Product branding project for Morewood 2011

Here's a first look at the sticker designs we did for the Morewood 2011 product range. Nice work Ish!

What to put in a brand manual?

Brand manuals, brand guidelines, brand bibles, corporate identity manuals, however you refer to them, they are an essential reference to any corporate identity project. It's even more critical for designers to define the application and use of the logo when the brand needs to be shared with distributors. And, when those distributors are all over the world carrying a legacy of old branding with them, it should be made perfectly clear what they can and can't do.

We've started documenting our pieces of design into a brand manual, in order to help ourselves rollout new design work correctly. I found some great reference online, and also noted a designers comment that using the term "brand guidelines" could indicate that the document is only a guide, as apposed to the rule. Good point. Design is a dictatorship. Should we coin a new phrase: Branditarianism.

Doesn't quite roll off the tongue very well, but it should get the right message across.

Some digital paper from sploosh

We created some sticky vectors about a month or so ago, and stuck them to the wall in the studio. When we created the artwork file for the sign-writer, we had to gather all the shapes together for cutting, and it made an interesting piece of final artwork. So, I thought I'd expand it a bit and get it out there. The one up top is 1920 x 1080. Feel free to take it.

Greetings from Eurobike

We thought you might like to see some visuals from Eurobike 2010, which happened last week. In these shots you can check out the product branding we have been working on, along with the updated morewood identity and various graphic design elements.

We also added the rebranding project to our portfolio on the Behance Network, check it out, and give it some love.

:)

Morewood bikes launches new identity in Europe

2010 has definitely been a good year for the studio. Here's why: We took a global brand and breathed new life into it. That's the new mark for Morewood Bikes and lower down you will find the new logotype, which has also been evolved to communicate the changes going on within the business and through the product-line.



As the original designers of the Morewood identity, is was a unique opportunity to work on the evolution of the brand. With the biggest challenge undoubtedly being the mark. Morewood are a South African company, based in Pietermaritzburg, who have been making bikes and exporting them all over the world for the best part of a decade.

But there was a problem. The logotype was getting tired, and their "badge" was difficult to work with. The new brand needed to be easy to work with, memorable, edgy, unique, conceptual and fit the brand. Plus there is so much brand equity related to the logotype that any drastic departure could result in failure.

That pretty much sums up one of the trickiest design brief for sploosh in 2010. After months of design and development, this is the result.

: )

We're a Loerie finalist!

We are super stoked to announce that Sploosh Digital has been nominated as a finalist in 2010 Loerie Awards. The logo we developed for POD last year was entered into the brand identity category with the hope of being recognised for its aesthetic qualities. As a studio we have worked hard to establish our reputation for good design. It's great to have entered a piece and be nominated. It feels like the first step in the right direction.

pod website gets some actual photography

Last year sploosh digital designed an identity and website for the boutique hotel called POD. Located on the Camps Bay foreshore, the hotels website was required to launch prior to the construction work being completed. Greg Wright Architects contracted Think3D to create stunning visuals of the finished interiors even though the hotel was still a building site.

Last week we received some final photography. It's amazing to see how close the conceptual renders were to the actual finished product.

The hotel opened its doors just in time for the soccer world cup, and has been receiving rave reviews ever since.

1000 songs to choose from, by Admataz

Check this mash-up out. Admataz took the "1000 songs to hear before you die", and mashed it with Last.fm database - Nice.

Sticky vectors & swivel chairs

On Friday we knocked off early and began to compose our mural. This was a new experience for all of us; taking something digital and applying it to a wall. There is a cool vector quality to the mural. It has retained the stylised look of a digital desktop or printed material because it has been cut out of vinyl. Some refinement is still to come.

Some words of advice for all you aspirational office mural creators out there: Do not stand on top of a swivel chair. Ever.

Soccer balls and bicycles

2010. Apparently there are 58 days to go until the Soccer World Cup starts - bring it on!

It's quite amazing. We are only half way through the 4th month of the year and already we are opening our 50th job bag. Ok, I'm dramatising a bit because half of those jobs are done in a day, but still, it's a great indicator of how the studio and sploosh is performing.

You may have read about the events of 2009 in this post, or maybe you missed it. This year has been eventful to say the least. We faught for one of our biggest clients, and we came out on top. We will also launch the Canadian brand, Straitline, any day now. We dropped Rushsports into the e-commerce sector in South Africa last week, and POD the boutique hotel opens in Camps Bay at the end of this month.

What's on the desktop you say?
We are working on and launching one of the most exciting jewellery brands in South Africa in the next few weeks. We have also picked up a new and exclusive travel company, and are redeveloping their website, communication and online marketing strategy.

Our Backyard
It's funny when you know a brand so well that it lives in your veins day in and day out. You feel a part of it, you know how it thinks and how it reacts. Most importantly you know what other people think of it.

