sprung – em

It seems there is somthing in the air... something has sprung that isn't spring. When people say they do a bit of 'Spring cleaning' you know tidying up things that have collected dust over winter or just refreshing their space at home, work etc. 

Lately lots of our lovely clients have been 'spring cleaning' themselves or their business. They come to us to for their  'cleaning services' whether it be freshening up a dated logo, or getting a rad website or blog made some postcards to send around or even a nice little bizo card – there are plenty of things that can freshen up the look of your business. 

And most of the time people notice the change and the effort you have put in and it might even create a wave of craziness and suddenly you just feel better about your business and have a whole new outlook, if anything you have more hits on your blog?

Anyway here is a dooze of a logo we recently did for an amazing photogapher by the name of Kerin Burford.

Words and Images Copyright © DPM Creative Group  http://www.dpm.net.au/

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.  

and thennnnnn...

Ampersands are cool. 

It has been cool for quite some time –  check this evolution of the ampersand below.

It dates way back to friggen Roman times. I think it is safe to say the little bugger is the hardest thing to learn how to draw back in primary school days. No need to draw it kiddies –  there are awesome typefaces with such beautiful ampersands. They can really stand out and compliment type or images. I find that when you have more to say, using '&' can really help to re-inforce the point. Our new Ad for Art Almanac mag sets off what I am babbling on about here. We design AND & AND & AND  print! See, without the beautiful Ampersand some people would go oh DPM a graphic DESIGN agency cool.... but the little guy there really pushes the fact that we are such a multidisciplinary place we also PRINT!  Too easy. We now have placed two ideas in peoples head with the help of our friend  &.

Plus here is something spesh when they have that extra quirkiness about them, maybe a cursive extension or a really thin and subtle outline or even an awesome letterpressed ampersand. ohh yeh!

There is even a magazine named after it. check

 

Words and Images Copyright © DPM Creative Group  http://www.dpm.net.au/

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.  

sunny side up - Em

I have noticed this week there has been a lot of design work in the air,  E - invites, Website design - basically lots of things that I get to see on screen but never printed and being able to hold, look and feel the design in its true life form!

Start printing people !!! 

Sure facebook invites are easy, hassle-free and frankly LAZY

IMAGINE giving someone a printed invite, one they can get in the mail, tear open the envelope and whack it on the fridge under a daggy big banana magnet from their summer holiday 10 years ago - now we're talking. Every time they open that fridge to refresh themselves they will first take a glance at the coolest invite stuck on the door.

So take a step back from the digital world next week - and explore the possibilities of paper and it might just change your life (seriously)

Send me something lovely (or we can create something lovely for you) to get printed so I can hold it in my hands (and maybe stick it under my cops are tops fridge magnet) and share it around with everyone.

One thing that I was able to get my hands on this week was a new menu for scrambled cafe. It went from being un-coated and lovely to being shiny and lovelier! And now tons more people can put their sticky little hands all over it! 

( poached with smoked salmon and spinach please mmmm)

Words and Images Copyright © DPM Creative Group  http://www.dpm.net.au/

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.  

BADGES - Em.

Who doesn't love a good badge? Ever since your first birthday you can remember I am sure you received a rad card from someone with a badge!  You wear it so proudly on your birthday, everyone notices and goes ohhhhhh birthday badge!!!
Attention seeking?
No!
Just pure badge wearing bliss. They can be a little bit cheeky and cause a reaction at the best of times.
I hope that our 'Sly Fox Happy' badges give some people a bit of badge happiness. You don't want to miss out on these little beauties, because it may be a loooooong time before someone gives you a birthday badge :)

 Words and Images Copyright © DPM Creative Group  http://www.dpm.net.au/

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.  

Branding made easy with DPM...

Working on the new 'Happy' campaign last week got me thinking about how simple things can bring people happiness.  Sifting through photographs of beautiful vietnamese, balinese and cambodian folk reinforces the idea of 'simple happiness' - small things in life can make you the happiest.
At DPM there is so many things to keep the happiness levels up. Designing and being creative everyday, seeing the hard work pay off when a job is printed and we get to see what we have designed and send it off to our happy clients, and working with other happy people is always a plus :)
Whatever it is that floats your boat and puts a smile on your face then don't lose that, I think your onto something :)

Words and Images Copyright © DPM Creative Group  http://www.dpm.net.au/

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.  

lack of audible sound - Emma

There is an underground call center known as ''The Phantoms'' 
I'm sure of it.
You know the people that ring you up and you say ''hello'' and they say '' (silence) '', so you say ''hello...'' again just to make sure and stil ... silence. (sometimes a little bit of static fuzz ) They can leave you hanging, especially if you are expecting a call and 'The Phantoms' call instead leaving you with nothing but nothingness...
They are always so patient, no matter how many times I say "hello, hello, hello, hello", they never hang up - but we always hang up on them. Are they just messing with our heads? Do they sit there with stop watches trying to beat each others records on how long someone stays on the line? Do they find it funny – or is this a job? for real. How do they make money if they aren't selling me anything? I really need to know.
If anyone works for this silent crew – don't leave me hanging, cough, sneeze, burp, say hello, theres nothing wrong with a bit of word vomit every now and again.
i'm friendly I promise :)

P.S. did anyone know spray paint underwater was possible??? cool.

