Little Red Riding Hood

Back in the winter when all was white and snowy, I drew this illustration inspired by my friends little daughter who always wore a little red coat with blond hair peeping out from the hood and cheeks made rosy pink by the freezing air. I was reminded of it yesterday when my friend was telling me about a new production at Glyndebourne of Hansel and Gretel. Her son is off to see it soon, and, as he is just 8, she had been explaining to him how traditional nursery stories often have a sinister edge to them. She was preparing him for some of the scenes as she did not want him to be shocked or terrified. Modern editions of nursery stories are often adapted and generally nowhere near as sinister as the original editions could be. These days our children need not be bothered by wolves prowling our neighbourhoods and eating their Granny alive - but we need to be mindful of our innocent little children being led off by a little mouse that clicks and leads them to another (and sometimes sinister) world called the internet...

Incredible Gardens - Identity Design

Incredible Gardens are a new concept in garden design. They have a solid background in agriculture and garden design and have a passion for all kinds of plants that have an edible element to them. Their mission is to design sustainable gardens that are beautiful and contain only plants that can offer something edible, be it a seed, root, leaf or flower.

My role was to design a contemporary logo that emphasised the strong design ethic that they base all their gardens on and that also hinted at the edible content of the planting choices. I have an interest in gardens and garden design and already knew that, on planting schemes, garden designers use a visual system for drawing groups of the same plants involving shapes connected by lines. For aesthetic reasons, there is a preference to plant groups of the same plants in numbers of 3, 5, 7 (etc). I borrowed this system as the base of the design and simply arranged a collection of 'plants' into a shape that resembles a bunch of seeds or fruits. These were set in a rectangle that represents the boundary of a garden.

Corporate Identity Design for Beverley Ogden Solicitors

I was commissioned by a local Solicitor to revamp the image of the company and create a new logo to coincide with a move to new premises. The company is based in Lewes, East Sussex which is an old, and architecturally speaking, rather traditional county town. The company has been established for 25 years and is well known in the town I therefore opted for a clean and classic logo design which was applied to all new stationery and signage. The new office is just off the main High Street on a twitten (small pedestrian lane to you and me) and therefore it needed a prominent exterior sign. I also designed the interior signage and advised on the interior office layout and colour scheme.