Design Musings

The Duquesa Complex in the Costa del Sol, Spain, has two blocks of luxury apartments available for self catering holidays. Owned primarily by individual proprietors, it made sense for them to join together to promote holidays in this stunning region. We are currently constructing a website that will act not just as a means to book holidays in the apartments, but as a portal for research on the region. It will include personal experiences of the highlights of this coast, and there are quite a few. There has been a conscious effort to keep the editorial on the site as informal and useful as possible, making it clear that anyone booking will be dealing directly with the owners themselves. We have already completed some leaflets for one of the apartment owners, and so used the visual language in the build of the site.

We have just reprinted the business cards we designed for Rock Water Taxi last year, a new run for the new season. These cards carry the colours and design we set for them in their other advertising literature. These are full colour, double sided cards, matt laminated to give a needed durability on board the water taxi. You will also find them in pubs and restaurants in both Rock and Padstow, the two destinations of the vessel. They work alongside the DL flyers and website we produced for them also. It was built by GB Smith and Son, boat builders in Rock with a long history of high quality design and construction. We have recently started work on rebranding and print for them as well. Keep and eye out to see what is set on.

The new Bored Lizard website went live this week, now featuring an e-commerce shop, controlled by a CMS system that allows the client to add products himself. Laurent, the owner, has been running the growing business for five years now, and has expanded his range of products from the existing Stoneage brand, to include his own Bored Lizard clothing. We helped out by redesigning his logo in 2006, which he has since applied to hoodies and t-shirts, soon to be available on the website. Th redesign this time was minor, it simply involved turning the static products page into a live shop, leading customers through to PayPal where they can buy the items. This is a basic shopping system, with no need for a search facility, but it has the flexibility to include all of the lines that Bored Lizard stock.

Here is the completed 6pp DL (A4) leaflet we have just completed for Minear Engineering. They are a well established firm based at Victoria Business Park, just off what was the A30. They have worked with the China Clay industry for decades, creating bespoke pieces of machinery and metal work, and now are expanding in the food industry, where there is always a need for engineered stainless steel. Marie designed the leaflet, taking her palette from the existing company colour scheme, aiming to give it a industrial feel through the use of blue as a signature theme. Minear Engineering were looking to convey their professional service, and we focused on presenting their business in a contemporary setting.