The importance of being Gooseberry Bush

Most of the time when we are asked to design a corporate image or logo, the client has a vague idea of the sort of thing he or she wants and usually has already decided upon a name.

Sometimes, however, we get the chance to work on a completely blank canvas.

This was the case recently when we were commissioned to design a corporate identity for a startup business run by a group of registered midwives offering antenatal, postnatal and breastfeeding classes in South Wales.

The first thing we had to do was decide upon a name.

We had a brainstorming session and came up with several possible suggestions.

The words "Bun" and "Oven" came readily to mind of course! The Stork and The Delivery Service were other names that were bandied about, but the name that was ultimately decided upon was Gooseberry Bush - the answer that parents sometimes give small children in response to the perennial question: "where do babies come from?".

It was felt that this name would portray the business in a lighthearted and memorable way.

Research was carried out to discover if anyone else was using this name and although there were several shops selling baby clothes called Gooseberry Bush, there were no anti-natal clinics or similar businesses using it.

We also looked into the availability of a domain name, and although, not surprisingly, www.gooseberrybush.co.uk had been taken, we managed to secure www.gooseberrybush.biz.

The first design idea we submitted for the logo hit the nail pretty much on the head and after a few small tweaks the final design was agreed upon. We then applied to the Intellectual Property Office to have the the logo and name registered as a trademark.

With this key element in place the identity was implemented on to a range of stationery and work started on a website.

The business was finally launched with an advertising campaign using the headline: "we wish you a happy birth day"

Have you heard the one about the 2 businessmen in the jungle?

I heard this joke a few years ago but it seems very relevant in today's economic climate.


There were two businessmen walking through the jungle when they heard the roar of a ferocious beast in the distance. They turned to see that a hungry lion was running quickly towards them.

One businessman calmly opened his briefcase, took out a pair of running shoes and bent down to put them on.

The other businessman said: "Are you mad you'll never outrun that lion"

The other businessman replied: "No I don't have to run faster than the lion - I just have to run faster than you!"



In this economy many of your competitors will be cutting back on their on marketing, advertising and promotion but this is precisely the time when you should be INCREASING your budget for these things.

This recession will claim many businesses - make sure you have your running shoes on.

Best wishes

Jon Hurley

CMYK vs. Pantone

Quite often I get asked by my clients to explain about the different printing processes that are available today.


I have provided below a brief, and not too technical, explanation of a few of these that I hope you will find of use.


Offset Litho Printing

The most common form of printing that most people will be familiar with is litho printing (sometimes referred to as offset litho printing) this comes in two varieties: 4 colour offset and spot colour.

4 colour offset

As the name suggests, 4 colour offset (or 4 colour process) is printing using four colours: cyan, magenta, yellow and black (CMYK). Because the inks are transparent, by overlaying different combinations and tints of these inks, a wide spectrum of colours can be reproduced.

This process is ideally suited to printing documents that contain full colour photographs, illustrations, text and graphics like brochures, leaflets etc.
Spot colour printing (Pantone printing)

This printing process is exactly the same as above but instead of using the process colours (CMYK), the inks used are "Pantone" colours sometimes called "specials".

The Pantone range is an extensive range of colours including Day-Glo fluorescent colours and metallics like gold and silver. Some of these special colours are impossible to reproduce out of the 4 colour process. 

They are ideally suited to the printing of letterheads and business cards that contain just a logo using one or two colours and maybe black for the text.

If you wanted, you could have a combination of both 4-colour process and spot colours, but of course the more colours - the more expensive the print bill. For instance you may have a brochure that contains full colour images but elsewhere on the page you may want something printed in gold or silver. Or you may have a logo that uses a very specific colour that is hard to reproduce out of the CMYK inks.

Batch printing or ganged up printing

This is a fairly recent development in the printing industry that has come of age with the internet. It is ideal for smaller items like business cards when the cost of producing one business card is prohibitive.

The idea is that you book your job in and it is printed alongside a number of other jobs on the same print run, thus sharing the cost.

The downside to this printing method is that you cannot specify pantone colours so your logo will be made up out of the 4-colour printing process (described above) and if examined closely will reveal tiny dots, whereas spot colour business cards are printed solid in most cases.
However, provided your logo doesn't contain any special colours like gold or silver, you would be hard pressed to notice the difference.

Digital Printing

Another recent development is digital print. This is a completely different process in that digital presses print directly from the computer and so there are no expensive plate changes or set up charges. This allows for very fast and economically priced short prints runs of anything from 10 to 200. For longer print runs digital printing becomes less cost effective compared with litho.

