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Category: What We Do

intouch Magazine

We put together the latest issue of the MS Plus magazine, intouch. 20 pages of news, events and useful information for those who live with MS in Victoria.

magazine design Mornington Peninsula magazine design Mornington Peninsula


Flyer templates for quick communication

The humble DL flyer still has its place in our world – they fit in brochure stands, in mailboxes, on desks…and force us to keep details concise.

Proactive Podiatry regularly use short runs of flyers to share important information with current and potential clients. We designed a flexible template which can be single-sided or double-sided, and include a different photo each time while keeping the Proactive Podiatry brand consistent and memorable. The template also allows for quick communications to be created and printed in a short timeframe.


Melbourne, we are out of lockdown!

Melbourne, we are finally out of lockdown! This week has been a little crazy helping a lot of you get some last minute pieces done in time for your reopenings (website updates, flyers, forms and more!), but we are so excited that many of you get to finally be back in your happy places, doing what you love.

Aside from the mayhem of this week, we have been working with a number of our clients “behind the scenes” during lockdown to help them come back bigger and better than ever – and it’s been really lovely to be a part of that journey, especially during such an uncertain time. You are all superstars with thinking of new ways to leverage your skills and offerings in your businesses.

However, we know it’s not all “back to normal” yet; our hearts are still with those of you who run indoor businesses who aren’t yet able to open. We hope that your turn is coming very soon.

Be kind to everyone you pass, be patient as you venture out to your favourite businesses you’ve missed so much; while there is a lot of joy this week from a customer perspective, most business owners are trying to understand and plan for what a “new normal” will look like. It will take time, but they all appreciate your kindness and support – as we do, too.


Rebrand: Innerspirit Property Styling

Some rebranding projects we do are from scratch. Others, like Innerspirit, we joined in halfway.

The ladies at Innerspirit Property Styling had tried their hand at an online logo service, but were stuck. They weren’t 100% happy with what they could create in the limitations of the program. They sent us what they had so far – their biggest concern was the fonts. They couldn’t find a combination of fonts that worked, and started trying things such as spacing out the letters, which also wasn’t working out.

Our changes, as you can see above, are minimal. The client was happy with the layout and icon already, it was only the wording that needed improvements. With a few considered font choices, we fixed the balance of the words, as well as giving the logo a more polished feel.

Often with rebranding, it’s not about recreating the wheel – it’s improving what you already have. And sometimes, it can be the smallest of changes that can make the biggest impact.

We look at every detail. We love every detail – and that’s what creates strong brands for businesses. It’s in those little details you might not notice. The trick is that the consumer doesn’t notice them, that they feel positive and confident when they see your business. And that’s where we come in and work our magic.


T-Shirt Design for Ace-Hi

We enjoy the unexpected design briefs we receive – such as the summer camp t-shirts for Ace-Hi Mornington Peninsula.

They required t-shirts to be printed for their summer camp kids, and wanted something fun. The request was to depict the activities that are available at the camp. And if those activities could be involved with the letters, even better. The only constraint? We only had one colour to work with!

Silhouettes came in handy. Creating the kids doing their activities around the letters was tricky, but it balanced out well. It gave the kids something special to keep from their time at camp!

T-shirt design for Ace Hi Mornington Peninsula


Brochure design in 2018

We design brochures every week of the year. But brochures aren’t always the standard “3 fold DL” style that come to mind for most people. There’s a lot more to brochure design than that.

The standard A4 folded to DL brochure is popular, mostly because it fits most brochure stands and is very easy to get printed (it’s a common print run). But often, the content a client needs to share in a brochure doesn’t always fit to an A4 sheet. So what do you do?

…you think sideways! Not literally sideways, but think of other options. So is going to A5 a suitable option? Or perhaps, keep it DL but turn it into a stapled booklet? One example we did this year was the DL brochure for Somerville Myotherapy & Pilates Studio. We ran out of space in a standard DL brochure, but it had to be DL. They still wanted it to fold out so it could be put on a wall like a poster. So the other option? Add more panels! The final brochure had 5 panels, instead of the standard 3 panels. This is not common, but completely achievable.

