It’s quite amazing how little we recognise the use of design all around us. It’s as though it goes unnoticed whilst existing right beneath our noses: from magazine articles,TV adverts, shop fronts and food packaging; to our clothes, kitchen utensils, tooth brushes and mobile phones.

The term ‘design’, after all, is so broad that I suppose we take its many purposes for granted – and I think we forget that everything we see, consume or use, has been meticulously designed to provide us with everything that we need from that specific product (and more). Desirable and stylish aesthetics, functionality and efficiency, ease and simplicity, are just a few of the properties that things need and are designed to have. The processes that designs go through, before the manufacture, involve many specialised and talented people – but these individuals are lost in the process, never thought about by us, the consumers.

Design is a very powerful tool in any company or industry. Everything progresses, in time, and products become more and more practical for the targeted type of consumer – look at mobile phones again, for example. Old designs become obsolete, whilst the new and innovative take the lead- and then still they give over the throne to future generations. Constant progression, like time itself. Multi-functioning products are more popular; saving time, space and effort; creating a more practical product and, at the end of the day, that’s all we want.

Practicality in design is what brought me to write this blog – I watched a video on the Internet about multi-functioning interiors and my mind was blown by the complexity of the designs as well as the simplicity of the concept – not to mention the intelligence behind it! Allowing rooms to literally pop out of the walls, transforming your office into a living room and your bedroom into a studio as and when you need it to – a two bedroom house can become so much more, and you can swap and change it in minutes!

Watching the clip has made me think about how important practical design is – and I do wonder why it isn’t utilised in new builds, especially with all of these new housing estates popping up by the hundreds. After all, everyone wants more space, more rooms, and generally more for their money!

I’m now in love with these American-born ideas, and when the day finally comes that I can buy my first family home, I am inspired to utilise whatever space I have in a similar way – watching the video, it makes me realise that it would be stupid not to!

Check out this video on YouTube:

The post The future of space saving furniture appeared first on Speed-Net.

Re-designing your brand is a good way to get people talking about you; it gives your business a new lease of life. I guess it’s a bit like being reborn.

Here at Speed, we’re working on a brand re-design for a large law firm – it got me thinking about some of the big brands that have recently refreshed their brand identity; I noticed a lot of them have stripped their brand logos right back to basics. The main one that springs to mind is the world’s largest online marketplace – ebay.

Released to the world in September 2012 after 17 years in operation, ebay wanted a cleaner, contemporary look to reflect their transformation from start-up auction site to a multi-billion dollar operation. It gauls me to think of the thousands of dollars that ebay would have paid for this, but who knows how many variations the creative agency had to do and how many meetings they had before they got to this final design.

Reading reviews on the re-design, I see that some brand designers find the new brand logo a bit bland… and my first reaction was similar. I quite liked the old, slightly quirky 80’s logo with it’s overlapping typography. However, the more I look at the new ebay brand (despite the fact that it looks a bit like a child has created it) the more it’s growing on me… although if I was to get slightly anal about it, I’d mention the fact that the height of the ‘y’ doesn’t quite match up with the other letters, which bugs me a bit, but let’s overlook that for now.

To be honest, I really can’t decide on this one.

Lee, our Senior Designer gave me his thoughts on the re-brand; “I think that some of the fun has gone from the brand… the old logo was quite unique.” I tend to agree. It is almost too simple now. However, simple logos are normally the ones that have longevity and stand the test of time.

All in all the logo shouts out a no fuss, no drama approach. Just four brightly coloured letters, gently nudging each other in an oldschool typeface – Univers Extended… simples!

What’s your view? Love, hate or indifferent?

The post ‘Bare Essentials’ branding appeared first on Speed-Net.

Lee

I love spring is in the air and we’ve got some cool branding projects on the go.

David

I love knowing our web team is growing!

Ad

I love the new idea of the Speed Works website. Looking forward to putting it together.

Kathryn

I love the fact that it felt a tiny bit Spring-like when I left the office last night.

Kelly D

I love getting to grips with all the website design we are winning, and I love that the temperature is starting to rise!!! mmm warmth.

Matt

I love that Steve’s coming back to work with us, the new AccidentClaimSolicitors.co.uk website and the car scene coming back into swing with events all over the UK keeping me busy at the weekends!

The post February’s We Love appeared first on Speed-Net.

We were having a bit of a conflab in the office today about the small things we do to help the environment. We concluded smugly that we’re all actively taking small but important steps to be eco-friendly.

Along with our ‘Hungry Harry’ food waste composting bin that we’ve had in the staff kitchen for a couple of months, what else do we speedsters do?

