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New logos in prep for Brexit?

Although many of us don’t really know how Brexit will affect our businesses, some of my clients who deal day to day with international transactions do have some idea about the problems that may lie ahead. In preparation for this some of my clients are opening up an office base in Dublin in Ireland for accounting purposes, as Dublin will be in the EU and yet the border in Northern Ireland will still be open. At least this is what I’m guessing, though I’m not sure at all how it works if I’m honest – who does?!

Anyway, one example of my work is for Therismos. I designed their logo about 10 years ago and last week they requested a version for their Ireland office. Here are the versions below.

Alt-Energi : Logo, branding, website, marketing

Alt-Energi is a brand new renewable energy company based in Worcester. I have been working with the directors over the last twelve months to create the branding and website for the business. It’s been extremely interesting to visit their installations and watch the builds in progress, as renewable energy is such an exciting area of development for both commercial and domestic energy provision for the future. I also took the photographs for their website.

Understanding the product thoroughly is always the best starting point to be able to create effective graphic design and web communications. I really enjoy getting to know how it works and then making it ‘visual’ for everyone else to take in and understand.

View their website: www.alt-energi.co.uk

Rebel Riders

A cycling group for women based in Worcester approached me to design their logo.

New Year, New Business!

Logo & Branding for your new business idea.

It’s the time of year we all like to take a look at what we’re doing , where we’re at and what we want to achieve this coming year. If 2018 feels a good year to get your business started, or your product idea launched, I could be one of your vital stepping stones to making it happen.

I am often asked by people who have an inkling of a business idea to help them shape up the concept into a working platform on which to start to grow. As well as the creative logo and branding side of things, I have wide experience in all aspects of starting a business. Not least my own business has taught me a great deal about how to thrive and stay afloat, but I have worked with over 150 businesses to help them get started too.

A firm foot on the ground is the most important thing when starting out. As well as having your idea, it’s important financially not to leap too far at the start, but to keep things small, try things out without investing too much, find out what works, what doesn’t and be prepared to make changes along the way to find your way to success.

I am happy to talk through what you want to do before you need to make any commitment for me to help. give me a call on 07801 030938, or drop me an email on jo@jomenhinickdesign.co.uk

Read through some testimonials

iPad Diagrams and Illustrations

My venture into the world of iPad art Apps has led to commissions for diagrams and tables. The way the App works means that whilst the way I ‘paint’ is still closely informed by the way I use watercolour or oils, the line or brush stoke produced is reduced to a level of simplicity that can’t be matched by hand on paper.

The features of transparency allow layering and subtlety, similar to traditional materials. The ipad use light rather than pigment, which gives a greater range of colours and mixing options. The only thing to be careful of is when printing, and changing the format from RGB to CMYK. This transition is managed particularly well with the App I use, but is not always the case with many apps on the market.

As well as many commissions for landscapes and cityscapes, I am now being asked to create business to business illustrations, see below a couple of examples.

For more of my iPad artwork for sale please see my this page!

New website for www.tanyddraig.co.uk

Tan y Ddraig is a long-standing client of mine, I designed their logo around 3 years ago and this year I have just finished building their website from scratch. I more or less insisted that I visit the studio/cafe in in Llanberis, North Wales to take photos of the ceramic artists in action, and also the products and generally cover all aspects of this great business. I needed to get all the images right so that the website would look great too. It was mid January, pouring with rain, I managed to get some great shots even though I did get thoroughly soaked. It was worth it. I do however look like a beached walrus! It’s what we have to do.

To build the site meant doing some research into how the Welsh translation side of things would work, and I’m pleased that with the way WordPress has improved over the last year, that this was successful around most of the site.

Additionally and with all websites I build now, knowing much more about how SEO works, I’ve made sure that everything on the site is as optimised as it can be and I’m sure the website traffic will take a leap over the next six months.

The site uses my favourite theme which is highly responsive, so it looks great on mobiles and tablets.

Have a look at the site in action at www.tanyddraig.co.uk

Another thing which I added was a video I made on my iphone which shows the baby foot printing in action. Baby cries and all, I think it does show how anything is possible as this little shop in Llanberis!

Meanwhile, here’s a selection of favourite shots I took.

