along a selection of your work and to discuss how to develop the marketing material. For this event.
This is a really exciting opportunity and it would be great if you could make it. Please confirm if this date is convenient for you. I look forward to hearing from you soon.

Kind regards,

Jo

I replied confirming my attendence.

[INK BAR WEBSITE LAUNCHED]

On Thursday evening we had a meeting with Chloe at the Ink Bar, where we were given our printed media examples for our portfolio. We also had our photos taken with our signage, due to ones taken on launch night being too dark. They were pretty cheesy and I look forward to seeing them! As a thank you for all our hard work we have been given a £20 gift voucher each for the Print Rooms, which I look forward to using. The meeting took place at 5.30pm and it was really good to see the place busy with people who had just finished work, as it proves the the relaunch has been a success.

So today whilst browsing the Print Rooms website to see what I can spend my voucher on, I noticed the new Ink Bar logo has been placed on the site (bottom right) -


and upon clicking it, you are taken to the newly launched Ink Bar website (http://www.ink-bournemouth.co.uk/), with the logo in its full glory -


Go check it out, and if you haven't so already go have a look at our work in it's full glory at the Ink Bar on Richmond Hill.

[INK BAR LAUNCH PARTY]

Last night we attended the Ink Bar launch party. It was surreal seeing all our work everywhere. Seeing my logo on the window graphics, the menus, the invitations, the flyers and even the key fobs! Its been a tough few weeks but it all feels so rewarding now, seeing our work printed and in the flesh.

We arrived at around 6pm and drank champagne till around 11.30pm. Was a great night and definitely something that I could get used to. We got to meet a fair few important people such as Andy Price (owner of the Ink Bar, Print Rooms, West Beach and Aruba), who congratulated us. We were also interviewed by Liz Lean the PR, and had our photos taken by DV8, the local newspaper and other publications. Is good knowing our hard work has been recognised. There will be a further meeting for us to collect examples of our printed media, and there has also been talk of a meal at the Print Rooms as a thank you!

[INK BAR LAUNCH T-MINUS 24 HOURS]

So after all our hard work we will see if it has been successful in less than 24 hours. Ink Bar officially opens today but there's still time for more work. Had a phone call earlier today from Chloe saying how everything is going to plan so far and even better that their expectations. My invites had been distributed, and they had already received over 100 replies. With the capacity of Ink Bar being just 90 people that is exciting news. With this success she was keen to get some more invites out, but fancied a change of colour. Chloe suggested green, but I felt that it didn't look too appealing so also put forward a blue version, which got chosen -



Also it's been confirmed that there is going to be press coverage there, and they will be interviewing us as well as taking pictures. So need to dress to impress!

[INVITES CHOSEN]

Well another success with the Ink Bar brief. After having my logo chosen, I have just found out that my invites have been chosen as well -

Hey James

Well done, this has been a really tough decision, but we have chosen your design. We are getting them printed in both colours. Can you please change the text on the right hand side of your flyer to:
_________________________________________________________

In order for us to anticipate your attendance please fill in the enclosed card which will secure your invite to our fantastic re-launch party, plus free membership. For those signing up to our membership card we look forward to lavishing you with fresh and unbeatable dining and drinks promotions throughout the year.

If you are unable to attend the launch party, then pop in to have a look and exchange this invitation for a complimentary beer, glass of wine or enjoy a sumptuous glass of Champagne, before the Sunday 30th November.

______________________________________________________

If you can pop it back over and I can get them to the printers today.

Many thanks

Chloe Parmiter


Can't wait to see them printed after these few small alterations. Have also just found out that they will be using Megans' design for another leaflet, and using elements of Vickys' for a cover letter, so success all round!

[INK BAR PROGRESSION]

Today we got to meet the graphic designer for West Beach, Aruba, Print Rooms as well as Ink Bar. We sat down with him along with Chloe Parmiter to discuss ideas, and how we can all work together to make sure we meet produce the best work we can, that all links together, as well as hitting the ever nearing deadline. We all had a brain storming session to produce ideas for promotion names, and how we can have running themes for the printed media through to the screen based website. The main aim of the day for Megan, Vicky and myself was to produce final invitations ready for print by 5.30pm. Earlier in the week we found out that Vickys' initial invitation designs were preferred so we all pushed these designs on further. Below are the designs that I put forward (click to see bigger) -

After seeing what the designer had done so far with the Ink Bar menus I tried to take elements of this and implement it into the invitations. I used a similar graphic of ink in water, and used an ink wash on the back to bring an element of ink onto both sides of the invitation. I experimented with two colours, so that it would appeal to both sexes, as I felt that the pink ink may lean towards the females. I had positive feedback from Chloe and look forward to hearing whose designs have been chosen.

[INK BAR BEGINS]

So now the real work begins. The work that will be printed. The work that the public will see. It's all rather exciting. We've split into two smaller groups. Megan, Vicky and myself working on the printed media; whilst Luke and George work on the website.
Today we had a crack with the launch party invitations. Without knowing the exact colours they want to use, and what blurb they want featuring on the invitations it was quite a difficult task. We all had to take our own interpretation on things.



The colours I've chosen link in with the interior design of the refurbishment, however they are likely to change when we are given the exact Pantones. Chloe has a meeting tomorrow with the graphic designer and management, so hopefully we'll know more then.

[INK BAR - MISSION ACCOMPLISHED!]

Just found out that our groups pitch for the Inkbar has been chosen. Even better news is that it was my logo that they chose out of all the designs our group put forward. It's a great personal achievement, and I feel an even better group achievement as they originally wanted to get away from the Ink brand.

