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If you click on this one (or the one in the side bar) it will take you to the certificate explaining how this website is now certified as powered by 100 % Wind Energy, thus making no carbon emissions whatsoever.

By being 100 % wind powered, is equivalent to not driving your car for 6.1 million miles, or planting nearly 3000 trees.

I’d say that’s pretty awesome.

But I still want to plant more trees though.  Even one, can make a huge difference.

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If you are a keen proponent of clean energy, you may enjoy this poster, featuring photography and design by myself, available now by clicking below. Various sizes are available to suit your needs.

Clean Energy by macnessa
View other Clean Posters

One of the first questions, that graphic designers usually ask of themselves when embarking on a business card design, is whether or not to orientate their design as landscape (horizontally) or portrait (vertically).

Some designers tend to prefer one way or the other, all the time.

On occasion, the decision is easily made, given the dimensions and shape of the clients logo, or simply the clients natural preference.

But I say, ask not what your business card design can do for you, but rather what you can do for your business card design, and if the design calls for it, the client wants it, and it works, then why not both?

Both? But surely, having landscape on one side and portrait on the other flies in the face of every last design principle you ever had drummed into you at art school?

My favourite design principle that was drummed into me, was, “Never forget to constantly push the boundaries, and completely ignore all the rules if you have to.”

So, if you are making use of the awesome double sided cards from Moo, then this is the perfect time to use such a design.

Here below is the design that I created for new brand, Yummy Mummy, The Cupcake Foundry, which uses alternating designs on either side. As you will see below, the detail side of the card, makes use of a portrait design, and the image side is a landscape layout.

If you consider, that no one is physically able to look at both sides of a business card at the same time (unless they have two – and why would they?) then this makes this set up perfectly plausible.

What do you think of the concept, and of the design?

If you want to order your own designs from Moo – then please visit their website by clicking the square banner below.

Thank you for reading!

I love doing logo design.

Particularly when one has such delicious subject matter to deal with!

David Airey is a graphic designer whose work I really admire, and he is well respected throughout the industry.

He set out 5 principles for good logo design in a recent blog post:

1. It’s describable
2. It’s memorable
3. It’s effective without colour
4. It’s scalable (works whether it’s large or small)
5. It’s relevant to the industry in question

You can read the rest of his post here.

I agree with all of the above points, but in the practice of designing a logo, sometimes it’s difficult to bring these points across when you have a client who has just started their very first business, and has an idea of what they want their logo to look like, and that ‘look’ has all sorts of gradients and drop shadows in it.

However, having said that, even though as a designer we may know what is best (or think we do!) ultimately, my goal is to make sure I have a happy client who is going to recommend my services to everyone they meet.

This is why it’s important to present at least three concepts to a client. I usually present 2 which go along with the principles of good design, and then a third, which is exactly what the client asks for.

More often than not, the finished design will be somewhere toward my side of the scale, but still in a place that the client is delighted with.

Ultimately, it’s great to be able to bring a client around to your way of thinking. But if they leave your studio with a design with which they are going to sing your praises, and they have paid your bill in full, then consider it a job well done.

Here is a recent logo that I am still working on for a client.

The text still needs quite a bit of work, and right now the client has a preference for the last one in the series which I am glad about, as it will work beautifully in grayscale, and the entire concept has yet to be finalised, but so far so good!

Incidentally the background for this preview was thrown together quickly to best show off the logo designs with corresponding colours, and the client likes it so much that I’m going to incorporate it into the final website design as well.