WIN a new logo and visual identity with Netra

Enter the draw to win a Kick Start branding package – worth $1450!

Kick Start Package includes:
Logo design – includes 3 concepts with 3 rounds of changes (all digital files included as EPS Vector in colour, B&W, greyscale and pantone as required)

including complimentary:
Business Card - 2 layout options with 2 rounds of changes (supplied as print-ready PDF)
Postcard OR DL Flyer - 2 layout options with 2 rounds of changes (supplied as print-ready PDF)

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To enter:

1. go to www.Facebook.com/NetraChetty post your current logo to my wall and tell me what collaborating with me will mean for your brand. (f you don’t have a logo, just link to your blog/website)
2. leave a comment under this post stating which one of the logos designed by me in the logo gallery (link above) is your favourite and why.

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Winner will be decided by random draw based on the comment number on the blog. Decision of the winning entry is final.
If you do not require a logo or rebrand for your business, you may exchange your kick-start package for 15hours of design work instead.

Competition closes 10th November midnight, Australian Eastern Daylight Savings Time.
Prize cannot be used in conjunction with any other offer and is not transferable or redeemable for cash.
Prize must be redeemed (kicked off) before 31 March 2012.

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For those of you who may not have heard, last week I moved into an office. A real-life, honest-to-goodness office and I am excited and thrilled to be taking these steps with my little biz.

When I first started my business, I developed an identity that I was happy with at the time. The logo consisted of a number of interconnecting circles. It represented my business in that it was made up of a number of parts that were working together in a system – lots of little facets, lots of little parts. I initially designed it in shades of grey but within a short space of time caved to peer pressure from a handful of friendly creative voices and added a couple of bright colours. It was – I was told – silly for a creative person to have a B&W logo. At the time I really wanted to use red in my branding but red is not a flexible colour. Red is a warning, a red flag, a risk. So I regretfully shelved the red and branded with purple and lime green (some questions are better left unasked).

This move to new premises had been a long time in the planning. It’s it not with a small amount of trepidation that I put pen to paper and signed that lease, but once I did I felt like I’d stepped into a whole new version of the old me. I feel like this is what I am meant to be doing right now. I feel revitalised, I feel focussed and rejuvenated. It’s all kinds of awesome!

When I look at the logo now, I see that it did more than represent my business at the time – it represented my mindset as well. I had a great deal going on in the business - I wasn’t entirely clear on my direction, I was growing and expanding in all directions and not focussed on one. The colours have never been me. The logo was adequate then, but I’ve outgrown it. Like a comfortable jacket one wears for years, sometimes the time just feels right for something new.

And so, I am coming home to my beloved red. It may be a little off-beat, a little dangerous, a little wicked and a little luscious, but I’ll take that!

I’ve decided it’s time to REDefine what I am doing and REDesign my branding and goodness gracious am I having fun doing it! Part of the task I set myself was to explain how inherently red just creeps into every aspect of my life without me even noticing. I must give credit here to the inspirational Narrelle from NJoy the Moment Photography whose love of orange has eclipsed all else in my head so now I cannot even look at the colour without thinking of Narrelle. She encouraged me to embrace my love affair with Red. And so here I am.

To illustrate my point, I decided one evening to walk around my house and take a photo of all the red things I could see. I didn’t open any cupboards or drawers, just the red things in my kitchen, office and bedroom that were lying around. When I put it all together it felt like it was a storyboard of me – and here it is…

From left to right starting at the top:

