Captain America!

In the midst of winter I received a call from a potential client who had a new product that he wanted a complete look for. This thing was some sort of craft invention that was aimed at children and schools but that adults could enjoy, too. He'd had interest from big toy sellers including Hamleys and John Lewis, so the product needed to look absolutely stunning. I was to create a cartoon character - a superhero - and to design all the packaging in the style of a classic comic book, create a comic strip and a website.

An amazing brief, and as with all things that seem too good to be true, it was. Alarm bells sounded when the client kept adding more work to the brief without wanting to address the financial implications, and he became very sheepish when I sent him a quote with a full breakdown of costs even though I'd explained them to him from the start. So I held back on the project until I had full confirmation from him, and only did a few sketches. After a meeting with his bank, he realised he didn't have the money. The job was cancelled only a week after it started.

It is irksome; although some people appreciate how much care and consideration you put into each job, others seem to think you can churn out work like some sort of McProduction Line.

Hey ho: every cloud has a silver lining, etc. I got to spend a few days curled up beside my log fire learning how to draw superheroes while the song of the silent snow played softly outside. It's something they don't teach you in art college - you do a lot of life drawing and anatomy, so you know the lie of the human muscoloskelature, but superheroes are something else entirely. They're massively exaggerated, with dramatic perspective and little drawing tricks that emphasise movement and distance, and subtle crosshatching blending the blackest indian ink with the white of the page. Lucky for me, one of my best friends is a comic book geek and lent me a great how-to book by John Buscema of Marvel comics, so I set to work learning from one of the greatest artists of the genre.

Flipping through my sketchbook earlier, I saw the above inking. When the job was cancelled I was annoyed at having wasted my time, but looking back I appreciate having had the opportunity to diversify my skills. Such is life, I guess.

Charitylog logo

A couple of months ago I was approached by a client with whom I've worked occasionally, pretty much since I started freelancing almost six years ago. I'd done a couple of logos for him and this time he wanted me to look at the logo of one of his clients, Charitylog.

It's a company that has designed software for charities working in the public sector. It provides a log where employees and volunteers can record dealings with clients - for example elderly and disabled people and their carers - so that everything is organised and clear, in one place and most of all, secure.

What's important (to me) is to work out not just what the client wants but what their customers need. So you've got this brand-new cutting-edge software and that's all fine and dandy, but hey, computers and software can be frightening to your perhaps technophobic customers - software can be full of holes, computers can crash and lose data - and if you're a charity paid by the local council to look after vulnerable people you certainly don't want those people's personal details hacked or leaked or lost or whatever. The thing to emphasise, then, is that this particular software is clean, clear and secure. So that's what I did.

I worked on logos that were strong, reassuring, simple and gave the feeling of security. I used motifs like keys, cogs and locks. I used a lot of blue and green - calming colours - and everyday typefaces. This one, the final approved logo, uses Helvetica Black - very common, which is useful because it's recognisable and not new and scary. By putting the type in a black box the logo is contained and feels secure. The round corners soften it a little and the drop shadow (used with caution - these things can look terrible) lifts it. And then there's the little touch of colour with the padlock 'a'.

That's pretty much the thing about being a graphic designer. You can be the most creative person on the planet and produce the most astoundingly beautiful, edgy work, but if it doesn't work for the client and their customers, you're dead in the water.