Checkers it out...

I spent many days as a child in the kitchen - learning French from cassette tapes, making chips and peas out of salt dough and playing draughts ("checkers") with my dad. So, this photograph of me seemed appropriate for his birthday card this year...

Paws for Thought...

A card design created for my granny's birthday. Using watercolours and pencil to begin with, before final editing (note the popularity of me using glitter glue for the centre of flowers)...

A Musical Engagement...

I (badly) put together this collection of clips from our belated engagement/pre-leaving Yorkshire party, which we celebrated with all our friends and family. I wanted everybody to feel free to perform, and am very lucky to have had so many talented volunteers...  

Hen Will I See You Again?...

Recognize this design? I have made full use of the wedding stationary imagery, and have created a set of chicken themed thank you cards...(The metallic purple paint is from the Pound Shop - who'd have thought!)

Clock, Paper, Scissors...

I've been doing some work for my big cousin and her toy selling company. The latest brief I have been set is to design some new toy clocks for children on the theme of princesses, clowns and pirates. Here are some drawings I am currently working on...

[Can you believe I almost went with "(Did you) Clock (the door)?" as the title of this post? Good job I came up with that extremely appropriate pun last minute...(ok, I added the scissors into the photo)]

Save the Date!

My recent big project has been designing and producing all the 'papery' things for my biggest sister's up and coming wedding. Here are here 'save the date cards'....

I then began designing the main invitations, having been sent an example of what she would like. I decided to test out some potato printing to add a personal touch to the invites...

...but then remembered I wasn't completely mental (this would have taken a few million months to achieve 60 invites...) (I exaggerate). 

So I then settled on creating a design, printing it out via man-made printing equipment and adding just a baby finger of personal touches...

60 invites, inserts and RSVP cards down. 60 evening invites, 60 more RSVP cards, 60 order of services, 100 place cards, 10 menus and a seating plan to go. 

What are baby sisters for! 

I shall post the full collection when it is complete :)

Oh How February Flies...

WHAT! Almost 4 months since I last posted? Not that this means I haven't been creative.. or busy. A move to the South has given me another half of the country to explore (never really travelled below the belly, so enjoying living on the smooth thigh of Suffolk), where I have been serving food, freelancing, and eating lots of cheesy puffs....

..Also gave a home to this little critter (named "Boo", short for 'Bouken' which is Japanese for 'Adventurous') (She also loves cheesy puffs apparently).

I've also started a placement at a wonderful design studio called White Space, where I am very much enjoying the opportunities to be creative and thoughtful. Currently working on a little animation for a photography company, which I can hopefully post at some point!

How to keep your Smart car safe...

My entry for Smart Car's competition, where the brief was to come up with an idea for how to keep a Smart car safe, and create an animation to go with it. Here is my entry, which came second :) How to keep your Smart Car safe from Jennifer Bows on Vimeo

Indigo Bows

Hello again!

I have recently set myself up a little card/invitation/other design company to keep me occupied, and to allow my life-long passion for creating cards and gifts for loved ones to be shared with others.
It's called Indigo Bows- mainly because my surname is Bows, and because I love the colour purple. But also because I think it sounds quite nice on the ears.

Visit my (growing) website here: http://www.indigobowsdesign.co.uk/

And check out my latest progress here: http://www.facebook.com/IndigoBowsDesign?fref=ts

Colourful Cards...

A selection of cards created for Fathers Day and a birthday (my dad loves birds, my boyfriend's dad loves USBs, and my friend's mum frequently gets a visit from a cat who poos in her garden...)

White Stuff...

Last month I spent a week in the design department at White Stuff in London, and I had a great time!

I really liked the environment where everyone from different teams works together, and I think that within retail design might be where I fit best :)

I got to dabble in a variety of tasks, both analogue and digital, and I enjoyed all of it! I'm not sure what I can put online from my time there, so here is just a sample...

 

(concepts for Summer flyers, bounce backs etc...)

(cropped images for web pages...)

