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Cathy’s handmade jewellery is very close to her heart; her brand Kit & Boo takes its name from the nicknames she and her brother acquired as children. The imagery we developed for the brand drew on a lifetime of inspirations – a photograph of Cathy taken when she was a little girl sitting astride a horse that was feeding its foal, the curling vines and feminine curves that feature in Cathy’s jewellery, the sense of freedom implied by flying birds…
John and Samantha knew it was time to rework the Blue Ribbon Gardenscapes image, but they needed some help. We moved the branding away from the literal “blue ribbon” representation toward a clean green logo which would appeal to residential and commercial clients as well as landscape designers. The new branding has been applied to business cards, letterhead and decals for the company truck.
All I want in life is a cool name. Sometimes parents don’t realize the responsibility they take on when they name their child. It’s a label that they carry around for the rest of their life. Sure I could rebrand, but I’d still feel like me but a cheap imitation. Nope, once they write it in ink on the birth certificate you’re stuck with it. Name books are no help except for a comprehensive list of what not to name your child. So now my only hope is to get a cool nick name but no one will bite. I know – I have been trying since I was 12 and none have stuck. It’s hard to come up with one yourself and have others adopt it. If you leave it up to your friends to make one you end up with something based on an embarrassing incident. So what the hell can I do? As I see it, all I can do now is join the police force and work my way up to commissioner and everyone can call me ‘sarge’ in a funny ironic way.
Sarge out
We are a Melbourne-based graphic design company with a fantastic group of designers from different graphic design and web design disciplines. Our offices are in South Yarra but our clients are spread right across Melbourne, Victoria and Australia.
Our approach for companies that have an existing brand presence is to create a design that reflects our clients image and works in with their current brand. For clients that come to us needing a brand we spend a lot of time creating a scope for both the brand and its application now and in the future. We feel that when creating a brand design it is important to give consideration all potential graphic design associated with it. Experience has taught us that spending a bit more time at this initial development stage saves time (and headaches) on the graphic design down the track.
Click on these links to have a look at some graphic design work we have done or our web design work.
Sometimes tv teaches you things. Many years ago when I was starting my first real job, I remember hearing the advice (possibly on Oprah) that you should dress for the job you want, not the job you have. Designers get to wear jeans to work, but the advice is still relevant when it comes to what we do for our clients. Even if you’re a small business, there’s no reason why you should look like a small business, and we’re here to help you dress to impress.
If you’re serious enough to spend money on a logo and business cards, go the extra step and have them designed by a graphic designer rather than doing it yourself. You might have to spend a little bit more money for the design, but a (good) graphic designer will produce a result that is much more professional and will impress potential new clients. Plus, the graphic designer will probably have a print contact so you’ll end up saving on printing costs. By giving serious consideration to what your brand and printed collateral say about your company, you can start to attract the kind of clients you want.
Julia at Formbar Creative Clay creates amazing works of art in the form of handmade ceramics and she asked us to design a little info card which explains how to use her kitchen graters. We came up with a design which worked well for the grater bowl and grater plate, but could also be extrapolated in the future for the other beautiful items Julia makes and sells at her shop. Because we gave the idea room to grow, the grater cards were soon joined by a card about Julia which has the same simple aesthetic and looks like it belongs to the original set. We also designed specialty stickers that adhere to Julia’s ceramic creations.
Since last time:
* a morning coffee (are you seeing a pattern here?)
* a bottle of V
Do you ever think about how much effort goes into designing things that we just throw away? Take this (empty) V bottle. A team of people worked together to determine what the brand promises, who the product is pitched at, what will attract the attention of potential customers, how other similar products are presented, ideas to make this brand stand out – all this and more, before concepts for a logo could even be presented. Decisions are made about the exact colour green to use, the shape of the bottle, how to brand the lid, the fonts for the product blurb and nutrition information, and so on and so on. Somebody has given thought to all the minute details that add up to the finished product.
Maybe there are people out there who collect V bottles. I just buy them for the contents. But long after the taste of V has been forgotten, perhaps people will find beauty in the things we throw away.
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.
The juggernautPT trainers are masters at getting their clients into shape, but when they wanted to improve the look of their business cards, they came to us. As well as designing new business cards, we also created offer cards to distribute to potential clients with great deals for personal training, bootcamp and self defence classes.
