http://www.mikeafford.com/blog Mike Afford is a Graphic Designer for TV and Web based in Leitrim, Ireland. Thu, 02 Feb 2012 23:52:24 +0000 http://backend.userland.com/rss092 en [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="A level question"][/caption]One of my old BBC chums e-mailed me out of the blue to say she'd spotted my name in one of this year's A-Level exams! I pop up in one of the externally set assignments for A-level Art and Design. [thanks for the ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2012/02/immortalised-in-an-a-level-question/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="BBC Weather map colours"][/caption]I've been puzzling over this for a couple of days now. * I'd noticed that the new BBC Weather website was using a different colour for the sea on their maps. I'd originally designed the weather maps with a deeper blue for the ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/11/bbc-weather-map-colours/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="BBC Weather beta site"][/caption]I was pleased to get contacted a little while back by the guy in charge of the BBC Weather website - among other things he wondered if I'd seen the new beta site, and the fact that the BBC Weather Symbols were making ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/10/bbc-weather-symbols-the-return/ Here's the recently completed promotional video for the MxV1 - a revolutionary putter with a curved surface that matches the diameter of the golf ball ensuring a perfect hit each time. The MxV1 Putter is based on the principals of Newton’s Cradle (MxV = mass x velocity = momentum). "The radius ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/10/mxv-golf-teaser-video/ $('#weatherspriteexample').sprite({fps: 25, no_of_frames: 64});A few weeks ago I had to produce a set of bespoke animations based on my 'old-school' weather symbols for use in an app - each as a single sheet of individual frames that could be cycled through within the app. Anyway - it got me thinking about ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/10/seamless-looping-weather-symbol-animation-using-trapcode-particular-jquery-and-spritely/ I recently had a request for a special version of the 'Window on the Weather' icon set - basically the whole set, but without the window frame, and at a larger size. So it made sense to adapt the original artwork for Set 4 to produce a brand new ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/09/latest-weather-symbols/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="Weather T Shirts"][/caption]A variation on the famous Keep Calm and Carry On poster - this new T-shirt design features a classic winter snow weather icon with the slogan Keep Warm and Carry On. It's just part of a new range of 'weather icon' inspired T-shirts and ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/09/weather-t-shirts/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="Little Howard Awards Show"][/caption]The final episode of Series 3 of Little Howard's Big Question is on this afternoon - BBC One 4.30. It's the 'Little Howard Awards' show - so basically another excuse to show all the best bits from the series. Oh, and there's also some ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/08/little-howard-final-episode/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="World Weather Online Icons"][/caption] Just a quick heads up for anyone searching online for the icons that appear on the World Weather Online site. There's a number of different weather icon sets available from our store. Professionally designed by the same guy (me) who designed the ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/07/world-weather-online-icons/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="Little Howard BBC One 4.30pm"][/caption]A quick reminder about today's episode of Little Howard's Big Question (4.30 BBC One). It's called 'Where is Big Howard?' and features a guest appearance from Lady Gaga. And a massive pork pie. It's also got some bloke who claims to be ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/07/little-howard-lady-gaga-and-a-massive-pork-pie/ Here's a little test of Newton - the physics engine for After Effects (almost a snip at €179 from motionboutique.com). I wondered how easy it would be to build a quick pinball simulation - so I threw together some pretty crude shapes in Illustrator, pasted them on to an After ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/07/newton-plugin-after-effects-pinball/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="215" caption="Free 'WIND' add-on pack"][/caption]Here's a special add-on pack for our TV-style Weather Icon Sets - containing a new wind icon and a few different sets of wind arrows in 8 directions. The icons come in various formats - PNGs with solid coloured backgrounds, PNGs with transparency, ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/07/free-weather-icons-wind-symbol-and-arrows/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="260" caption="Hand drawn weather icons"][/caption]Latest icon set available now from the store. The perfect accompaniment for hand-drawn fonts like 'Pointy', 'Handvetica', 'Grutch Shaded', 'Sketch Block' etc - these hand-sketched weather icons come in 4 different sizes, in coloured and outline versions, all in PNG format with transparency. ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/06/hand-drawn-weather-icons/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="260" caption="My Wordpress Weather Widget v 2.0"][/caption]I have just put the finishes touches on my latest attempt at a Local Weather Widget for Wordpress, this time branded in Leitrim colours. I first had a stab at this kind of thing a couple of years ago but removed ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/06/weather-widget-revisited/ [caption id="" align="alignleft" width="256" caption="Your Window on the Weather"][/caption]Here's a sneak peek at a brand new set of 'realistic' weather icons' ideal for websites or apps. A complete set of 40 different weather types (including night-time versions) each framed inside a recessed window that also reflects the type of weather 'outside' ... http://www.mikeafford.com/blog/2011/06/realistic-weather-icons/