1. Random single earrings without partners.
2. Pair of baby shoes given to me just before I had Kyra by an ex-client Paula Dawson from when she visited The Forbidden City.
3. The sleeve of my jacket hanging off my whiteboard.
4. The wheely chair at my second workstation.
5. The Adobe logo on the Creative Suite box.
6. Red beads in a beaded necklace made in South Africa where I was born.
7. Wool stuck with crochet hooks and a knitting needle. Unfinished project.
8. My heart rate monitor watch.
9. A photo of my aunt with me when I was about 1. Please note the colour of my dress in the photo.
10. More wool, another unfinished personal endeavour.
11. A slice of a geode that has been stained. I bought this on our trip to Canada last year at a geological fair.
12. A pantone cookie jar given to me for Christmas by my cousin and his wife who welcomed their baby last week – congrats guys xx.
13. Adhesive mounting squares and my box for my 24mm canon lens.
14. Decorative willow in the corner of my office. They were once red, but 8 years has seen them change a bit.
15. Another red jacket.
16. The door snake to keep the cold air from creeping under the front door.
17. The pump device on two bottles of anti bacterial handsoap.
18. A scarf and bit of a necklace peeping through on my dresser.
19. Another red earring. This on the earring organiser supposed to help me organise my earrings…
20. Nail polish and lip sticks.
21. Our wedding favours from our wedding in 2000. Decks of cards for the menfolk.
22. My business cards from 2002 when I was Creative Director of The Fridge at UNSW.
23. Red beads in another necklace from South Africa.
24. Two empty washing baskets stacked one in the other.
25. Another red jacket, this time hung in the walk in robe over an evening dress.
26. My reading pillow the kids got me last year so I could red comfortably in bed.
27. Red luggage with a red luggage tag.
28. Lia sitting on the office wheely chair, and she was wearing red stripey top and red leggings. Look at those cute feet and toes!
29. A red wooden bead bracelet a friend bought me for my birthday. It is one of my favourite things.
30. Random objects on the counter – cupcake baking cups, glue stick, Kyra’s bug catcher, and the handle of  screwdriver we’d just used to assemble my new office furniture.
31. The hood of another red jacket – but this one is Kyras.
32. The Wii remote.
33. The Wii remote again.
34. The smile Lia drew on my face in her portrait of me.
35. A drinks holder my brother gave me.
36. My everyday mug sitting in the dish rack.
37. A couple of mugs my mother gave me. They sit on a shelf and I’ve never used them but I can’t get rid of them – they’re red.
38. Red plastic glasses that I bought for the kids.
39. The Canadian flag.
40. A plaster bird magnet Kyra made and painted for me.
41. A recipe pack of Chrismas cocktails. Unopened.
42. My EOS book spine.
43. My EOS book spine again.
44. Aussie Post box that I sending to my in-laws in Canada. It is packed with tim tams, photos of the kids and chocolate covered macadamias.
45. My folder of paid bills.
46. The cover of my android phone.
47. A dream-catcher I bought on Manitoulin Island in Canada last year. The spaces in the circles let the bad dreams through. The web catches only good dreams, that then flow down the feathers towards you.
48. A clay lamp usually lit in the Hindu festival Diwali also known as the Festival of Lights.
49. A photo of my grandmother who lived with us when I was little. We shared a bed room for many years. She passed away just before Kyra was born.

For those of you who are not familiar with Heartfelt, I’ve copied this from their website:

“Heartfelt is a volunteer organisation of professional photographers from all over Australia dedicated to giving the gift of photographic memories to families that have experienced stillbirths, premature and ill infants and children in the Neonatal Intensive Care Units of their local hospitals, as well as children with serious and terminal illnesses.

Heartfelt is dedicated to providing this gift to families in a caring, compassionate manner. All services are provided free of charge.”

I designed and produced the first Heartfelt Exhibition in 2009 in Sydney, and this year was very lucky to be asked to be involved with the exhibition panels and catalogue again. The exhibition was on in March this year, but better late then never… here it is.

Please make sure to go to the website and familiarise yourself with the service and what the organisation does. You can also find Heartfelt on Facebook, like the page and help spread awareness of the service. It is my hope that you and all those around you never, ever have to call.

If you are a photographer or retoucher and would like to join Heartfelt. You can apply online at www.heartfelt.org.au.

The last image here on the right is an image I captured during a Heartfelt session of baby Noor who had already passed away when the image was captured. In this image, he is holding onto his father’s thumb.

The one that stands out in my mind was when we were discussing the relative heights of two letters in a word. I said they were even. Sarah said they were not. Kim was wisely silent. I insisted. So did Sarah. Kim was already in the underground shelter. So I zoomed into 300% and was about to draw a whopping red line to PROVE that the letters were even, when I choked on a mouthful of humble pie. Sarah was right!

Much abashed, I mailed her back and admitted my error and she very graciously has never brought it up again. I love that story. I love that my clients are just as pedantic (or even more so!) than I am. I love that we can have an email exchange about the relative letter heights of two letters, because you see, it shows they are as passionate about the logo, brand and design as I am.  I would much rather a client who looked at every single detail of the design and double checked me on 100 things, than one who might say, “yeah, whatever, that will do…”.

But I digress! This post is about Sarah’s new brand! Sarah had been throwing around some ideas for her brand but finding a few challenges along the way. She wanted to create the brand around the idea of a story, a fairytale with the photographer as the teller of the magical stories in each family she photographed. Sarah came to me with a font she’d fallen in love with so naturally that was an easy place to start.