Three New Logo and Branding Projects for Worcester Enterprises

First up is Nolan

DJ Tom Nolan approached me to design his logo and branding dor his DJ business. Tom, a full-time student helps fund his studies with DJ bookings at major club venues around Worcestershire and Birmingham. He was clear about what he wanted from the outset, and specified that he wanted a black on white logo to badge up his gear and merchandise.
I created the ‘N’ logo to personify loud, contemporary, sound using a new font with a bit of tweaking to make personal to Tom. This works well both as positive and reversed, and the square icon is a necessary and effective icon for social media. In fact, all the logo I create no have a ‘square’ version as standard to meet these needs.

While taking the brief at Tom’s HQ, I took some shots across the range of gear and deck equipment. With a little Photoshop work, I adapted these for the website which I built as soon as I had the branding cracked. Take a look: www.djnolan.co.uk

Next up is Veranda Lounge

This is a restaurant branding project for a venue at Gloucester Quays. Robin the owner approached me after a contact through the Worcester Festival of Business.

Robin needed a branding package that would take his restaurant into the next generation of Indian/Asian/Street-Food style becoming very popular at present. It was a gem of a project to work on and the design fell into place with ease. One of the most interesting aspects was creating a mood board to find to ‘look’ and also designing the logo that would work as stencil cut-out through the copper sleeve signage. The contemporary font; Rufina was spot on and helps convey that touch of ‘old Empire days’ I was looking for, and also it was a very practical solution for the signmakers. can’t wait to see it up and running!

And Finally, How to Cook!

Another of my New Business Start-up Pack customers. This was a really great design project to work on. Client Steph Harrison, a fully qualified teacher in Worcester has decided to branch out and start delivering classes  to children, students and adults about how the basics of cooking and preparing food. All the very basic skills are delivered to the class personally by Steph in her unique, engaging and vibrant style. The children love her and all learn so well they go home offering to cook the tea for their parents!
After designing the logo, which works in three formats, the website build was next to get done. The WordPress theme is really slick and totally responsive so it looks great on mobiles and tablets. Google will love it! I took all the photography with my Nikon camera, an add-on available with my start-up package. Take a look at www.howtocook.org.uk

Thank you Steph for a really great testimonial:

20.12.16
Jo was recommended to me by three friends and I am extremely pleased that I used Jo to design my logo, brand, leaflets and website.
I had a vision of how I wanted my business brand to be: contemporary, professional, fun and informative, which I thought was a pretty tall order. After Jo and I met to discuss my business plan and brand she came up with a superb logo and branding that encapsulated my thoughts. I am absolutely thrilled with her design.
She spent time taking high quality photos at my workshops which she presented in my promotional leaflets and included in the website she designed.
The feedback people have provided on my website and promotional leaflets has been very positive saying how professional and eye catching it is.
Jo is easy to work alongside and good at listening to your ideas and turning them into creative designs.
In addition, Jo gave some sound business advice and support. I would highly recommend Jo to anyone who is looking for an excellent and innovative designer.

To see more testimonials click here

Thank you Worcester News

John Wilson, Group Deputy Editor of Worcester News, Malvern Gazette, Ledbury Reporter, Evesham Journal and the Cotswold Journal, very kindly picked up on my tweet about the paintings I created on my iPad. I had exhibited these at the Worcestershire Festival of Business. He wrote a really nice, whole-page article, download here if you want to. Published in the Worcester News, it is really helping to get my work ‘out there’. I’ve had good interest in these pictures and have taken a few orders. They make great presents if you want to give something with a local touch. Mounted and framed they cost £40 each, or you can buy 3 for £100. Commissions undertaken too of course. Text me on 07801 030938 if you’d like more info. You can buy my prints on my website, click here to my shop page.

Framed up, they look like this, each one it titled and signed personally by me:

 www.worcesternews.co.uk

www.malverngazette.co.uk

www.ledburyreporter.co.uk

www.eveshamjournal.co.uk

www.cotswoldjournal.co.uk

Worcester Festival of Business #worcestershirehour

I took a small, open stand outside the Guildhall at this year’s Worcester Festival of Business. It was a great success and I had lots of visitors, many of whom I already new and some new prospective customers. I was focusing on promoting my New Business Start-up Pack, to help new businesses in and around Worcester get off to a great start with Logo & Branding created here by me. I mocked up a special ‘New Business Start-Up Pack’ logo to try to communicate the Pack – without showing any of my customer’s logos, as this would be confusing.

