When you are first starting out as a graphic designer, everyone is desperate for work. Whether you’re still a student and you need pieces in a portfolio to get that first job, or whether you are wanting to start a freelance business – everyone has done a free gig at one time or another.
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Producing wedding invitations for any couple is going to be a challenge. You are working on the biggest and most expensive day of their life and you want to make sure that you do that honour justice. You want to do the absolute best job that you can possibly do for them. I am lucky to have been involved in a few weddings over the past couple of years, like Laura & Tim’s and Jo & Martin’s, and I really do relish the challenge of coming up with a distinct look and feel for wedding invitations that suits the couple to a tee. When I was approached by Susie & Jake to work on their wedding invitations, I knew I was ready for a new challenge. Susie came to me with the idea of using water colour paintings and native flowers as part of her invitations. This tied into her overall wedding theme of natives for bouquets and decorations at the receptions, and it’s lovely to be able to produce invitations that speak to part of the overall look of the wedding. The clusters of native flowers seen on their Save The Dates and Wedding Invitations are hand illustrated, not purchased stock imagery. This is incredibly important I feel to ensure that for a day like your wedding, you have a beautiful and completely unique piece that represents how important and individual your day is. We decided to continue the theme throughout all the stationary, with each piece having its own flavour – the Save The Dates have less flowers, being the first piece of the puzzle, while the Invitations are more like the bridal bouquet, layered with flowers and the RSVP cards are made up entirely of foliage, giving them a distinct look and feel. I absolutely afore these invitations, I think the effect is beautiful and totally suited to the couple they were created for. More importantly, the couple and their guests have all been completely delighted by the invitations, and you cant really ask for much more than that. Thank you Susie & Jake for letting me be part of your special day!
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In case you weren’t listening, I love the Parramatta Farmers Markets. I have talked about it before, on a bunch of different websites, and most Fridays you will find me there, talking shit with the stall owners and grabbing my breakfast. It is an amazing thing to have access to in my city – its not perfect, but its pretty bloody good all the same. I am a morning person, and so breakfast at the markets is one of my “nice things” I do for myself each week. But I know that nearly half of all visitors to the markets are in fact people working in the huge number of office buildings around Parramatta. Come for lunch at the markets, and you are bound to be greeted by people kicking off their work shoes and sitting in the grass with a burger from Porky’s Henhouse or a shciaciatta from Shepherds Bakehouse (which are also amazing for Breakfast, I should know!) and enjoying the sunshine. Even in winter. In summer in particular, I would love to see the market extended (and it appears that I am not the only one!). An early dinner on my way down to the river, or over to one of the new bars opening in town sounds like a very cosmopolitan, European lifestyle to me – and its something that I could get on board with. If you have been to the market before, but haven’t been in a while, I have a bit of a scoop for you – there are a tonne of new stall holders. From the guys at Hillview Fine Foods, who are selling totally top notch veggies and herbs or the girls at Ladybug Preserves, who have jam and chilli for the spice lovers, there is enough produce that you can actually go and purchase all your groceries in the one spot. A lot of the retailers are locals, and who doesn’t love giving back to local producers, contributing to a small maker or grower instead of the big supermarket giants? So if you are hankering for a bit of something fresh or a spot of sunshine on your lunch break, why don’t you come on down to the Parramatta Farmers Market on a Friday? If you’re there early enough, come and say Hi to me and we can share a bit of brekky and talk some business. If you have or haven’t been to…
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I have been thinking about writing this post for months. I wasn’t sure that I should do it, I really didn’t want to offend anyone. But here’s the thing – this is an opinion piece, and my feelings are so strong on the topic I can’t keep it in anymore. Let’s start with a preface – I love the University of Western Sydney, or Western Sydney University. I did my Masters there, my partner studies there and I think that their advertising as part of the rebrand has been some of the best I have seen in many years at creating a real vision of what Western Sydney is and can be. My problem lies with the logo. Flat out the whole thing is really unbalanced and it makes me so frustrated that I ball my fists up and growl at the signs when catching the bus past the campus (which was the catalyst for this piece). I understand what they are trying to achieve – directly tying the university to the rise of Western Sydney, the SEO benefits, the prominence of WESTERN SYDNEY over University implies that no matter who you are, there is a place for you here, I get it. But WHY is the crest at the bottom of the logo? that is the part that baffles me. Comments from the university are below – “The new brand elevates Western Sydney. Reordering the word mark and placing Western Sydney at the top of the logo is a symbol of the pride we have in our community and region. The shield is the platform for our typographic ‘W’, which is unique with the curved based referencing the landscape. Colour is one of the more emotive shifts in the brand, changing from blue to red. The deep red as the primary colour is bold, determined and confident. This is partnered with vibrant tones such as fluoro orange to deliver youthfulness and optimism to the brand.” – Sourced here. If WSU is aiming itself at the same kind of visuals as the Ivy League universities of the U.S., then the crest is the most important part of the visual. In all logos, the logo mark is just as important as the typography attached to that logo. And maybe that’s my issue, that the logo Mark is not placed in a position of importance, that it is placed as an after though.…
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Commenting on blogs is both my most utilised tool as a social media manager, and the most underrated tool I see in other’s social media activities. If the end goal of being involved in social media is to create conversation and dialogue, then a comment is the response YOU make to the question or statement being posed by the writer – without it, you aren’t fulfilling your end of the conversation. As a content creator of any kind, your aim is to develop a community of like-minded people, who are essentially picking up what you are putting down – whether that’s knowledge, reviews, experiences or warnings. So it’s absolutely natural for comments to happen, as people respond to your content. Think about the blogs that YOU read. How many times have you sat at your computer during your lunch break and verbally gone “Ugh YES” when the content is great, or “Pfft” when it’s a bit off. THIS is when, how and why you should comment. Be part of their conversation.
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Once you have decided to brig a social media manager(or consultant or contractor, whatever you want to call it) into your business, it can be a bit nerve wracking. This is someone who has access to all your customer facing information and who is going to go out there and represent your brand, without knowing the business inside and out like you do. How is that possibly going to work? In order for you to work together well with your new manager, it’s important to sit down together and discuss exactly what it is you are looking for out of that role.
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One of the best things about my job is being able to help other creatives realise their business potential.
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Forgive me readers, for I have sinned. It has been exactly one month since my last blog post, and heres the dirty little confession – I really enjoyed taking a break.
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