Another benefit of digital printing is that each print can be customised. So, for instance, each printed piece could be personalised with a different name and address.

With the new digital presses available today the quality of the print is equal if not better to that of conventional litho printing.

So as you can see, it's horses for courses. If you need any more advice with you printing requirements, please contact me and I will try to help you as much as I can.

You can ring on 01656 782956.
or email me on jon@jhurleydesign.co.uk

How to Get a Job as a Graphic Designer

Author: Gareth Coxon - Dot Design

Just the other day I received a question on Twitter from Adam at Design4Love:


"Hi.. how are you? Do you have any tips for me how to get into the UK design industry (Other than sending applications to agencies). Thanks!"


Which got me thinking about how difficult it was for me and some of the fellow graphic design students I studied with to get a job in the design industry back in 1999 (yes that long ago!) straight out of design college. I snapped up a job with a Central London design agency in Soho within 2 weeks of leaving college but looking back it wasn't really the right job for me then. Though just 13 months later I changed positions and worked for a great design agency based in London Bridge and learned a huge amount as well as working on lots of different types of projects as a designer.

Anyway competition was fierce then BUT the amount of graphic design and other design courses available in art colleges and universities up and down the college has grown hugely since then.

So here are a few tips on (like Adam asked) "how to get into the UK Design industry"

The Portfolio:
Having a great design portfolio is a must. To be honest your design portfolio is the most important thing on this list, its what you'll mainly be judged on. It must be well presented and include at least 6 or more design projects. Think about the kind of work the agency your applying to does and try to tailor your portfolio towards that. For example if they specialise in corporate identity and branding work try to include work of this kind.

Be ready to talk about your design work, what inspired you, why you approached the project in the way you did, even choice of typeface, colours, imagery etc. Show them some of your sketchs and development work, some agencies what to see your scribbles more than the finished work as it shows your design process and how you think!

Before taking your portfolio along to job interviews, make sure you show it to a people (tutors, other design students) talk them through it, get them to ask you questions about your design work and respond with suitable answers. This will get you used to talking people through your portfolio, making you a more prepared for the interview.

Work Experience:
Offer to do some work experience with a design company who's work you really admire (for free if you have to!), even if its just a week then spend that week wowing them, making the tea, producing great work, take an interest in everything relating to that design company. It is a good way to get your foot in the door but also don't be too pushy or cocky, you might think your a great designer but remember there is a big difference between design college and the real world!

If the company really like you during your work experience they might offer you a full time job!

Finding Work:
Send your portfolio as a PDF etc to as many design companies (that your interested in) as possible, then after a few days give them a quick call to check they have received it.

Another alternative and one that worked for me is to approach a design recruitment agency. I contacted Major Players (there are many others!) when looking for a new graphic design position. They interviewed me and I took them through my portfolio and skills set, based on this they then contacted me when suitable jobs became available. This worked very well as they got me a new job within 2 weeks.

Dress code:
There isn't one as such. Wear what your comfortable in but also look like you have made some sort of effort! That said I wouldn't recommend turning up in a suit! Remember what you wear can be seen as a reflection of yourself and your design style or preferences.

Behaviour:
Be yourself, be calm and open to discussing your work and the work of the design agency. Remember to ask questions about what work they produce and what your role would be. One thing I found useful was to ask if someone could take you around the studio, afterall that is where you'll be working if you get the job and you need to see what sort of environment you'll be working in. It also easier to ask questions as you move around and see how they work.

Research:
Remember to do some research on the company that is interviewing you, as they are likely to ask you what made you apply for a job with them, what sort of work do they produce, what awards have they won (if any), why do you want to work for them in particular?

Keep trying:
Above all keep trying and keep looking at ways to improve your portfolio. If you go for an interview and they don't give you a job, don't worry, your work just might not be suitable for that particular design agency.


So hope this has helped, good luck!




Article Source: http://www.articlesbase.com/graphic-design-articles/how-to-get-a-job-as-a-graphic-designer-631495.html


About the Author

Dot Design is a small freelance graphic design agency based in Devon. Established in 2006 Dot Design provides an effective, professional (and friendly) graphic design service. By using other freelance designers when needed we cut back on the costs of a traditional design agency, meaning we are able to greatly reduce costs to our clients.

Dot Design is owned and run by Gareth Coxon who has 8 years professional design experience - 5 years working for two different design agencies in London and now 3 years working in the South West.