It was when I was looking at the brief that I realised that Sarah Black and Story Book  have common initials. The idea involved a cheeky and hidden play on the words by putting her initials into a story book and using it as a logo. It’s clean and subtle, sophisticated but edgy, literal but contains a secret meaning and I love it! I felt the brand was so emotive and evocative that a quote or proverb would work quite well with it. Imagine my surprise when googling “quotes about fairytales” yielded a beautiful snippet from the story master himself Hans Christian Anderson so of course I had to include it in the proposal to Sarah. It’s really struck a chord in her too and she has some great plans to integrate it further into her brand, but my lips are sealed!

The image Sarah has used on her cards is one of my favourite images of all time. With two girls myself, the image (as I said to Sarah) represents so much of how I think their childhood should be. It encourages them to grow up with an imagination, to dream big dreams, to believe that anything is possible. I want my girls to live in a world where you can wear sparkly red shoes every single day, regardless of your age and its totally ok.

Make sure to visit Sarah’s website and check out her amazing and inspirational work.

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.

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…

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. 

Belinda was happy to stick with her current business name, but was happy to have a total revamp with her look and feel. With a name like Garland Photography, it was an easy leap to focussing the business identity around the idea of a floral motif. After all, garlands are a symbol of celebration and welcome, two really appropriate concepts to underpin the brand. After some quick online surveying Belinda found that her target audience picked green as the colour most associated with garlands and so we were off.

This branding was a bit unusual for me. Usually I am very much against fine detail in logos that need to appear small. But we had taken the ‘arm’ of the ‘g’ in the name, and used that to develop a range of floral icons. These icons are used to make up the flowers in the tail of the main letter ‘g’. To get around the details getting lost at smaller sizes, we developed a system where Belinda can use the more detailed icon where the logo appears at larger sizes, and then for smaller sizes, there is a solid option available. Belinda also opted to go for a document template design as well, which means hat she gets to retain control of all the marketing material. Using the templates provided, she can customise each document to suit her needs, whether that is for letterhead, pricelist, booklet cover etc – it all works seamlessly as part of a larger identity.

Make sure to check out the Garland Photography blog to see how Belinda had adapted the design for her online presence.

When she asked me to help her put together her branding, it seemed like a daunting task. Part of the challenge is that Dale does so many different things and wanted to encompass it all within a single brand. She has her portrait photography business, but also does weddings. She sells actions and textures to other photographers and also runs workshops. Dale is looking to branch out into commercial work and also shoots art by commission.

Pulling all these facets together was a monumental feat. I really wanted to make her branding instantly recognisable as ‘Dale’… regardless of where it was being used, for what audience and for any purpose. That meant stripping back the essence of her style to the basics – the silhouette.

After much brain storming, we came up with a modular solution for her brands and sub brands. While the main identity is the running girl with balloon, the whole suite of icons are made up of silhouettes traced from Dale’s images themselves. The squares or tiles read as a storyboard especially when used as a series of images – you can see the story unfolding in each consecutive tile. They can be used independently as Dale sees fit, or she can group them together  for other sub-specialities, and the running girl in the middle is always a visual link to her main brand. That way she can chop and change the tiles around to promote just about anything, and still maintain her unique look and feel across all these different areas. We took it a bit further, using the some of Dale’s own photography and textured behind the icons for added interest (though they can be used without).

You can see below how each group has its own look and feel, but represents the main brand so strongly and always, ALWAYS appears with Dale’s name in the tagline.

I would have to say this was one of the most challenging visual identity briefs I’ve ever had. It was also so much fun to work with Dale who was so open to any ideas I threw her way and who took everything I said on board. It’s been a long time in the planning and a bit longer in the making but I am so happy to see it all here and out in the open. You can check out the brand new blog here.

Congrats Dale – you totally deserve all the great things coming your way!

Sam’s brief for this logo was something that was bright, golden, that was all about childhood and fun. When she left after the briefing session, I had the idea of using painty-childish handprints to make a ‘sun’. As I was trying different positions of the hands and fingers, I noticed the shape of the overlap was suggestive of a heart. So with a few deft tweaks, I made the heart shape more distinct and yet still kept it subtle. I like to think it is the little surprise you see in the logo after a while and it totally suits Sam’s emotive work as well as her passion for photography and all things family.

So without further ado, here it is – make sure to head on over to her website and blog to check out her work and make sure if you’re in Sydney to book a session!!!