benjamin gell; design & photography.

Main St. Travel, Co.

Ben — Wed, 03 Dec 2008 02:48:10 +0000

So I have a very good friend in America, Tennessee to be precise. Who Also happens to be the owner of a Travel Agency! She needed a logo re-doing and here is a rough Digital version of what I’m planning to create. I realized the Type is a bit too anorexic at the moment so I may fatten that up hah.
Let me know what you think!

Edit: Sorry Click the image to see the full size version lol.

Update No. 17489373

Ben — Thu, 27 Nov 2008 23:32:20 +0000

Once again, I have taken it upon myself to redesign the site. I am never satisfied! I should really start working on my online portfolio, but for now the main blog will have to do.

I’ve updated the ‘About Me’ section, although I may remove my ‘favourites’ from there…What’s facebook for, huh? Lol. I also plan on adding a small links section to the right hand side, and maybe a calender of upcoming events.

On another, less web-oriented note, I went to the beautiful city of Amsterdam last week with my University and manged to make visits to one major design agency and two freelance designers. I was really impressed with all the work, and it surprised me how much ‘design’ there is in Holland, so to speak. I’ve been under the impression all the best designers live in major cities, such as New York and London. Apparently not. I’m really glad I took the trip though as it’s opened my very closed eyes!

Finally, I’m happy to say I have three weeks until I can leave this pig-sty of a flat and go back home…THANK GOD! I have a month off for the Christmas holidays, which makes me incredibly happy. So I will manage to see all my old friends from my pre-University life.

Peace out.

…makes it so hard not to cry.

Ben — Sat, 15 Nov 2008 22:44:16 +0000

Well, I have to say, I have never been so impressed in my entire life by anyone singing. This almost had me in tears, it was such a BEAUTIFUL performance!
This is Leona Lewis, performing “Run”, which is her new single from the Deluxe Edition of her album, “Spirit”. It’s a cover of the Snow Patrol song, but I have to say, as much as I love the original, Leona has just made this an incredible ballad. If this doesn’t go to number one, I’ll be shocked!

Yet Another Update

Ben — Wed, 08 Oct 2008 23:26:45 +0000

Once again I’m writing a small update just to let everyone know that I’m not Dead. I’ve had a really busy month. First of all, I visited Florida for a 2 week vacation, which I have to say was amazing! I will probably write about that more when I have time. Secondly, I’ve been working on a project for a client, which needs to be finished (due to some errors with the text) and Finally, I have now started University officially. I am enjoying it so much! There seems to be a lot of stuff that I have already learnt to be taught this year, so it’ll be a good recap…or so I hope.

I did hit a huge problem the other day however. My MacBook Pro has, as far as I know, had a hard drive failure which means I can’t use it. I have no idea either how much that will cost to repair as my Apple Care ran out about 2 weeks ago. Fantastic.

Anyways, I’ll leave it there and will continue to complete the site ASAP!

Temporary Layout

Ben — Thu, 07 Aug 2008 18:21:29 +0000

Hey Everyone,
This is just a quick update to let you all know that the site will be down for a while because I am currently messing about with the layout’s coding. As I’ve said before I am not completely up to scratch with Wordpress as it’s been a while since I’ve done anything coding-wise. So Wish me luck!
I Promise the site will be back up soon!
Ben

Problems with Tabloids

Ben — Tue, 29 Jul 2008 17:15:34 +0000

So, there are a few things I’ve wanted to write about, mainly just updates. One thing has been bugging me lately though… the media.
I mean I know I can’t really talk about it since I’ll probably be working with the media at some point in my life, but, to be fair, I’m more so bothered about tabloid press. Today I walked past a magazine with the massive headline of “Britney’s New Shocking Pictures!” and there was a picture of Britney Spears in a bikini, smoking. I couldn’t help but think no wonder she had a breakdown, she can’t do anything right can she? As far as I could see she looked in good health, had a good physique and sure her kids were there, but like I said to my Dad earlier, probably 50% if not more of smokers have at some point had a cigarette while their kids were in a room with them… Britney, however, was in a wide-open space! I just think it’s totally blown out of proportion. I’ve heard from numerous places that she’s wrote most of her new album by herself, has been to the gym pretty much everyday and is recording a lot of the time, and apparently it’s all for the benefit of her own children. I bet none of that appears in the news.
Another thing I noticed was last night when Amy Winehouse was rushed to A&E because of a reaction to some medication she was taking, all the press made a huge deal out of it and you would think she’s overdosed or something. Once again I’d like to say no wonder celebrities have breakdowns with all this rubbish coming out bout them!
Onto much happier things (I think!)… We are currently having our bathroom refitted and redecorated so at the moment it’s just a square room with nothing in it. Not good, and I’m the only one in the house too at the moment, I’m just waiting to go out for the day with my friend lol!
Oh, and also I managed to watch Sweeney Todd on Blu-Ray the other night, I just can’t get over how amazing that film is. I’d be really interested to see the actual Broadway show version. I also really want to change my last name to Barker haha, it has such a better ring to it than “Gell”.
Anyways, I’m attempting to create a new layout which is a bit more original and to my taste, but I think I’m going to get a professional in to help me because, to be honest, I’m much more of a Graphic Designer and Photographer than a Web Designer! Although it’s on my to-learn list!

