Whelehans Wines
Get some grape ideas
David Whelehan, wine expert and correspondent to TV3 and Business & Finance, is on a crusade to turn us all into wine aficionados. Not the old-school snooty types, however, but simply passionate about 'great taste' and informed about the varieties, origins, and nuances of wine.
We were delighted when David asked Rain to design and create appropriate branding for his new website and blog to launch his Great taste Campaign.
He will bring you weekly recommendations with video-powered tasting notes, interviews with top winemakers and tips on how to enjoy wine. Enjoy!
This is without doubt the most 'social media connected' project we’ve embarked on to date and we look forward to watching it develop. Do let us know what you think.
Check out David’s website at: Whelehanswines.ieGet his twitter updates: @whelehanswines
Facebook: whelehanswines
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Presidential Photoshop
Left: Mary’s designer likes Photoshop. Right: The real Mary Davis (nothing wrong with looking yourself!)
There’s something about Mary...
A few months ago Reuters reported that cosmetics giant L’Oreal had some advertising banned in the UK for retouching supermodels... ‘Excessive airbrushing and digital manipulation techniques have become the norm’ says the article. If even the likes of Julia Roberts and Christy Turlington benefit from a little digital enhancement, why not our presidential candidates?
Of course there must be a limit. There's knowing when to Photoshop, and there's knowing when to stop. No one can blame candidates for leaving their, erm, baggage behind. But, if it becomes difficult to even recognise the young woman on the poster, is the design really serving the candidate?
Above: Design ‘anoraks’ will note the Davis Campaign (left) borrows Barrack Obama’s typographic style (right).
Taking a leaf from Mary's book, who else could benefit from some discreet ‘Photoshopping’?
- Martin Mc could pop himself into one of Nelson Mandela’s flamboyant shirts.
- Sean Gallagher could roll-with that hairdo from (cousin?) Noel Gallagher.
- Senator David Norris could do an impersonation of how he’ll look in Tussauds (oh wait, we didn’t Photoshop that one).
- Michael D could get the Gok Wan treatment...
- and no doubt there are ‘all kinds of things’ Dana could do, but time does not permit...
Images: Wikipedia
Dromineer Literary Festival
The Write Stuff
In a few weeks, some distinguished Irish writers and lovers of literature will gather for talks, workshops and general exchange of ideas in the beautiful lakeside location of Dromineer, Co Tipperary.Rain were tasked with creating a new brand identity, communications and website design. Our new tagline - Creativity, Connection, Community - captures the spirit of proceedings.
Amongst this years writers and poets in attendance are Booker nominee Jennifer Johnston and Irish Times Award winner John McKenna, for more visit DromineerLiteraryFestival.ie
Letterhead design - archive
For the love of letterhead design
Letterheady is a collection of (historic) letterhead designs from various well known people. Check it out – for some interesting design examples peppered with nostalgia. If you’re more interested in the content of letters than the design on paper you might like its companion blog, Letters of note.
We particularly like the bite taken from the letterhead for Jim Davis, creator of Garfield - a trick we pulled with Tara Book Company’s business cards a few year’s back. The designer of this one beat us by some 20 years it seems!
Exhibition Catalogue; Changing Faces
Changing Faces...
An exhibition of photography by Charlie McGeever – capturing ‘a place in time through its people’ – runs at Quay Arts Ballina until 10 June, and continues in Scariff Library, Co Clare, from 13 June.We designed the catalogue and promotional materials for the exhibition, funded by North Tipperary and Clare County Councils, supported by The Arts Council.
Illustration meets typography...
Rain drops?
ain likes the 'Daily drop cap’ - a website devoted to exploring creative possibilities within the seemingly narrow framework of the archaic practice of introducing a paragraph of text with a drop cap (like this one - left).
It’s not that all of the websites offerings are very readable, some are close to illegible, but because of the playful, creative quality of the ideas there. Many of the contributors are not designers of type, but illustrators which means their approach to design of lettering is less constrained by convention.Page magazine
Deutsch-Mark
This month our brandmark for ICATA (Irish clothing and Textile Alliance, part of IBEC) received a mention from Germany’s PAGE design magazine, which also quoted Garrett in an article on the design scene here in Ireland. Nice to see someone’s paying attention.A reminder of the project...
We brought three textiles industry bodies together under one new name and identity. A 'common thread' forms a mark of their unity – in the form of an infinity symbol.Store brands versus national brands
Who’s winning the battle of the brands?
Samar Birwadker of Landor writes about the successes and failures in the ongoing brand wars, as retailers continue to fight to take the added value which traditionally resided with the big name national brands. He finds that the big name brands are retaking some of their lost market share as the US economy begins to recover.
Although written from a US market perspective, this is an interesting analysis of progress in this ongoing struggle and there are many parallels here. Does this point to a future trend we’ll see on this side of the Atlantic? Read his article here...
Perceptions or National versus Own label brands, chart from Landor
Some retro stamp design
‘Case study’ for a campaign integrating social media...
‘Harnessing’ the power of social media
A successful campaign with social media integration. We had to laugh at this parody ‘case study’ by Canadian agency John St.
(Source: adweek.blogs.com)