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio. 

Recent Folio Pieces

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.

Not much of a blogger - Clare

Its not that I resist these wonderful growing social networking trends... I'm just not much of a blogger. But... there is a first time for everything! 

If you were to give me a glass of red wine I would babble on for hours and if you're lucky maybe throw in a few bad jokes. If you were to give me one of those big yellow foolscap (what a pointless size by the way) note pads and a smooth writing ball point pen, i could write you a book report on a book i haven't even read (flashback to  high school English) But for some reason typing out my thoughts in this little text box doesn't feel... well, natural! If this was facebook I could probably get away with writing 'Clare is writing a blog' and call it a day.

Im sure im not the only one out there who feels this way, so to help you all overcome this small obstacle, here are a few handy hints to help you pad out your blog entry:

1. COURIER  

Using Courier as a font is a rookie trick that dates back to my high school essay writing days. I remember the first year at school that I had a computer, god was I happy to discover Courier. With its fixed width characters and generous kerning, the letter 'i' all of a sudden becomes the same width as the letter 'w', turning your measly two paragraphs into a page of text with a click of a button! And the best thing is its a standard web font so it will always be around to make you look like a word-smith no matter where you are!

2. IMAGES

Nothing like a random pointless image to take up some space and create a visual break from all the Courier type on the page (see point 1). Now here's your chance to get creative kids  - there are plenty of images available on google images so you have no excuse.

Today I have chosen this image only because its freakin' awesome and I love beautiful typography. Its been sitting in my 'inspiration' folder all year and I have been dying to use it somehow, take a look and bow down!

If you want to check out some more fabulousness i recommend a visit to welovetypography.com

3. DON'T JUST SIT AROUND

No one wants to read someone's over-opinionated blog entry who sits around all day doing nothing. Try new things, get yourself out there - it makes for excellent conversation starters! Lucky for me, working at DPM  there's never a boring day! We are constantly working on exciting creative projects from logo design to books, packaging, marketing campaigns and beautiful print jobs, I would love to run you through some of them but we will save that for my next entry (yes, there will be a next entry)

So there it is folks! I think i could get use to this new and strange world of blogging! Will keep you posted!

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.

Playing Tetris at Work - Adrian

The process of fun here at DPM:

1. Book your job into Production
2. Get a proof
3. Send your "approval to print"... and...
4. KNOCK - KNOCK - KNOCK The posty's at your door with a box of printed goodies.

Is it really that easy?? Of course it is - we are fantastically brilliant at what we do!!

Well actually, it's a lot more fun than that because once we get your "approval to print" - the team here at DPM get to play a game of Tetris with all your beautiful artwork. Brochures, Business Cards, Invites, Postcards, Posters etc all come in different shapes and sizes and the fun part of my job is to make them all fit together onto one really really big sheet of paper to print from.


Flip. Rotate. Flip. Flip. Rotate... Until all the diff shapes fit together and the paper is full.
(And then we print... and then we dry... and then we trim to size... and then we pack.... and then the posty's KNOCK KNOCK KNOCKING at your door!)

I love it when you send through your different shapes and sizes and I can start playing Tetris!

Keep em coming folks!

Making Suits Look Cool - Radi

This is all about marketing... And yes, marketing and promotion when you run business is really important important in this world of ours. We have to do it just as regularly and just as aggressively as the next person. We’ve all heard about the three-second-rule. Something like a fish’s memory maybe? Fish aside, we would hazard to say that marketing is more important than the quality of your product. Now don’t get us wrong, we’re big on quality and sometimes that’s even to a fault but when you think about how much money is spent on selling toilet paper or toothpaste you kind of start to understand where we’re coming from. Perception is nine tenth of the law. So, with this simple philosophy in mind, we developed a nifty little campaign that we sent to a few local suits…

It’s funny right? And you know, apart from the one guy who wants to now sue us, it was really well received! We try our best to do at least one of these e-zines a month and we try our best to target them to specific  industries. It’s hard work and it takes a lot of time but it’s worth it. Phew, time for a tea break… and yes, all design and illustration by DPM Creative Group

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio. 

Lately... - Emma

It's August! Which means farewell to cold, icy July and hello to sunnier days and the defrosting of our toes. Last week at DPM we have put together a lovely photo of all things print that the team in the studio have been producing lately. If you are lucky, your letterbox may even have a nice little DL of this photo and some helpful info about what it is the crew at DPM can do for you and your business!

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio. 

Handy.

I love a good hand drawn font.  Everything from working out how your font will look and feel not only on its own but applied to certain print based material. Take this new poster we have been working on this week, there is most definitely a really nice balance with hand drawn "schoolbook" font and the amazing flying circles that Clare has created. Hand drawn fonts help an audience realise that humans have actually worked together with technology to create such lovely visual matter. "Machines" (techology) can't actually make those straight lines as wobbly as the human hand can!
Next time you walk past a hand drawn poster or flyer, take a little time to appreciate just how handy we humans are. (even a garage sale flyer - they can be cool!)