iPod Touch

Ben — Thu, 24 Jul 2008 21:30:28 +0000

I am finding it really cool that I can update from my new app on my iPod! So this post is pretty pointless but I just wanted to see what it was like haha!

And here is a random photo I took to test that too

Social Networking

Ben — Mon, 21 Jul 2008 14:08:17 +0000

It’s funny, I used to be obsessed with using myspace, my whole life revolved around it. I had to be on there about 23 hours a day, and had to constantly check it. Today? I think I’ve been on once. I really don’t have the patience for it anymore. Sure it’s nice to get a message or something, or a comment on a photo, but usually I like it when someone comments on a photo like “Oh this was such a fun day” rather than “You’re hot” or some other form of compliment, you know you’re only getting for one to be given to them in return.
I honestly prefer facebook at the moment, it just seems so much more mature and well, minus the applications, it’s a lot cleaner. Same setup for everyone, I think it just works. I also really like twitter at the moment too, it’s really cool. It may be a bit stalker-ish but still, I like the fact you can let people know what you’re upto, or what your thoughts are just when you think of something.

Moving on from that subject, I’ve had a pretty busy week, although not as busy as next week may be… Last Sunday I went to Alton Towers, which was a great day out. I must have rode the Ripsaw about 20 times and got very soaked ha. It didn’t really help my cold though, which I must have had for about 2 or 3 weeks now, I can’t really tell whether it’s getting better or worse either…

I’m going to Leeds festival in 4 weeks too, I can’t believe how quickly that’s coming round! And that means that I go to Florida in 5 weeks too. I am DYING to go back, I think I’m going to have to start saving so I can go back in a couple of years because I don’t think that I could last more than 4 years without visiting Walt Disney World, it’s become a part of my life lol. Bring on the day I move to America, that’s all I’m saying haha!

I’m running out of things to say for now, so if anyone has any idea what I should talk about in my next post, please let me know because I always get a mind blank lol.

Life and the site

Ben — Tue, 08 Jul 2008 19:54:12 +0000

Okay so, I didn’t update as quickly as I would have liked, but I have been pretty busy. I have spent the past two weeks trying to sort out the Message Boards, which are now open, and you can visit here.
Secondly, I’ve just got another job thanks to one of my friends, this time it’s working for a club in Middlesbrough, which will actually get me some experience when I need to find a job in Newcastle haha.
I’m not joking this weekend was really good too. I went out on Friday night and it was actually one of the best nights out I’ve had, loads of people I hadn’t seen in a while were out which was cool and some of the usuals were there too haha! I then went round my friend, Amy’s house on Saturday and we sat in, along with some other friends, and ate a Chinese take-away. It was really good because we hadn’t really sat down together for a while and actually had fun lol. Sunday was just boring, although I did get a tent for when I go to Leeds Festival… (Finally!)
That reminds me, I have so much going on to take me upto August, I can’t wait! Leeds Festival on the 21st, followed by A trip to Florida!
It’ll be really good, especially before I go to Uni. I’m also looking forward to the night when everyone I know is going out before we all move away.

On the Design Front, I’ve started work on a new logo for Main Street Travel, Co which is a Tennessee based Travel Agency Owned by Jana Smith, who also runs Let’s Talk About Disney with her husband Mike. They’re both worth Checking out.

Welcome

Ben — Tue, 01 Jul 2008 10:07:01 +0000

Hey everyone,

This is Ben. I’ve just finished a two-year course in Graphic Design at Cleveland College of Art and Design and am going on to study for my Degree in Graphic Design at Northumbria University.
At the end of the year we had an exhibition to showcase our Final Major Project, which enabled me to be commissioned alongside two other students to create a series of leaflets about the heritage of Middlesbrough. Which is pretty cool. We also get to work with some school kids too, and educate them about Graphics and Photography from what we’ve learnt.
The theme for our FMP was “In the Beginning” and when I’ve finally finished the site the series of ads I created will be put up in the Portfolio section of the site. In the Meantime you can see an example at my flickr.
I’m also going to use this site as a personal blog, so you’ll have to excuse that if it seems a bit unprofessional! :)?
This layout also isn’t by me, the credit is at the bottom of the page, and it’s just a temporary one until I can get my own finished.

Speak to you soon!