We have also designed large brochures of up to 24 pages for various clients, in both A5 and A4 formats. Brochures of this size require more planning than most. Is the brochure going to have sections to make it easier for a reader, or is it to read like a book? Is the brochure going to have a contents page, or get straight into the content? Will there be more than just text and images, such as tables, graphs and quotes to make it more engaging?

All of this is planned before we begin designing. It speeds up the development process, and creates a more engaging final brochure. After all, the whole point is for someone to pick it up and read it. You want to capture people, not just print on paper.


Event Branding Design in 2018

We have been very fortunate to work with a number of exciting events in 2018.

Design projects for events are often quite extensive. Every little detail from the initial branding and logos, through to posters, advertising, websites, programs, maps, banners, signage and flags…and that’s by no means a complete list.

We really enjoy working on graphic design for events. Giving an identity to an event that is carried on for years into the future feels quite special. For each event, getting the communications right for a successful event is pivotal to us. It’s not just about a poster “looking good”. It has to tell people the important information straight away: date, time, place. A program needs to be easy to follow – not just a keepsake book. A map needs to be a useful navigation tool – not just a pretty picture.

The timelines are tight but we seem to have a knack of working within amazingly short schedules. Events are unique in design, as businesses regularly have flexible timelines. Events have a deadline: the date of the event. And there’s no moving that!

Many events we have worked on have been in our own backyard this year: Frankston/Mornington Peninsula. However, we’ve had a few further afield: major events include the Melbourne Jewish Book Week and the Perfect Light Film Festival.


Logo Design in 2018

For the month of December, I thought I’d do a re-hash of projects we’ve completed this year. I’m only touching a few categories: logo design, website design, event branding and brochure design.

I’ll start with logo design. This is only a small snippet of a much bigger pool of work, but it will be good to reflect on in years to come. There was definitely a nudge towards brush script writing in logos for 2018 – text looking more natural and casual than a few years back.

Single colour logos have been popular, moving away from very detailed and overly colourful logo design. Obviously not in all cases – some (such as Friends of Coolart), colour was hugely important in the design. However, I have a feeling that single colour logos have been making a comeback because people like to have more options than just a “full colour print”. We’ve designed logos that have been produced in foil finishes, spot varnish, embroidery and even screenprinted in 2018. Single colour logos make this easy to achieve.

For those logos which include images, they have been very icon-based in 2018. A bit of a retro feel. Bold, bright and strong enough to stand on their own.

 


Brochures beyond the standard design

We find that clients get stuck in a bit of a rut when it comes to brochures: they supply content and say it *has* to fit into a particular sized brochure. Sometimes this is to do with budget, but a lot of the time it’s that they just didn’t realise there’s other options.

Everyone is familiar with a piece of A4 paper. Most brochures we all see are just folded pieces of A4 paper. 1 fold, 2 folds, 3 folds…but it’s the same size paper in the end.

The thing is: a simple piece of paper can be so much more! Maybe this is my love of origami shining through. A brochure doesn’t need to “only” be A4. We can get paper in all kinds of sizes, and cut it to all kinds of lengths.

So our advice? Write up the information for your brochure first, and then work out how much paper you need to put it all onto (we can help with this). It can feel like a game of Tetris, but we love the challenge.

So what if your information takes up more than one piece of A4 paper? It might work better as a booklet, or it might just need a few more panels.

A recent example is the brochure we designed for Somerville Myotherapy & Pilates Studio. Instead of the standard 6-panel DL brochure (A4 folded into three), we did 10 panels. The panels are folded in a zig-zag (concertina) which works best for the information presented. One side of the brochure features pilates, the opposite side features myotherapy.