Robin Walker MP dropped by and I had a really nice chat with him about what I do. He was interested in the design process and remarked how hard it is to get the correct branding and that it starts of as such an unknown, kind of project to start with. It was really kind of him to Tweet about my business, I hadn’t realised he’d taken a photo of my pack:

Is it time for a Logo refresh?

As a graphic and web designer it’s important to set an example to and demonstrate the value of keeping up to date with design trends when it comes to logo and branding. Designing for oneself however is always the most difficult project to crack. This is mainly because it’s not easy making an objective decision on a design you’ve done for yourself, it’s too tempting to say ‘yes I like that’, or ‘omg no that’s not good enough, I must be really hopeless’. And sometimes it’s difficult to know where to start because the last time you did this you thought it was a ‘forever’ design! Designers also have a hunch we should working on a fee-paying project, not one just for ourselves – it’s too much naval-gazing (I hate that phrase). But when we do commit the time and effort to design and reflect on our own business it’s usually worth it, and does give an immediate buzz and boost the business. At the very least, it’s something to tell everyone about on social media!

The origins of Jo Menhinick Design Ltd and the logo

Way back in 1998 I went freelance after working in London for agency Bell Design (now called Bell Integrated Communications), as their Senior Designer for 7 years. Before that I worked for Scott Stern which was part of the WPP group – a mega big advertising group. The requirement for my own logo design became immediate when I needed to quote and invoice my first projects. I chose to base my first logo design on a Passion flower (Passiflora)because it was my favourite flower since childhood days. I wanted my logo to have a personal link which would always make me feel good about my business. This design served me well and I still quite like it.

By 2002 my business had grown and I felt I needed to bolster my corporate image a little with a logo that had more substance. The logo was ‘just a flower’ and could be perceived as a bit ‘soft’. This image didn’t really suit my industrial clients which were becoming the mainstay of my work.

The next logo version was conceived, see below. This logo design carried forward the old design but with more solidity and depth. The flower became like a moon and a touch mysterious perhaps.

By 2008 I needed something fresher to reflect the trends in recycling, regeneration and recycling which were all the rage in 2008.

 Whilst technically a simplified design, it wasn’t clean enough and in 2010 I ripped it all up and created design number 4.

 This ‘paint splashes’ design worked very well for me and I still love the clarity of this design. It is totally unique and lots of people have commented on how much they like it. It is still tenuously based on the passion flower as the blue and pink strokes are based on the stamens of the flower, a subtle link. But, there was always something a bit sad about this design, it does look like tears or rain.

2016 is here, I want to look positive, professional and bold.

I wanted to keep some link with past designs, but design something completely different and up to date. This Hexagon logo does it all I think, for the next few years anyway. Although, technically if it were a passion flower it should be a Pentagon! The immediate appearance is that of a chevron perhaps, or an aeroplane tail fin. Folded paper engineering/origami also springs to mind. This geometric style is trending now and will set JMD apart from design companies will older style logos. It exudes confidence and professionalism whilst also totally unique and retaining femininity. The clever bit is how it works as a square icon as well as a rectangle. A square icon version of a logo is now an essential requirement if you’re going to compete for business in the social media environment. For starters, if you want your company website to work as a bookmark on a tablet or iphone, you must have a 512px  x 512px logo. So it is more or less essential that your logo has a format for this. You can then load a compatible file for other social media too, such as Twitter, Linkedin, Pinterest, Instagram etc.

The hexagon motif on my logo hold the letters JMD and this element forms the ‘icon’ file. The PNG format (portable network graphics) allows the design to work over another colour or a photograph. So it will work well on sliders and animated gifs.

Key elements to a good logo design:

1. Memorable
2. Unique
3. Excellent, appropriate typography
4. Well drawn
5. Has some link with the business it represents
6. A clever graphic device perhaps. This means the logo represents on image and another simultaneously. My logo doesn’t really do this but the logo I created for St Paul’s Hostel  illustrates this point well
7. Vector format
8. Works small or large
9. Provides the outward company image the customer wants
10. Communicates the relevant brand values
11. Is up-to-date with current trends
12. Competes well against competition
13. Works on any application from a paperclip to an aeroplane!