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.

Case Study 03 - WSBPS Corporate Identity

Dupe Creative were approached by the Wirral Society of the Blind and Partially Sighted (WSBPS) in February 2009 to create a brand new corporate identity for the organisation.

The WSBPS is a group providing services for all visually impaired people of Wirral. Set up in 1989, the society realised the need for a professional, up-to-date identity that would reflect the incredible service they offer to an ever increasing number of people.

An initial brief was given by Lynne Sedgwick, the Development Manager at their base in Ashville Lodge, Birkenhead. The job was then left to us to create an identity worthy of a registered charity with 20 years of history.

Our first job was to look at existing charity logos. These were all organisations with huge resources and design budgets at their disposal, but we wanted the WSBPS to be able to stand alongside them on an equal footing.



Early ideas and testing in Adobe Illustrator stemmed from imagery sourced from the web. A lot of our research focussed on sight tests and the eye itself. If you've ever had an eye test you'll be familiar with a great number of very graphic symbols that most opticians use every day.



The final symbol chosen represents both the eye test image, a human iris and a sun flare. It is intended to highlight the direct link with vision that the WSBPS has as well as representing the energy, hope and optimism that the charity instills in all of its members.

The blue was chosen as we were reliably informed that this is a colour often used when working the visually impaired.

Two variations were given. One shows the full charity name whilst the other emphasises the abbreviated 'WSBPS' - something that they team want to push in the coming months and years (the full name is recognised as a bit of a mouthful!).



Designs for business cards and a letterhead were delivered to the charity on disk. Dupe Creative hope to have given the organisation a logo that will see them through the next 20 years. For information regarding the charity and it's work please take a bit of time to read through their website. Dupe hope to work closely with them on upcoming projects and, of course, will always be on hand to offer help and advice.



Thanks go out to Lynne Sedgwick, who we worked closely with throughout the entire project. The WSBPS turned out to be the perfect client. Best of luck to the WSBPS for the future.

For further examples of logo design by us, as well as our many other areas of creative expertise, visit our site.

New Work: Total Reclaim logo

Dupe Creative have very recently completed the logo for Total Reclaim.

Company Partner, Daryl Vickers, requested a high impact logo that reflected Total Reclaims commitment to its customers.

Consider this update a taster - a complete case study will follow next week, where we will also show the corporate stationery we designed. For further examples of the unique logo design service we can offer, visit out design portfolio.

Two New Websites from Dupe Creative

It's been a busy few months for the design division at Dupe Creative. Two new projects have reached completion in recent weeks - both of which happen to be websites.

First up is deeptek.co.uk.



Deep Tek is an innovative and experienced design and development company that has its roots in the specialist deep water salvage industry. With the help of freelance designer Nick Gerrard Dupe were asked to design and build a bespoke website to show off the many areas expertise Deep Tek offer.

Secondly, artist and sculptor Stephen Hitchin came to us asking for a refesh of his current site. Eagle eye viewers may notice the similarities between his site and ours. Well, give yourself a medal - the design is based on the Dupe template. It allowed us to very quickly build a new framework that is much more flexible in terms of maintenance.



Big changes for our site are afoot as well, however. We can't say anything yet but expect a big announcement before Christmas.

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.

What better way to sharpen skills on a Friday than by creating the odd Dupe Desktop. Head here to download the first version, I dare you.

Potentially big week for Dupe next week - watch this space for updates.

Sean Orford

Dupe Creative are proud and excited to announce that work has begun on yet another major design project.

Sean Orford is a highly experienced practicing psychotherapist working in the north west of England. He helps groups and individuals for a range of organisations - both private and public sector.

In the months to come Sean will be given the full Dupe treatment. Complete corporate identity design, web design and marketing as well as the occasional splash of photography.

Like Dupe, Sean is very ambitious with a plan for near world domination over the next 10 years. Our aim is help Sean achieve every one of his goals with a combination of good design and carefully selected marketing techniques.

Watch this space for updates.

Diesel Wall

Dupe will, of course, be submitting an entry. Head here for information about the project.

We'll post our entry as soon as it's ready.