It was a similar story to the usual: the information wouldn’t fit on an A4 sheet, but they couldn’t cut anything out. Two brochures wasn’t suitable – they needed everything together. A booklet also wasn’t suitable – they wanted to be able to stick the brochure up on a wall when desired, like a poster.

So for all of your brochure challenges, call us. We love a little bit of an origami and information Tetris challenge – and it will help your business stand out.


Helping Start-Ups on their Journey

One of our biggest client bases are start-ups. People come to us with their ideas and dreams, and seek help to make them look professional.

For those starting out on their business journey, it can seem really daunting. There is SO much you can get made. And then you wonder: do you really need everything that everyone else has? The answer is usually no.

For start-ups, we begin with the basics.


Registering a Business Name

Choosing a business name can be damn hard. There are going to be times you’ll come up with a name, think it’s awesome, then find out someone else already has it. But then you’ll find the one that’s for you.

The point is – we always make sure you have your business name registered before we start with branding. It can be heartbreaking to fall in love with a name, have your brand designed and then find that you have to start again. It’s worth going through the stress and bother of getting a business name first – we promise you.


Registering a Domain Name

This might seem like skipping a few steps ahead, but it’s always worth registering your domain name early in the process. This is something we do on behalf of their clients. We can show you a range of available domain names that match your business, and register it in your name. This means you can also set up a professional email address early on, and start communicating with the outside world from your new business!


Designing a Logo

We step you through our design process, where we find out as much about your business as possible. Sometimes clients want to rush the logo stage so they have something tangible/visual to show others straight away. But it’s the one part of your business development where spending that little extra bit of time pays off long-term. We don’t design “pretty” logos; each logo has a story, a meaning. You will want your logo to last at least 5-7 years minimum, so you’re only having to invest in your branding once while you get started.

We see a number of businesses go for a cheap logo service while starting out, but they end up spending more getting all their artwork redesigned. Getting it right the first time is definitely cheaper in the long run.


Designing Your Business Stationery

“What do I need?” is a good question, but the answer differs from business to business. You might only need a business card. Or you might need letterheads, presentation folders and brochures all packaged together. Or it might be a packaging design, stamps or stickers you require.

We always recommend writing out your ideas on how you plan to communicate to your customers, and how you plan to promote your business. That list you write will tell you what items you need.


Setting Up Social Media

Social media is great for getting people excited about an upcoming brand. You can start to build your following before you have officially launched, providing you have a few visual things you can show: such as your logo, product samples, etc.

We can help you brand your social media profiles, using the logo and branding we have designed.


Designing Your Website

Websites are often bigger projects than most people realise, and it can seem overwhelming as a start-up. We help by breaking it down into small steps: planning out the pages on your website, helping work out where images need to go (and what sort of images). We’re happy to read over your content and help you allocate it to certain pages, or we can write the content for you.

However small your website is at the start, it is built so you can add to it in the future. So you will have something to grow and evolve with your business.

Think of everything as a start-up as: something that will last, something that will evolve, something that will grow with me. Treat it like you’re planting a seedling to grow into a tree. We’re the ones with the tools (and water!) you need to help your tree grow.


Graphic Design for a Food Supplier

We have clients across a broad range of industries, and each industry uses graphic design in different ways. Design can be much more than just your logo and business stationery.

An example I’ll use is our client Harigon Gourmet Foods. As a supplier to supermarkets, butchers and other food stores, packaging and shelf presence have high priority. As their products are quite specialised, making the contents easy to identify at a quick glance has been important too.

Due to the different types of products, different packaging solutions have been designed. These include:

  • Complete packaging, where the entire box or pouch is designed.
  • Full colour labels, unique to each product.
  • Generic labels, where product details can be added as an overprint.

For promoting the products, we have designed various posters and information flyers. A recent project was to design a promotional table for in-store taste tests of their products.

Graphic design can be used by businesses in many different ways. How does your business use design to improve your sales?


Charts and graphs don’t need to be boring

Charts and graphs are used in nearly every report, both professionally designed or created in-house. To make life easier, programs like Excel offer pre-made graph designs – but are they exciting to look at? Barely.

