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Deadlines - they're a real thing. Discuss.

deadline /ˈdɛdlʌɪn/nounThe latest time or date by which something should be completed. Dealing with deadlines can fraught. Nobody likes to miss a deadline. Deadlines are part and parcel in the life of a graphic designer. The materials we produce are often used to launch a brand, support a brand, enhance a brand. And these are usually (nearly always) date specific. Despite the gloomy intro, this is actually an upbeat blog (so don’t run away screaming just yet). Because we can share some tac...

Behind the scenes

So, I often get asked – ‘OMG your job sounds amazing’ But what do you all day?Well, let me try and tell you.First up, and this is very important -  it’s not all glamour. OK kids? It’s not. Sorry.I’m a mum to two boys, two dogs and a bearded dragon and they all need feeding. One of them likes bugs for breakfast, one of them likes donuts, two of them are grateful for whatever is given to them and one of them sometimes doesn’t show up for breakfast at all. That’s OK, he’s a g...

A collaborative mindset

We recently picked up a very exciting piece of work. Bigger than normal for us admittedly, but still very much within our scope. Especially as we have recently aligned ourselves with some of the best brains in the region. In fact we’re in residence with them now in our very own shared workspace; The Other Side - A collaborative creative space for dreamers and doers in Horowhenua.And the great thing about being under the same roof as other like-minded go-getting individuals?Collaboration. You�...

There’s no better time than now to get your ducks in a row

Contrary to popular belief auditing your brand can be swift, painless, easy, and wait for it…enjoyable. Brand audits can be wholesale belt and braces or a quick state of the nation overview. They can be a quick check-in to make sure you’re still on track and following your dreams, or they can be deep dive and analytic driven.Wherever you’re at they are designed to help, not hinder.Think of a brand audit as your finger on your pulse – the pulse of your brand. If the pulse is ticking over ...

The difference between a graphic designer and your cousin who used Photoshop once

Both have their merits. Except perhaps your cousin who once did an art project. A bad one. Everyone wants a beautiful website, a killer logo with to-die for marketing assets – but the fact is that many companies simply aren’t willing to pay professional rates for these things, and they’re doing themselves a disservice. They may instead often ask a friend / relative / employee without adequate training, to “have a go” at DIY design. The results ranging from unexciting and commonplace at...

How do I get someone to read my boring document?

We’re masters at this. First up we know good content from bad and we can help you with this process. Documents needn’t be boring and crammed full of dull words. We’ve converted 20pp word docs into a single sided A3 for many of our clients using infographics, hero photography and making sure that each precious word used is the right word. Plain English people, no waffle. Your content should be all killer and no filler and we love content. Call us word nerds by all means (we’ve been called...

Why invest in design?

Particularly in uncertain times. Designers tell your story. We know how your market will react to a design. We’re translators. We often hear ‘it’s not rocket science!’ Well actually it kind of is. There is a science behind perception and how people absorb and retain information. Design is an aesthetic that relies on psychology, design principles, trends, preferences, biases, perceptions, clarity of message. If that all sounds a bit daunting then you probably need a designer. A good one.T...

How we celebrate our clients on Labour Day

Labour Day means so much to so many in Aotearoa. For the majority of us we’re able to kick back for an extra day and recharge our batteries for what lies ahead for us in November / December aka ‘The Silly season’. At Lemonface Design we have a different take on Labour Day. We call it Labourface Day. It’s special for us as it’s the one day each year where we give thanks to all our clients for the work they have given us and the trust they place in us to give their brand the love it dese...

Shepherdess wins at Electra Business Awards

We are super proud to announce that Shepherdess Magazine took out a shiny gong at the Electra Business and Innovation Awards. Lemonface Design are honoured to be the creative force behind this outstanding publication. Shepherdess connects and empowers inspiring women across rural New Zealand by offering a place to share stories. For them to scoop the ‘Hospitality, Entertainment and Tourism Award’ is no mean feat and well-deserved recognition for the whole team. It shows what can be achi...

Why you need us in your corner

Graphic design is more than just creating a sharp logo and an attractive colour scheme. Clever graphic design and branding represents the quality of your products and services, how you interact with your customers and the impression you leave in your customer’s mind.These are peculiar times. Many things are uncertain. Sure. ‘The sky is falling’ apparently.Yeah, nah.It’s not, it really isn’t.These are great days and an opportunity for greatness to shine through. We just need to stay vis...

The New Normal

On our Social media channels today we put up a post. A simple post. A hopeful post. A defiant post. The post had only 3 words but it felt good writing them down, converting it into a .png and putting it online. Almost immediately the ‘likes’ and thumbs up rolled in. It seems that our followers agreed with our simple sentiment. It felt good. What did we say? We simply said; This will pass. And it will pass. Won’t it? Next question is ‘what do we do in the meantime?’ If we were British (...

Local Election Hoardings - A Spin Off Glowing Review

Lemonface Creative received some great praise this election period with design work created for Mayoral candidate of Horowhenua, Victoria Kaye-Simmons. Artist and contributor to The Spin Off, Toby Morris analysed hoardings from all over New Zealand this election period. We were elated when we read what Toby had to say about our work: "All jokes aside, after criticising and/or ironically praising all of the above, you might be wondering what an effective design should look like. In total seriousn...

No Shame No Silence launches

On Thursday 1 November, Lemonface Design's 'baby' No Shame No Silence launched in splendor at Te Awahou Nieuwe Stroom in Foxton, Horowhenua.The exhibition aims to shine a light, cultivate conversation and create change around the issue of family violence and the response of the Family Court system to survivors of family violence.Most of us are touched by family violence in our lives, through our own experiences, those of friends, family, colleagues and acquaintances. While society are quick to p...

The Lemonface Kid and the Long Term Plan

The BackgroundWe were commissioned by Horowhenua District Council (HDC) to design and produce a suite of collateral to support their Long Term Plan (LTP). A long term plan is a document that acts like a map or a guide, clearly establishing where you are headed as an organisation and how you intend to get there. It allows you to accurately prioritise work and monitor your progress towards achieving the end goals. Where most LTPs have a lifecycle of 10 years HDC  recognised they were in a per...

The Chemo Crazies

The Chemo Crazies were formed in May 2015 when Jayden (J-Dog) Morris aged 10 and Grant (G Man) Gerken aged 48 were both undergoing treatment for incurable cancers in Christchurch. Their mission to inspire kids and families living with cancer, to use laughter & fun as the best medicine, while fighting the hard battles in life. And to just keep going!J-Dog and G-Man immediately hit it off and in an attempt to distract themselves from their treatments and to just have some fun, they b...

Gernius - Replacing Busy with Extraordinary

Some people ‘get’ each other. We ‘get’ Gernius and they ‘get’ us. We work together a lot. In fact we recently commissioned the very talented Nikki South to photograph what we have designed and produced over the last year or so and we couldn’t quite believe just how much we and our fabulous client have achieved together. Lietta (the brains and smiles behind Genius) tells us that this is only the beginning! Haha, we like being it for the long run so that’s fine with us. We’ve be...

Internal Comms - Hello? Is anybody listening?

Here are the 7 most powerful and effective ways to ensure they’re heard:Where do you start? Work on your internal communication strategy firstLike all objectives and goals, you need to start with a plan and internal communications is no different. You need someone who can write well so your staff will actually read your policies, rules, notice boards and Intranet material and you need a great designer. Your graphic designer is key to attracting those wandering eyes. Internal communication...