We work with businesses all over the UK and Internationally - from small start-ups through to medium sized and larger companies. We don’t use pretentious designer talk and we keep all aspects as simple and straight forward as possible. We will work with you and we understand that no one knows your business like you do.

Dot Design provide you with high quality, well thought through design and tackle each project with fresh enthusiasm and professionalism. We really enjoy what we do as do our clients, just see our testimonials!

We believe successful design should have a strong idea, be distinctive, memorable, simple and communicate the clients requirements. Any project large or small has the same opportunity for great design!


We believe successful design should have a strong idea, be distinctive, memorable, simple and communicate the clients requirements. Any project large or small has the same opportunity for great design!

Behind the BP logo

Greenpeace are running a competition to design a new logo for BP that's more suitable for their dirty business - especially in regard to their intention of exploiting the tar sands oil deposits in Canada - one of the dirtiest forms of oil extraction there is.

After submitting my logo (above) I went on to Flikr to view the other entries. It was interesting to see, maybe not surprisingly, that most of the other logos were very similar.

Politics aside, and speaking from a purely design point of view, I do quite like BP's logo. It is reminiscent of the sun or the structure of a sunflower and points the way towards alternative forms of energy that all oil companies will eventually have to diversify into at some point before the oil runs out.

It's a shame that such a great iconic brand has become tarnished by the corporate irresponsibility that has led to the environmental disaster in the Gulf of Mexico.

10 secrets to writing a design brief

When you are commissioning a designer or inviting quotations for the production of a brochure, mail shot, website or exhibition system, one of the first and most important things you should do is write a design brief.

Here are 10 points to bear in mind when writing a design brief

1. State clearly what your organisation is all about. What are its aims and aspirations? What does it do or what does it hope to do in the future. Maybe you could include a mission statement if you have one.

2. Explain what the project should achieve, the sort of audience it is aimed at and how it is to be delivered.

3. Describe fully the physical characteristics of the proposed item.
For print media: the finished size, the number of pages etc. A copy of the draft document, if available, could be also be sent at this stage to give an idea of how many pages the publication is likely to run to. (Note: the number of pages in a printed publication are normally divisible by 4) please specify if this includes the cover or not.
The same considerations apply for exhibition panels, ie: the size and type of exhibition stand. etc.

The important point here is that by giving as much detail as you can, it will enable you to make an "apples for apples" price comparison later.

4. Describe what content you will be supplying and what you expect the designer to provide. Will you be supplying finished copy or will you supply a rough outline and expect the designer to do the copywriting? If you are producing a bilingual document, how is the other language to be supplied? Will you be supplying the translation or is this to be included in the quote? How many photographs or illustrations, graphs etc. etc.

5. State the quantity required. Also it is a good idea at this stage to ask for a run-on cost. For instance 1,000 off and a run-on per 1,000. This is for an extra 1,000 to be printed at the same time, not to be confused with a reprint cost, which is the cost of reprinting the same job at a later date.
Also include the delivery address.

6. Put down any ideas that you have in mind. Have you seen anything else, maybe from one of your competitors, that you like the look of? Not so that the design can be copied, but in order that the designer has an idea of the sort of thing you like and dislike.

7. State your budget.

8. Specify a deadline for the quote and a deadline for the delivery. If it is needed for a specific event ie: an exhibition or annual general meeting, give the date of the event and allow yourself a safety margin for unseen contingencies. Timetable when you will be supplying your content and when you expect to receive back proofs.

9. Give the project a name that can be used as a working title.

10. Include any corporate identity guidelines that need to be followed.  For instance, if certain fonts or colours have to be used. How the logo should be reproduced etc.

A well-written brief will help establish the aims and expectations of both parties, set the ground rules and avoid misunderstandings and the need for a lot of unnecessary to-ing and fro-ing between yourself and your designer.

If you have any design and print projects in mind that you would like some help writing the brief for, please give me a ring on 01656 782956.
or email me on jon@jhurleydesign.co.uk

Happy briefing

Have you heard about Aida?

Just wondered if I could ask you about your advertising.

Have you heard about AIDA? No not the opera by Verdi, I am talking about the acronym that stands for Attention, Interest, Desire and Action.

• A - Attention (Awareness): attract the attention of the customer with an eye catching picture or headline.

• I - Interest: raise customer interest by focusing on and demonstrating advantages and benefits (instead of focusing on features).

• D - Desire: convince customers that they want and desire the product or service and that it will satisfy their needs.

