Harvey Rayner

23 Mill Lane
Wrentham
Suffolk
NR34 7JQ
UK

01502 446 162
07766 328 764
h@pattern.co

37

Self employed graphic artist and web developer

ArtFront is a simple and elegant content management system specifically designed for artists and online gallery managers. Working with existing CMSs and image galleries, my clients often told me that, generic CMS solutions were often over-complicated with functionality irrelevant to their requirements. Many artists have also told me about a distinct lack of minimal yet sophisticated CMS templates needed for displaying fine art online in a beautiful yet understated way. ArtFront attempts to address these two issues and turn the management of a beautiful online art gallery into a direct and simple task.

With this editor I've attempted to create a very direct and easy way to browse through the database of pattern color variations and edit selected designs all in one place. The editor allows users to save palettes and apply them to all designs quickly and easily. This ability combined with a shuffle tool, a RGB true color selector and repeat size controls allows designers to create whole collections of coordinated pattern themes in a fun way and save to their account for use at another time. Currently I'm in the process of enabling advanced properties including blur, transparency, shadow and outline, for indiviual designs where possible.

Having worked with patterns for a number of years I've often been frustrated at the lack of a powerful vector based pattern tile grouping tool in the applications i use. My pattern 'spreader' App enable users to apply graduations to areas of repeating pattern. Applying graduations to tiled areas in common vector software means joining or welding the pattern elements into one big object, which can be a clumsy and time consuming solution - especially if hairline joins are created in the process. If one wants to then change size and repeat parameters in conventional software then this is also a problem. The app enables users to download artwork as png, jpg, svg, or pdf.

Currently I am creating a pattern resource book for Rockport Publishing. The central focus of the book is to provide a geometric investigation into the creation of seamless pattern tiles and tessellation based design. This book will be accompanied by a CD-rom containing vector files of all the designs presented in the book. Chapters are defined by geometric families which enable multiple patterns within a family to be combined to create new design textures. A purpose built editor will be included on the CD so that the reader can easily investigate this geometric method of pattern generation for themselves.

This project brings together my interest in contemporary pattern design and online vector based graphic utilities. At the core of the site is a fun-to-use color editing tool which visitors can use to modify seamless pattern tiles which I originally designed as part of my own digital art output. Combining this with the ability to resize the patterns, the resulting library of user edited patterns is surprisingly varied. The library database currently holds over 11,000 variations, 99.99% of which have been generated by my users. The site has become increasingly popular with over 5,000 visits on just the second day of launch from social bookmarking site Stumble Upon. The majority of the users to this site are looking for background patterns for a social networking spaces or personal blogs. Whilst in the short term this is not an audience who are prepared to spend money on what they are looking for, I feel the long term outlook for 'personal space web decor' could be potentially lucrative. I feel in the near future just about everyone will own and use a personal web space, and it will become increasing important to people that their space reflects their individuality. Much in the same way that it is important to us that our clothes and home reflect outwardly something about our inner world. As the internet and our personal web spaces become increasingly integrated into our lives, so to will the power of the 'brand' start to influence and create a real market for personal space web decor. At the moment social networking sites are too primitive to see the emergence of real digital designer branding. However, as history repeatedly shows us, once a brand is perceived by the public to have created a market, that perception of being No1 in the market does not shift easily. Patterncooler.com as it currently stands, is simply a proof of concept project and as it grows I plan to add many more tools that enable users to create unique visual identities for themselves, yet retaining and reflecting the PatternCooler flavour, or as it may evolve, 'brand'.

The work presented in this site has been produced over the last decade and represents my primary creative output during this time. Integrity, originality and purity have always been of key importance to me as an artist. This is hopefully not only visible in the way in which I have developed my visual language and methods of constructing my work, but also in the way in which I have attempted to market and distribute it. My root2art site has been added to and rebuilt many times over the last few years as I have experimented with different ways of creating products from my work that can be sold in ways that are in tune with the nature of the internet. Root2art has also become an experiment in art branding. I am a keen observer of the mechanisms and strategies used to create brands. I feel, 'brand label art' may not necessarily be a vulgar notion and may actually be the next logical step in the evolution of 21st century art.