Snippet of a fancy little pie chart we designed.

Then there’s the moment of designing a report, and are provided Excel graphs to put into said report – do they match the rest of the client’s brand? Usually not.

The thing is: charts and graphs don’t have to look boring or flat, there are some nifty things we can do when it comes to design!

The first thing we look at is the information being conveyed – is the type of graph desired the right type for presenting the statistics (eg. bar graph, pie chart, table, etc)? Sometimes a different type of graph or chart makes the information easier to follow.

The second thing is we aim to make the style of the chart or graph match the client’s branding. If it doesn’t look like it belongs to your business, it will stick out like a sore thumb in your publication.

The third thing we look at is making it unique. If it’s relevant, sometimes a bit of a twist in the design can make a boring chart brighten up a page. The more intriguing a chart looks, the more likely a reader is to stop and read it, rather than just flick past.

Next time you’re doing a report, go back and review your graphs and charts, and treat them like their own images – you will be amazed at the difference a little bit of extra time on them can make.


We’re voting YES

We’ve changed the colour of our logo in our support of voting YES for marriage equality.

We think this shouldn’t be an issue today and are disheartened that the debate continues.

It affects so many people close to us. Vote yes and let love win.


Map Design: Hand-Drawn versus Vector

We have designed maps for all sorts of various uses: events, venues, camping grounds and diagrams.

Because we offer hand-drawn illustration as well as vector illustration, we sometimes get requests for a particular type of style of map, but there are both pros and cons to either type of illustration.

Vector Maps

wpf-03

Vector maps are often flat in design, using shapes for areas and icons rather than images to depict what’s on the map. Vector maps can be resized as big as required (to the size of a billboard and beyond if you wanted!). Vectors are also easy-to-edit shapes, making changes quick and efficient – very helpful for events where the layout can change very close to the cutoff time for printing.

Hand-Drawn Maps

vha-04

Hand-drawn maps are completed in the same style as all of my other illustrations. They can look more dynamic than a vector map, using illustrated items and objects instead of flat shapes. However, hand-drawn maps can’t be enlarged easily – they need to be drawn at their final size from the start, no matter how big that may be. The positioning of items are harder to move, but each one is uniquely drawn from scratch.


Shop signage that never gets tired

I never get tired of seeing businesses we’ve completed work for, especially when it’s signage!

Benton Insurance Services is on High St in Hastings, and every time I go past, it’s an amazing feeling to say “we designed that”. Other designers will get this, not sure if the general public will understand however!

My favourite part of BIS’ signage is that it looks as good now as it did when it was first installed. This is also the work of our awesome local signage producers, but there’s nothing like a business that looks brand new even after they have been there for a good while.

bis-03


9 to Thrive – Melbourne

I went to the 9 to Thrive by Business Chicks conference with one of my closest friends, Abbey, on Friday and Saturday – while we were there, we had this lovely photo taken by Prue Aja – Photographer.

Both days had such a wide variety of speakers and stalls, although I personally preferred the Friday as it had more of a business conference feel…Saturday was much busier and felt like a festival! Zoe Foster-Blake spoke on Saturday, and she drew a crowd bigger than I think anyone could have imagined…she has a beautiful soul and was great to listen to – she’s inspiring by just being herself.

Business-wise, there was a lot of talk about branding from many of the speakers, echoing advice we normally give to our clients, which was wonderful to hear. Hugh came with us on Friday as well (so thankfully it was a bit quieter that way) – it really was a toddler-friendly business conference, he was so loved and had a ball there!

9-to-thrive-melbourne


New branding, new car signage

We changed our branding earlier this year, and thought it was time to spruce up our car.

new-malvolio-car-signage

The previous design we had on our car was a lot more complicated (so much vinyl!), but we also had a bigger car…so this time it’s simplified, but still bright. Our previous car signage lasted us 5 years before we rebranded, so we’re pretty happy with that as a lifespan – it could have kept going if we didn’t change our logo and styling!

