Client Spotlight - Dream Yoga Dance

Despite the snow on the ground (I know, right?), spring is in fact finally here. The sun is shining, birds are singing, and our thoughts are set on one thing: cleaning!

Cleaning doesn't just involve your living space or the area around you. It's also the chance to sweep the cobwebs out of your mind and fine tune your inner spirit. For some this may sound a little New Age, but that's sort of the point: just as our bodies need exercise so do our minds, and one of my clients, Dream Yoga Dance, is quite the expert at this. From their webpage:

Founded by Julia Ray, a community leader in the holistic fitness movement, Dream Yoga Dance is anything but your typical yoga studio. Along with weekly Active Yoga classes, you can learn alternative means of Meditation through Movement such as Freestyle Dance and Restorative Yoga. It's a place that honours the Spirit of Community where you can join monthly Dreamsharing Circles and Kirtan Circles, get revitalized through Energy Work and Aromatherapy and work with your Dreams to understand their significance in your daily life.

I enjoy working with Julia for a number of reasons: she's all about what she does, lots of passion, lots of knowledge. I love working with people that are so very behind their businesses like that because it means they'll put in 110% for their clients. Also, like some of the other newer clients I've taken on, Dream Yoga Dance gives me the chance to be VERY creative to roll out their branding and marketing. It's always just a lot of fun to work with them :)

Here's a cross section of the things we've been working on. If you're in the Toronto area this coming weekend, I highly recommend you stop into the grand opening!

Thanks for reading!

Client Spotlight - Christina Gouveia

Recently I've been doing some exciting work with a good friend of mine,  a registered massage therapist who is working to break out into the scene on her own. 

 

I have a soft spot in my heart for people who turn a hobby or an interest into a viable business, because that means they are way more likely to work hard at it. My wife has used Christina's services on a few occasions and has always come back with positive reviews :)

I'm enjoying this project (it's ongoing) because it's helping me move into the design world of promotional materials and direct marketing, something I did in my corporate days but like getting into because it will help me expand my services to future clients. Hear a little more about Christina's work in her own words:

 

I am an entrepreneur Registered Massage Therapist in practice since 2011.  I incorporate deep tissue, trigger point and myofascial release into treatments to aid in releasing tension.  My clients enjoy feeling tension melt away with the use of Hot Stone therapy to aid in releasing tension with point specific heat stubborn knots.  Areas of significant importance to me include head/neck/shoulder, TMJ (Jaw massage), therapeutic breast massage, pre- & post- natal massage, scar tissue treatments and pre- & post- operational oncology clients.  I emphasize the importance of educating my clients on proper self care practices.

I recently moved my practice from busy downtown Toronto to the Insight Naturopathic Clinic in midtown Toronto.

Thanks as always for reading!

Design Brief - Greeting Cards

Someone posed the question to me "how do you get people to care about greeting cards?"

To be fair, I hadn't given this much thought in the past. If you're a regular of my blog here, you may have noticed that I love greeting cards, and I love making people love greeting cards, and making greeting cards that people love, and really any other combinations of those words that you can think of ;)

So, why greeting cards? To me, greeting cards are a very base gift, often simple and affordable. They generally speak to one person taking the time to show someone else that they care. Friend having a birthday? Give them a card. Want to add a little something extra to your Valentine's? Give them a card.

Now maybe I'm a bit of a cynic, but I've seen the video outlining how engagement rings are a bit of a scam, and while I know it's not ENTIRELY the same, I can see how there's a correlation between big companies and greeting cards. Believe me, I've been there.

Now that being said, I love a really well made card (I might be a bit of a paper craft nerd), but I'm not always interested in spending a lot of money on something mass produced. I like things that are creative, maybe a little complicated, but most certainly unique... and I'd be surprised if my clients don't as well.

We all have different passions, hobbies, interests. With any luck, we all have someone we care for that could use a greeting card. *makes handshake motion* See what I did there? I took your passion and combined it with your need, and showed you how you don't need to settle.

Thanks for reading :)

Design Brief - The Business Card

Business cards. If you're a business owner, an employee, or just have an interesting catchphrase, they are an affordable way for your audience to have your contact information at their fingertips.

If I were to pose the question "what makes a good business card?", with a little bit of thought I'm sure everyone reading could come up with an answer, whether you work with them professionally or not. But if I posed the question "what makes a bad business card?" there would probably be a laundry list of responses all relating back to cards we've seen in the past.

Keeping those horror stories fresh in your minds, and remembering that in some circles I am considered a professional, I'd like to give you all a little rundown of some business card design dos and don'ts:


Keep It Simple
This is a rule that, unless you have a very, very, VERY good reason, trumps all the other rules and is the guiding force behind most of the other helpful hints to follow. The simplicity aspect usually applies to the visual presentation of type and layout, and can apply to the card itself, but that doesn't mean there's anything wrong with rounded corners or die cuts.

Design For Safety
When it comes to your fonts and images, how you layout your card is important.  Whether you're printing your card using an online company, or providing files to a local printshop, each will have certain guidelines about how close you can put your text and images to the edge so it remains safe when cutting out your cards. While there is a whole other area of consideration when your cards have "bleeds" (images and colours that print to the edge of the card), the core information you do not want to "run off the edge" needs to be a safe distance. Remember that nobody is perfect, paper can sometimes shift in machines, and one printer's safe area may differ from another's.

