Designing for the NGAA...

Who? NGAA - National Growth Areas Alliance.

A few years ago I was very excited to work with a PR agency on the newly formed NGAA campaign, a group of local government members representing 25 of Australia's fastest growing municipalities. The brief then was to create a logo & branding for the NGAA, design and print media kit materials, poster, postcard, brochures, website graphics and a few other bits and pieces along the way. It was a fantastic opportunity and although a little daunting in the beginning, I gained a wealth of experience and insight on working with a PR agency in my role as a Graphic Designer.

Now a few years on, I was delighted once again for the opportunity to work with the Communications Officer on a new NGAA initiative. This time, the brief was to design 3 banners for a website to attract 3 different audiences and from there incorporate each design ino a poster, postcards, brochures and pull-up banner. Easy right?.... actually it was a little overwhelming at first with a tight deadline, holiday already booked and number of other jobs on the go. But with a few late nights, loud music and working weekends I managed to get "creative" and pull it all together, in fact a day early! PHEW.

As a Graphic Designer I have to say it's a huge advantage to have a reliable and conveniently located printer. My local printer happens to be just around the corner and working closely with the fabulous team at Minuteman Press in Glen Waverley (and my super cool pink runners that make me run really fast) they were able to print and deliver each job spot on! 

So far feedback has been positive but with the official launch at the end of November, I'm hoping the designs and materials are embraced by the intended audiences and the outcome exceeds expectations.

A big thank you to Geoff for this opportunity to work on such a rewarding design job and his constant support, praise and despite the hectic schedule good humour and many laughs along the way... I'll stand on one leg and hop around for you any day! I look forward to the next adventure :-)

Here's some examples of the work completed:

A3 Poster

 

 



Postcard: Front/Back

Brochure: Front & Back covers

 

Brochure: Inside spread

Brochure: Front & Back covers

Brochure: Inside spread



Bushwalking Victoria

October is shaping up to be another exciting month with new projects, clients and great opportunities to get "creative".

I recently had the pleasure of working with the President and his lovely wife, of Bushwalking Victoria to put together a flyer and ad to launch a new initiative and websites.

The DL flyers have now been printed and will be distributed to camping and outdoor stores to advertise and encourage the public to use the valuable resources created through these 2 new websites.

Another website...

and welcome to The Builders Organiser

Looking forward to working with you again Rob :-)

Websites....

A rewarding couple of weeks it has been with the launch of two websites this week... and more on the way!

Welcome to Spray Links...

Practice makes perfect....

I took a refresher photography course last week and was given an assignment to put into practice the topics covered during class. A perfect excuse to spend time on two of my favourite past times... cooking and taking photos of food! Thankfully the family and neighbours are equally enthusiastic about eating what I've baked :-)

It was certainly an interesting exercise and at the end I concluded that the programmed auto settings are extremely realiable and it's probably more important to have the correct lens, flash, & lighting. If you're after a particular look or effect then the manual settings can deliver, but if you're looking to take a solid photo with a minimum of fuss then be prepared to trust the auto program settings. Just make sure you select the correct option, have good light, and let the camera do the rest.

This photo was taken using a Canon EOS600D on a tripod, with a 50mm lens (macro) and external flash. The camera was set to "P" for Portrait.... and yes, there was some touching up done in Photoshop ;-)

Colour Inspired by Food

I was suddenly inspired last night by these vibrant coloured carrots, I just had to photograph them!

Knitting Book

Over the past month I've had the pleasure of creating a 40 page knitting book titled "Butterfly Wings" - a collection of unique knitting patterns designed by Sue Johnson.

It's currently at the printers but here's a sneak peak at the beautiful cover photographed by Natalie Davies of Natalie Davies Photography and of course designed by yours truly. The book features many full size photos shot by Natalie of Sue's daughter wearing the different knitting designs and they look just lovely.

The book will be available to purchase on Sue's website www.butterflyknitdesigns.com soon.

Website LAUNCH... "Angela Marcuccio"

Ahhh... it's been a week of all things "white" and COUTURE as I've been busily re-touching wedding gown photos to create Angela Marcuccio's latest LOOK BOOK of "Haute Couture Designed Gowns" - 28 pages of beauty and elegance.

The photos from the latest shoot have also flowed into the new cleaner, more sophisticated looking website. Working closely with Georgii from Helm Communications and Angela; the new website incorporates a fresh new design, smoother image galleries and is far more informative.

The Look Book is available for downloading off the website.

Here's a couple of snap shots from the new website...

Home Page

Collection Page

News & Media page

Website LAUNCH... "He Says She Says"

An exciting week it has been! After many months of planning and a few different stages, the full website for He Says She Says has gone live!

Just in time for all the hype and excitement of the next Master Chef series, He Says She Says - Cafe, Restaurant, Bar - will bring Modern Australian cooking and sophistication to Camberwell and is scheduled to open on the 12th June 2012.

Working closely with the lovely Bernard Bungaleea - General Manager and other key members it has been very exhilarating, fuelling my own passion as an epicurean amateur. As the fit out is still undergoing the photo shoot is scheduled for the end of the month. So I'm looking forward to getting my lens into some tantalising dishes and updating the website!

There's also a competition currently running to win an ipad, so if you fancy yourself as a bit of a "Master Chef" check out the website and enter your best recipe for a chance to win!





Official welcome to a Jazeffect 2012...

What a super busy start to the year it's been!

With a number of jobs rolling over into the start of this year there wasn't much time to take a breather... well time to think about blogging anyway. I'm just now catching up on some "house-keeping" and indulging in some photography and updating the Jaz Effect website, Blog and my Facebook account. Have to say I'm loving the new "timeline" profile, looks like a real website page with the wide banner at the top to show off your favourite photos.

I also spent some time over the christmas break tweaking the Jazeffect Design branding with a big shift from red and brown to green and black... and almost every other colour on the wheel! This marks v.4 for "Jazeffect design" and I found it funny that I've gone back to black and green, the colours I first used to create the business and image 8 years ago. The main difference is all the extra colours, I figured it was time to have a bit of fun and sometimes you just can't decide which colour you feel like - so I figured why choose when you can have them all!

The image below is the front and back of my new business card. I used this opportunity to trial a new printer who specialises in embellishment, eg. embossing, foil, spot UV, plastic cards, etc. and they did an outstanding job. I was really impressed with the quality of their work, service and all at an extremely reasonable price. They are now my regular speciality printers and I've used them a number of times since. So if you're reading this and want to "Jaz" up your business cards with a touch of "impressive" then send me an email.

I've got a list of blog topics which I will aim to get through over the coming months. But for now it's time to get back to work ;-)

Morning Muse...

Thought I'd share this photo seeing as it's been some time since my last post - last year in fact. I've been playing around with my new Canon EOS600D having recently upgraded from an older model Canon. It seems my most popular models are my gorgeous cat Nikita and food!

I'm also working on a new restaurant website scheduled to go live in early May 2012, for which I'll be taking the photos. For once I won't have people looking at me strangely as I try to sneak in a photo of my food before eating it! More on that later.

My husband and I treated ourselves earlier in the year to a stay at the Lakehouse in Daylesford and 8 course degustation with matched wines. The only disappointment was the quality of the photos I took using my phone... just wasn't game enough to use my big camera and flash and disrupt the intimate and "proper" ambiance. Each plate was a true masterpiece I was really looking forward to sharing it on my blog. Alas this photo of a fat goose will have to suffice.... the before picture??? ;-)

 

Shimmering water at the Lakehouse