I'll keep you posted - Em.
  

Words and Images Copyright © DPM Creative Group  http://www.dpm.net.au/

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio. 
 

Views (CEO)

The views expressed in this blog (eg Helen's Oprah rave which is a little funny...) do not represent those held by DPM Creative Group.

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio. 

Logo and Brand Development

Earlier this year  we decided to freshen things up with a series of very distinct and vibrant illustrative flyers and posters. For the most part these were used in local mail drops. By local we mean the inner west of Sydney which is Enmore, Stanmore, Newtown, Petersham, St Peters and Erskineville. This place is a hive of activity when it comes to the arts and creative folk. There are many graphic design agnecies in the inner west and we love a healthy bit of competition! Even though we've been here (in Enmore), for almost two years, we still didn't feel connected to the community the way we did in Surry Hills. Mind you, we were in Surry Hills for 6 years so that does make a difference. The flyers were very well received and here is the 'fish' one. We'll get the other two up as soon as possible.

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.

Words and images are copyright DPM Creative Group

Helen

Wow, I've forgotten what it's really like to be a junior. Like a REALLY real junior. Multitasker, all-rounder, jack of all trades.  I am SO not used to being this dexterous.
But I must say the boiled lolly humbugs and san pellegrino aranciata are good compensation in the face of this.

Digging the new Dpm digs!

Good to be back, I must say we have all grown the wiser....

Words and Images Copyright © DPM Creative Group  http://www.dpm.net.au/

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.  
 

Clare

Why haven't we heard from Clare yet? (RS)*

*RS denotes a note from Radi Safi MD.

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio. 

What you wont see

Here at DPM we love design.
We love to design.
We love looking at design.
We love listening to design.
I myself fill a bath tub of design that I've found throughout the week and bathe in it just to feel closer to designer's I admire. Admittedly this tends to lead to a lot of unnecessary paper cuts but its well worth the pretty pieces of paper.
So taking this into consideration when we design for a client we like to over provide. Unfortunately this means that there are some pretty funky designs which will not see the light of day, until now!

Below are some samples of posters which were designed during the week (there are some coloured blocks covering some information so don't think that this is part of the design)

I have SOOOO much fun designing posters. I never tire of creating fun interesting imagery.

Also I was sent this lovely little website which made me smile... then want to make millions of animated gifs!

http://iamnotanartist.org/index.php



There is something so lovely about these gifs and so much scope for creativity in creating something that is not quite an animation and not quite an image.

Any way. Apart from that this week was a wee bit crazy for one reason or another- however we made it through another week! Huzzah!
My plans for the weekend involve hiking to Canberra to see the Masters of Paris at the NGA, which of course might not impress you till I inform you that I'll be going at 4AM IN THE MORNING! That's right the NGA is open for 24hours this Saturday, which excites me terribly! I want to go look at famous pretty oil paintings at some stupid hour in the morning, it will make seeing Monet for the second time EVEN MORE AMAZING!

Till Monday, have a lovely weekend and eat some raspberry licorice for me, I know I will.

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio. 

OMG Run!!!!

The lovely Blur in the background shall be herein known as "Super Clare" (Think Super Ted- but far sexier). As you can see by this image she can move exceedingly fast, this is due to years of training and competing in underground layout battles which happen in the dark underbelly of the Design world. Generally these epic events are held down an alley way through the sewers over the Chinese restaurant in a secret level of an undisclosed building at dawn. You may not have heard of them- as you have to find the invite in a dumpster at a cafe, the whereabouts of which is only released the day before on "that really cool blog" that everyone is talking about- and before you get in you have to answer three of the door man's questions ....The point, my dear readers, is that Clare is awesome and is exceptionally good at digging out of previously mentioned flustered pickles, as she is doing here- putting together a run for printing.

The cheeky lass in the foreground (who happens to be your current articulate narrator) shall herein be referred to as "Junior", as it is far too difficult to pronounce her full name. For the purpose of this introduction I shall inform you that her full name is: George. See? Far to long to type and too many vowels to pronounce, so Junior it is.

I, that is the one in the foreground, and Super Clare shall be updating this blog letting you know the ins and outs of our tremendously interesting and dramatic lives here at DPM. The following blogs will have everything your intrigued little eyes could ever desire!

EXCITEMENT

ADVENTURE

ROMANCE

AND REALLY PRETTY SHINNY THINGS. (well mainly really pretty shinny things- but ill endeavor for the other genre's as well!)
Who knew Design was so similar to your favorite t.v show! So sit tight and stay tuned.







Until next we meet.



logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.

Staff Blog

DPM Creative Group is a graphic design, web design, marketing and print management company based in the inner west of Sydney (Enmore to be exact), Australia. We're a very busy little studio with a focus on the fine arts industry and because of the nature of our work, there aren't two weeks that are the same. We think that makes for good reading.

This blog is intended as a week to week diary which is managed and run by the staff members of the studio. Enjoy.

logo development and logo design as well as graphic design by dpm. circle is a sydney band or rather an australian band based in enmore and enmore audio is an awesome recording studio.