netmag Design Challenge

UI Design

netmag Design Challenge homepage design

About the project

I was very happy to have been featured net magazine's Design Challenge in the September 2017 issue.

Each month’s challenge presents a short brief for designers to work with, and it’s a great opportunity to flex your creative muscles on a side project, applying your expertise to a design problem that might be outside your regular comfort zone.

netmag Design Challenge September 2017

But I know nothing about cabaret

The brief called for a design for a fictional cabaret act – with the detail left up to the designer. Not being something I have huge amounts of first hand experience with, a quick brainstorming & word association session ensued until I arrived at the idea of 'Mexicola', a Day of the Dead themed extravaganza.

¡Viva Teatro! identity
netmag Design Challenge iPhone mockup

Breaking the rules

I try to stick with one or two typefaces in client designs - three means I've really let my hair down. Side projects are a great excuse to throw out such self-imposed rules, and can be an opportunity to freshen up your approach - well worth doing in order to prevent staleness creeping in.

Guerilla

Guerilla


Habana

Habana

Icons via The Noun Project

Mexicola icons
Mexicola icons
#47BF89
#36302B
#D22F2B
#F8BA5A
#F3E7B5
#000000

Muy bien, gracias

This was a great challenge to work on, and I was chuffed to be featured in the magazine alongside some hugely talented designers. I also learnt a) I am hopeless at picking out decent photographs of myself for publication, b) Option + 1 is how to do an upside-down exclamation mark on a Mac, and c) if my dog is going to eat the edge of any magazine that comes through the letterbox, it will definitely be the one I was eagerly awaiting to see if I'm in it.

netmag Design Challenge
netmag Design Challenge
UI Design
Luke Burford
Icon Design
via The Noun Project
(Ben Davis, Made, Anbileru Adaleru,
Rihards Gromuls, Yazmin Alanis)