Thanks to Westernport Signs for their great work, making our design come to life.


Networking I love: Soar Collective

Being a small business (and originally a home-based business), I have gone to a lot of networking events.

Some I have loved – such as when I was a part of Cranbourne BNI (I even ended up being president of the group and running the meetings for 6 months!), and the local Rotary business breakfasts…but some I have less fond memories of. There have been some networking meetings I’ve been to where it seems like everyone just wants to give you their business card, tell you about themselves and then switch off.

I notice so much talking and a lot less of listening at many of the networking events I have attended, and maybe this is because I tend to sit back and let people come to me (partly from being shy but also not wanting to be too forward). And often, I won’t go back to these types of events – it’s exhausting and I want to meet real people, not those stuck on repeating their sales pitches every time.

IMG_2767One networking event/group I have a lot of respect and love for is Soar Collective. It started last year, it’s peninsula-based, and everyone I have met through there is lovely (and most I have actually kept in touch with, not just shared a business card with!). The group started as morning tea discussions, which were perfect for sharing ideas and grievances about running a business, and it made me feel a lot less alone in the struggles faced by everyone in small business.

The group has grown now, to include cocktail events and even a conference day later this year. It makes my heart sing that you can have a networking event that is honest and warm. I am hoping it continues to grow, as the lady who originally set it up has done a wonderful job, and it’s a group I love being a part of.

Here’s hoping other networking groups can learn from Soar Collective, I think the world will be a better place if we have more events and groups that are full of down-to-earth conversation and gratitude for each other.


Case study: “VCAL Voice” Magazine

Earlier this year, we were contacted by the Frankston Mornington Peninsula Local Learning & Employment Network (FMPLLEN) for a different type of design project – helping VCAL students at McClelland Secondary College create a school magazine!

We first started by running a workshop about magazine design with the students, where we plotted out a page plan and template ideas. The students came with heaps of ideas about what they would write in the magazine, and what sort of page layouts they would like (and not like). I was especially impressed that they brought examples along of magazines they didn’t like, which included graffiti text – they wanted to get away from the typical perception of what teens like, which was lovely to hear. They were definitely talking well ahead of their years.

As they had limited time between their studies and making this magazine, we helped create templates for them to use to create the magazine. The templates were planned with grids, which taught the students about page layouts and understanding grids and columns, which will hopefully be skills they will remember in future years.

The students then spent a number of weeks putting together the magazine, and the finished product was wonderful to see. The dedication and effort that the students put in was amazing. I look forward to seeing the VCAL magazine program being placed in other schools in the future!


Where does my illustration inspiration come from?

When I look back, I’ve been drawing since I could hold a pencil in my hand. This meant that I had no boundaries on what I drew on (which included walls and Barbie clothes), but it definitely was something I loved doing.

It’s only been in the past few years that I’ve rekindled my love of drawing, having grown tired of computer-based artwork. I longed to enjoy pen and paper again. There was a bit of a fear surrounding that, as when you put pen to paper, it’s permanent – on the computer, you just hit undo and everything is fine. I had to re-learn to enjoy the process of a drawing not always going to plan, or turning out different than expected.

But today, I thought I’d share some of my inspiration growing up. I draw nothing like any of my top three inspirations, but it’s their thought processes, their generosity and appreciation of their own styles that inspired me to find my own groove.


1. Terry Costello

terry-paintingTerry has been an ongoing friend, mentor and inspiration for many, many years. He passed away last year but he’s never far from my thoughts. He taught me more about art and design than I ever learned at school. He’s always supported me, telling me not to give up on what I love even when it gets tough, because it will eventually pay off – and he was right.

I do have a good laugh that he did try to teach me to paint in early high school (as he was an amazing painter…look at the detail!), but he even admitted that maybe I should stick to pencil and ink after he didn’t have much success getting me to use a paintbrush. And while some people would see this as a failure, I saw it as even more reason to perfect using the mediums I’m good at.


