Red Instead

Logo Rework: Red Instead

2011-11-22T03:32:04Z

Did you spot a little change on this website? Look above and if you’ve visited here before, you might notice that the Red Instead logo has had a rework. I’ve been meaning to redraw my logo for ages now, and I’m so glad it’s finally done. My excuse is that I have been so busy designing for clients that I didn’t make time for my own work!

Here is the new logo - if you compare it with the old logo (below) you can see that I have kept the same styling but I’ve given it a smoother, sleeker and more professional look. I changed the red colour to be a little less bright, and I redrew the whole thing for a smooth new style.

The “S” (below) has always bothered me, but I think I just got used to it over time and became “blind” to it. The lower case “i” was included to make the logo look a bit interesting in the middle there, but it had the unfortunate result that some clients insisted on addressing mail to me as “RED iNSTEAD” which wasn’t what I had meant at all. All of this just goes to show that you need to be very clear when designing a logo – always try to look at it from the point of view of a complete stranger, somebody who isn’t familiar with your business.

The story behind the typeface is actually quite interesting. About 10 years ago, I lived in Petersham in the inner west of Sydney. Every day I drove past a building with a really great exterior – the Benyon and Hayward Removalists and Storage business. I really loved the hand painted wonky typography and I loved the rust running down the wall.

One day I took some photos of the wall and I posted them on my blog. I was tickled pink when a font designer emailed me to let me know that he also loved the photos and he had designed a font for me that was based on the photos I had taken!

I thought this was about the coolest thing ever and a few years later when I was searching through my (rather large) collection of fonts for something that would be suitable for my business, I found this font again and knew that it would make a great match.

I’ve searched through some old records but I can’t find the name of the font designer, so if you know who it is, it please tell me in the comments below.

Now I have to redesign my business card and postcard to match, so look out for those in a future post. I hope you like the new logo as much as I do – it was time for a (subtle) change! Let me know what you think in the comments below.

Does your business have a logo that is tired and in need of a rework? Do you need a new logo to represent your business? Contact Jen at Red Instead to see what we can do for you.

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New Logo: Education with Intention

Logo, Website, Poster: Brilliant Idea

Event Photos: Canberra’s Handmade Market

Product Catalogue: La Bella Creations

Business Card and Logo: Viva Handmade

Media: Canberra Weekly – Brilliant Ideas Event

2011-11-22T03:31:57Z

Recently I was invited to celebrate the first sucessful year of Brilliant Idea – a microcredit scheme to enable low income Canberra women to start up small businesses. As well as a small loan, the program offers business mentoring and help and support. Such a fantastic program and the celebration was a real success. Photographers from Canberra Weekly magazine were there to capture the event and look, there’s a photo of me in this week’s issue – 28 April 2011.

I was responsible for the design of the Brilliant Idea logo and website and I have also been fortunate enough to do logo and website design work for quite a few of the women who have come through the program itself.

If you would like to talk to Red Instead about some design work for your new business, please contact Jen to set up a meeting.

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Logo, Website, Poster: Brilliant Idea

Web Design: Web Sites from the Past

New Logo: Education with Intention

Logo, Business Cards, Photos, Website: Erica Soy Candles

Website: Goyder Street Library

News: It’s (Nearly) a Wrap

2011-11-22T03:31:24Z

2010 was a BIG Year

It’s very nearly the end of 2010 and what a year it’s been! If you have a look around this website, then I know it might seem like I haven’t been working on much lately as the most recent of the “Recent Work” blog entries is from September and the online Portfolio is rather out of date, but actually it’s the opposite.

I have been SO flat out that it’s all I could do to keep up with client work and uni work - the recording and showing off of that work just had to wait. I am hoping to catch up on the blog entries in January and I am going to quietly slip them into the dates that they should have been written so that everything is kept in the right order that it did happen.

2010 did not disappoint! I am happy to say that I was busy from January right through to December with barely any time to take a breather! All my clients have come via word of mouth and referrals and I was pleased to get a few repeat clients as well.

Starting a University Degree

2010 was also the year that I decided to get some qualifications to formalise my self-taught knowledge and experience, and so I began a Bachelor of Graphic Design at Uni. A full time load is 8 subjects – I took 6 over the year and received 5 Distinctions and 1 HD in those subjects. I was thrilled to receive marks in some assignments of 91, 95, 98, and even 99%. It was a hard balance (with 3 kids and the business) but it was such a great feeling to accomplish everything and get great feedback along the way.

