Crescendo.

Artwork designed by Dupe for the soon-to-be-massive band Crescendo.

What makes a good road sign?

Interesting article on the BBC site this morning.

New Work: Sean Orford Corporate ID

When Sean approached Dupe to create an identity for his psychotherapy/counselling business, we knew something different was required.

Sean has been working in both traditional and complementary healthcare for many years right across the UK. Currently based in North West England he supplies staff support services to local authorities, private companies and the NHS. On top of this, he is researching and developing training courses in an innovative approach to psychotherapy. Everybody got that?



The 'logo' is more of a symbol. After initial sketches and research into areas as diverse as Chinese Philosophy, the Eye of Providence and Pax Cultura we found ourselves rather stuck. The question of how to represent history, mysticism, growth, balance, love AND Sean seemed unanswerable.



Rather than focus too much, we switched our focus to selecting an appropriate typeface. Archer proved to be just the trick. Friendly, forthright, elegant and beautifully legible it cried out to be used.

From this momentous decision came the symbol itself. Formed from two reflected and intertwined 'S's it jumped off the screen. Thank you, Hoefler & Frere-Jones. (update: Jonathan Hoefler himself emailed me saying how much he liked the logo - how cool is that?).



After slight alterations the final logo was approved in its above form. The intertwined version is designed for large scale printing, whilst the simplified version is intended for website avatars, icons and for small print.

The symbol means many things. Its tree shaped body symbolises growth, the intertwining unity, its heart-shaped upper portion = love, whilst the capital S, of course, stands for Sean. Its simplicity should provide the right balance for Sean - a balance between his commercial and spiritual interests. It is a symbol intended to stand the test of time.

Letterheads (printed on the finest possible paper courtesy of Tapleys, Bebington) and envelopes will be followed by business cards and a complete website, also to be designed by Dupe Creative. Watch this space for updates.

What is Graphic Design?

"Wanky, trendy, crap." Amongst other things ...

The New Facebook Debate

Facebook is a phenomenon. With over 100 million users it plays an increasingly active role in people's daily routine. I myself must confess to being an addict.

All is not well in the community, however. Recent changes to the layout have caused a backlash against the clever guys in charge of the site. Whilst it is difficult to judge the proportion of people against to those in favour (who wants to hear a positive news story these days?) I thought it worth an in depth look ...

The new look layout came into effect a few months ago. Users were given the option to 'try' the layout by clicking a button at the top of the page. The clever boys and girls at Facebook HQ (of which there are over 600) also included a 'send feedback' link so as to iron out any issues before the big change-over.

Quick to sample the new version, I immediately saw the improvements. Gone were the mile-long profile pages. No more scrolling through hideous Super Walls, Fun Walls, etc just to get to your friends Wall. Users information (birthday, favourite films, etc) is stored cleverly at the top in a separate 'widget' (the same goes for photos and, should anyone wish to, any number or applications they feel the need to add).



The home page is a vast improvement to. A constantly updating feed from all your friends/contacts which can be viewed by the latest status updates, photos, and posted items - all, of course, at the click of a button.

Most websites now include the option to post an interesting story/video/photo straight to your profile. You can even easily install a shortcut to you browser toolbar. The easy posting has led to the abolition of Fun Walls and Super Walls - not a moment too soon either.

It's worth remembering that Facebook is a very young resource/application. Anyone expecting it to remain in it's past or present state for more than a year or two clearly has little concept of technology. And, for those of you still disheartened by recent changes to everyones favourite social networking site just be thankful you're not using MySpace.

For further information read on here.

Noah takes a photo of himself every day for 6 years

For a more information about the (ongoing) project visit the project website.

See The Simpsons paradoy here.

The coming week

Next week promises to be a busy one for the blog, with a lot of new work to show.

The long awaited Sean Orford logo is complete - we're VERY happy with the outcome, keep your eyes peeled for the grand unveiling. Dupe Design has also been hard at work on a major web project. Due for completion any day now, check back soon for the link.

Photography-wise, Matt has been a busy boy this last couple of weeks - undertaking a number of client commissioned projects.

If you haven't already seen them, be sure to check our external sites. Flickr has a selection of our best non-commercial photographic and design pieces, and our Tumblr site is used to document the best of the work that we find on our daily travels around cyberspace. Do people still call it cyberspace? I meant the web.

Over and out.

September at Dupe

The nights are getting longer and there's a slight chill in the air, but far from gearing up for hibernation, we're ready for the long hard winter ahead. Economic decline? Recession? Yesterday's news. A busy month ahead for Dupe. Places to go and people to meet.

Call yourself a film lover?

Then whatever you do DO NOT watch Guy Ritchie's latest. Here's why:

Event Photography, Barnston Dale

First of all, apologies for the lack of updates recently. Summer has been and gone for Dupe, expect far more updates over the coming weeks.

This week saw Dupe head to The Barnstondale Centre to shoot for a recent launch event. I have particularly fond memories of the centre having spent a weekend there many moons ago whilst at primary school.

Things have really moved on there of late. They offer the opportunity to experience a wide range of moral building outdoor pursuits offsite such as canoeing, rock climbing, orienteering and problem solving to children of all areas and backgrounds.

For more information about the centre, click here. A few more images from the day can be found in our events photography portfolio.