AuRA... Take one

The other week I spent the day in Screen Printing, trying out my design on a variety of tops. Although the gold definitely worked best on top of black, it also looked quite nice on this green...

I then printed onto black, adding gold stitching and beads to certain areas...

I then sewed in a sample of Japanese fabric as a tag...

 

I used left-over gold paint from the screens to coat some sheets of card, then printed my logo on top to create tags. These are hung with gold cord...

 

I'm hoping to get more t-shirts printed professionally (I didn't do a great job of screen printing!), so watch this space...

AuRA...

 

A tshirt line which I created, based on a mix of the beauty of Japanese nature and British lazy summer days. I wanted the tshirts to be printed in gold, hence the (Au) of the brand AuRA. Aura is also the name of the Goddess of sunlight and the breeze (fitting...). I wrote a 'poem' which would go on the reverse of the tags and give a greater sense of the brand:

Aura, Goddess of light and sun

Wake me when the day's begun,

So I may feel summer's glow

and watch how gently nature grows

And walk the earth with those I love

under the sky who smiles above

For perfect days don't have to shine

for gold to fill this heart of mine

 For the brand I created a logo and tags, as well as potential displays. The tags are designed '3D' do that the top can be ripped off to reveal a 'fortune' inside.

I have hand screen-printed a selection of t shirts (the designs have changed slightly), which I will photograph and post soon...

Whisky Business...

 

Another D&AD competition brief, although this one I approached in a light-hearted manner... To package a new brand of whisky, aimed at a female audience. 

If you can't read the description on the image, the idea is that a shot of whisky is sealed inside a 'slap/snap bracelet' (popular in the 90s), meaning drinkers can wear their drink for easy transportation, whilst looking extremely fashionable. Probably it's most notable feature is that it can be 'slapped' around a glass of ice/frozen item to cool the whisky without losing any of its punch when ice otherwise melts and dilutes the drink.

I think I'm onto something... 

Ministry of Sound...

 

This year's D&AD brief entry- to create a series of posters for Ministry of Sound's 'Saturday Sessions.' I wanted to use a more unusual hand drawn approach, and used the digital DJ decks as inspiration...

Cool Camping...

An old D&AD brief which I attempted to try my hand at Art Direction- the brief was to create a window display for Diesel clothing, on the theme of 'cool camping.' I had a lot of fun with this!

The End. (aka The Begining) ...

My three years of studying Graphic Design have finally come to an end! Therefore, I have updated by website (jenniferbows.com) so that I only display my best work (the guitar-playing pony has gone...). However, many more projects have been completed this past term, so I thought I would post a few on my blog so that they are not lost forever...

Have-a Jaffa...

My Easter gifts this year: Using this recipe and some mini chocolate molds, I created some mini jaffa cakes (and lemon cakes!). I then recycled my birthday cards that I have hoarded from the past 22 years and created some gift tags for the little bags...

My entry for Playstation's 'Access' magazine cover competition. The theme is "Gaming takes over the world." 

(The tedious method of public voting is the system they are using, so I have no chance of winning but it was a fun one-day brief...)

HAPPY MOTH3RS DAY...

Two cards for two mums, each mad using felt and a felting brush and..felting...shapes together...

My mum's card, based on a wooden 'jigsaw' penguin she has on the mantlepiece at home...

Pick and Mix fix...

The birthday cake I made for Claire, as we both love our trip to Wilkinson's for a bag of pick 'n' mix before a cinema trip...

To my Claire...

The birthday card/booklet that I made for Claire's birthday :)

Have a Croc-in' Birthday...

The card I made for my boyfriend's dad's birthday- a lover of Crocs and owner of numerous (genuine and faux) pairs...

Tray(n) of Thought...

I designed the tops of bean bag dinner trays (perfect for anti-social meals) for my dad and boyfriend's dad's birthdays. Although the designs are laminated for ease of clean, finding an appropriate adhesive was (and still is) a problem.. However, the scenario was overcome by suggesting that the tops can be interchangeable for the desired daily look... I think I got away with it.