Latest logo designs...

I've had a busy few months with our lovely little baby daughter but managed to squeeze in some branding projects... here's a few logos I've been working on lately.

Logo for Original Cinema Posters. I loved designing this and working with the client closely. I'm going to write a full post about it soon.

Branding for Glister Plumbing and Heating. Craig wanted a professional fresh logo that represented both elements of the business. 

Branding for COAL Fitness. COAL stands for Change of a lifestyle. Liam also wanted to incorporate a diamond element to the design linking to the word COAL. 

Teaching an online course - top tips - Part 1

In June 2013 I launched my first ever online course called The Art of Typography on the Skillshare platform. Nine months on, the course has reached over 1000 students. I'm pretty astounded by this and obviously very pleased with the success. And whilst I never thought I'd be one counting numbers, 1000 is pretty cool!

So in a mini celebration of this milestone I thought I'd share my experience of teaching an online course, the interaction with students and receiving feedback on the teaching. Hopefully this might inspire some of you to run your own courses as I've definitely learned and gained a lot from the experience.

This is Part 1 of my top tips. The post got a bit too long and I didn't want to bombard you with information. Points 1-4 are a really good starting point. Next week we will discuss the best way to deliver your course, videos, blog posts etc. and how to market your course.

1 - WHAT'S YOUR PASSION?
It's all well and good deciding to do an online course but for everyone to get the most out of it (including you) make sure you are passionate about it. This will show in your delivery and should instantly make your course more engaging for potential students. If you are having trouble working out what's your real passion, ask your nearest and dearest. Sometimes they know you better than you know yourself. People would ask my advice about typography without me consciously thinking that's my strong point. I just love designing in general but realised other people saw one of my biggest strengths was type.

2 - WHAT CAN PEOPLE LEARN FROM YOU?
Once you've worked out your passion you need to work out if this is something other people would like to learn and know about. Be honest with yourself - there's no point putting your heart and soul into something if you and the students get no gain from it, you want people to sign up to your course! Introduce yourself in an intro video or post. But then focus the rest of the course on what the students will be getting out of it. Use examples of your experience and work to support your teaching but be careful not to just talk about yourself, people don't really want to pay to hear all about you... unless you have some sort of celeb status - then they might!

3 - RESEARCH
This is a two step process... firstly research your topic. Are there similar courses available - there probably are! And if there isn't you need to figure out why. You've either thought of a great course which will have huge success because there's no competition or there's simply no need for your course - maybe there's lots of free videos on you tube already covering the same subject. How can your course offer more or stand apart from anything already out there?
There are now quite a few typography based courses on Skillshare. Some are very specific, maybe on hand drawn lettering or page layout. Mine is more a general introduction to all elements of typography. There can be room for everyone to succeed. Just do your research.

The second stage of your research involves your course content. You probably don't know everything or need refreshing on certain areas. I learned so much putting my course together. Particularly about the history of type - I definitely needed a refresh in that area as it had been a long time since I studied it!

4 - STRUCTURE YOUR COURSE
This is a very important step and it all depends on what you have planned for your course. Is it a short intense course that will be completed in a week with you on hand constantly to offer feedback, online chats or video calls? Or will it be a 6 week course where you devote 2-3 hours each week? will you set mini projects or one big project? will you be giving feedback to the students? Or maybe you are planning a series of tutorials? You'll have to decide whether the course will have lifetime access once signed up or whether there are set dates the course info is available. Ask yourself all these questions upfront before structuring the course content and working out how the course will be taught... videos, resources, pdf downloads etc.



So that's your starting point. Feel free to comment below, I'd love to hear your initial thoughts and ideas. Next week we will be discussing how best to deliver your course. I'd advise you to take a few online courses yourself before deciding on the best route for YOU. Some courses are entirely made out of video posts - whether that's talking to camera or screen recording tutorials in specific programmes. Some are held on a website where new content can be released each day or week like a blog post. Some are a mixture of both. A lot will depend on your course content and your character!

Useful links - some offer free classes or free trials...
www.skillshare.com
www.lynda.com
www.nicolesclasses.com

Do some research this week, start making notes and take an online course or check out tutorials on you tube. If you fancy taking my The Art of Typography course I'm offering my blog readers a 30% discount if you follow this link and use code BLOGPOST - alternatively sign up to the membership option for access to lots of classes!

Next week - Delivery, pricing and marketing your online course...

Valentine's Challenge winners..!

We are really pleased to annouce the winners of the Skillshare Valentine's Challenge. Majo and I each chose a winner and those lucky two are Melissa Iwai and Emma Hawman! Whilst we felt most of the designs answered the brief, we were both really impressed by the way the greeting card and gift wrap design worked so well together with Melissa's and Emma's entries.
You are both the happy 1st-place winners of some fabulous books. You can check out the prizes here.