As the business got so busy so quickly, I learnt a lot about self-discipline and time management this year and I also learnt to place a value on my time and knowledge. I managed to balance everything, juggle all the balls and (somehow) keep it all together! I also learnt that I could get by on very little sleep for weeks at a time!

Goals for the New Year

I have a few goals for the new year to work on - including getting my bookkeeping (and then tax) up to date and looking into a more formal Project Management solution. I want to investigate my Super options, and I need to work out how much I need to set aside in a tax fund so that I don’t get a nasty surprise at the end of the financial year. I want to spend more time dealing with CMS customisation, theme development, frameworks and resource production, and I really want to find time for the design and development books and ebooks that I keep buying and then don’t have time to read!

Updating and Upgrading

High on the list is an update and redesign of the Red Instead website in January, as well as a tweak of my logo and a redesign of my marketing postcards. I am also very excited as I’m about to upgrade my computer to a 64 bit lightning fast speed demon with stacks of RAM and 2 solid state drives as well as a 2TB hard drive. I am SO tired of waiting while my current computer struggles to cope with me having a minimum of 5 programs open (including a few resource hungry Adobe programs and a browser with about 40 tabs open at once) and it will be wonderful to get my work done without those performance hassles. I am also looking at getting faster internet set up in the office and finding a plan with a much larger limit so that we don’t have to worry about it any more.

Thank you and Happy New Year!

So… yes, I am busy with lots in the pipeline already and 2011 hasn’t even started yet! I hope that 2010 was as awesome and amazing for you as it was for me. Thank you so much for your business and your support this year – you have made it so fun! And may 2011 be even bigger and better still! Happy Holidays and see you next year!

(Christmas graphics kindly provided by Designer SOS)

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Logo Rework: Red Instead

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Web Design: Web Sites from the Past

Order Forms: La Bella Creations

2011-11-22T03:31:00Z

Following on from the Catalogue that I designed for La Bella Creations, I also designed an Order Form for customers to place orders from the catalogue.

I also designed a very similar Order Form for wholesaler’s use – not shown here.

The previous Order Form (designed by somebody else) was very plain and the information needed to be reordered, reorganised and layed out in a more suitable fashion. Here is the old Order Form to give you an idea of the difference in the design:

One of the main requirements of the Order Form was that it needed to be A5 (half a standard A4 piece of office paper) and black and white only, to make it suitable for printing on an office printer or photocopied. So I set it up so that one A4 sheet had two front pages and another had two back pages, so that these could be printed back to back and then guillotined down the middle to give the end result of the A5 sized Order Form.

Do you need an Order Form designed for your business? Contact Red Instead to find out how we can improve your office or customer stationery items.

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Product Catalogue: La Bella Creations

Business Cards and Brochure: Christie Ann Beauty Therapy

Logo: Four Icons

Business Card and Logo: Viva Handmade

Invitation: Leheny Wedding

Product Catalogue: La Bella Creations

2011-11-22T03:30:32Z

Kylie from La Bella Creations was having her catalogue designed by distance – she had engaged a designer in the US – and was finding the communication and time differences a challenge, so she asked me to complete the catalogue design for her.

The basic design and layout had been done by the previous designer but I needed to make many edits and tidy things up significantly to get it ready for professional printing, as the original document had not been set up correctly. It was an interesting project as I needed to fit in with somebody else’s original work and I enjoyed bringing it to completion for La Bella.

Do you need a product catalogue designed and printed for your business? Contact Red Instead to find out how we can help you get your products in front of potential customers.

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Order Forms: La Bella Creations

Business Card: Cheeky Textiles

Logo, Website, Poster: Brilliant Idea

Website: Kid Essentials

Business Card and Logo: Viva Handmade

Website: Ozifelt

2011-11-22T03:30:26Z

This is a design for a website for Ozifelt, makers of felted garments for women and children. Unfortunately due to various reasons, Ozifelt’s website is not online at the moment.

If you would like to get your business online, please contact Red Instead to find out what we can do for you.

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Website: Kid Essentials

Web Design: Web Sites from the Past

Logo, Website, Poster: Brilliant Idea

Website: Goyder Street Library

Web Design: More Web Sites from the Past