After all the stress with first convincing them that the brand name 'The Office' was a bad one, and then all the name changes from Ink Bar, to Bar Ink, to Bar Ink Dot, to Ink Dot and then finally back to Ink Bar; it was a great feeling to have our idea chosen. There was a bit of luck as they had previously been a bit cautious with the name Ink because of trademark issues with a bar in Manchester by the same name. But very recently that bar has been rebranded to the O Bar, meaning that we got the go ahead with Ink Bar. My chosen logo below -

Now that we have the name and a solid brand and logo, we are to produce all the promotional material to go along with the bar. We are needed to design invitations, christmas flyers, window graphics, key fobs and a website. They did offer to take over and push forward with our brand from here on in, but as a group we felt that we didn't want someone else to takeover after all the hard work that we have put in. It's going to be tough especially with all of our course work as well but it's all going to be worth while in the end.

Their launch date is still scheduled in for 20th November which means that we are going to have strict and tight deadlines to meet, but in the end this is going to look great in our portfolios. We have also all been invited and put on the guest list for the launch night, which should be a good experience (fingers crossed for a free bar!). As well as this, there has been talk of Chloe and Matt trying to get press coverage on the whole relaunch and rebrand, which is going to be an amazing opportunity to get our names out there.

This is the first serious live brief that I have taken part in and even with all the stresses and deadlines, I've had fun and it has been very successful. It's also confirmed in my mind I've made the right career choice of being a graphic designer.

[INK DOT / INK BAR]

Well tomorrow morning (well now today), the final decision is going to be made on the brand and designs that they are choosing for the Ink Rooms rebrand. It has been stressful, and seemed like we are going in circles sometimes with all the name changes. Currently it looks like they are set on calling it Ink Dot. Spoke to Chloe earlier and she said that the designs that we sent her last night, were all great and not to spend any more time on it. Chloe did mention however that we should put our logos into context as the 'main boss' who has the final say isn't a very creative man and he needs as many visuals as possible. So tonight I've been battling away again and put my Ink dot (I took away the bar) into context - 




I also decided on the off chance that they may choose it, even with all the trademark issues, to put forward my favourite logo of the Ink Bar -




Megan also put forward two of her designs in context (only displaying the first slide of each pdf) -



and Luke put forward his strongest idea -


Well its now in Chloes' hands to push our ideas forward, along with James Ramsays' Ninety-Five Bar pitch. Fingers crossed that my groups idea is chosen, as it would be great to see all our hard work pay off. Will post an update as soon as I know.

[BAR INK DOT]

Another day and another name change! Chloe has now put forward the idea that the name Bar Ink dot would work well. So today had a bit of a mad one, and produced all the logos below -










As you can see I've taken some ideas that I've used previously and incorporated them into my new logos. Also tried some new ideas. Guessing tomorrow there will be another change to the brand!

[THE INK BAR PROGRESSION]

Another update on The Ink Rooms rebrand. Back on Monday we had a quick meeting with Matt Desmier regarding the whole situation. We had become confused with what we were actually meant to do, after having several emails sent to us saying different things to what we had been hearing. In the end we were told to continue with our ideas, and to try and persuade Chloe Partimer away from 'The Office' idea as we all felt that it wasn't strong in the slightest.

So within our group of Megan Corkhill, Luke Bonner, George Russell, Vicky Martin and myself we pursued with our idea of The Ink Bar, leaving the other group to pursue with The Office. Yesterday we battled on with our ideas, of logos, and ideas for artwork etc. By the end of the day we had our presentation ready (the main slides are below) -








I went into the meeting with an open mind not really not knowing what reaction to expect from Chloe. But after showing and speaking about our ideas the response was very positive. Chloe really liked our presentation. She could see the potential with our ideas and could see them working very well for their bar. We then all sat down around the table and discussed why we didn't think 'The Office' would work. She took all our opinions on board, and agreed with them all.

The next step is for Chloe to take our presentations to her boss, to try and persuade him away from the idea of The Office and towards our idea. We have exchanged contact details, and will find out more tomorrow after Chloe has presented the ideas in a meeting. There is also the possibility of further work which excites me.

[INITIAL IDEAS FOR THE INK ROOMS REBRAND]

With the deadline for The Ink Room rebrand closing in I had an hour bashing out logos for 'The Office' name idea with Megz last night-


After being told by Matt today that we should continue pursuing our own ideas, as they may change their minds on the name of the bar, I continued with my idea of Bar Ink -


After a further chat with Matt we've decided to work as a group, and to take our ideas forward to the next step ready for the presentation on Wednesday.

[THE INK ROOMS LIVE BRIEF]

Our task it produce a complete rebrand of The Ink Rooms on Richmond Hill, adjoining onto the prestigious Print Rooms. Neil had mentioned this brief the other day, and it was something that really interested me. Today we had our first group meeting for this brief. At first it didn't seem that interesting, as they had decided on a new name of 'The Office', or 'Small Print'. These names I thought were pretty poor, I like the idea of 'The Ink Bar'.

As the meeting progressed, the group were throwing around some excellent ideas, not just for the the two name they had suggested but also some new names that we had come up with. This excited me and I looked forward to taking part in this brief even more. The only problem with this brief however is the timescale. We've only got 2 weeks to come up with a complete rebrand - logo, name, menus etc.

We've got a further meeting with Chloe who is the marketing manager for the bar, so we have been split into smaller groups to progress with the ideas that we currently have. I've been put into two groups to work on the ideas of The Ink Bar, and Just Off The Square.