On a whim I entered and won an open contest ran by the W3C (World Wide Web Consortium) to design a logo for the SVG (scalable vector graphics) file format. This is an open source XML based language developed to display and manipulate vector graphics on web applications. The other 2 main propriety web based vector graphics formats are Adobe Flash and MicroSoft's SilverLight. SVG is natively supported in Firefox and Opera browsers and in increasingly finding applications in mobile display technologies. Over the subsequent 2 years since winning the contest I have continued to work with the SVG developers to advance and promote the use of SVG on the internet. Last year I built a logo download centre in which users could customise and rasterizer the logo to their requirements. However, the site has currently been taken offline, because of copyright issues. This is a matter, largely out of my hands.

This sustainable building technology project documented in my solarbubblebuild site was the first of its kind in Europe. I originally designed and built it in my back garden as a practical solution to keeping my wife's rare plants warm throughout the winter. The project, is essentially a glorified greenhouse, utilising a dynamic environment control technology known as SolaRoof. Amongst other systems the building has an enveloping transparent cavity which is filled with liquid bubbles to insulate in cold conditions. During the winter of 04/05 I worked with the UEA to record data from my building with the view of analysing its performance. However, rather than confirming our hopes that, here laid the answer to slashing the emissions of one of the worlds largest carbon emitting sectors, (agricultural greenhouses), this work may have uncovered a fundamental flaw in the technology. My feeling is that the technology may still have potential and I have continued to work with other teams to create better experiments to understand liquid bubbles used in this unusual way. There are, however, other technologies looming on the horizon which I believe could soon supersede this solution even if it could be made to work efficiently. In good art, design, science and technology, I've learned that there is no negative result. Discovering with confidence what doesn't work, is just part of the process of discovering what does work. I feel this project also demonstrates my ability to follow an ambitious project through to a conclusion. It certainly has given me an insight into what rigour actually means in good scientific experimentation, and this is something that aids me in all areas of my work.

All the technical illustration and writing is my own on the solarbubblebuild.com site. See an example of some printed exhibition graphics I designed to help explain the complex systems within a solaroof structure.

php, mysql, Javascript, html, css, svg

CorelDRAW, Illustrator, CorelPaint, Photoshop, 3d-MAX

Digital art, illustration, signage, logo, technical illustration, photography and post processing, animation, 3D-modeling and rendering, advertising, web design, pattern work, fabric design, icon design

Branding, search engine optimisation, internet marketing, AdWords and AdSense campaigns, conversion testing, server side installation and configuration The 3 projects linked above receive combined traffic of over 50,000 visitors per month. 80% of this has been achieved through appearing in natural search, which is a direct consequence of my thorough understanding and implementation of SEO techniques. Having said that, I believe that SEO is only a means of making content more visible. It is not in itself a substitute for high quality and unique content.
Although I have managed Adwords campaigns for others, I've never had to use this method to gain good traffic to my own sites.
I've also had good success utilising social networking sites, social bookmarking and online groups to drive targeted traffic to my sites.

TextPattern, Joomla, WordPress, Zencart, OpenCart, osCommerce, Batik, PayPal and Google Checkout integration, domain and hosting administration

Over the years I've written on wide ranging topics and have experience of technical and copy writing. I've also been a keen blogger for over 3 years, commenting and providing background information on my own digital output and the emerging medium of digital arts in general. Creating keyword optimised content for my sites has played a large part of gaining wide and steady exposure for myself and my clients.

Zazen, Zen Buddhism, Digital art, graphic design, number theory, geometry, architecture, the net, branding and market trends, sustainable building technology, photography, web design, engineering, product design, rock climbing, running, walking, film, healthy eating, raw foods, preparing food, green tea, nature, cities, music, all things unique and experimental and making the most of what I have.

For me personally, academic institutional learning holds little appeal. I find the most direct way for me to learn is through creative project work as apposed to absorbing information that may or may not be useful in the future for the sake of an accreditation. With the internet one can drill into any subject and find the specific knowledge required to resolve just about any problem. In this way I feel learning is an ongoing daily process and although I enjoyed school and achieved high grades in all my subjects (including A-levels in Art, Technology and Mathematics), education for me started when I left the classroom.

In 94 I attended the C&G of London Art School and left the three year course after the third term after having established the conviction stated above.