My Doodles analysed in The Guardian

I recently received an email from a journalist at The Guardian informing me that two of my illustrations were being picked up for an article about the psychology of sketching.

I'd uploaded a few sketches on Guardian Witness and forgot about it. Fortunately two were selected for a psychologist to analyse. I was a little terrified when I realised my deepest psyche was being published in my favourite newspaper, but fortunately was pretty pleased with the results.

You can read the article here.


New JSD Brand

New identity for my design services.

I've been playing with digital textures, perspectives and a suggestion of scale, stability and a landscape of possibilities. The digital monolith with a sense of a rising sun behind it suggests new beginnings and multiple solutions.

I'm usually all about lowercase type, but a bold and strong statement with a subtle, classic blend for services is working right now.

The digital monolith is a by product of some design dev for a theatre poster

Running a few different shop fronts to cover my different services has been a hard fought lesson.

Initially I set up an integrated agency, providing design, consultancy, film, photography and illustration. Despite some very successful years, winning some major accounts and beating leading agencies I was still frustrated at the lack of awareness amongst new and existing clients. Our brand was successful and known, but the multi services agency model failed to break through the way I had planned. People do want to purchase from a specialist and small outfits struggle to compete regardless of the talent and ability in one studio.

So www.jimstokesdesign.com www.jimstokesphotography.com and www.jimstokescreative.com were born whilst www.popmedia.co.uk became a home for selling little prints for little places.

My three main services are all commissioned through their respective shop fronts and once new clients have become repeat clients effective cross selling can - and frequently does - happen.

 

 


The Rise of The Machines - Title Design

A work in progress. New designs and art direction for a charity film I'm making.

A chance for clean typography with moving visuals.

 

These are the first designs and mood boards for the film and the client has signed them off immediately. So now I can develop the colour palette and information graphic style.

We're presenting lots of employment data so we want it to look good whilst telling the story.

Its early days on the project but we're off to a great start.

Give me a call if you'd like to discuss design work.


Creating new imagery

After a successful shoot on Brighton beach I had a lovely batch of new images to play with. So I dived into my photography archive and came up with "The Road Ahead".

Double negatives are a great design device for advertising imagery.


Jim Stokes Photography launches

I'm happy to announce the launch of my photographic services www.jimstokesphotography.com is now live and I'm taking film & photography commissions.

 

So far I've delivered press and PR portraits that have been published in The Guardian and BBC 6 music online. My best shoot and shots so far were from a shoot with The Beats Ranking Roger.

I've always been an image-making graphic designer, and have been art directing professional shoots for over twenty years. So its nice to be running around the country, meeting people and capturing great images.

 

 


Double esposure

New photo montages

From an impromptu shoot with a friend on Brighton beach - a sea mist face us a perfect soft box light with no horizon - I found myself with a set of images that I owned and could publish at will. So I got creative and came top with these. you can see the full shoot here.

Double esposure
The Road Ahead. A shot from Brighton beach and a road trip in La Gomera

 


Book cover designs

During a rare lull and after some camera based travel I sat down and designed covers for my favourite novels with my photography.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 


Freelance creative takes budgets further

Graphic design, photography, copywriting and art direction

If you’re a small business or an experienced marketing director who can’t afford the full service of an agency, then hiring an experienced freelancer might be the way to get the best out of your budget.

The Salvage cafe brochure is a great example of a full service project designed and delivered by yours truly. I spoke to the client, carried out a few photoshoots and then designed the brochure, whilst writing the copy and tailoring the language to the style and culture of the cafe.

 


New studio and services with Studio by Sea

Very happy to announce that Jim Stokes Design is now based in one of Brighton's leading photographic studios.

So alongside my design and art direction I can now offer professional film and photography shoots.

Home to a great team of talented and experienced creatives, we're now linking up and providing full creative services - design, consultancy and creative direction, alongside professional film and photography.

The studio is available for dry hire or we can provide a full service film and photography service.

2 minutes from the beach, 5 mins taxi ride from the station, studio by sea is one of Brightons best shooting studios. A great space with all required for advertising shoots and test commercials, a friendly, experienced team we're nestled between the juice bar and The Bottoms Rest pub. Thats why the London agencies choose to work with us time and time again.

We have a talented and trusted team of editors and FX people.
We can provide editing and FX onsite.
Our network covers trusted wardrobe, make up and model casting.
We have full production crew available for test commercials

Visit the www.studiobysea.co.uk for hire details or give me a shout if you need to arrange a creative shoot.