April Showers

We've gone and done it again, haven't we? Almost a full month without an update. But fear not. We haven't fallen in to the black hole of a recession that has been the focus of so much media interest of late (in fact, we have paid very little attention to it at all - surely the best weapon against a 'financial downturn'?).

We passed a momentous date recently - we've officially been in business a year now. So, now that we've negotiated that tricky first year we're free to grow, thrive and build on all of our achievements. 'What's your secret?', I hear you shout? Well, no real secret. We've just tried to meet as many people as possible and, once they've been convinced that we're the right company to help them, treat the as well as we possibly can. Easy.

On the design side of things we've been working closely with companies such as Deep Tek, Total Reclaim and Sean Orford on a huge variety of projects. There should be an explosion of work in our updated portfolio in the coming weeks. The current crop does not really reflect what we're capable of so stay tuned for some gorgeous stuff.

Our commercial photography department goes from strength to strength with April and May proving exceptionally promising in terms of attracting new business and cementing our reputation with existing clients.

Here's a snapshot of our latest work. I'll be in touch again soon with yet more - some of which we're incredibly excited about.

Cast Study 01 - The Dupe Creative Logo

This is the first in what should become a series of studies into the design and photographic processes we go through at Dupe. What better place to start than with ourselves, we thought?

For those that don't know, Dupe Creative is a small but perfectly formed graphic design and commercial photography studio. Based in the North West of England it consists of its two founder members - Matt Goodfellow and Edward Lamb.

First, of course, we had to agree on a name. After scouting around we struck gold with 'Dupe'. Aside from it's slight negative connotations, we felt it would help set us aside from the many boringly named rival companies (you know the kind, the type that tend to over-use the word 'solutions' in their company skill-set) and, as soon as wrote it down (see below) I knew we were on to a winner. Nice shape.



After my initial sketch, I quickly threw myself into Illustrator to play with a few typefaces. However, it quickly became apparent that a custom job would be needed to realise the circular, balanced, distinctive look I had in my head.



Each of the four characters is based on a circle. Various sections were added or re-shaped using Illustrators fantastic tools until I was happy with the look of each individual character. Finally, I adjusted the space between each letter and, for balance, added the registration symbol at the top right.









Next, I picked an appropriate font. Something unique, but super-simple. I decided upon Interstate, designed by a clever man named named Tobias Frere-Jones, better known now for his amazing work at Hoefler & Frere-Jones.





The logo and the typeface has been the base for all of our corporate stationery so far (see letterheads, business cards and CD wallets) both online and offline, and will hopefully survive in its intial form for years to come.

Most people know the importance of having a consistent set of rules for a business. If you don't, and think that we can help, then get in touch for an informal discussion about how Dupe Creative can help.

Radiohead and Marketing

Love them or hate them, it's more than likely that you're aware of them.

The above video demonstrates pretty clearly how and why they are still such a dominant force where other bands who emerged during the mid-nineties have crashed and burned.

We at Dupe like to think that we understand technology. Spending an unhealthy amount of time on the internet is just a small part of our design process.

Business card design

Dupe offer tasteful graphic design to satisfy even the most demanding of visually astute customers. Visit our graphic design portfolio for more information.