Graphic Designers Portfolio - Logo, Letterhead and invitation design

LOGO DESIGN & OTHER GRAPHICS | BROCHURE & POSTER DESIGN | ANNUAL REPORT AND OTHER DESIGN |

DESIGNING GRAPHICS

My background is as an Art Director. My my job was to come up with ideas for ads, all day every day. As a result, my design work tends to be a bit more ideas-y than most. I'm quite happy about this now, although at the time I didn't always enjoy working for ad agencies, even on the tropical island of Mauritius, where I spent 3 years.

The island experience had a marked effect on on my thinking. It wasn't like the brochures make out. It's a thriving, busy place with low budgets, a high cost of living and thus high volumes of work. Much more than I'd had to cope with before, in fact. There was a lot of competition for clients. The emphasis was on selling rather than awards, as it is in Joburg. The ads actually had to work for the clients. This wasn't something that I'd had to consider until then! So I had to learn to work a lot more, and more quickly and realistically than I'd had to in the ivory towers of Johannesburg. But I still had to maintain my portfolio to an acceptably high creative standard. I knew that eventually I'd have to go back to SA and find a job.

Having an early grounding in top ad agencies like JWT and FCB had a very positive effect on my work. I was trained by award winning Art Directors and copywriters. Graphic designers' or Art Directors' training only really starts once they leave college. Working for big corporate clients such as BA, Bic and Ford), I was under constant pressure to develop my skills. I simply had to perform to a world-class standard in order to earn my salary. I ended up with a nice portfolio as a result. Having my ads shown all over the world also made me unafraid to take on work from any company, no matter how big or where they may be... [ MORE ]

GEOFF LOUW
ADVERTISING | DESIGN | ILLUSTRATION

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GEOFF LOUW - GRAPHIC DESIGNERS PORTFOLIO

DESIGNING GRAPHICS