Working closely with the event organizer Glen McKnight from Global Catalysts Consulting Service and the Foundation for Building Sustainable Communities (FBSC) we decided early on that we didn’t want to show any weapons.

I wanted this poster to have a childlike character to it so this is where the scribbled crayon effect on the background comes into play. The main colour chosen was blue for all the Canadians who serve with the United Nations.

The white dove which is one of the most classic symbols of peace was one of the last things to be added in, I was trying to stay away from the stereotypical things you would see in these types of posters but it just added such a nice touch.

In the very background is the Vimy ridge National Historic Site of Canada for those who fought and gave their lives in the First World War. Just in front of that are the three soldiers from the Peacekeeping Monument in Ottawa entitled the Reconciliation, this monument commemorates Canada’s role in international peacekeeping and the soldiers who have participated and are participation, both living and dead.

Directly below the soldier in the very middle of the poster and the young boy looking up is Canadian Association of Veterans in United Nations Peacekeeping plaque which is located in Oshawa Memorial Park.

To the very left of the plaque is a silhouette of two of our modern Canadian soldiers and right below them is a police car. Police officers may not be the first thing that comes to mind when you think of peacekeeping but they are certainly peacekeepers as well.

A graphic illustration depicting our Canadian military and law enforcement peacekeepers wouldn’t be complete without showcasing our traditional Royal Canadian Mounted Police now would it?

I had a great time creating this piece which took just over 21 hours to complete. Although I immigrated to Canada from Northern Ireland I feel a great sense of pride being a Canadian and it is this pride I hope shows through in this poster.

WordCamp Toronto 2009

Well WordCamp Toronto is all done for another year. I had an absolute blast learning lots of new things, will probably take a few days for it all to sink in. On Saturday I did a presentation on how Digital Deceptions transitioned from a Flash based website to a WordPress Content Management System and all the benefits and doors it has opened for me over the last year.

You can find my slides here.

And the biggest surprise this weekend was Digital Deceptions taking away the Best Theme Design Award, I’m still in shock.

I would like to thank all the wonderful people I met at the conference Jason from GueRilla Marketers, Glenn from Global Catalyst, Robert from SMO Joe and Alfred from Butterscotch just to name a few. I had some great conversations talking shop.

I would also like to thank Brendan from BackSpaceStudios and Phug and all the volunteers who put on a great show,  here is the link if you want to learn all about the WordCamp Toronto 2009 conference.

The Exact Welding and fabrication project is a full branding and identity package which includes a logo, business cards, pamphlet and a kick ass website by yours truly.

I really wanted to showcase the project as a whole but at the moment I have so many projects on the go in various stages of completion I got desperate and just had to show a little bit of the work I have been doing of late.

The logo is 100% pure vector and was created in Adobe Illustrator. I wanted to achieve a deep metallic look with a sense of realism, something you would see on an old classic car from days gone by.

I experimented heavily trying to get the desired effect with the help of a few tutorials I found here and here and in the end I ended up creating my own technique to add to my bag of tricks.

I think the logo turned out great, it looks like it was carved out of metal and polished, I learnt a new trick and the client is very happy. The next thing to expect from this project will be the business cards and brochure/ pamphlet and then on to the website which I am really looking forward to.

WordCamp Toronto 2009

Well it is official, on Saturday, May 9 at 10:45AM I will be speaking at WordCamp Toronto 2009. This is the second time Toronto is hosting the event and I have to admit that I missed the first one last year because I only started really using WordPress late last spring.

At the moment I am a little concerned about speaking in front of such a large audience but it is still a couple of months away so I have plenty of time to prepare.

Where Do You Think Will You Be In 6 Months?

This opportunity has come up at an interesting time in my career. Six months ago I restructured my entire business model, switched from a Flash website to WordPress and incorporated (SEO) search engine optimization and online marketing strategies into my game plan and have to say that last September I could never have imagined doing so well or that I would even be doing a presentation at WordCamp Toronto 2009.

Anyways On With the Show

I have been to a few similar type events namely Flash in the Can and absolutely love seeing industry people talking shop, it is one thing following somebody’s work online and in magazines but when you get to see them talk and then get a chance to meet them it is a whole other experience, kind of like stalking…lol.

So Who Am I Going To Stalk At WordCamp?

Brendan Sera-Shriar

Last summer I took a WordPress course at the Rich Media Institute which was taught by Brendan Sera-Shriar who runs BackSpace Studios, Phug - Open Source Culture and who also happens to be the big man behind the show, I learnt so much from him in such a little time so I am looking forward to hear what he has got to say. Also I am really interested in his release of FlashPress which is as you guessed it Flash using WordPress as an CMS engine.

Peter Flaschner

Peter Flaschner from The Blog Studio is another gentleman I am looking forward to hearing speak, he has been doing what I have been recently doing but for much, much longer so I will be like a sponge trying to soak up all he has to say.

Nick La

Nick La of Designer Wall, Best Web Gallery and N.Design Studio who I have followed for a couple of years will also be speaking. Nick is always sharing his knowledge and presenting it in a way that is easy to read and visually pleasing.

Matt Brett

Although Matt isn’t on the list of speakers a little birdie (tweet) told me he will be at the event. He happens to be a big time WordPresser who is also from the Durham Region like myself and I have followed his work for quite a while now, you can find his awesome site at MattBrett.com I have never really spoke to him before but I have been following up on his blog and tweets so I guess I am a true stalker…lol, anyway I look forward to hopefully meeting him at the venue.

That is just a few of the people I want to see, I could go on and on but I will save it for another post. You can find the official WordCamp Toronto 2009 site right here.

Well the Big Catch Fish and Chips Family Restaurant website is complete and was launched this afternoon. The web site was the last part of the huge project which included logo and full branding, 10 30 x 40” poster, vinyl wall netting installations, takeout menus, a 13 x 5 foot menu board and storefront signage.

This is only the second time I have had the pleasure to design a full package project from the ground up and I have to say as challenging as it was I really enjoyed it. Anyways on to the Big Catch web page.

I would like to start off by saying that once again I have programmed and coded a web site which validates with strict compliance. It has been tested in all browsers even that old piece of crap ie6 and works flawlessly across the board.

When I first started researching fish and chip shop websites all over the world I quickly noticed that most never had a site and those that did never really put any effort in to them. So right off the bat I not only wanted to outdo all the competition but I wanted to annihilate them all.

I began drawing some mockups and decided that this website was going to have a lot of character and I also wanted to have an animation of the sea. After playing around and figuring out how I was going to execute the effect the rest of the site kind of just fell into place.

The web site has a few other little interesting tidbits and graphics that I will leave as a surprise. Not only did I have a blast working on the website but I really enjoyed the whole project, it challenged me and allowed me to use a lot of skills that I haven’t used in a while and it taught me a few new ones.

Visit the website