E - I LOVE Valentine Candy by Melissa Iwai

C- LOVE confetti by Emma Hawman

To find our 2nd and 3rd places we opened it up to the public and we are pleased to announce that 2nd place goes to Sarah Price and 3rd place to Sarah H. You guys will also get a fab book each.

H - You're just my type by Sarah Price

We loved the contemporary feel to Sarah's design!

G - Love by Sarah H

Valentine's Day is usually all about pink and red, we love Sarah's use of bold bright colours in her design.

Thank you to everyone who stopped by, voted and/or commented! We closed the contest this morning at 6am (Colombian time) and had 279 votes altogether! Thank you again to all of the amazing designers that entered the challenge. You all created beautiful work and it was really hard to choose.

Melissa, Emma, Sarah and Sarah - please email us your full name, postal address and phone number. Sarah and Sarah please let us know which book you would like from these two...

Watch out for some more exciting challenges soon. And if you are interested in our Skillshare classes please check out The Art of Typography and Reign Repeats by clicking on the links.

Advent challenge Days 1-16

I have to be honest, I've been totally amazed at some of your designs and submissions to Advent Challenge this year! Beautiful, creative, inspiring and unique... here's just a little taster that should get you feeling festive. Thanks to everyone, of all ages who are taking part - I love tuning into facebook, twitter and instagram to see your daily works of art!

Day 1 - Robin

Kicking us off with a very cute Robin is Jan Shepherd of Patternmuse. The Embroidery School even made him into a cute pattern you can download.

Day 2 - Santa's letter

There were some fabulous illustrations for Santa's letter. However this verse from Ruth Ellis (Makey Cakey) was such a unique and creative addition to the Advent Challenge I just had to share it here!

 Day 3 - stars

Yes please!! Mini Rockpool Trading fan, aged 3 (who is becoming quite well known on twitter!) helped make these gorgeous looking brownies. 

 Day 4 - Cake

Good enough to eat! Lovely christmas cake from Jessica Lewis. The robin keeps making an appearance in her beautiful designs since day 1!

 Day 5 - Gingerbread man

A fab gingerbread man from instagram challenger Banburycakes!

 Day 6 - Angel

Maike Thoma of Patternjots, has completely embraced #adventchallenge2013 and has created some quite simply stunning designs! She has even set up a pinterest board dedicated to the challenge showcasing a number of talented designers. Loving her angel!

 Day 7 - Snowglobe

Fabulous snowglobe from Sonia at Apple Kaur Designs. You can also check out lots of her other designs on the pinterest board.

 Day 8 - Favourite christmas song

Miss AT on twitter has been a supporter of Advent Challenge since last years doodle challenge. I love her simple use of typography to lay out the lyrics from her favourite christmas song. 

Are you ready for some serious cuteness? Logan Grew decided to sing his favourite christmas song for our first Advent Challenge video! This is what it's all about :)

 Day 9 - Christmas tree

It's beginning to feel a lot like christmas!! This made my smile, Christmas Tree from Jen Handbury. 

 Day 10 - Snow

Another wonderful design from Maike at Patternjots for day 10 - snow!

 Day 11 - Elf

The very talented, Lesley Todd of Finch Five is doing her own Advent Challenge, but I was thrilled to see she had managed to synch up a few days with #adventchallenge2013. To see her wonderful set of illustrations take a look on her facebook page here.

 Day 12 - Favourite christmas word

I've become a big fan of Slumbermonkey's designs (aka Lindsay Buck) since taking part in a Christmas card swap with her. I love the bright happy colours and shapes against the darker background for Day 12. 

 Day 13 - A Winter's Scene

The adults were set lose on the play mobil to create this fun winters scene from Ruth Ellis. 

 Day 14 - Cracker

Love this!! The Grew family have been taking part in Advent Challenge on facebook... and their eldest son Logan was the star of Rudolph the Red Nose Reindeer rendition above. I love their youngest, Caspian, in the middle of the cracker. 

 Day 15 - Bauble

I knew Victoria Johnson was taking part but when she sent me a whole batch of her designs so far I was astounded - they are quite beautiful. Keep up to date with her work on her blog.

 Day 16 - Snowman

Another beaut from Slumbermonkey!

Julie Hamilton

Julie Hamilton of Artistically Afflicted is creating a captivating page of all the items... I love her drawing style.

 Pinterest board

Just a little taster of the fabulous pinterest board set up by Maike Thoma. 