Choose Your Fonts Wisely
The choice of fonts is a post all by itself, so let's just pull the relevant parts out. First, if your logo already has a font in it, it's a grey area if you can continue that font in the rest of your materials. Some people like to, some don't, but ultimately it may count as a font on your business cards. This key point sets up an important rule - so not use too many fonts. A complimentary font to your logo (a serif and a sans serif, a heavy and a thin, etc.) is really all you need. Remember that a single font like Helvetica comes in a range of sizes, bold, italic, bold italic, thin, heavy... using the one font you have a wide variety of options. In the end, keep your text simple and clean and your cards will look that much more professional.

Pick Appropriate Colours
Colour choice is as important as font choice, and starts off with the same general sets of rules: if you have a logo / brand that uses certain colours, continue these out onto your business cards. This helps give your an overall brand recognition. If you want to use a variety of colours on your cards, again, try to keep it simple and stay to complimentary colours. Don't have your colour scheme fight with anything else: keep your logo standing out, and don't lose your text into the background. Nothing wrong with a simple, white background or a simple one-colour field if your logo or text call for it.


There are many more things that can be discussed here, points regarding your layout and how to properly prepare your file for printing, but a lot of these things are going to resolve themselves by growing a good relationship with your designer. They'll help you choose the best layout, work with you to keep your overall design simple, and often most importantly discuss with you the best way to keep your project cost effect.

Was there anything important you want me to discuss further? Anything I discussed still unclear? Leave a comment and I'll address your points in a future post :)

Thanks for reading!

A New Year Already Ramping Up

Greetings as always fair readers. And those not so fair. You know who you are...

Man alive did December not explode onto the scene! Several new clients caused me to just keep my head down and hit some tricky deadlines, but we're  back to normal around here which basically means an update every 2 - 3 weeks versus every 2 - 3 months :P

I kid. I hope.

But I have been working a number of side projects and things lately. Apparently, I still like to paint mini figs:

And someone was magical enough to show me how to operate a laser cutter! Oh dear, I think I will just have to laser cut all the things...

Other than that it's more the same around here. I'm going to hit you with some client spotlight posts in the future as a regular thing, I like trying to give back that way. Still working out a proper format for here, suggestions are always welcome.

Stay classy, and thanks for reading :)

Client Spotlight - Freya Metaphysical Enterprises Inc.

I've always had an interest in the unusual and the supernatural, and being a long-time friend with the co-owner of Freya seemed like the perfect opportunity for me to flex a bit and combine two interests.

When we first started discussing the overall brand for this company, there were many things that wanted to be considered: a warm, inviting atmosphere, a little of the beaten path, and honorarium to the mystical side of the goddess Freya and the supernatural nature of the business. We wanted the support images to capture these later ideas, and so I used nature imagery (the stars, the moon, leaves, etc.) to tie together the natural with the supernatural.

I chose a font appropriate to Freya, sort of a Celtic font (with Celtic adornments), and then used a fitting secondary font to create the tagline. There's also an homage to the cardinal elements found in the choice of colours, just to add a little fun :)

As usual, the logo was rolled out onto some corporate materials, and we were able to put together a nice little website for all the company events and seminars that they do. For those that don't want to click the link, here's an excerpt to let you know what Freya Metaphysical is all about:

We offer helpful workshops and presentations to stimulate your mind.  Ongoing discussion groups to discuss the metaphysical realm of life!  Browse metaphysical products and art.  Vibe room for consultations for entertainment purposes by a number of intuitive workers.
Drop by, we would like to meet you!

And from their Facebook page:

Our Mission is to bring the best-of-the best local Psychic/Mediums to you, and to help nurture and enlighten folks with innovative Spiritual Development, Seminars, Education Programs, and Guest Speakers. To take all that we grow with and open it up like a flower bud to blossom into a flourishing bloom.

As always, thanks for reading :)

Client Spotlight - Living Out Loud!

While I was still in the Niagara region, I was contacted to work a small business start up package for a young woman who had just come through the same program that I had.

We sat down at a local Tim Hortons to chat face to face, and I can honestly it was one of those initial client meetings I wish I had all the time! Morgan was so involved in the work that she did, and had such a passion for it that it was easy to get caught up in what Living Out Loud! is all about. Here's a little bit about the company, from their Facebook page:


Living Out Loud listens to the needs expressed by its families and creates programs to meet those specific needs.
Our Place provides children with exceptional abilities and their families somewhere to drop in and hang out. Our Place offers parents and their families the opportunity to relax, visit with friends, collaborate resources and gain support. We offer an accepting and empowering atmosphere where all who come feel welcome.
Every child deserves to discover what lights them up. The Dream Catchers program creates a personalized plan to not only allow your child to discover what lights them up, but to help them become great at it. You can then take your personalized plan and apply it at home, in a school setting, or join us weekly to spend time with other Dream Catchers.
Living Out Loud would like to make a lasting difference for you and your family.


Morgan had a thousand and one ideas about what she wanted to do to help those kids, but like most small businesses had no clue how she wanted the company brand to look like.  In the end, we were able to brainstorm some solid imagery, and developed the logo below:

We were both very happy with the result here: able to capture the overall energy and drive of the company, while still speaking to the core concept of children being able to use their services to reach for their dreams, to take the "wish" and make it a reality. The concepts we worked through for this design were similar from start to finish, only because we were able to grab everything Morgan wanted pretty much off the bat :)

For a bit more information, check out this article.

Thanks for reading!