• A - Action - or "call to Action"  very often people sometimes forget this part. This is what you want your ad to achieve. It could be to phone a number, visit a website, visit a shop etc

Nowadays some marketers add the letter S  to form AIDA(S):

• S - Satisfaction - satisfy the customer so they become a repeat customer and give referrals to a product.

I hope this has been of interest to you. I have been helping clients large and small with their advertising for many years and would love to add your name to our client list.

So here's my "call to action":

visit my website at: www.jhurleydesign.co.uk

I can help you increase your sales!

How could I do that? By improving your communications and giving you a professional image through creative well-designed and effective graphic design.

Most designers see creativity as an excuse to pursue their own ideas at the expense of the client. We however believe that creativity is merely the means to an end - namely, to increase the sales and awareness of our clients, their products and their services.

Our over-riding thinking behind everything we do is “Function over Form” but we do put an awful lot of work into the “Form” as well.

Corporate Identity
Call it branding or a logo on a business card it boils down to the same thing - how you are perceived by your customers, prospects and even your own personnel. This is only one part of your marketing but is key to everything. Get this wrong and it will be a millstone around your neck. Get it right and it will open doors for you.

Promotional Literature
Another big gun in your arsenal of marketing ordnance. We have produced many successful promotional brochures, folders, mailshots etc. If you choose, we can write the words and supply the pictures and we’ll even take them down to the post office for you!

Sales Literature
The work horse of your marketing. Let this one carry all your products to market. We have a lot of experience producing catalogues, and sales literature. We are also experts in annual reports.

Advertising
We can give you a better song to sing. It’s called Aida (no not the opera by Verdi, I’m talking about the AIDA formula: Attention, Interest, Desire and Action. This guiding principle is behind all our campaigns.

Web
“If you build it, they will come”. I don't know who said that, but it was probably a web designer. We design website that are attractive in both senses of the word. Not only do they look good but they pull in the viewers.

Exhibitions and large format printing
Big is beautiful. If you’ve got something to say then let us big it up for you!

OK that’s us in a nutshell. If you want to find out more about us please visit our website at: www.jhurleydesign.co.uk

Protect your good name

Did you know that just because you have registered your company name with Companies House or have registered it as a domain name this does not mean that you have a registered trade mark?

If you have been trading for some time you will have a lot of goodwill invested in your brand and you will not want anyone else pretending to be associated with it or hijacking its reputation.

For this reason you may want to consider protecting your brand, trademark or logo by registering it with the Intellectual Property Office.

You can find out more about this on their website: www.ipo.gov.uk

Registering your trade mark gives you the exclusive right to use your mark for the goods and/or services that it covers in the United Kingdom.

When you have registered your trade mark you can put the ® symbol next to it to warn others against using it. However, using this symbol for a trade mark that is not registered is an offence.

The advantages of a registered trade mark are:

    • it may put people off using your trade mark without your permission

    • it allows you to take legal action against anyone who uses your trade mark without your permission

    • it allows Trading Standards Officers or Police to bring criminal charges against counterfeiters if they use your trade mark

    • it is your property, which means you can sell it, or let other people have a licence that allows them to use it.

If you don't register your trade mark, you may still be able to take action if someone uses your mark without your permission, using the common law action of "passing off".

but it can be very difficult and expensive to prove this so by registering your trade mark, it is easier to take legal action if you need to.

There are around 200 trademarks registered every week so the availability of certain combinations of words are becoming limited by the day.

Design by committee - a recipe for disaster

You are no doubt familiar with the expression: "Many hands make light work"?

I want to tell you that this might not be such a good idea in the design evaluation process. In other words - design by committee does not work.

Now I know these days everyone tries to be as inclusive as possible to make sure that nobody feels left out. And of course it is a sensible policy to consult with your colleagues and, more importantly, people outside your organisation when designing a piece of marketing material, sales literature or website.

But in this situation a better proverb might be: "Many cooks spoil the broth"

The following is a (nearly) true story:

A few years ago I was commissioned to design a series of information booklets.

I came up with what I considered was a very attractive design which I presented to the client.

He loved it. "I think the design is brilliant",  he enthused "But ... can I just show it to a few of my colleagues to see what they think?"

That seemed a perfectly reasonable suggestion so a week later I had the following feedback:

"Well, most people thought it was great ... but somebody didn't like the typeface so - could we just use 12pt Verdana throughout?

"Oh and someone else didn't like the colour so we have decided to just have it in black and white.

"And the managing director's mother's next door neighbour didn't like the pictures - so we think it's best to take out all the pictures."