Thanks to everyone who is taking part this year! It brightens up my day seeing what you are all creating. And for anyone who still wants to take part, join in whenever you like - even if you decide to just do 1 or 2. All details are here. I'll try to do another update before christmas and then a full round up after. 

Advent Challenge 2013

It's almost December, can you believe it?! So last year we had Advent Doodle, this year it's opened up to Advent Challenge... For each day on the run up to Christmas I've given you a theme or object to illustrate, paint, photograph, make - whatever you want. You might only do a couple of days or you might decide to do each day and create a wonderful calendar at the end of it - why not get the kids involved too? Last year a teacher got her class to play along. 

If you would like to share your creations use the hashtag #adventchallenge2013 on social media such as twitter and instagram. I'll retweet and possibly feature your mini masterpieces on this blog. 

Have fun everyone!

Christmas Card Swap 2013

I'll be honest, I got my Just My Type card range printed just before Christmas last year which meant all my family and friends got them for Christmas! I added a new addition to the range this year but I thought it was time my loved ones deserved something different... I could get some of my other designs printed but that seemed too easy and too predictable. So I did a shout out on facebook and twitter and asked if any fellow creatives fancied a little card swap this year!! And I was so pleased with the positive responses I received. I was after 3-4 people to swap with but got 5 which is a perfect number I think. So my family and friends will now be receiving some of these little beauties for christmas...

Striking hand finished cards designed by Made by Mrs M otherwise known as Kate Marsden

Beautifully detailed handmade cards by MissyCards. A good friend of mine has just given birth so Baby's First Christmas will be sent to a good home!

A great selection received from Say It Hand Made. I love the Christmas Tree!

I love Lindsay Bucks style, based upon collage cut outs of shapes that were created with hand drawn elements and digitally arranged. You can purchase her cards here.

And finally Emma Frances's exquisite illustrative cards. Check out her Etsy store where you can also purchase matching gift tags. 

Have any of you taken part in a similar swap or skills swap? It was so nice checking the post each morning to see if I had received a new package. I'd really recommend you trying it and letting us know how it goes :)

The Big Card Giveaway - Part 3 Santa's Pack

I've got a big giveaway happening with a chance to win 3 different sets of cards and greetings. The final giveaway is this letter to Santa along with a pack of 8 thank you notes.

All you need to do to enter is comment on this post AND then go to my facebook page, like and share the post entitled The Big Card Giveaway Santa... If you could also leave a comment on there letting me know you've done that it will be easier to track you down if you win!

For an extra entry into each giveaway, twitter users can post something like the following (just make sure you add @fayebrowndesign so I know you've entered and include the link to my blog) 

"I've entered The Big Card Giveaway with @fayebrowndesign - I fancy the Santa's pack, what about you? http://www.fayebrowndesigns.blogspot.co.uk/"

You can enter each giveaway once, feel free to tweet more if you really want to! Winners will be announced a week today on the 6th November 2013. 

If you aren't lucky enough to win, please follow my facebook page where there will be some really good christmas offers coming up very soon! 

My type of project!

I love these kind of projects, one because I adore working with type and two because I always find myself smiling when I design them. So it was a pleasure to design this to celebrate my friend's brother's recent wedding in Las Vegas. 

I've always been intrigued by Vegas weddings after visiting there as part of our honeymoon. We saw a number of beautiful brides along the strip or floating along under the 'Rialto Bridge' in the Venetian hotel. But we never actually got to see the ceremony so when my friend sent me a link to watch the wedding live, I jumped at the chance of tuning in (I don't even know her brother - sad right?!). It was amazingly good fun, singing Elvis, pink cadillac - the works! 

My husband and I keep saying we'd love to go back to Vegas, maybe we'll have to renew our vows Vegas style!

The Art of Typography - online course

The Art of Typography on Skillshare

I'm very excited to say I'll be running an online course called The Art of Typography in partnership with Skillshare. The course will be perfect for designers, illustrators, artists and people who regularly make presentations. I'll show you how to use typography most effectively for communication. We will look at how different typefaces can give off different messages. I'll show you how world famous brands use typography within their visual identity to enhance their brand message. And we will have lots of fun creating your own typefaces - digitally, hand drawn and maybe even with food! 

Your new skills and knowledge will then be put to practise in your project to illustrate a favourite quote or lyric. There will be lots of opportunity for feedback and encouragement from myself and fellow students. 

I've had a passion for typography since my design degree and then working with a great typographer in my first job. I'm really looking forward to sharing my knowledge and love for the subject. Sound like your type of course?! the course kicks off on the 14th June 2013... if you use the discount code ALPHA that will get you 15% off the $20 enrolment fee. 

If you have any questions about the course please don't hesitate to get in touch...