Three years on

Today marks three years since Collier Design was established and I officially started working for myself.

This year has been another busy one. Lloyds Banking Group has continued to be my largest client, with work to transform online banking across their largest brands now close to fruition. I've also spent some time on other smaller projects and been lucky enough to do a bit more teaching up at the University of Lincoln in between.

As ever, due to contractual reasons, I'm limited by what work I can show, but hopefully I'll be able to share further projects on this website over the coming months.

Show Fifteen

It was great to be back in Lincoln for the University of Lincoln's Show Fifteen on Friday evening. There was some great work on display and it was really good to catch up with the students, staff and fellow alumni.

Back row: Emily Butlin (2015), Katherine West (2015), Leanne Kitchen (2013), Ric Gravina (2011), Dan Collier (2007), Connor Robertson (2015), Matt Smith (2015). Front row: Philippa Wood (2007), Will Timney (2015), Barrie Tullett (2007).

Back row: Emily Butlin (2015), Katherine West (2015), Leanne Kitchen (2013), Ric Gravina (2011), Dan Collier (2007), Connor Robertson (2015), Matt Smith (2015). Front row: Philippa Wood (2007), Will Timney (2015), Barrie Tullett (2007).

It was also brilliant to welcome some new members to the infamous Lincoln Société de Design Typographique!

Check out Showfifteen.com to see some of the students' work.

Lincoln app project

Last month, fellow Lincoln graduate Ric Gravina and I headed back to our old Graphic Design course at the University of Lincoln to run a one-day workshop and kick start a project on mobile apps.

We were asked back by new Joint Programme Leader Barrie Tullett to work with the Second Year students. We talked a bit about ourselves and then showcased a number of apps, before briefing the students. We asked them to concept, wireframe, design and prototype an idea for a new app in just six hours and then pitch their idea back to the group. Not long at all, but as ever we were both really impressed, not just in terms of their ideas, but also the way they approached the project.

The 'DJ X' team present their idea to the group.

The 'DJ X' team present their idea to the group.

The winning group was 'DJ X'. Their concept explored the problem of managing music at small parties where a single device is often plugged into a speaker. The app allowed different users to easily vote up and down the upcoming songs and suggest new ones from their own device and without disturbing the current track or unplugging the host device.

We have been back since to help the students develop their ideas further and add some finesse to their interface designs.

It's always great fun and fingers-crossed we will be back again soon.