REDefining, REDesigning Part III

If you have been following this blog over the past few posts you will know I have been on a journey of self-discovery. Or perhaps that should be ‘rediscovery’. Part of this was moving out of my dedicated home office, and into a commercial space. Part of it was reflecting on the journey to date, what I bring to my clients and who and where I want to be in five, ten and twenty years. Another part of it was the realisation of working for myself, means I can actually be myself without feeling that I need to conform to what I thought a corporate in-house designer should be.

And it’s the small things. Small things like the colours in my logo. The posts below explain it all, so I don’t need to harp on about it again. But here it is. My new look and logo. It’s red, its vibrant, its passionate and exciting and I love it.

My old logo was a series of rings expanding from each other. This logo is three simple rings coming together. No dotted or dashed lines, only solid linework. No shades or transparent colours, they are all solid. No random expansion and growth, it’s all focussed. It’s an evolution of the old logo, but it’s a visual representation of who I am and what I want to do going forward.

As much as the logo represents focus, it also represents vision. The same way you can look through a camera, or telescope, or microscope or any other instrument of vision, there is a dial that makes all the fuzzy bits clear – that’s what I want to do with the clients who come to me with a tangle of ideas in their heads. I want to help people focus and achieve their visions of their business and brand.

In terms of vision and focus there is a much more personal meaning layered under all of that as well. It’s essentially my name. I love my name – granted I have never ever found it on a keychain, or a mug – but I love how unique and unusual it sounds. I also love it’s meaning – as a word it means ‘eyes’ in Hindi and Thai (so I’ve been told). Within the last 2 weeks as I’ve googled, I have also discovered that as a name it can also mean ‘vision’, or a ‘guide’ (to be the eyes for another person). That has been a lovely way to be able to articulate all the hope that I have for the exciting journey ahead.

Stay tuned for upcoming posts with photos from my launch party. But for now, here is the new look.

Posted by Netra on Oct 8th 2011 | branding - card - corporate - design - graphic design - logo - marketing - personal - print design
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Anneke Green and I have been collaborating on the development of her brand for grown ups. She already has an existing brand for the younger folks, called Tummy to Toddler and was after a new look and feel for a more sexy, grown up market.

Anneke had chosen the name Capture Me Beautiful for her new brand. Being that the focus was on boudoir, couples sessions and other similar shoots – we started off playing with the notions of ‘capture’ and what it meant to be captured.

In a playful twist, the idea that by letting someone ‘capture’ a subject in an image, would be empowering and liberating – almost like setting oneself ‘free’. And so, the first symbolic icon was born, the cage and bird in flight. From there, the rest of the icon suite grew and grew. The idea is that Anneke can add more if she likes, swap and change them as the need arises.

They all sit within a framing device, much like a voyeur might peep through a window, or watch a reflection in a mirror, or someone might see silhouettes through a window late at night. It’s all very grown up, and very sexy!

Check out Anneke’s work at the Capture Me Beautiful blog.

Posted by Netra on Aug 3rd 2011 | branding - card - design - graphic design - logo - marketing - photography - print design
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PCCA are hosting their big Australasian Networking Conference in Sydney in a few short weeks and we got to do all their material for it! As it is a conference for international attendees, PCCA were keen to showcase the location and what better way to do that but to use the all-recognisable Sydney Opera House on the front!

The scope of the project included an RSVP card, a save-the-date card and magnet. We have just finished producing the conference agenda on a lanyard insert, gate-folded to slip into attendees lanyard to keep handy at all times.

We were very lucky to find a stock art image of the Opera House that was close to the corporate blue of PCCA, so with a bit of a boost to the levels in Photoshop, we were able to bring the image in line with the brand colours.

Posted by Netra on Jul 26th 2011 | branding - card - corporate - design - graphic design - invitation - marketing - print design
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Gemma Higgins-Sears and Janet Palmer are the two creative brains behind Storytellers Photography. While they each run their own successful photography businesses, they found enough synergies between their two styles to come together in this joint collaborative effort.

Their brief for the logo was simple, they wanted something evocative, that would capture the imagination of their audience. It had to fit in with the idea of storytelling as well as ideas they had already developed for the imagery of their brand.

The tree was an obvious choice for me. It had to be almost like a print, or old-school botanical illustration with heavy detail, so that each time you look closer into the logo, you see a bit more detail down to individual leaves. That to me was symbolic of this collaboration, that while Gemma and Janet were individuals, but when they came together they made something beautiful.

The tree was also about being ageless and timeless. It is about growing and expanding like the stories and lives of their clients. It was about aged paper and rustling leaves, about rings enclosed in rough bark and children scampering about like squirrels on branches laughing and shouting. It was about childhood and adulthood and all the glorious crazy years in between.

So here we are, the final result can be seen below. Make sure to stop by the Storytellers blog and say hello!