2. Graeme Base

Who didn’t have a Graeme Base book as a kid? Not many! And I was one of those kids who cherished his books…but maybe in a different way to other kids. While the stories were wonderful, I would spend hours trying to draw the characters out of his books. I loved all of the details and the colours, and I had a huge set of pencils that I wanted to make use of.

My favourite attempt at drawing from Graeme’s books was this cat – I was 7 years old.

graeme-base1 graeme-base2


3. Roland Harvey

roland-harveyRoland is a bit of a cross-over, as he has inspired me in both illustration and design. His drawing book has been my art bible for nearly 20 years. The book has lost its cover, the pages are tatty, but it just shows how much it is loved. When I had the opportunity to meet Roland, I took my book in this condition to him to sign – and I explained that I could have bought a new and shiny book, but what was the point – this was the book that meant the world to me and had been through a lot of lovely times with me. He had a good giggle and chat to me, he is a wonderful soul.

He inspires me in different ways – firstly, with commercial design, his book showed a variety of styles and basically says it’s okay for each project to be different – every drawing can be styled differently depending on its use, and that’s a good thing. It helped me accept that being a chameleon in design is good for each client.

The second way he inspires me is that he always tries to put a little bit of humour into every illustration he does. I strive to always put a smile on people’s faces through my own illustration, and it’s thanks to him that I try to put a cheeky spin on my work (especially greeting cards). When people compliment my illustrations with a smile and a giggle, I know that something has stuck and my inspirations have definitely left a mark on me.


Our advice to work experience students

We get so many requests from students for work experience, and we feel bad because we can’t offer many spots each year. But there are some ways that you can improve your chance of your request, and help us work out if we can help you with a work experience spot!

One thing we find is when a student calls or emails about work experience, they usually say what school they are from, and what week they would like a placement. And because we’re a business that requires specialised skills, we need to know more about a student. As an example – a student who wants to become a mechanic or hairdresser would be wasting their time and be very bored spending a week with us!

The other thing is that when we do provide a placement, we offer design projects to do during the week – not big ones, just something to give a student a taste of graphic design and the industry. We occasionally are asked if we could just provide admin tasks to students who are desperate for somewhere to do work experience, but we just wouldn’t have enough for them to do.

But what we do want to hear about from potential work experience students is what they love about graphic design – do they like advertising, do they like posters, do they like illustration? And we especially love seeing art and design projects from school, or even ones completed in their spare time.

We prefer to give placements to students who are dedicated to design and would really like to see if they want to make it a career, as there aren’t many studios out there who do offer work experience placements. And while we can’t offer placements all the time, we would love to for those who really want to be a part of the industry in the future.


Check out our new studio!

We have been working very hard the past few months on renovating a shop in Somerville, which is now our fancy new studio! We’ve learned a lot about plastering, painting, stud walls, floating floors, and general building…and no, we’re not going on The Block (as much as our friends have recommended this to us!).

renovating

We are just very glad to present you our new studio. We finally have all of our paper stocks accessible to choose from, event stationery samples on display, and are in a central location!

Here’s some more photos of our new digs:

photo-2 photo-3 photo-4

Make sure to come and say hello: we’re at Shop 5, 1065 Frankston-Flinders Rd, Somerville.


Questions we get asked, and statements we hear: Part 2

Here’s the continuation of our post earlier this week!

 

Please send me the artwork in Word
so I can make some changes to it.

By normal practice, artwork is not created in Word – with the one exception of letterhead templates for clients to use. If you have changes that need to be made to the artwork, it’s usually best to print out the artwork and write in the changes and then discuss them.

 

Let’s do the changes now – your computer is already on,
and I get to watch how you work.

As above, we find it’s better to write down the changes (away from the computer), discuss them and then hop onto the computer to complete the changes. If you start by getting on the computer and making changes ad-hoc, it often takes much longer because decisions haven’t been made and have to be thought about as you go – and in the end, this can cost a fortune for something that should only incur a minor fee.

