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Content managed sites offer the best of both worlds allowing you to manage your content while maintaining your “look and feel” with our wicked graphic design skills. The way we work means that both content and graphic design are separate so that either can be updated independently.
It’s simple, it puts the control of the content back into your hands. Websites have moved beyond a ‘nice to have’ addition to a ‘must have’ necessity, giving your business a worldwide public face. Like any public face its good to look your best, and be up to date and these days there is no excuse.
A logo is the beginning of your brand it sets the tone for the rest of your look and feel. Colour, shape, everything comes into play.
1. who is your audience? (if you say everyone you need to think about it a bit more)
2. what is it that your brand is selling?
3. what is the promise that your brand makes?
Once you can answer all these questions come in and see me and I’ll make the magic happen. Ha ha
You have to start somewhere, and the name is as good a part as any. It is however one of the hardest things to get right straight up so if you can it’s best to be flexible.
Rule number 1 with branding is be flexible at the beginning. (This rule applies both to both the name theme and graphic design elements).
Back to the name. Make a list. There are so many bodies you need to check with when registering a business that it’s a good idea to check the names you come up with ASIC and ABR (Australian businesses only). I would also do a quick search to see if the url is available because it’s increasingly important to have some kind of online presence.
Now that you have eliminated what you can’t have, you can start to get attached to the ones that you can…
Test the names out on people and see which ones they like. A good trick is to the call them up a few days later and test and see what ones stick. I often also use this method on myself – leave the name for a few days and see what ones you can remember. This can really help you cut down the list. Don’t get bogged down in having the name describe all aspects of your business (we can make a tagline for that). It’s best to be less descriptive and more emotive.
Hey, I took this photo at a market. They are sometimes the best place to go and find inspiration.
My favorite Melbourne markets are:
The Rose Street Artists’ Market – Fitzroy
Queen Victoria Market – Melbourne
Prahran Market – South Yarra
Abbotsford Convent – Abbotsford
and a new one…
Preston Market – Preston
The background image is a photo i took in Spain. I liked the way the illustration had been added to by people and the texture that had built up over time. It’s a little blurry because it was hand-held an in a very dark alleyway. When we create images here, we draw on a very wide range of inspirations. This is just one of them.
I find as a designer I am always looking at things and trying to somehow bring what attracted me to them back to my work. So if you see me staring dumbfounded at something, forgive me, I’m working. 
We have just completed a new website for Vincent Fantauzzo, one of our first for the year. Vincent is an amazing artist, his brief was to create a simple, clean site to showcase his extensive body of work. The site also contains a “Whats Happening” blog section where you can read all about his latest projects and up and coming adventures.
Fitzroy Stretches have been manufacturing stretcher bars and stretching canvases for years and we wanted to do something fun with their full page ad in the Australian Art Collector magazine to let the world know that they were adding custom framing to their range of services. On a sunny Melbourne weekend after a flash of inspiration, we came up with the concept “F is for Framing” and wandered the streets snapping photos of the letter F. The advertisement needed to be bright and engaging, but maintain the Fitzroy Stretches aesthetic of strong original imagery.
Fitzroy Stretches liked the idea so much that they asked us to rework the “F is for Framing” ad to appear in the December/January issue of Art Almanac and as a banner image on the Fitzroy Stretches website. The artwork files below show the progression of the design across the different instances.
I’ve been busy working on this illustration (for longer than I care to remember) and I’m finally almost there. I guess I’m a sucker for punishment, but I just seem to keep adding more and more detail. Linked are some detailed illustrations of the hands (in both flat and line art) also an image of the final Illustration.
There’s nothing better than opening a box fresh from the printer. Especially when it’s our new stationery. Matt cello, spot gloss, slim. Here’s a some images of my card, if you would like to see the full set, drop us a line.
Business Card Face 90mm x 37mm
Business Card Back 90mm x 35mm
Well, sometimes it’s a little difficult to think of something profound to write. So maybe it’s best if we share more images with you. Due to Melbourne’s bizarre weather at the moment we thought this was a good one.