For starters, Kelly D. and myself have been car sharing to work for some time now. As well as saving fuel and money, it means there’s one less car on the road and also gives us a chance to chat about ongoing work projects, rugby related injuries (Kelly) or generally moaning about the cold weather and the price of fish.

Kelly H. is always on at us to rinse and recycle, from margarine tubs to jam jars to juice cartons, she keeps us all in check. Truth be known, none of us would dare throw a baked bean tin in the ‘normal’ bin for fear of a telling off!

Adi has recently implemented a new waste paper system – instead of throwing away unwanted print-outs, we simply use the reverse side and bulldog clip the pages together to form a nifty notepad. Genius Adi. It’s certainly saved scrabbling around for a post-it note when taking phone messages. David’s pretty chuffed with this system as he’s been trying to make us a ‘paperless’ office for some time now. Speaking of David, his recent charity shop purchases, a rather dandy shirt and tie, are also a great example of recycling & re-using. As for his new desk ‘ornament’, the jury is still out on that one. What does everyone think?

Lee brings his own packed lunch in on a daily basis. A man of habit, it’s normally a cheese sandwich, an apple and a packet of organic crisps if anyone’s interested. He also considerately preserves the work carpet by never getting up from his desk to make teas and coffees.

Our digital experts, Matt and Steve, sometimes work from home which cuts down on vehicle pollution… and it means less people to make coffee for in the office, which is a bonus, as it’s usually me that makes it these days (had to get that point in somewhere – heehee).

Which leaves us with Bert. This was a bit of a toughy. We’ve all decided that his contribution to the environment is that he likes to keep the local foliage green, by kindly tinkling on the bushes outside the office.

And remember folks ‘When you refuse to reuse it’s our Earth you abuse‘

The post Eco-friendly Speedsters appeared first on Speed-Net.

Media: 5_Jessip

Branding

Client: Jesip

Project: Brand Creation

The post Jesip appeared first on Speed-Net.

Media: SB1

Branding

Client: The Star Brewing Company

Project: Brand Creation

The post The Star Brewing Company appeared first on Speed-Net.

Media: 3

Branding

Client: Zianna

Project: Brand Creation

The post Zianna appeared first on Speed-Net.

Article by Kathryn Grace

We’re loving the Geometric design trend that’s all over the place at the moment; we’re seeing it in textiles, web design, print design, multimedia, fine art and home design. Like it or not, it’s a design trend that’s not going away and it’s sure to gain even more momentum throughout 2013.

There’s something quite comforting and nostalgic about geometric art that takes us back to coloured pencils and our childhood… it’s mathematical, it’s scientific, it’s timeless…

In a world of noise and complexity, aesthetic geometric pattern shouts out a simple ‘no fuss’ approach. Lines, curves, rectangles, circles, triangles and block colour can create highly effective design (and the graphic designers out there will appreciate the scalability of vectors).

It’s nothing new though – geometric art has been around forever, from the ancient Greek to the native Americans, people all over the world throughout time have produced simple geometric works of art.

And simple certainly doesn’t mean boring – here’s some cool examples. What’s your views?

The post Geometric Design Trend Continues Into 2013 appeared first on Speed-Net.

We hope you all had a fantastic Christmas and New Year!

The post Speed Christmas Do 2012 appeared first on Speed-Net.

Twas the night before Christmas, when all through Speed house

Not a Speedster was stirring, ‘cept Paul drinking Grouse,

The decs were hung by the ceiling with care,

In hopes that St Nicholas soon would be there.

The studio were nestled all snug in their beds,

While visions of new brand jobs danced in their heads,

And Kelly in her ‘kerchief, and Lee in his cap,

Were ready to settle for a long winter’s nap.

Kathryn was doting over her new grand-daughter,

And Adi getting merry ’cause at Christmas you oughtta,

Paul was dreaming of that perfect Golf swing,

And Kelly H carolling, because she does love to sing,

Ready for that January morn where designers would chatter,

When we arrive back to work, probably much fatter,

Matt would be looking at some code and a hash,

And Dave would be back, always as flash.

The moon on the breast of the new-fallen snow,

Dodging lorries on the 605 we were below,

When, what to my wondering eyes should appear,

But a team of Speedsters full of new cheer!

So we’re closed from this afternoon, no buttons to click,

But don’t worry your heads, it’ll all go so quick,

At half four we’ll all be hitting the sack,

And on the second of January the Speedsters are back!

The post Twas the Night Before Christmas… the Speed rendition appeared first on Speed-Net.