Projector

Here’s a quick sneak peek at some work we’ve been doing for one of our client’s new brands Young Mercantile, an online store for high end menswear. The brand is designed to be clean and punchy and uncomplicated, with a typographic nod to supply crates as hinted at in the “Mercantile” name. Mercantile being synonymous with the merchant navy and their delivery and transport of overseas goods. The first piece of print has arrived, here are the business cards, from our good friends and suppliers Glasgow Press! Lovely letterpessed ink on 540 Pristine White Colourplan.

Projector are currently: Gearing up for the 2nd 5 a side of the week. Knackered.

We’ve just received printed samples of the recently completed Mark Westerby third edition portfolio. Following on from the previous editions we produced for Mark (blogged about here), we were really pleased when he returned asking us to help put together his latest portfolio.

It’s been a busy year for Mark, working on shoots internationally and gaining highly deserved recognition along the way. Winner of the Fashion & Beauty Category of the Campaign Photo awards, listed in the top 200 Photographers in the world by Lürzer’s Archive and 8 honorable mentions in the International Photography Awards to name but a few.

Continuing the theme of previous editions we kept the design simple and clean, allowing the stunning photography to be showcased to the full. Generous A3 size pages really allow the viewer to see the detail of the imagery printed in high resolution on specially selected art paper.

We wish Mark every success for the coming year – may it be as rewarding as the last!

Projector are currently: Melting in the sun.

After meeting with Union Room and discussing the logo options which we came up with, we have the selected option. Above is the final logo for Report Book, which we introduced in our previous blog post. The final logo positions itself as a visual marker for the brand’s core values, easy, quick and clever. The graphic shapes give you a strong feeling of momentum due to the arrow/pencil shape, as well as their overlapping nature (quick/easy). The colour palette used is fresh and modern, using a wide variety of colours to bring the marque to life. The breadth of colour is used to give various products of Report Book their own identity, allowing easy recognition. The use of a timeless sans-serif gives an overall feel of that of a friendly, front-running technology company (clever).

What do you guys think? We’re very happy with the end result, as are our friends Union Room.

Projector are currently: Cramming 5 days into 4!

We’ve been working closely with our sister company Union Room on an exciting interactive project. Report Book is a newly developed online reports system for schools. We were tasked with developing an identity system for the brand which would then be applied to the overall look and feel of Union Room’s website for Report Book. We thought we’d show you how it’s progressing so far and our final selection options…

Option 1. A visual pun on report book, cropping closely in on an angled book, to reveal a marking tick. Accompanied by an approachable rounded sans serif.

Option 2. We focused in on the easy to use nature of the service, providing quick, paperless access to student reports at the “touch of a button”.

Option 3. The focus of option 3 is to promote the quick, technological aspect of the service asserting the cleverness of the system. Momentum is garnered in the marque by the use of overlapping flying arrows, all pointing in one unanimous direction…Report Book.

Option 4. This is an abstract representation of the paper reports that /parents/students are used to. Momentum is hinted at in the marque and the type giving a feeling that all reports are easily accessed.

Option 5. The negative space of the leg of the k allowed for us to position a mouse pointer denoting the online nature of the report book service and also highlighting it as the first place to go for online school reporting.

We have our favourite, but what do you think?

Projector are currently: Back in the swing of things! Yeah!

We recently heard back from Mark Westerby, who we’d previously worked with on a showcase of his expansive high profile photography. The news was not good, it was great! With the brochure having been a resolute success in attracting new business, Mark wanted us to work with him on developing a newer version. The focus of the showcase would be fashion lead, showing off Mark’s stylish and dynamic compositions.

We put forward the concept of the brochure being white throughout, to further emphasise the already vivid colour tones within the imagery. The format would also change to landscape, which would allow for more scope with the shots supplied. By doing this we would differentiate the two brochures in terms of format and colour but  still maintain the Mark Westerby brand identity through the overall use of his black and white brand colour.

We hope this new brochure heralds as much positive clamour as the one previous. Our congratulations go out to Mark for being recognised as one of the top 200 Advertising Photographers in the world as credited by the International Advertising Review, Luerzer’s Archive.

Projector are currently: In the early stages of the re-designing our website.

We recently completed a brand refresh project for one of our longest running clients - Positive Solutions. The fruits of several months labour can be seen across all elements of communication, ranging from printed items to online media and various marketing materials. A new colour scheme, design style and guidelines were the result of an extensive research and development process which involved close collaboration with our friend; brand guru Mark Johnson (themanwith3heads). We talked to all facets of the company in order to pave the correct route for the brands strategic aims. We were also commissioned to do a nationwide photo shoot of PS clients to show the personal service the companies 1700 IFA’s offer. We captured a range of personalities from various backgrounds and occupations that could convey the variety and breadth of the companies reach and ‘positive’ effect. Big thanks go out to Mark Westerby for the fantastic photography! Keep your eye’s peeled for more details of this and more of our latest work on the Case Study pages of our main website which we’ll be updating soon!

Projector are currently: Enjoying the fact Calvin Harris “Ready for the Weekend” hasn’t come on the Squeezebox first thing on Monday, as it has for the previous three weeks.

We hit the ground running in 2009 with the Positive Solutions National Forum held at the ICC in Birmingham at the beginning of Febuary. We were asked to come up with designs for a range of materials including the ‘PS Experience’ area shown above. As well as literature and directional signage we produced various display objects such as the stacked boxes and feedback pods shown. The exhibition was used as a launch pad for the new brand styling we have created for the largest independent IFA in the UK. Despite coinciding with the blizzard-like conditions that saw many people unable to travel, the day was hailed as a great success by all.

We are in the process of rolling out various new materials for PS including new brochures, advertising and ‘client facing’ materials for their 1377 strong partnership. New photography, an injection of colour and fresh styling will offer more accessibility, easier understanding and clear product advice to existing and potential clients.

Today Projector are lying in wait for: The return of Clint in Gran Torino

Chandler Coote Architects came to us to develop a new identity along with business stationery to coincide with a new venture in China. What we came up with was a fresh, modern identity based around the floor plans developed by architects. We took the visual styles of these plans on board and from this developed a typographic logo, which uses the two C’s of either partners second name to represent two rooms.

We wish Chandler Coote all the best on this trip and are sure that this brand refresh will reap them rewards. Check back in a little while and we’ll post the link to their new website our sister company Union Room are creating.