Posted by Netra on Jul 26th 2011 | branding - card - design - graphic design - logo
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Tara Hawley from Sweet Little Birdy dropped me a line to give her a hand revamping her business identity and applying it to a suite of promotional collateral. Clearly with a name that included a bird, we were going to stay with the bird she had. We just tidied it up a bit, gave her an interesting shape to brand with and keep her existing colours.

Once that was done we started rolling out the new logo on her material. With a business that sells party and homewares, gift and event styling options, there was a phenomenal range of imagery to choose from – and everything was just so gorgeous! So far we’ve done a couple of adverts (keep an eye out for the Sweet Little Birdy advert in the upcoming issue of Donna Hay Kids) and postcard, flyers are just about done as well.

I just love having a strong identity that carries through all the accompanying material. When you take a step back and see it as a whole, you really get a sense that this is a business that has things together. Its looks so professional and I hope this really helps Tara take her business to the next level.

Make sure to stop by www.sweetlittlebirdy.com.au and check out her products – they are just fabulous!

Posted by Netra on Jun 9th 2011 | branding - brochure - card - commercial - corporate - design - flyer - graphic design - logo - marketing - print design
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I’ve had the distinct privilege of working with this brand since its inception and evolution over the past couple of years. What initially started out as NFE Design and then grew to require the specialty sub-branch Indulge has now shifted gear to evolve into a new sub-brand direction called Beloved by Renee Bell.

Renee has built a strong visual identity within her own personal and business brands over the past few years. Both each have their own equity and so all we had to do to leverage this equity was to tweak Indulge slightly and so… Beloved was born. You can check out more of Renee’s work on her Not For Eating blog at www.nfedesign.com.au or her website www.reneebellphotographer.com.au.

Posted by Netra on Jun 7th 2011 | branding - card - design - graphic design - logo - marketing - print design
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When Rana first contacted me she wrote me a message that simply said “I think there is no question. I need you!” And so began this branding  journey!

I would love to say I successfully get every single brief right the first time, every time – but that is just not the truth. This was one of the briefs where Rana and I both worked really hard to come to this solution and it took us a while but we got there in the end!

She was open, and honest and true to herself and her vision of the brand – that is what ultimately leads to a successful brand and a memorable visual identity. With this branding, Rana has so many colours and options to play with as part of her marketing and promotional material. The idea of the bunting is something she is trying to incorporate into her hero imagery where possible and it’s making for some fun images.  The whole thing is bright, cheery and a whole lot of fun!

Make sure to stop by her website and blog and read her post about her launch. Congrats Rana!

Posted by Netra on Mar 7th 2011 | branding - card - design - graphic design - logo - marketing - print design
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Mandy Bowler from White Tulip Photography contacted me late last year to rebrand her existing business. Put simply, she had outgrown the existing identity. It had served her just fine until recently but as she had grown as a photographer and a business owner, it was time for a revamp.

With a name like ‘White Tulip’ there was a pretty narrow area in which to play with branding visuals – but having said that, there were so many styles we could have chosen. Mandy chose to get me to do everything for her, the logo, business card, a document template, blog interface and there are a couple of outstanding pieces to go. When you see the bits together this way, it’s impressive to see how the brand has been carried through effectively across all materials, giving her a credible business face, as well as a slightly more casual persona for her blog and online activities.

Make sure to stop by her blog to check out the new brand in action, She will be rolling it out across all material over the coming days. Mandy has also just been nominated for Australia’s Top Wedding Photographers by Capture Magazine.  Congrats Mandy!

Posted by Netra on Mar 5th 2011 | branding - card - corporate - design - graphic design - logo - marketing - print design
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Janine Guidera contacted me in late January to help her rebrand her existing business to represent a change in direction. Janine has had a really tough  couple of years recently and losing her mum had had a huge impact on just about everything for her, which included how she ran her business and her vision for what she wanted to achieve with it as well.

The logo itself invites you to just ‘be’. It’s about new beginnings, about dawning ideals and about emerging as something new and a little different. Janine was a delight to work with – focussed on her brand, clear about her strengths and trusting me to do my job for her to the best of my abilities.

Drop by the Be Photography blog to read more about Janine’s new phase and direction - she has been much more eloquent than I have and its well worth the read.

Thank you Janine – for everything…

Posted by Netra on Feb 24th 2011 | branding - card - design - graphic design - logo - photography
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Marie Candy’s business name is derived from a combination of her children’s names. For me as a designer, the business name and vision are critical to the branding process as those component drive the conceptual design process. Initially I was a bit stuck until I realised that the name ‘kayana’ is an actual name meaning “keeper of the keys” from there this launched into a brand of burnished golds and woody greens and secret doors in secret gardens.

Actually as part of the project, Marie’s ‘homework’ was to watch the movie which she hadn’t seen. That feel of childhood wonder and magic was something we wanted to bring to this brand created around two little girls.

Thank you for trusting me with your brand Marie and I hope this marks the start of a brave and magical adventure for you too! Make sure to stop by Kayana Photography and check her out. 

Posted by Netra on Feb 24th 2011 | branding - card - design - graphic design - logo - marketing - photography - print design
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