Hello! my name is Robin Van Rijn, I am the founder of Graphic-all Design.

You will always talk to me when you contact Graphic-all Design as I partake in all parts of the business from the initial contact, consultation, development of your design brief for your project as well as the design itself and all communication from start to finish. I currently live in Bedfordshire, England, UK. I graduated from Brighton University with a degree in Multimedia Design in 2006. I am now a self-employed graphic designer and design consultant and work in the fields of corporate identity (logo) design, web design, print design and animation for video and flash. Part of my business is to offer tailored design advice to small businesses.

I love design, it is a huge part of my life not just my career and it extends to a range of other activities I partake in. I strive to create accessible, efficient and attractive solutions for all types of business in a range of design formats, and approach each project with a creative mindset.

Much of my time is spent working on developing start-up business websites and print promotions and their initial and continued marketing campaigns. I also work a lot in the entertainment and events sector in Luton and Bedford creating flyers, leaflets, posters, e-flyers and email newsletters for promotions.

My design blog

As part of my interest in Design I write in my design blog on my website on a regular basis and try to explore how good design can help your needs. The blog currently has free articles on:

• The value of good design
• Effective ideas for promotion
• How to use social media in business
• Logo design
• Web design
• Branding
• Typography
• Advertising
• Animation

Other articles will feature in-depth analysis of some of my previous projects and ongoing projects, all of which you can read and discuss about on the blog.
You can subscribe to my RSS feed or my updates by email to keep up-to-date with my blog.

My Interviews

A present I just have the one interview about my work at Directors Notes profiling my end of year university animation design project at Brighton University.

My Design favourites

I enjoy reading and really love the work of these other designers. Some are obvious others and just really good at what they do.

Peter Saville (Design Aurtor)
Jacob Neilson (Usability expert)
David Aviary (Professional freelance designer)
Just creative design (Design blogger)
Jan Reichle (Talented Director)
Mark Boulton (Grid and Web Typography expert)
Stephen O’Malley (World Renowned artist and designer)

Inspiration

I’m inspired by a variety of elements that comes across in my work. Most of all fine art, before I was a designer I had an interest in fine art, especially minimalism and installation art as well as surreal contemporary artists such as Matthew Barney. I enjoy the variety and abstract nature presented in fine art and how it explores ideas and concepts organically and the structured means in which to get from the starting concept to the final piece.

Other inspiration comes from every day life, I enjoy taking in my surroundings, I’m a great lover of texture in design work, I find texture in web design and poster work to really give more emphasis on inviting messages and more real worldly and enjoyable to view.

Music inspires me to try to create and apply rhythm and systematic flow to my design work, so it feels structured and well developed and defined.  It also encourages me embrace improvisation and experiment with new ideas or simply embrace chaos as a means of creativity.

Design for an inclusive world

It may or may not interest you to know I was born profoundly hard of hearing, it’s a part of my life that I’ve come to believe is neither good or bad but something that gives you a huge insight into how we design primarily for the able world. During my academic studies and my interest in the subject I have begun to understand the issues and approach needed to solve design problems, incorporating good design for everybody, both the able and less able.

Many people take for granted situations such as the PA announcements for platform changes at train stations and the scurry of activity needed to make that train connection. Some of us simply are not able to hear, see, react or understand in time. Problems such as these could be solved with the process of good design and the utilization of technology.
A product I worked on developing during my studies at Brighton University (and hopefully gaining funding for in the future) was an English to sign language converter, that would translate audible spoken word to an animated display using an avatar system. An initial pitchboard of the concept of this product can be seen here. At present I am still waiting for the technology to catch up with the idea before I seek investment!

van Rijn?

(Van - Rhine) Just incase you want to pronounce it! My fathers side of my family is of Dutch nationality. Van Rijn comes from the river of the same name. I also share the same surname with the famous artist Rembrant van Rijn.

When I am not designing…

Music is my second love. I play in an avant-grade Jazz band and run my own record label ‘VSTM Records’. Which specializes in experimental electronica. I produce small runs of CDs with one-off packaging and screen prints. I also work as a booking agent for the artists and local venues involved with VSTM Records. Part of this job entails me curating the yearly multimedia arts festival, ‘Dislocation Festival’ which is based in Luton. When I get the time I also direct short films, which have been screened at various locations including Luton Film Stock Festival.

I also am developing a printed book of conceptual and personal artworks from 2005 to 2010 When it’s finished it will be available to buy in the blog.

I currently write for two other blogs; alternative music magazine Dirty-Zine and music culture analysis blog The School of Unthink.

As you can see I keep myself busy, when I relax I like to read. My favorite authors include Haruki Murakami, Philip K Dick and I am a subscriber to the monthly music magazine ‘The Wire’. I like to travel and thanks to the web and and my beloved macbook I often work away from home and even abroad. I’m hoping to go to Poland this year to play live with my band. Past outings have been to Nevada, New Mexico, South Africa and Rome.

Thank you for reading all of this, I hope you have learned a little more about me.