I made up that last bit - but you get the idea.

It ended up as something they could have just typed in Word and knocked out on a desk-top printer!

So what I am trying to say is when you are designing something ideally there should only be one person who has responsibility for agreeing the final design.

By all means canvas opinion and see what other people think, but remember it is impossible to please everybody. You have to evaluate all the feedback, take on board the suggestions that you agree with and respectfully disregard those you don't agree with.

That way you will end up with a great-looking and effective publication and the sanity of your graphic designer intact!

How to design great looking brochures without a designer

The best way to have professional looking promotional material is to employ a professional. However, if for whatever reason, you want to design your brochures in-house, then here are some tips that I hope you will find useful.


1. Control your font usage
Just because you have loads of fancy fonts installed on your computer it doesn't mean you have to use them all to make your page look interesting. Decide on 2 different font families - one for headings and one for main text. Choose contrasting fonts types. For instance you could use a serif font for text and a sans serif for headings. (Serifs are the pointy bits at the ends of the letters. A typeface that has serifs is called a serif typeface, a typeface without serifs is called sans-serif, from the French sans, meaning "without"). You can vary it a bit, however, by using different styles (i.e. bold, italic etc) within the same family.
 
2. Use appropriate fonts
Typefaces unconsciously convey mood so, depending on the content, use a font that is sympathetic to the subject matter. For instance Comic Sans would be ideal for a baby clothing catalogue. I'm just using Comic Sans as example here because you are probably familiar with this font. I am not necessarily recommending it, as personally I hate it!
 
3. A picture is worth a thousand words
Illustrate your narrative with appropriate pictures. If you can get away with a generic image, use stock photography. There are many microstock photolibrary websites on the internet where you can buy very professional photographs for just a few pounds. The one I prefer is Dreamstime.com. Pay a few more pounds and get a high resolution version - if you buy the web resolution (72 dpi) it will look fine on a monitor but terrible when it is printed. Icons, Illustrations etc are similarly available but be careful that you use the same style of graphic throughout your document. Nothing looks more amateurish than lots of different styles of of clipart.
 
4. Less is more
You don't have to fill up every square inch of the page - unless, of course, you are designing a newspaper! Use the white space creatively. A dense block of type will put people off. So cutting down the words and opening up the "leading" or line spacing will give your publication a more modern, cleaner and easier-to-read look.
 
5. Add a bit of variety
Break up the rigidity of your layout with a few quotes or testimonials in a larger type size or put a few interesting facts in a tint box or "side bar".
 
6. Nail your colours to the mast
Try not to use lots of different colours. Restrict your palette to a few "corporate" colours that reflect your company branding. Use black for your main text and use the other colour(s) for headings, sub headings rules etc.
 
7. Do it in style
Professional publishers use style guide to ensure consistency throughout their printed media. You don't have to go that far, just have a few simple rules about when and when not to use capitals for instance. The trend these days is to use less capital letters and less punctuation. So avoid excessive exclamation marks!!! (like that) and take out all the double spaces after a full stop. That may be correct for typing but not typesetting. Also while we are on the subject of consistency, decide upon a font and make it your "corporate font" and use it for all you publicity material - this will reinforce your corporate image.
 
8. Widows and orphans
These are short lines at the beginning or end of a paragraph, which are left dangling at the top or bottom of a column, separated from the rest of the paragraph. In other words, when a paragraph runs into another column or page make sure there is a minimum of 2 lines at either end of the paragraph. The Chicago Manual of Style defines a widow as, "a paragraph-ending line that falls at the beginning of the following page/column, thus separated from the remainder of the text" and an orphan as: "A paragraph-opening line that appears by itself at the bottom of a page/column."
 
9. Size matters
Unless you are designing a book for visually impaired people or a children's picture book, don't set your main text above 12pt. In fact personally I would never go above 10pt. Also, if you are using say 9 or 10 point, then set the pages into double column rather than have the text stretch right across the full width of the page otherwise you may end up with single line paragraphs which look odd.
 
10. The proof is in the reading
Finally use the spell check facility but don't rely on it - it's not fool-proof. Get as many other people to proof read your copy. Don't just do it yourself as you can become word blind. When we read, we scan the words in blocks, we don't look at the individual letters that make up each word and we anticipate what comes next, so try reading backwards and look at each word without trying to understand the meaning. Also it's very easy to overlook the big headlines and just concentrate on the main body text, so don't forget those headlines.

Always ask your printer for a final proof before printing. Remember once it's printed it's too late!