Incredible Gardens - Identity Design

Incredible Gardens are a new concept in garden design. They have a solid background in agriculture and garden design and have a passion for all kinds of plants that have an edible element to them. Their mission is to design sustainable gardens that are beautiful and contain only plants that can offer something edible, be it a seed, root, leaf or flower.

My role was to design a contemporary logo that emphasised the strong design ethic that they base all their gardens on and that also hinted at the edible content of the planting choices. I have an interest in gardens and garden design and already knew that, on planting schemes, garden designers use a visual system for drawing groups of the same plants involving shapes connected by lines. For aesthetic reasons, there is a preference to plant groups of the same plants in numbers of 3, 5, 7 (etc). I borrowed this system as the base of the design and simply arranged a collection of 'plants' into a shape that resembles a bunch of seeds or fruits. These were set in a rectangle that represents the boundary of a garden.

Corporate Identity Design for Beverley Ogden Solicitors

I was commissioned by a local Solicitor to revamp the image of the company and create a new logo to coincide with a move to new premises. The company is based in Lewes, East Sussex which is an old, and architecturally speaking, rather traditional county town. The company has been established for 25 years and is well known in the town I therefore opted for a clean and classic logo design which was applied to all new stationery and signage. The new office is just off the main High Street on a twitten (small pedestrian lane to you and me) and therefore it needed a prominent exterior sign. I also designed the interior signage and advised on the interior office layout and colour scheme.

Collectabilia

Further to my haberdashery post, here is an attractive image. (I wish these tapes were in my collection!) I have been following the amazing collectionaday2010.blogspot.com the blog of illustrator Lisa Congdon. It is a great inspiration and a visual feast of a diary.

Valentines day

Birdsong is a beautiful sound that I have noticed loud and clear these last few mornings, despite the very wintry weather. The birds are heralding the arrival of Spring and it is a welcome and inspiring sound. They are calling out to potential and existing loved ones, and alerting others of their kind to food sources, predators, travels, nest sites and communal gatherings. Just the basic essentials of surviving life really.

I am sure that users of Twitter justify their involvement in it and the existence of it through believing that by contributing to it they are disseminating essential information, just the same as a bird in its song, but on a human level. I have always been of the cynical opinion that Twitter is of little long term or profound purpose. I guess that a very high number of tweets are banal, reactionary, egotistical and self publicising. However, that said, there are skills required to use Twitter - dedication, an opinion, making time to respond to others, stating your thoughts and feelings, 'following' others and finally, being yourself.

While drawing this, I imagined two people falling in love just by following each other on Twitter, entranced and captivated by the mundane nature of each others 'tweets'. This got me thinking. Maybe I could put my opinions of Twitter to one side and just for a Valentines Day moment, think of Twitter and other social networking tools differently. After all, we all know that surviving a relationship involves tolerating an awful lot of everyday boring stuff and not always with the soundtrack of beautiful birdsong. Just like reading Twitter. So, are the skills required to use and enjoy Twitter really just the ones that anyone in a relationship needs to survive beyond Valentines Day. Now, what about blogs…?

The Shack Company new logo

The Shack company is a new business creating handmade, oak framed, timber buildings. They commissioned me to create a new brand identity to suit a product which could sit happily in a 'rustic' or an 'urban cool' environment. I chose some earthy, natural colours with a contemporary orange zing and a chunky slab font called Blackoak. Not only is this font fit for purpose but, rather pleasingly, has a name that ties in quite neatly with the product on offer.

Haberdashery

I have to admit that I have a strange obsession with all things 'haberdashery'. Last week my mother gave me these original packs of hooks and eyes and poppers and a huge box of buttons to rummage through. She has always been able to sew anything and always saved bits and bobs in case they are needed. My excitement was out of proportion to the gift. I will not be saving these for a sewing project - they are going to be framed!

Christmas greetings

Happy Christmas everyone and best wishes for 2010.

New corporate identity and website design

Amanda Grant is a food writer who is passionate about teaching children and encouraging their parents to get them involved in everyday family food and cooking. She writes for Delicious magazine and for Tesco.
Amanda wanted a website design that would reflect her personality and act as a tool for her to promote her writing and her diverse range of work. She wanted it to look friendly and anything but corporate, appealing to parents, children and be accessible to other food professionals such as magazine editors, chefs and publishers. I hinted at a relaxed scrapbook (or recipe collection) style of ephemera in the design and used a selection of fonts to create an eclectic feel. The illustrations are fun and simple and give a hint of food to the pages. Cooking with children is a messy and fun experience so the odd splodge here and there keeps it real.
This site was lauched at the Children's Food Festival, and was developed by Sunset Design.
The logo has been adapted from the font 'American typewriter' selected as the typewriter style links nicely to Amanda's writing.

Illustration

Here is a simple illustration for a housing assocation. It demonstrates in a graphic form the ways that a customer can influence decision making in the organisation and the path of that influence.

Can't live with them, can't live without them

This is funny - be warned though, it should have an X rating for the language:
http://www.youtube.com/user/mentaldesigner#play/all/uploads-all/0/VfprIxNfCj