November 3, 2009 by Siobhan
This country is well known for passionate producers of fine food and at DMdesign we are very lucky to work with many of them. Most of these producers start out at the farmers market and eventually make the big transition to the supermarket shelf. This is the route Pâtisserie Régale decided to take. A huge step for any company and a big risk also, as it is no longer possible for them to stand beside their product and sell to the passers by at market. This is when good package design is crucial – the new packaged product must stand out from its competition on the shelf and entice that initial impulse buy.
Susan and I met with Richard and Jane Graham Leigh of Pâtisserie Regale last year at their bakery in Dunmanway. Their confectionery bakery is a hidden treasure tucked away in the hills above Dunmanway. They produce the most amazingly delicious French patisserie and biscuits. In fact Darina Allen has described Pâtisserie Régale as “the best bought confectionary you are ever likely to find”. A deserving compliment I might add!.
Cookies of Character is the first of Pâtisserie Regale products to be designed and packaged in the way that supermarkets demand. The brief was to create a suitable design to house their mouth watering Chocolate Chip and Oat and Raisin cookies, a design that reflected the quality of the baking and the rewarding treat that no two cookies are the same. As with any good package design, photography plays a vital role in the success of the final look and with this in mind we briefed the very talented photographer, Jörg Koster, on how we envisioned the product to look. Good photography combined with thoughtful design = an attractive product that reflects the taste and quality of its contents…it will entice the impulse buy and the quality of the content will definitely lead to plenty repeat purchases!!
Category: Graphic Design, Package DesignTags: Cookies, DMdesign, Jorg Koster, Package Design, Patisserie Regale, Unique Design | Comments (0)
September 19, 2009 by Siobhan
DMdesign do not design wedding invitations….but when you are a graphic designer and your sister is the bride-to-be (and owner of DMpr, our sister company!!), and you’re asked to design an unusual wedding invitation it’s a different story. In fact it was an honour to do it. Christine and her smashing husband to be, Kenny, will marry 2 weeks from today. The easiest clients in the world gave me a blank canvas to design their wedding invitations. It was a dream to work with photographs taken by Keith and Evelyn Woodard from Killarney with concept and direction of shoot by the bride-to-be. It’s amazing what can be done with a €30 wedding dress from a vintage store, a net curtain for a veil, a pair of wellingtons, a rowing boat and a handsome couple. And the setting….the lakes of Killarney on a sunny day (a rare sight you might say). Tourists gathered around during the shoot and congratulated Christine and Kenny on their wedding day!! “Oh, you guys look so cute” (spoken in your best American accent). I’m sure they went home to tell their friends about the Irish bride in wellingtons at the lakes of Killarney.
It was an engagement shoot with a difference. Kenny is a rower and the concept was to have Christine pulling him ashore in time for the wedding – after years of coming up with creative concepts for her clients, it was easy for Christine to pull one together for herself. So with these amazing results to work with, the first thing I did was change the colour pictures to sepia to give a classic old world style. Colours and type were chosen carefully. The suite included a wedding invitation, DL size with a folding flap in the front to hold the RSVP and a card with directions and accomodation details and a DL evening invitation similar to the wedding invitation. Over many years of trial and error I have managed to create a CMYK gold, this avoids printing a spot gold (printing spot gold increases the print costs). The printing was beautifully finished by Allied Print on Challenger offset and sealed in a gorgeous conqueror envelope….divine.
Christine and Kenny told me they were inundated with compliments on the wedding stationery….some commented they ‘were out of this world’, and unlike anything else they had ever seen. As I am a perfectionist it’s rare to complete a design that I am 100% happy with but I loved this project and it proves when a designer is left to do what they do best, the results are always better.
A successful wedding project and not a bridezilla in sight!
Email designerstationery@gmail.com for more information on unique wedding stationery!
Category: Graphic DesignTags: clever invitation, DMdesign, invitations, personal invites, Unique Design, unique invitations, wedding invitations, wedding stationery, weddings | Comments (0)
