Confession: Smack Bang Designs is no longer just a bunch of graphic designers. Goodness, no! We have evolved into a robust and multi-faceted team of mind-readers and mentalists too.

Free beer, foosball tables, fully stocked fridges, fireman poles and fairy bread. The big-wigs in company culture have really lifted the bar for us all, haven’t they? Between Google, Facebook and Red Bull, today’s most envied offices look more like a playground for adults than a place of business. Over the last few years we’ve […]

The year was 1991. Wacko Jacko’s ‘Black Or White’ was on the air and a busty blonde named Pammie ran in super slo​mo along a Californian beach in ​THAT​ red one​piece.​ Something else rather clever was brewing that year too.

It’s one thing to develop an innovative product, but as the Microsoft dudes know, you need killer branding, sleek design and an ‘i’ in front of your product names to really boost your brand to infinity and beyond.

Back at school it was as simple as yellow, blue and red. Get a bit crafty, smoosh your fingers around and voila! You’ve got yourself some secondary colours, good for you, now off to recess you go to chow down those vegemite and cheese saos, with a side of choccy milk.

Just in case you were wondering, I like emails about as much as I like poking myself in the eye with wasabi infused chop-sticks. It’s tedious, it’s time-consuming and chews up way too many hours in a day. I can’t wait until the day that we refine our telepathy skills and just send our thoughts to one another through the atmosphere. Man is that going to be fun, and weird.

If I had a dollar for every time a new client of ours submitted ‘Apple’ as their main brand inspiration, I’d have enough money to buy Steve Jobs’ entire collection of black turtlenecks.

Sitting under the big striped circus tent, I remember watching in awe. The juggling act seemed so fun, so measured, so magical, with balls flying high into the sky. 20 years later in the thick of running a business, I can tell you the juggling act has relocated itself in my psyche – it’s moved from the mystery of magic to the corner of chaos and has taken with it the bliss of naivety.

Just like our pal Vanilla Ice (-ice-baby), here at Smack Bang we are all about collaboration. We love partnering up with like-minded souls to create double the ideas and double the awesomeness. One of our fave collaborations to date is our joint effort with the uber energetic Zoë from Seekerloverdreamer, AKA Boss Lady.

Some brands grow on you like a colony of E. Coli on a room temperature steak. Others however, lose their lustre and begin to fade as time goes on. A strong brand is one that evolves and keeps up with its environment.

So you’re nearing the finish line, you’ve decided on a logo and your designer has nailed the brand look and feel. Now what?! How do you actually use the logo?

After 20 odd years of Nigerian inheritance scams, empty European lottery promises, penis enlargement offers, and monumental amounts of ‘I’m the wife you’ve been searching for’ emails, I think it’s safe to say that the novelty of ‘you’ve got mail’ has well and truly worn off.

We are living in a visual age, it’s true. Now, more than ever, it’s imperative that your brand imagery is in tip-top shape. Good quality photography and consistent imagery are up there on the priority list with a kick-ass logo and super tight copy.

I spend a lot of time trawling the world wide web, (and web it is!) for info and inspo, but mainly for homespo. When I stumble upon a great website I often find it hard to contain my excitement, for this does not happen often.

I can’t even let myself begin to imagine how many hours I’ve whittled away Pinning and scrolling through the maze that is Pinterest. I’ve spent countless nights conjuring up the most elaborate of boards, refining the masterpiece of my online scrapbook.

Ambiguity is the key ingredient for a design disaster. Even a tiny sprinkle of ambiguity can mean the difference between a project doing everything you want and a project sinking faster than a bowling ball in a fish tank.