Thinking outside the box – business card designs which don't play by the rules & look great
Business cards are something which are often thrown in with any stationary and branding design order: A white rectangle, some text, a logo and maybe, if your feeling adventurous, a picture on the back. And often, this is the best route to take. White business cards can be written on, and simple text and a lack of pictures keeps costs right down in these credit crunch times. Also for some industries breaking outside the norm will show you up not as a free thinking genius – but as someone who just doesn’t know the industry conventions and looks unprofessional rather than unique. It all really depends on what you do and who you plan to give your business cards too. A simple case of the right design for the right client. There are however, times when breaking the rules is in the clients interests. Where money is no object and the business card is more than just a calling card of information, but more of an advert for the services provided, something truly creative and unique can be designed.
A useful resource for freelancers to find wi-fi & laptop friendly cafes to work in
I spotted a website via a post on the Creative agency freelancing blog this morning which pointed out a potentially useful resource for freelancer designers, in fact for anyone working freelance at all, who have a laptop and need to find a good place to work outside their normal office for a few hours.
I normally work from home (I have basically turned my home into a studio which suits me fine!) but sometimes I have meetings in central London or elsewhere throughout the day or just want a change of scenery. I have wi-fi, but even my garden gets boring after a while. The answer? Pop into a cafe somewhere where I can use a laptop and work away when I am waiting to go to a meeting or just want a change of scene.
Typography soap? The perfect novelty gift for any type lover :)
Just spotted this – absolute gem
Typography soap!
An interesting client / agency analogy – 'But I don't have a broken leg'
Quote from a great little article on Brand Republic by Dave Trott:
Suppose you are a doctor. A man comes to see you and he’s limping, you examine him.
You say, “It’s an easy diagnosis, you’ve got a broken leg.”
He says, “I don’t want a broken leg.”
You say, “That’s understandable, but you still have a broken leg.”
He says, “I’m the patient and I don’t think I’ve got a broken leg. I think I’ve got a sprained ankle.”
You say, “Well I’m the doctor. I’ve seen lots of these, and you’ve got a broken leg.”
He says, “Well I’ve told you the problem I want fixed. Now you can either fix it for me, or I can go down the road to another doctor and pay him to fix my sprained ankle.”
What do you do? Lose the patient, or give him the wrong treatment?
Simple, honest and funny advice on freelance design pricing methods
I found a post this morning which is a great short but sweet explanation as to why there is no universal right or wrong to pricing methods. It outlines a few examples of possibly methods and ways of thinking about the value of your work with humorous real life examples. This really made me smile as it answered the questions I think we all ask when we first start quoting prices for freelance work.
After 5 years basing quotes on company rate cards at the agencies I was working for I did indeed ask myself all the obvious questions:
Coloured pencils for the LZSY illustration logo design
Logo mascot in its colour variants.
Am still sketching out the typography to go with this.
Scamps, sketches and illustrations… fun drawing skulls and butterflies for a new logo design
I am happy to be working on the branding, website and merchandising for a small startup website called ‘Let Zoe Spoil You’. LZSY will be a fun place where people can read reviews, news and breakdowns on a range of Japanese culture and media as well as click through to buy anything featured on the site. It will follow a blog style format with written and video posts by their spokeswoman ‘Zoe’.
The branding needs to reflect the style and tone of voice of the main reviewer as well as the interests and fashion style of the target audience of alternatives and anime / Visual Kei Band / Japanese culture fans.
Fun little project – Birthday coat of arms logo design
The brief:
“Design and illustrate a logo for a military (but fun) themed 21st Birthday weekend called ‘Operation Pink Menace’ for use on invites, stationary and other items. Include something iconic about the woman whose Birthday it is and also bear in mind she is a professional pastry chef / cake baker in training. She also prefers farmyard animals with ‘good flanks’, preferably cows, as her mascot so one was to be included in the creation if possible.”
I created two versions based on this. A full coat of arms design (loosely based on real examples to add authenticity) including her favourite pink Dr Marten’s boots, a cow. I expanded the chef theme in a clockwise direction by following this with a whisk and a finished chocolate cream cake. The second version used just the boot as a simple alternative. Both work well in either full colour or black and white. The amount of detail on the crest also looks quite official printed onto the aged hand typed paper invites.
Innovative custom headphone design ordering system from iFrogz
As you may be aware I have a favourite brand of headphones – namely Skullcandy Headphones
iFrogz
My love of old and new cameras combined in these retro digital cameras!
I have always loved old film cameras; owning a Coronet Clipper medium format and a Nikon Retinette 35mm as well as my Nikon D50. Until accidentally coming across a nostalgia digital camera called the ‘Rolleiflex Mini’ I had no idea that retro digital cameras were both beautiful and cute due to their small stature. Yes I am female – so their dinky size does somehow add to their appeal in my eyes. I had heard before that such cameras existed – perhaps I had subconsciously avoided looking up what I know I can never afford to own myself – either way I am happy to have come across them and it gives me another thing to add to my ever growing unlikely wish list for lottery won money (although if I actually played the lottery the list would seem somewhat more realistic). But I digress…