Sorry for being a bit obtuse. But it's for good reason. I don't wish to give the game away too early in the process. But lets just say that I am extremely pleased to be able to work on the biggest rebranding project we have ever tackled.

What's on our desktop?

Sploosh office about to get a facelift

We moved to the other side of the building last year, so that we could have a bit more space. The office still needs a lot of finishing and organization, in-between a barrage of real work of course. Here's a sneak peek at the mural design we started yesterday.

What the public really think about your brand: Fifa, Google, Facebook, Apple

Hello. Long time no see. Tonight I post a mild conspiracy theory driven by the Google search algorithm. The company who famously did not remove a picture of a chimpanzee from its results when typing the words Michelle Obama, is (apparently) committed to the integrity of its search results being from all web users and websites. It's a mind field of business deals, industrial espionage and government alliances I reckon. I love a good conspiracy theory.

Off-the-wall Google Chrome Advert

There is a lot to be said for dumbing-down tech talk. Off-the-wall or over the head? What do you think?

POD website goes live

Here it is. You may or may not know that we were appointed to develop a website for a luxury boutique hotel opening next year in Camps Bay. We developed the brand identity and website which has just gone live today. Hope you enjoy it.

www.pod.co.za

Twitter has take over my life.

picture by Andrei - www.lightdesignworks.com

It's been a really busy year. So much has happened in our studio, let me try and summarise it for you:

Finally, Morewood have produced two cross-country bikes which we created all the product branding for. We also built a microsite for their KENDA Morewood Racing Team.

We employed another person for the studio. We won a pitch for a boutique hotel.

We've designed an e-commerce website for the European market.

Trevor & Ruth welcomed their 3rd born to the world, Sofia.

We went to Eurobike again and finally landed the Canadian brand Straitline.

We worked with Greg Wright Architects on an internal project. Ismail is just about to finish an e-commerce site for Rushsports, with a little help from Tom, who always seems to be busy building iphone apps for Platters.

Wade is busy mastering the new Golden Planes website for Two Shoes, after finishing the new Southern Charter website.

We worked on a proposal for one of the biggest pharmaceutical companies on the globe. The POD website is now in soft-launch phase, thanks to Admataz. And we still need to update ISIC, Global CFDs and XOIP. Not to mention reworking the Morewood website, naming a new brand, and finishing a brochure and corporate identity.

So, you can understand that work, and 140 character tweets have been raised on my agenda. So check that our here. I must admit though, I have suffered from something called twitter jitter. Crazy.

Don't forget that ghosting is now an official sport. And also, please take note that the Oxford Dictionary has just announced their word of the year: "Unfriend"

So, with that in mind, feel free to follow, unfollow, linkback, trackback, ping or just simply talk about us, or these great topics.

Our logo for pod...

For those of you who were wondering what our logo design looked like for POD, the job that we won by pitch in May, here it is. We're busy building the website at the moment. Look out.

Google says Twitter is retarded - Top Hit!

Someone here found this on Google today. By typing the words "Twitter is " the following suggestions came up under the top hit suggestion list.

Industrial espionage or internet user rebellion? Go figure. It's a bit of a PR nightmare, that's for sure.

Sploosh Digital

On the plane, train, bus, and ferry to Eurobike, again.

I'm passing through the picture perfect country-side of Switzerland on a train which is bound for Konstanz. I'm heading to Eurobike for the 3rd year running to meet with 2 of our clients in the small town of Friedrichshafen. Not much else happens in this town during the rest of the year. Maybe a little bit of wine making or a bit of yacht sailing. But wherever you look people are riding bikes. I counted about 100 people riding bikes on the cycle paths, all on a 10 minute bus journey.

Eurobike is the biggest cycle expo in the world. It is where all the major and minor brands showcase their latest product and it is the preview for all 2010 product. The cycle industry has this clever way of driving consumerism by announcing 2010 product in 2009. It's also a great time to find a deal at your local bike shop as they clear stock for the next season of product.

This year I'm going to research the small mountain bike manufacturers. I'm looking to find the small guys that are hungry to make their mark with quality products. I'll be looking for the ugliest bike, and the most beautiful bike, and I'll keep you posted on Flickr. From what I can see there is a huge increase in fixie bikes. Watch this guy rip it up on his first day out on a fixed gear bike.

pixel engineering since 1999

You dont have to be a rocket scientist to work out that sploosh will be one decade old this year. To celebrate we are going to offering everyone something related to 1999, just for fun. It could be a free millennium bug fix, or a free .com domain registration, or consultancy fees from our 1999 pricelist. Details coming soon. And, if you have any bright ideas, feel free to send them through to studio37@sploosh.com.

In the mean time check out the image two shoes made from our magnets.