As I lay in the comfort of my bed finishing the final chapters of Andy Miller’s ‘The year of reading dangerously’, an absolutely brilliant, witty and insightful journey through his ‘List of Betterment’ - 50 books he always meant to read or ‘claimed’ to have read. I came across one of the final quotes from the CEO of a well known publisher which, as a book lover, quite shocked me and inspired this little piece.

“In the future, no one will read Pride and Prejudice from cover to cover, they will just tap the screen, of the phone or tablet and find out more about the bits that interest them, the costumes or the recipes.”

Benefits of working with a professional designer

I was contacted recently by an enthusiastic young man, a skilled tradesmen who’d put in many hours to gain valuable experience and now wanted to set up a new company with a vision for the future. Obviously he required a new identity to get things underway. He had approached a signage company, van livery was an important element of his business, and they ‘created’ a logo for his new vision. He was, not surprisingly, underwhelmed by the result but savvy enough to realise that, good sign makers as they were, they weren’t designers. He understood the importance of a strong cohesive identity and was willing to invest in it. I was impressed, not everyone get’s it.

There are several DIY approaches with predictable results:

This nugget of thought that I’m currently pondering is in no way an excuse to rant or expose my latent luddite tendencies. It is though a heartfelt desire to reach out to like minded people and see if we can create a critical mass.

Yes the smartphone revolution has been phenomenal, opening up a world of possibilities to instantly tap into a never ending source of online information. However this box of tricks comes at a cost and the price may be too high. My area of concern is not the monetary value but the effect on human interaction and communication.

Lennon Design HQ has been buzzing this week. First off we welcomed our new Web Designer, Adam, into our merry band. We've been really busy lately so we're delighted to have him onboard.

Things got really wild with the arrival of a creatively challenging brief from our brilliant clients at the Forestry Commission. They wanted to produce a range of material for a new on-site children's woodland event - 'The Really Wild Festival'. Lovely project but the caveat was that the timeframe was particularly tight. Ouch! The first phase of the work was to create an identity for the festival pack with the sly brief to include a fox. A short period of intense research was swiftly followed by feverish sketching and decision-making before picking up the mouse. Loads to do; the graphic style, colour palette and integration with the Forestry Commission brand all had to be considered. Initial visuals were sent off for approval and were thankfully warmly received.

What’s the big story this week - Madonna falling off the stage during Brit awards. We all laughed I’m sure. There’s something negative in the human spirit that thrives on seeing celebrities get their comeuppance. This got me to thinking about why a simple undignified fall is big media news. If she fell down the steps in her home - did it happen if nobody saw it? The problem was that it happened to her on the world stage, beamed out on live television and then mercilessly replayed on YouTube and subsequently scorned on Facebook and Twitter. Once it happened there was no Stalinist erasing of the event.

Apologies for the radio silence these last couple of weeks but normal service is now (almost) resumed!

The pressure had been on - all hands to the pumps as we went through a recruitment process to replace our crucial Front-end Developer. I’m pleased to say that the process produced some excellent candidates; giving me a very difficult decision to make. The outcome however, is that we’ve successfully recruited a new member to the team who’ll join us next month.

During this busy period, the priority was not not only getting the projects out on time but ensuring that we provide the same level of quality and service our clients expect from us. Service is everything. Promises are made, contracts drawn up and brand reputation is based on these promises being fulfilled.

This is what the brand is all about. The word brand though can be confusing and can mean different things to different people. Let’s ask the question, in the context of a design agency: What exactly is a brand?