Let's Talk ASN

When I'm accepting a design brief from someone it is important that I understand exactly what the client is looking for. One of my favourite questions to ask is what other brands/ websites do you like? Even if they are unrelated to what the client is branding it still gives me a visual clue about their tastes and their idea of good design.

My other favourite question is what do you not like? When I asked this client both these questions unusually the response included a number of things to avoid due to their prevalence in the sector. I realised these were the icons I would have turned to first and ideas that I have in fact used for other clients in previous work.

But I love a challenge and both the client and I are very pleased with the outcome.

You can get more information about the service from the Govan Law Centre Education Law Unit facebook page.

Little Wonders

Logos are interesting to design. I enjoy the research stage, finding out what the business does and working out how to represent it. No research was required for this logo for the Little Wonders toddler group though. Being a mum myself I am very familiar with the business of toddlers.

I wanted it to be fun and where there are toys there is fun. Not wanting to resort to the primary colours I instead went for a palette of orange, green and yellow. The trio is bright and cheerful but also a little sophisticated to appeal to all the mummies and daddies.

Quest for Success

Design is a process. Once I receive a brief my creativity gets to work until I have something to show the client. Thereafter it tends to go back and forth until both of us are completely satisfied.

The work I did for Quest for Success was different. Karen & I always seemed to be on the same page. The concepts to be illustrated were challenging; resistance to change, strengthening personal impact but my brain really enjoyed being stretched. And I'm really pleased with the results. Sticking to the core colours kept them simple yet completely on brand.

Checkout the Quest for Success website to find out more about Karen's great work.

Fife Society for the Blind

Once the new logos were in place for Fife Society for the Blind, the rest of the marketing materials had to be designed. The colour palette was based around the two colours of the logo. I added three more colours to add interest but always bearing in mind the contrast.

When it came to the banners for the three strands of the charity I decided to distinguish them by colour. The three main colours were allocated to the different strands but everything else about the banners looked identical.

Fife Society for the Blind

Special care has to be taken when designing for a charity working for the blind and visually impaired. There were several things that I had to bear in mind when working on the rebrand for the charity Fife Society for the Blind. Not only did I want the branding to look good but everything also had to be readable by the users.

Amongst other things I had to consider the colour contrast for the logo, the clarity of the typeface and the crop of the photos. Within the restrictions set it was no easy task to bring the look bang up to date.

All three branches of the charity were to look the same but with different names and taglines. The two-colour palette of blue and orange kept it simple but also striking. The logo can be used with and without the added taglines and the mark can also be used on its own making it very versatile.

Watch this space as I'll cover more on how the rebrand developed in further posts.

The Willis Wood Brand

Sometimes a project comes together perfectly. This is the case when I was asked to create a brand for new forensic accountancy business, Willis Wood.

Fiona approached me fully prepared with plenty of ideas and a great strapline "A service tailored to you". I also teamed up with Abeoweb for the first time to create the website leaving me with more time to focus on the design side.

The logo had to be sophisticated and classy in order to appeal to the prospective clients - lawyers and accountants. I'd been wanting to use a serif typeface for a while but it had not seemed appropriate for any previous projects.

I then used an enlarged version of the logo "pie-chart" to add interest to the business card, headed paper and website design.

The graphics took a slightly unusual route for the brochure and website. The tagline made me look closer at the tailored suits worn by the target audience. Photos of these representing the different areas gave the brand a modern yet sharp look with just a little bit of femininity.

Pat's Bags

Pat's Bags come in so many shapes, sizes and colours that they're perfect for any occasion. The bags are handcrafted by Pat Doran and sold at Craft fairs around the north of Scotland. Inspired by Pat's original hand drawn logo and the bags themselves I created this colourful textural logo.

The layout of the business cards and labels makes use of the flowers to create a really strong brand for the business. It's always great to see my designs being used and here is the bag label attached to a bag and ready to be sold.

For more information and to find out where the bags are being sold visit the facebook page - Pat'sbags Aberdeen

When two worlds collide

After completing the logo and identity for Airthrey Ltd I was then asked to create branded cupcakes for a seminar. You can see more details of how it worked out on my other blog over at www.uppercutcakes.com. It's all part of the service!

Airthrey Ltd

Recently I've been working hard on identity and branding for a brand new company. Airthrey Ltd are a Learning Evaluation company set up to help businesses to make the most of their learning and development investments.

The brief for the logo was to incorporate the business aims with a castle theme - the business having been named after Airthrey castle in Stirling. No easy task but I did this with a bar chart/battlement combo. Running with the bar chart idea I turned the business card on it's side to give it a stand out layout. A fresh company needs fresh colours and inspired by our autumn photoshoot at Airthrey Castle orange was the colour of choice.

As well as taking photos for the website I also provided consultation on the website's overall appearance and have laid out the first paper in a planned series available from the resources section of aithrey.com.

Baby Bliss Massage

As a mum-to-be I've been learning about the importance of baby massage for ensuring a healthy happy baby. Mum of two, Karen used the techniques on her babies and has now taken the courses necessary to teach.

She asked me to create a brand for her business using baby images and hands with fresh, bright colours. The result is a logo incorporating little hands, fresh and relaxing colours and a gorgeous baby image that grabs attention.