 

Please design it in black & white
because it’s cheaper to print.

You might get to save a few dollars, but colour printing is priced quite competitively these days. Colour not only improves the visual appeal of a document or publication, but can also help communicate ideas across without the use of words. Never underestimate the power of colour!

 

My printer/signwriter has asked for a

  • PDF
  • EPS, or
  • AI file…

HELP?

Don’t stress – if you’re ever asked for an artwork file you don’t know, give us a call or send us an email and we’ll help. What might be causing you hours of stress we might be able to fix in a matter of minutes.

 

I’ve got an idea!
Can you make it?

Of course! We love when clients have started to think about what they’d like to achieve. This doesn’t mean having a design all planned out, it just may be a thought of something you want to promote, a heading, pictures you want to use, and so on – and that’s okay. Not all projects are started entirely from scratch and it’s exciting when a client is as motivated about design as we are!


Questions we get asked, and statements we hear: Part 1

We get asked a lot of questions, so we thought we might compile some of the most asked questions we hear with some explanations and help to go along with them. This is part one; we’ll post part two later this week!

 

What is Malvolio?

This is probably the most asked question we hear. It is a rather unique name, and we’re lucky that it’s got a story behind it. The name has a personal connection to our childhood, but many know Malvolio as the character from Shakespeare’s Twelfth Night. However, closer to home, Malvolio was also the 1891 Melbourne Cup winning racehorse in Caulfield.

 

My niece/family friend/a student I know
said they can do it for free.

While it is a kind gesture that you know someone who can do something for you for free, you need to think about whether it will be a good business decision. Being “free” can mean that the proper research isn’t completed, the project may not be completed in an adequate timeframe (it may only be done in the person’s free time), which can lead to the outcome not being professional (or in some cases, not completed at all).

 

I found this picture on Google
that I want you to use.

All the images you find on Google search are owned by the website that comes up in the search – so sadly, you’re not allowed to use them just because you found it. If it’s a picture you’re very fond of, you may be able to ask the website owner for permission to use it, but it’s always best to purchase images through stock photo libraries or have your own photos taken. The other issue with photos found online is that they are usually too small to use in print.

 

Can’t you just Photoshop it?

Photoshop is a program, not a verb! It never ceases to amaze us how people talk about Photoshop as if it were akin to eating, running and drawing.

 

My computer is broken.
Can you fix it?

While us designers use computers every day, we’re not computer engineers. We can help you with your website not working correctly, or editing your email options, but not if your computer hardware has stopped working (eg. your screen or your hard drive). In those cases it’s best to talk to your local computer shop for help – or we can refer you to a computer specialist who can make it work again!

 


The Malvolio-branded car

malvolio-car

We are very excited to show you our branded car! You won’t miss us out on the road, and we’re trying to get used to people pointing at the car. The wonderful team at Westernport Signs did the production for us, and they’ve done such a good job.

If you decide you want your company vehicles to look as swish as this, get in touch: it’s not as expensive as it looks to look this good.


Creating visual solutions

There have been times that people have assumed that as graphic designers, our job is to just make things look pretty. Although making any visual communication look appealing for its purpose is a priority, the strategy and reasons behind the design are far more important.

It’s taken me a long time to find the words to explain what we really do – it’s not just making logos, or improving a businesses revenue by putting an advertising campaign in place.

We create visual solutions to problems encountered.

The final product is almost always visual in some respect, but all jobs have come out of a need. It’s not always an obvious “image” like a logo for a business either – one example was for a promotions company who found they had no way of showing their clients what their embroidered shirts would look like until after production. It had never crossed their mind to do a shirt template – so one was created where they could change the colour of each shirt and add the logos in.

The job of making our clients’ lives easier through creating visual solutions is very rewarding – even when it’s items that people don’t even realised are designed by someone.